GrammyCat

Most students get in with mostly A's, some B and very high HESI. Spring 2016 had a pretty high foundations semester failure rate, so it may be those students weren't as prepared. Preparation is very heavy. First exam was 22 chapters. It is constant and that is before assignments, skills lab and clinical work. Be prepared to work harder than you ever have in your life. If you work hard and stay focused you will do well.

Are you kidding me, Roy Hanson? Did you not read that we have lived through this as caregivers and nurses???? Your responses are RUDE, dismissive and ignorant. So, what is YOUR experience with Alzheimer's, and how many of your 25 years have you taken CARE of the Alz pt ? How did your bad attitude work for that pt? What did you do for them? My guess is that you just treated them as an annoyance or ignored them? It sounds like YOU need to get an education. Go volunteer. I dare you.

LadySolo... EXACTLY. No one has a CLUE until they walk in our shoes. If they did, they would run away screaming.

I did. I accessed every resource, read every book, did it all on my own. No help at all from Alz society or neurologists. I learned everything I could, wrote reports for neurologist, gp, cardiac dr. Jerk family never bothered to learn or read anything, then tried to throw me out of hospital when dr's wanted to know mom's status. Key phrase: Is that a part of stage 5? She was stage 7 and thought I was her mother.. cognitive age of a 3 year old. I have taken care of an Alz patient last week in clinical and advocated for her with physician and charge nurse and they both told me that my knowledge made the difference. So, I think I still want to go into gerontology, but MAN... its some hard s*** to deal with when it hits close to my heart.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. My boyfriend and I were his mothers full time 24/7 caregivers until she passed last July. The isolation and utter exhaustion of the caregiver is health destroying. I was doing my nursing prereqs at the same time, and in the last year and half we didn't have one day or night away. 3 other siblings refused to visit, call or help in anyway, but boy, they sure swooped in when she was unconscious in the active dying process...a 6 day heart-rending ordeal of us being shoved out of the way so they could all beat their chests and nash their teeth. As soon as she passed, they turned on us like ravenous vultures. Stole everything they could get their hands on, threw us out of the house Mom wanted us to stay in, and highjacked the funeral guests away from the reception we had prepared. We are no contact with them now, and the only one that helped us died of a massive MI one month ago from the stress. The fact is that the healthcare system needs planning and a way to handle the massive influx of alz/dementia cases.. It is the #6 cause of death in the US and the assisted living/memory care homes are hit and miss for quality. $8000/month is out of the reach of almost all families, so it falls to the families to do the best they can, and then suffer again after the role is done. I do a lot of caregiver support for other caregivers and I can tell you, this is only going to get worse as the baby boomers continue to age. Age is the factor that increases risk and can't be modified by any interventions.

Something else you may want to consider: The cost of living. My brother moved from Canada to New Zealand 10 years ago, married a Kiwi and had two kids. They just moved back to Canada a year ago. When I visited, I was shocked at the cost of living. They owned a regular, small, 1100 sqft house, and the mortgage was $500,000. Groceries are extremely expensive, a weeks worth of bare basics, ran about $350. ( example, each chicken breast portion.. $11. I planned to buy the kids a single serving bag of potato chips... $6) My brother eventually got permanent residency, but it was a long, difficult process, even with 2 advanced degrees, a wife, children and obvious commitment to the process.

Excellent topic. I am recareering INTO nursing (foundations student), and just turned 50 in January. This topic has been on my mind, as I try to figure out what avenue to aim for, for my first clinical position. I do think about what roles would be best, as I age into this career. Due to my age, I don't know how long the heavy duty lifting is actually feasible.

I was very grateful for the hospice nurses that helped us. They were so caring, wonderful and compassionate, my goal for my nursing career is to provide that same support to patients and their families. My only point was that I wish we had found them earlier. Too many caregivers are not given the information to have this assistance, when it is needed. I sure as heck didn't sit on a lazy butt... I learned EVERYTHING I could for Alzheimers care, and our experience with hospice in the last 2 weeks of Mom's life gave me a total respect for this work, and the nurses who do it.

Yes, the care falls to the family.. but know this.. ONE member 95% of the time. My BIG ASK, is if all nurses that care for a dementia pt or alzheimers in any clinical regard, make sure that discharge planning includes referrals to a social worker to get the family member caregiver, actual, tangible help. My bf and I were the only caregivers for his 82 yr old mother with Alzheimers for 3 years though stages 6 and 7. I was doing my pre-reqs to become a nurse at the same time! Now that I am a nursing student, writing my own care plans, I am so upset that no one did the basics for supporting us, the caregiver, now that I know what they should have done. At the last hospitalization in stage 7, I begged for hospice, because I felt death was imminent and we promised she could pass at home. Suddenly, the magic word..... my specific request for hospice information got us the support at home during the 6 days of her active dying process. Remember how we are supposed to assess if a pt can pay for medication? Please know that a memory care placement averages $8,000 a month, IF you can get a placement spot. Insurance will not pay for care up front, applications for VA coverage take months to years, and We couldn't afford memory care, the only option was for my bf to close his business to care for his mother. I am part of an Alzheimers/Dementia Caregivers support board now, and I am shocked at the number of caregivers that still do not know they can ask for referrals to hospice. Please offer hospice referrals to families. If nurses don't do it, it doesn't happen and in our case, Mom's neurologist, GP, cardiologist providers all dropped the ball.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/762514483860844/ TCC Spring 2016 Nursing Students. It's a closed group, so search it and join. Admin will add you. Catherine.

The date for the meetup has been changed to NEXT week, Nov. 4.

Fellow nursing students, I'm in, I just found this forum tonight! I sent a join request to the FB class page. Soooo freaking excited! Since I just joined this forum, I can't send PM yet. Can someone send me the info on the get together? Catherine