shan_elle

Hope you passed!! :)

Life does not stop happening just because you're in nursing school. In my cohort we've had deaths of pets/friends/family, issues with roommates, breakups, near divorces, hospitalization of loved ones, and personal illnesses. Dealing with these issues while in the nursing program is absolutely doable, but definitely not easy. My advice is to make time to take care of yourself, surround yourself with people who support you, focus on your studies, and communicate with your instructors if you're beginning to struggle. You will get through it and be a stronger person for it in the end!

I'm really surprised that so many people think having a weak A&P knowledge base is acceptable. A&P is so important and provides the foundation for understanding many of the nursing interventions you will provide. I've even had an ED physician tell me that understanding A&P is one of the most crucial things for healthcare providers. The nursing program is much more difficult than pre-reqs and can be challenging to get through even if you are genuinely interested in the material and intrinsically motivated. Without strong A&P knowledge you will surely struggle in pathophysiology and pharmacology, but without motivation you will struggle throughout the entire program. You should also keep in mind that we aren't just learning things for our own sake or to jump through hoops. We are learning things to help our future patients and potentially save their lives.

Thanks for your in-depth post and words of advice CCU BSN! It was very insightful. I was recently talking to an RN who also mentioned the futility of care, especially in a research/teaching hospital where patients' family members expect all the newest medical technology be used, despite what that means for quality of life.

Thanks for the encouragement Kooky Korky! I was going to ask the placement faculty about how they made the decision so I could improve my interview skills if I want to apply to the ED later. However, after learning more about the CVICU and gaining some valuable perspective from the members here, I've decided to stay with the placement. I think it may be a better fit for me and I'm really excited to start there in the fall!!

This is what I found in the Drug Guide as well!

Did you check your drug guide?

The OR is it's own specialty and is not considered acute care. The OR is much more technical, whereas the acute units are more skills and assessment based. For example, if you're an OR scrub nurse you will check the surgical tools to ensure they're sterile, pass instruments to the surgeon, help apply dressings, and count tools after surgery. If you're an OR circulating nurse you act as the patient advocate, adjust settings on machines, communicate with family members, and carry out other non-sterile tasks. They also get the patient from pre-op and place the foley. I don't necessarily believe this, but a scrub nurse once told me that "OR nursing is not real nursing." You just don't have the same autonomy you do in other settings and don't use a lot of the skills you learn in nursing school. However, if you prefer your patients to be sedated and you really like anatomy, OR nursing may be a good fit for you. Acute nursing is completely different and there are a variety of different units to work on (orthopedics, cardiac, trauma, medicine, etc.). Depending on where you work you could be assigned anywhere from 4 to 8 patients. You will be responsible for administering their medications, changing dressings, performing assessments, checking vital signs, toileting and ambulating patients, paging doctors to adjust/stop treatments, and a whole lot more!! Of course there are usually nursing aides and interdisciplinary team members to help with some tasks, but ultimately you are responsible for what happens at the bedside. Many more of the skills you learn in nursing school will apply to an acute care job. Are you in a nursing program or still doing pre-reqs? Once you do your clinicals in nursing school and see what each area is really like you might change your mind.

My lab knowledge is pretty rusty (been stuck in community health far too long) and it's difficult to determine without having more information. Were you able to see a trend in the labs, or was this a one time lab that all the sudden sky rocketed? Did he recently take a large amount of medication/drugs/alcohol that are metabolized by the liver? Is the patient jaundice, or do they have ascites? This would be another indicator that the liver is truly damaged. You mentioned he consumed alcohol, to what extent is hard to say, but it's possible he could have underlying cirrhosis. It could be possible that the cancer itself is damaging the liver. There are a lot of factors at play, and really I'd have to do a lot more research to give you any kind of clear answer. As far as the primary diagnosis....do you think your patient is in immediate danger from imbalanced nutrition, ineffective coping, or impaired swallowing? What about his prolonged PT time? Again, does the patient have ascites? This can cause fluid buildup in the venous system into an area that you should already be worried about. Are you more concerned about the mass causing problems with swallowing, or is there a chance it could cause airway issues? The nursing diagnoses you have are fine, but there are definitely some more acute things going on in my opinion.

It depends on the school you're applying to and if the online courses are through an accredited college. I got into one of the top BSN programs in my area and I took a number of online classes including nutrition, microbiology, stats, writing, and upper division electives.

If you're struggling I would suggest to stop reading the NCLEX book. The NCLEX is not meant to be used as a study tool for A&P. It contains a lot of questions related to a whole wealth of knowledge (and way of thinking) that you won't cover until you're actually in a nursing program. I know it's exciting to be working towards the goal of taking the NCLEX, but you are likely wasting your time and energy by adding this into your study regimen. The time you use reading the NCLEX book would be better spent studying the concepts you're covering in A&P.

Lab hours are typically required and difficult to make up (if you can make them up at all) because they have to make special accommodations outside of class. Missing the first class AND lab of the nursing program may not make a good impression on the instructors either. Once you're in nursing school they pretty much expect it to be your first priority. Congrats on making it as far as you have!

I understand why you're frustrated with the situation, but ultimately it's your education and you need to take responsibility/control over it. If she cancels class, spend the hours you would've spent in class reading the textbook, watching related YouTube videos, or form a study group with classmates. Sure, next time you could use a teacher rating site to try and prevent this from happening again, but in the nursing program (at least in ours) you don't get to hand select your instructors. You will need to learn to be flexible and do some self-teaching. In nursing school the textbooks are even thicker and the amount of information you need to know is even more. I would suggest figuring out how to navigate this while you're still completing pre-reqs, which aren't as demanding as nursing school. When I have a lot of content to cover and I'm not sure what I'll be tested on I start with gaining a solid knowledge of all the main topics/ideas. Once I feel I have a good handle on that I will dive deeper and deeper into the details of each topic, as time allows.

Your instructor is not trying to be mean or difficult, he is trying to help you be better prepared for nursing school. I had the same instructor for all 3 A&P series and she did give us a study guide, but it was essentially a list of all the topics we had covered. All of our exams were essay questions only, so we had to know everything. I'm grateful my instructor chose to test us this way because I feel like my understanding of A&P is much deeper and has stuck with me longer because of it. As others have mentioned, if you're not sure what to study try and hit the main points. It always helped me to draw out processes (and I'm no artist!), print blank diagrams to fill in, and watch YouTube videos. I was never much of a group studier, but sometimes you can learn a lot or see the holes in your own learning by explaining processes to your classmates. I'm almost done with my 2nd year of a 3 year BSN program and have NEVER received a study guide. Some instructors will verbally make it pretty clear what's on the exam, but many times there is an endless amount of reading and information assigned with no clear direction on what to focus on exactly.

Thank you, that's nice of you to offer! I hope you get into the new grad program. I'm sure it helps that they already know you. Good luck!