CiaraLopez

I am a second year nursing student and have gained my preceptorship in the NICU... I am looking for tips on medications to know, procedures to be familiar with, lab values to engrain into my head etc. I only had one day in the NICU in my pediatric rotation but I ABSOLUTELY loved the environment. I feel like it's the place for me. I love the ICU setting and the NICU is so close to my heart due to family having spent months there. I want to get the most out of my preceptorship and really impress the NICU staff to hopefully land a job upon graduating. My connection that has been helping me with preceptorship has told me that she thinks it's highly possible. I am SO excited for the opportunity but I have to be the best I can be. I have a 4-month summer coming up in which I plan to review lots from med-surg/fundamentals/peds/OB but I also want to prepare for preceptorship. I was even looking into getting NRP certified but have been told it's too hard unless you already work with babies as a nurse (I am a CNA in L&D). I am looking for tips/cheat sheets/resources/books/anything you can recommend to me :) Hopefully, one day soon, I can call myself a NICU nurse like all of you. I think it is so amazing what you do and I have the utmost respect for it. Please and thank you!

Just the course average! But you have to meet with the professors if you get below a 78 on an exam

Sorry I forgot to reply! Most of the homework is due to studying. We had a paper or two to write and I don't remember having too much else. The studying alone is plenty. You have to study quite a bit from this point on. There is no way around that. I wrote a blog post about nursing school and how you can succeed... I'm corny like that lol I'll post it here.: "Nursing school and how you can enjoy it" Ahhhh. The unique experience that nursing school is. It is most definitely like no other college experience I have ever had. I knew it was going to be academically challenging, that has been no surprise. However, I didn't realize how cool it was going to be, to be around people who share so many similarities with you. I am all about helping others and offering consolation to prospective nursing students. Disclaimer: I still have no idea what I am doing and I am not attempting to insinuate that I do. Every day of nursing school is a new adventure and I am merely attempting to share the few tips I have. I have learned a lot in just the first 3 weeks of nursing school and I am loving most of it. Here is what I have learned: Sleep is VERY VERY VERY important. So many college students feel the need to pull all-nighters studying in to the wee hours of the morning. I am here to tell you to stop doing this. Why? well our bodies need sleep so much to function. Depriving yourself of sleep is equivalent to making your body choose which body systems to maintain to the highest levels of efficiency. You know like, maintaining body temperature, controlling heart rate and respiration's, digesting food, and powering your brain. Is it really wise to deplete our body's energy reserves and in reality force our body to work with less than optimal conditions? So what can we do instead? WAKE UP EARLY PEOPLE. Go to bed no later than 10:30 pm and wake-up at 4 or 5 am. No one else should be awake, you really shouldn't be that hungry, and you can review material before your lectures. Just listen to your body. If you are dozing off at your laptop, do you honestly believe that your brain is retaining anything you are trying to cram in? I promise you it's not. On a little side note, when you are learning a great deal of information, your brain needs more sleep than usual in order to process all of the new things. Think about how much sleep babies need. They are learning so much, that's why! I cannot speak for those of you working full-time jobs and raising children as well as attending nursing school. You have my respect. Do whatever it takes to get through and God-bless you, freaking powerhouses. 2. Eating nutritious food is a must. Don't fall into the trap of gaining the "nursing school 50". Once you start learning about the effects of immobility and weight gain on your body, you'll probably lose weight out of fear anyways. Don't eat fast-food every day. That's not okay. Meal-prep, meal-prep, meal-prep. You have one day off every week/week and a half if your like me. Cook a ridiculous amount of food on this one day. Pack lunches for the whole next week. Make easy food. Crock-pots are your BFFs. I personally am always studying. I personally believe that it is better to get up and move on study breaks. I get much more energy if I throw a load of laundry in the wash, sweep my living room, or start some soup in the crock-pot rather than turning on Netflix for 20 minutes. Get that blood flowing my friends. Just do some jumping jacks or something. 2.Drinking something all the time. Personally, I love hot drinks. I love cappuccinos, coffees, and teas. Rather than eating a whole bag of salt and vinegar chips (I have done this a million times myself), try to quench boredom/studying snacking by drinking (no alcohol, it'll reflect on your work lol). 3. Don't dwell on grades. If you got into nursing school, you are 9 times out of 10 going to be a type-A personality. Let go of your idea of perfection. Perfection is nonexistent from this point on. C's get degrees my friends. Oh, failing is also now considered anything less than 78% so try to stay above that threshold and you'll be fine. 4. Stay positive. No one wants to hear about how hard nursing school is for you 24/7. Venting to the right people (your classmates who totally relate and need to vent also) is essential to not annoying the living daylights out of your non-nursing friends and family. No one forced you into nursing school. You made this choice. Be grateful to have the chance to pursue your dreams and try your best to make the most out of this time (I need to read this EVERY TEST DAY). 5. Be friendly and help your classmates out. You all made it into nursing school, the competition is over. There is a huge nursing shortage so there's no need to be so cut-throat with everyone. You made a killer study guide? Share it. I promise it'll come back to you in your favor when you need the extra boost from someone else one day. Some people are better at certain topics than others. Someone else may kill it in oncology and you may be the pediatric champion. Help each other. You might as well start learning how to be an advocate for people, it's going to be part of your job as a nurse soon. Also, your about to become a part of the Health care TEAM. 6.Study every day. Read your syllabus, it is now a bible. Don't ask your instructors stupid questions that they have already covered. This makes you look like you aren't putting in the effort, and I promise, they hate repeating themselves just as much as you do. Some people will lie to you in life and tell you that there is no such thing as a stupid question. There is, they are the questions that you ask that someone else already answered that you would've caught if you were paying attention. 7.Bring an iPad or computer to take notes. One 2-hour lecture may equal 20 pages of typed notes. YOUR HANDS WILL FALL OFF. Just trust me on this one. Do not test your hands' limits. Failure will ensue. 8.Just take a chill pill. If you do really bad on an assignment, this does not mean the end of the world. Things will work out. Talk to your professors, they want you to do well. 9.Do not be afraid to question your grades. Instructors aren't perfect because they also fall into the category of human. They might make a mistake on a test. If you can back up your argument with evidence from the textbook, it is so worth bringing up (in a nice manner!!!!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. Do not attack the graders of your work, they hold power). They are likely to make it right. They will probably respect you more for having that tactful, open-dialogue relationship and taking pride in your work. 10.Don't cheat. You need to learn this stuff to pass the NCLEX. Just do your own work. If you cheat and somehow manage to pass the NCLEX, you will still be an incompetent caregiver and will endanger your patients. Plus, it doesn't feel good to suck at your job. Don't suck :)

