subaquatique

I am a primary care RN, but I pick up shifts as a float. In our hospital, we are not allowed to do the admission assessment for the primary care nurse because "passing along prudent information" is like playing telephone- stuff gets missed. Personally, I like doing my own admission assessments because they tell me so much about my patient! When I am float, I will do my due diligence and do an assessment of a patient while I am tucking them in, but we have a policy that it is the responsibility of the primary nurse to do their own admissions and full physical assessment, regardless if it was done twenty times before already. Obviously, a charge nurse will jump in and help, but it is still the full responsibility of the primary nurse. Granted, I live in California and we have low patient ratios. I can't imagine that this would be possible if you have more than a few patients.

Mine was an email... "Did you have any concerns about your period of employment... blah blah blah". Not anonymous, not a survey. I was honest but tactful. I also used the oreo technique. "I had such a positive experience with blah blah blah.... this is an area where I felt some changes could be made... to wrap it up, here's some more good things". I still work for the same hospital but on a different floor. I talk to my old clinical coordinator all the time and they appreciated the honest feedback. I think it depends on how large of an organization, but I am a firm believer in being honest (and tactful!).

I went from MS to step down but did not receive a pay increase. I'm about to transfer to Critical Care, again with no increase. My hospital pays based on years of experience, certifications, etc, not related to floor acuity. I loved step-down. Way busier than my experience in Med Surge, but more rewarding!

I have an issue with this post. Our ATI package was probably $1000 broken up into 4 semester payments, plus about $500-1000 TOTAL worth of other books (Med Surg, Maternal Child, Psych, drug guides, IV fluids, etc etc), but everything besides the ATI was on your own terms- so lots of people in my program rented or borrowed the books from the school library and paid exponentially less! Plus there are always programs that are available for low-income students that help with textbooks and uniforms (WIOA, CalOpps, etc). I am interested to hear which book you paid so much for and why you didn't get it used or as a rental. I saved up $100 a paycheck (and more whenever possible) over two years to be able to pay for nursing school. I lived on an extremely tight budget, worked part-time, and had a two year-old child when I began. I drove a 16-year old car and made friends with whom I could carpool, which saved on gas (and wear-and-tear). I had two unexpected deaths in my family during the course of the program, a major surgery, and one wedding. Three girls in my class gave birth during the program, all in different semesters. One with twins during the second semester, and she never even missed a day of class (she missed the last week of the semester, but she completed the work and took her final before she left to go have her babies). Multiple people in my class had a spouse that was deployed during the program, all of whom had small children and no family in the area. And one girl, who is my hero, has three kids and worked a full-time NOC shift during the entire program. She would literally work a 12-hour shift and then come straight to class. She was exhausted, but she did it. These are just a handful of examples in my class of people who decided that no obstacle would come between them and their dream. We did lose a few people who complained about the lack of accommodation, that had "too many things going on" with their jobs, or just had too much drama in their life to pull their sh*t together. Yes, you have to be responsible for your transportation- it's not a job where you can show up late, and as someone mentioned, you can't always take public transportation at 6am to your shift. You need to manage your time effectively. Trust me, we all know how hard this is, but I can attest that it is 100% possible. It's a big BIG part of what we do as nurses. The other part is sucking it up and being accountable. I know that you're just venting, and I get that, but nursing is a HARD job. Nursing school is also very hard, but I promise you that it's possible to work part time (or full-time), have a small child (and a spouse who is never home to help), budget appropriately and work your ass off during holidays, drive a ****** old car and carpool with classmates, and have terrible things happen in your personal life .... and get straight A's. I did it. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but it's worth it, if this is what you really want to do! Good luck, and stop looking for excuses! Look for solutions!

Good luck finding something in California! There are a ton of schools here pumping out new grads, and everyone in the country wants to move here for the pay and patient ratios. Not to say that it couldn't happen, but new grad spots are very few and far between here in the Sacramento area, and most go to grads that have formed a relationship with the hospital during clinicals. You are probably better off working in PA as a newgrad and then looking once you get some experience.

I just graduated from Yuba college in December. It's a great program!

I used Uworld, an ATI live review that was provided by our school, and bought a 3-week subscription for NCSBN. Imo, Uworld was the best. I did about half of the questions and passed NCLEX in 75 questions. I had 22 SATA, about 5 "put these in order", and some 20 or so multiple answer questions. I probable only had 10 actual multiple-choice questions. Uworld's rationales were on-point, and many of the questions were very similar to the NCLEX. Good luck!

