lunanarya

"Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba

Every program is a little different. College Algebra was the requirement for my program. While it wasn't required for admission to the program, the class had to be taken prior to graduation from the program (meaning you could take it while doing your nursing courses.)

So much this! I started my prereqs part time way back in 2013 and passed the NCLEX PN last summer at age 35 (and will graduate my RN program in May!) The time will fly;)

I'm a second year nursing student. During my first year, our few months of clinical were all in long-term care with a handful of med-surg towards the end. During the long-term care stint, our two tasks were to shadow the CNAs and complete our assessments for our school paperwork. There was very little charting, almost no time with the nurses, and I was one of the very few students in my class that hadn't previously been a CNA prior to starting nursing school. At first, I absolutely hated it. I had a hard time with transferring, toileting, and movement with patients because it was totally different than how I'd imagined it and different from how I'd learned it in the lab. So, I can relate to the disappointment after the first day (and even the first month!) I went through a lot of the same disappointment, a lot of tears, and threw a lot of books. I told my instructors about my woes...and they put me to work every shift with multiple CNAs. Some days were great, and others really sucked, but I got through it! Looking back on it now, I wouldn't trade those first few months of awfulness and let-down for anything (except maybe the wrist sprains from throwing books - nursing books are heavy:lol2:) I learned so much from the CNAs I shadowed, and I can't speak to how much that experience has helped me in clinical and work since then.

The summer before I started my PN program, I enjoyed myself. I didn't pre-study for school, I didn't try to learn anything new and nursing related, I just spent as much time as I could hanging out with my friends and family. I had a feeling that once school started, things were going to get hectic...and boy did it ever! The only other thing that really sticks out is this: when you start your program, you're going to get a ton of books, resources, and computer modules. Just about every single one is going to have sections on how to read/review/answer nursing exam questions. Don't wait to review those! Look them over before your first exam. I'd heard stories that "nursing exam questions are like nothing you'd ever seen!" and those stories were true. I did OK on my first exam, but it was full of panic because I didn't know how to approach the questions. When I did start looking over all my resources, I was kicking myself because the questions and answers on the exams made much more sense. So, use your resources. and don't be a self-kicker (too much:))

I used the ATI study manual. I'm not familiar with the other two resources, so I can't speak to their usefulness (or uselessness:whistling:) I just finished my PN year, and my school uses the ATI resources throughout the program also. What I really like about the ATI stuff is that the practice questions and practice exams are VERY close to what you'll see on the actual exams. I have horrible test anxiety, so doing all of the practice questions really helped put me at ease when the time came to take the real deal. The study manual also contains a lot of review information for the subjects that are included on the TEAS, but don't limit yourself to just the manual if you're weak in a particular area. My weakest area was math, so I used a lot of web resources to study for the math portion in addition to the ATI study manual.

I think it depends on the class size and clinical site availability in your area. My class was a little larger this year, so to ensure each student got the required number of clinical hours needed to graduate, we had morning (6AM to 3PM) and evening (1PM to 10PM) shifts at times. We didn't get to chose our schedule but if there was an issue on a particular day, we were able to switch with another student. My town is small, with a critical access hospital and a couple of nursing homes, so for some of our specialties we had to travel to larger areas.

When I started A&P II, a very dear friend of mine told me "When you do the cat, get a skinny one...the fat ones are a pain." hah! To answer the OP, it depends on the school. When I took A&P I (which was entirely an on campus class) we had a required dissection, and those that were on the fence about it were able to speak privately with the instructor. During A&P II (which I took entirely online) we had an optional dissection (a deer heart) and if we completed it, we received some extra credit points.

In the beginning I tried to read every single chapter we were given but it was a doozy:wtf: Based on my (little bit) of experience, I think it depends on the material you're learning, the book, and the instructor. Our medsurg book is amazing and I could read it daily despite it weighing 12lbs, but our health assessment book was terrible. You'll figure out pretty quickly which instructors you'll need to go more in depth with your reading for, and which you may not have to. About ATI, my program uses it quite extensively and from what I've seen, not every program does. If your program uses it, they'll have you order the books and website access when you start the program. (You can google "ATI (insert skill here)" too if you want to sorta see how their presentations are set up...like "ATI NG tube.") The books are easy to read and compact...but they don't have an index which is a bit annoying especially when you're knee-deep into a practice exam, really need to look something up, and it turns into a 20 minute affair (and I swear, I know how to read!)

It sounds like you have a great gameplan for how and when you want to complete your courses, test, and apply for your program, so I would go for it this fall. I graduate from my PN program this summer, and am taking pharm now. I wish I would've taken it prior to starting my nursing theory classes. (Pharm is a requirement for graduation from my program- not required for admission into the program.) You'll learn bits of pharm here and there through all of your theory classes, but I think you'll be ahead of the game if you do it prior to starting nursing theory classes and clinical. Good luck:)

Same here! I was always terrible at math. I had to take some remedial math before I could take college algebra (and I'm glad I did.) I didn't sail through it, but I passed, and it was also my highest score on the TEAS. For me, watching tutorials online after class helped the most, because I could see how the formulas worked multiple times and at my own pace even after lecture was over.

Too old? No way! I turned 35 in December and finish up my PN program this summer. I was surprised by the age diversity in my class (pleasantly!) Good luck:)

Just as an update (I cannot edit my above post from a few months ago,) all of the online components of the Elsevier / Evolve website and Ebooks now work on the Chromebook (highlighting, note taking, bookmarking, SimChart, etc.) The only exception is PageBurst, which still needs a PC to run.

In our program, our instructor is our go-to. They're ultimately responsible for our actions as students; we're working under their license while at a site. We're encouraged to trust and rely on the floor nurses wherever we are working, as it helps build our communication and team work skills. As far as a day-to-day...Usually our instructor will post a patient assignment at the facility on the day before a rotation. If it's a brand new facility, we get the assignment the morning of rotation, along with a brief tour on how/where/when to find everything and access the facility's records. If it's a facility we've been to before (like right now we're doing lots of long-term care,) we're responsible for going to the facility on our own time the day before, meeting the patient, gathering data, and coming up with a diagnosis and care plan. Then the morning of the rotation, we have a pre-conference with our instructor to go over our plans, then attend report with the floor nurse working with the patient. Sometimes we have to edit our plans depending on what the nurse has going on. It can be crazy. But every one I've worked with so far has been really great. Then we get to work. Our instructor is available to answer our questions, help, and supervise certain things like patient transfers. Then we meet for a post conference to discuss any issues and go home and write our voluminous reports.

Our school also separates Fundamentals into a lecture only course, and our lab/skill/clinical rotations into a Clinical Practice course. Our instructors use a traditional grading scale where anything below a 76% is failing and has to be remediated. Fundamentals: Exams 95% + Assignments/Quizzes 5% = 100% Clinical Practice: Lab skills, math, Lab work 70% + Quizzes 5% + Lab Exams 20% + ATI practice, proctored 5% =100%