Well Zebrook goes over what topics are going to be on the tests, read the slides and look over text. She pulls from the book and slides. I made study guides from what she said and covered in class. They are long though. Lots of work. 15 pages per test I'd say I did.

We go over a lot in each lecture. There is just endless material. In health assessment we had quizzes every single class since it was once a week.

I had a 4.0 last semester [emoji5]️ my goal is to keep that but it's gonna be super challenging as I continue on in the program. I've heard this next semester is really hard.

Hey! No problem. Last semester I was at Health Park Care Center & Gulf Coast Hospital on the Orthopedics floor. We were there from 6:30-2:30. The coolest stuff I got to do was give PO meds, IM injections, & SubQ injections. I also packed a really bad wound which was awesome. The hardest part is always having like 3-4 test a week. It was hard to adjust to that much stress every week. We started to say that pretty much every week in nursing school is like finals week is for other majors [emoji23] but it's absolutely manageable!

Hello all! Congrats to those of you who made it in to the program!!! I am starting the 2nd semester in August. I love it so far. It's tough but I miss it right now being on summer break. I know the curriculum is completely changing so I'm not sure how much help I can be... but if you have any questions feel free to ask. I know they are horrible about giving out info and answering questions. I'm sure you still have the same professors we did. They are awesome! Especially Prof Zebrook! You will love her. Congrats again!! [emoji173]️

Hope everyone had a great first day! Can anyone post the link to the Lee full-time day Facebook page? I can't find it

Hey! I am wearing the full lab outfit! I have the same classes tomorrow. I was wondering about the shoes too. I haven't gotten my badge yet, I'm sure we will tomorrow or Monday in the orientation

I know it says that our class begins the 7th so idk if that means go to my Thursday 7th class then that next Monday 11th go to that 8-2:30??? just want to double check with you guys, I'd hate to miss the first day of school.

Hey guys, I was reading through the acceptance email to make sure I'm not missing anything, do we have orientation this Monday at Lee campus @ 8 am? I am kind of confused by the wording with the dates and stuff & of course the school is closed until this Monday so I can't call. I found it really easy to miss this, it is at the top, but with so much attached to that email it was so easy to overlook that and get distracted with other attachments! .

Yeah I'm doing the same. If we only have one clinical day that should be fine. The ladies working at Hamiltons talked me out of 2 sets for now.

I bought one set of scrubs, the polo shirt, and some shoes ($68) my total was $130. I don't know how much the scrubs/polo were though.

I don't know about you guys but I am too excited to start! I hope that January comes quickly! I just can't wait.