I'm sorry it took me so long to reply- I thought I did, but in replying to someone else, I saw that it didn't post So as far as clinicals go- for first semester, the two locations are Woodland Memorial and Rideout. They try to place people based on their geographic location, but 2/3 go to Woodland (either Wednesday or Thursday) and 1/3 go to Rideout (Wednesday), so although you will most likely go to Rideout, you may not depending on the luck of the draw. The location changes each semester except for the Rideout group- which does all 4 semesters of clinical at Rideout. OB, Peds and Mental Health have different locations, but you don't have to worry about those until after you're done with 1st semester. Weekly paperwork: On the first day you will be given a syllabus with a "clinical paperwork" section. The night before your clinical, you will go to the hospital and prep on your patient with that paperwork. It's about 5 pages. You fill out this paperwork and bring it the day of clinical- it's information based off the patient's chart (medications, labs, pathophysiology of the patient, etc), plus a careplan that you write yourself that will be your guide for the following day. You fill out only certain sections of the paperwork (and they will explain this to you more in depth). Your clinical instructor will look at this and check it off at 0630 before she lets you go take care of your patient to make sure that you're prepared (she might ask you questions about potential complications or what a medication is fore, etc). She won't collect the paperwork, but she will make sure it's complete. If it's not, you may get sent home or she will make you finish it before she releases you to your patient. Following day of care, you fill out the rest of those sections, and add some more information. So what was due on the day of care (5-7 pagesish), plus a detailed physical assessment, a more detailed pathophysiology, some questions about your patient's response to interventions, etc. This completed paperwork (which is due a week from that clinical day) can be about 14 pages or more. Again, your clinical instructor will go over every page and prepare you for this before they require you to turn one in :) Unless they have changed this requirement, you only need to pass 5 of these before the semester is over. Each one is graded according to a rubric in your syllabus, but doesn't affect your overall grade unless you are not able to meet the minimum objective of "pass". I recommend doing a really good job on your first 5 or 6 and getting it over with early. Some people slacked and didn't follow the instructions, so they didn't pass all 5 until the end of the semester, so they had to keep turning in weekly stacks of paper. I was the first one in my group to pass- but I was the only one to follow the examples that they provided us. So my advice is look at the examples that they give you, and let those be your guide! Once you pass, you still have to prep and turn in those 5ish papers on the morning of care, but there is no follow-up paperwork. Yes, you are using the hospital computers to chart on your patient too, but that's just checked to make sure it's correct. There's no research required with that- but there is for the weekly paperwork. As far as preparing for the semester- get some sleep and relax! I'd get a planner before the semester starts and once you get dates of when things are due, or tests, etc- put those in your planner and plan your time for studying and doing homework! There's no real "prep" for 1st- but if you're super excited about it, your first semester instructor will recommend that you get the Nugent & Vitale "Fundamentals Success" book, which helps you learn to take nursing tests, and you can get that early to start practicing. I bought it the first week of school never got lower than a 93% of any test- it really helps you with taking tests by breaking down the questions. Plus it's specific to fundamentals, so it has all the content you need to know as well. Take your vacations over the summer, and do whatever you need to do, because once you begin, you will feel like you have no time for anything else. Plan for $$, childcare, study space, etc early so you don't have to worry about it during the semester. Good luck!!

Congratulations Mama! I hope it works out for you! I know that a few of the alternates in my class ended up getting in because the person that got the spot went to a different school- so my fingers are crossed for you!

Hey Edmed323, congrats on getting in and great job on the TEAS! I know a lot of students that worked part or full-time during all 4 semesters and were ok, and some that failed out. It really has to do with your time-management capabilities. Personally, I thought first semester was really easy. You have weekly paperwork and prepping to do, but other than that, if you keep on top of your reading and ATI, you should be fine working on weekends. I worked part time and had a toddler, and I got high 90s on all of the tests- but I was really organized. Getting behind will kill you, so if you have poor time-management, that's something to work on immediately. You have to do the weekly paperwork until you pass a set number- basically until your clinical instructor thinks that you have demonstrated competence. Once you have passed, then you only need to prep on your patient- so I suggest really working hard to pass early, and that's one less thing that you have to worry about! You will be assigned a ton of ATI that takes hours upon hours to complete. This took up the bulk of my time in first. Living in woodland means that you will most likely be placed at woodland hospital for your clincal rotation, so that will mean that you only commute to Marysville twice a week (except for the first month or so before you start clinical when you go to campus three days a week). I suggest carpooling and listening to the lectures in the car or doing practice questions. I recorded all of the lectures and re-listened to them while I was doing other stuff- like walking my dog or driving my kid to school. It really helped me retain the information without having to dedicate a ton of time to studying. Vickie (your first semester instructor) will joke that nursing school is so hard because it is 4 semesters of teaching you how to manage your time, which really prepares you for a career in nursing. Its true, but it's totally do-able! Good luck!

