ready2baRN

Hello, I go to Breckinridge here in Florida. I'm in my 6th quarter (Two more to go. YAY!) Anyway the program gets harder each quarter. Most of the repeats and failures happened between quarters 2-4, that's where you will lose the most people. My advice to you would be to stay focused. It's going to get really tough as you progress through the quarters. Start practicing questions NOW. Use Saunders, quizlet or any other resource you can use to help because the HESI specialty exams are tough. Use youtube for subjects you don't quite understand and by all means ask your instructors for help. That's what they are there for. Good luck!

I started my application also, although I only have about 8 months left of school, I'm out of financial aid and getting this scholarship would be just awesome.

A 80 is considered passing but it's also still considered a B and not a C. Anything below a 80 you fail. We lost a lot of people who got 79.XX grades that had to repeat or failed out. It's brutal but it must be done.

There are two issues I see here to why you may not be meshing in well with the rest of your classmates. 1. You are young and really don't have many life experiences. I know 5 years may not seem like a big gap but trust me you can learn a lot about life in 5 years that gives you some wisdom and insight that you didn't know 5 years earlier. Your classmates may not talk to you much because they probably think they don't have much in common with you. 2. You seem intellectually mature but socially immature. Getting home schooled, I'm sure has it's benefits but one of the main downfalls is that it doesn't prepare you on how to interact socially among people of backgrounds and cultures. You need to socially mature in order to be able to interact with the rest of society. This may need to be your top priority because if you want to be a nurse and don't know how to socialize or interact to a variety of people then you are in for a very rude wake up call.

snf = skilled nursing facility a.k.a nursing home

There are a few things I would like to point out. 1. Employment in most states is AT WILL. Meaning you or your employer can sever ties at any time with or without notice. 2. You don't want to burn your bridges. Most hospitals these days are part of a larger "corporate" entity e.g HCA. So if you make somebody upset at one hospital of that system you best to believe you will be blackballed in that entire hospital system. 3. The average cost to orient a new nurse is between 36k to 48k according to the ANA. If an institution spends that type of money to orient you only for you to jump ship after a few months, nursing managers will see that as a red flag and won't want to waste more time or money orienting someone who probably won't stick around for long. BUT.... job searching and hopping is like playing a strategic game of chess. Just know the right moves to make so you don't end up at a check mate.

First and foremost you have to take care of yourself FIRST. School is stressful and a lot of work but what good will you be taking care of others if you let your health suffer for it. For me to stay in shape I go to the gym at least 5x a week. I do get up at 5:45am to do this. I'm in the gym by 6:30am, I work out until 8:00am, then i shower, change into my scrubs and in class by 8:30. On clinical days I do not work out at all Tips: If you are having long study sessions it is imperative that you get up and move at least once a hour. If you can't remember to do this set an alarm on your computer and phone to remind you to do this. Once the alarm goes off get up and move around, do some jumping jacks, or jump rope for about about 5 minutes then get back to your study session. Stay away from processed sugar especially in drinks (soda, juice, etc...) Drink water for the most part. Keep snacking to a minimum. Healthy snacks to to indulge in would be yogurts, greek yogurt, fruits, veggies, nuts (especially almonds), kale chips. Try to stay away from the buffet at school and pack your lunch. Try to meal prep on Sundays for the week have a protein such as chicken and fish, whole grains like whole grain rice or pasta, sweet potato, and a veggie There are some apps you can download that can give you some good workout ideas at home and most often you don't need any equipment to do them. Skimble workout trainer is a pretty good app. Last but not least, if you can squeeze it in your budget get a device that keeps track of your activity like a fitbit, jawbone, or mio. They are good at keeping track of your steps and calories and some even keep track of your heartrate. They are a good resource to let you know when you are not getting enough activity so you can make adjustments in your daily routine.

I may can shed some light on your situation. As far as the "for profit" schools go. I would do A LOT of research and determine if it is suitable for you. I"m currently a student at a for profit institution and I chose the school for three main reasons. Reason 1. I already have a bachelors degree in another science related field and did all my prereqs at a regionally accredited college so I will have no issue transferring credits when I go to pursue my BSN. Reason 2: As stated in reason 1 because I already have a bachelors degree and maxed out my undergrad loans I'm ineligible for financial aid. The school I attend awarded me 35k in scholarships plus with my transfer credits my total out of pocket expense will be around 8k (and I'm currently trying to apply for scholarships to cover that!) Reason 3: Other schools I looked into told me it would be difficult for me to work and attend school or they flat out told me I couldn't work. This program is more geared towards the working adult. AGAIN, research, research, research THOROUGHLY and decide if it will benefit you in the long run. Nursing shortage? When I worked in nursing administration, our CNO would talk about the shortage often. We had a hard time keeping up with staffing needs and needed to often hire agency nurses to help with the staffing shortage. Also there may not be an "immediate" shortage, but looking at the long term all the baby boomers have to retire eventually and the profession need new nurses to fill those gaps. Plus there is a major shift of nurses leaving bedside and going into other areas of nursing because of how 'corporate' acute care has become. With all of those causes the effect will eventually be a shortage in the future.

If you are going to vlog just be smart about it. Never name the school you are attending, never name any clinical sites, patients or their outcomes, never talk bad about students, instructors, or your preceptors at your clinical sites etc... I think most of those things are just common sense. There have been many nursing students now successful nurses who vlog and gained some "success" by it. Nurse Mendoza, NurseNacole, ifitnurse, empowerrn, heyrona and many others that have successful channels. Just be careful what you say and how you say it because like it was stated before you can't take it back once it's out there.

We take Maternity/Peds/Gerontology in the same semester along with hesi exams for all of them. I heard through the grapevine that Peds and maternity was difficult and it will be extra difficult for me because I have absolute 0 interest in Peds or Maternity. Med Surg 1 we take by itself.

One of my instructors asked me if I played poker. I replied "No I never played, nor do I know how to play" Then she preceded to tell me she can tell because everything I be thinking be written all over my face. She told me I had to work on my "poker face". When she told me that I immediately started singing poker face by Lady Gaga to myself in my head. HAHAHA but that's not the first time I have been told that. My best friend would tell me all the time to "fix my face" because apparently my facial expressions says it all. ........... I'm working on it.

I was also concerned about this as well. I learned on a fake arm in sim lab but have yet to do a live stick on an actual person.

I'm a student myself BUT just looking at his vitals think Airway, breathing, circulation and look at which vitals that are way out of range and think of a nursing diagnoses that BEST fits his signs and symptoms and objective observations.

Pharmacology so far is the hardest for me. I don't' have problems with the calculations but having to remember all the classes of meds and actions, side effects, adverse effects, soooooo frustrating.