It sounds like you have a good GPA, so that's a good start! My best advice for the TEAS would be to purchase the official workbook and work through all of the questions to identify problem areas. Mine is math, so I found an online tutor on youtube that works through the entire teas math section of the book. I graduated college in 2007, so the last math class I took was statistics in 2004... it's been a while! So even though I started the workbook unable to do a single problem in long division, I actually aced the math section of the teas! I spent about an hour a day, for a month, working through the math section until I had a really good understanding of everything I would be required to do. If you struggle with a different section, I would recommend finding online practice questions or videos or something in that subject, and bringing yourself up to a really good understanding. After I worked through the whole book, I purchased the two practice teas, and took them timed just like I would the test. I got a 75 on the first practice, and then an 84 on the second. It really helped me learn to pace myself. On the day of the actual test, I ate a good breakfast and took every break during the test that I could so that I could walk around and prepare myself for the next section. I think it helped me not get too overwhelmed. I took the electronic version, so I got my results as soon as I ended the test. So long story short: buy the practice book and the practice exams, identify your weak areas and then work on those. If you struggle with math, I recommend looking up "Keshwani" on youtube. He is amazing and teaches you the best math shortcuts to help you ace that section (for free!). Have faith in yourself and you will do great! If you are a student at Yuba College (or even if you're not), I recommend N20 (intro to nursing) with Professor Tamulonis. She is my 3rd semester instructor, and she will teach you some great tips for the Teas too. Good luck!!

Congratulations!! That's super exciting!

I had all A's on my prereqs (with the exception of a C in anatomy ), but I got a 96 on my Teas. I also have both work and volunteer experience that gave me points, and I speak a second language. I think my total points were close to 90, but I don't remember exactly. I know it's changed since I applied, and they are about to change it again (only allow one repeat instead of penalizing repeated attempts in classes). It really depends on who applies with you- but I know everyone in my cohort got in on their first attempt. There are a few people in first or second semester now that applied to be in my class and had to wait a semester or two before they got in. For the students that had to wait to get in, it was usually their Teas that affected their score. Good luck!! A 74% is still really good for a Teas score! I hope you get in!

Hi! Yes, I am currently in my 3rd semester at Yuba College. I got in immediately after I applied. Since it's merit-based, if you have good grades and did well on your TEAS, you will most likely get in on your first application. On that note, it is highly competitive- so if you have crappy grades, you might need to volunteer or do something else to boot up your points. As far as how it's going- I love it! I think it's a great program and I've been doing really well. We get a ton of clinical hours and the teachers are all amazing at helping us. I am so glad that I made the decision to come here. All of my friends in previous semesters have had no problem getting jobs after they graduated and they said that they were really well prepared for the NCLEX. Good luck!

My comments would be that it depends. It depends on how well you manage your time, what grades are "acceptable" to you, and if you plan on having a social life (or work) outside of school. I Took Physiology (full semester), Micro, Stats and Genetics in a semester and got a 3.74 GPA. I didn't get full marks in Micro, but I also worked 60+ hours a week. I was also waking up at 4am to study before work and spending a good amount of my day at work doing homework or making flash cards. It's a heavy course load, and depending on your teachers, it could be quite difficult- but it's manageable if you are willing to put in the time. Say goodbye to your friends for a semester, though!

Hi! I wanted to see if anyone is currently going to, or has recently applied to the Yuba College nursing program. I just submitted my application and am waiting to hear back :)

Hi, I got the ATI study manual and the McGraw Hill "Nursing Entrance Exam" study guides. I worked through each section and did about two hours a day for a month. Math was my weak part because it has been so long since I haven't been able to use a calculator, so I watched a lot of YouTube videos. There are a ton of really great resources out there- for free! I was really really nervous because it's been at least three years since my last prerequisite class but I looked up everything I didn't understand, looked for free practice tests online, payed for 2 ATI tests and took all of the tests in the McGraw Hill book. It payed off. I took the test once and got a 94%. Good luck!

Hi! Which parts were difficult for you? I found that the ATI book was very helpful. As a PP states, there are great math and science study channels on YouTube as well. Good luck!