VerticalHorizon

The first reply pretty much told it all. But it really depends on the hospital and step down unit. My PCU floor at a very large level 1 trauma hospital takes almost all drips, and vents. Our ratio is supposed to be 3:1 but it's usually 4:1 and occasionally 5:1 due to the hospital wide staffing shortage. An ICU and stepdown both have their pros and cons, you will obviously have higher acuity patients in an ICU but you will have a lower ratio. My PCU patients are just a mixed bag, some would be okay on a normal medsurg floor and some should be in an ICU. Try to shadow on as many units as you can to get a feel for them because they are all different.

I think almost all my tests were one minute per question, maybe a even little less. One minute is more than enough time to answer the question, especially if all or most of the questions are multiple choice. If you do not know the answer within the first 30 seconds then skip it and come back to it at the end. In nursing school your are going to need to know how to prioritize your time and be efficient.

Every person is different, some people are not good at managing their time or feel the need to study and do school stuff 24/7. Others can set aside time every day or week to have fun or spend on other stuff. Yes, ABSN programs are challenging and require a great deal of time in and out of the classroom but you should always have a few hours a week to yourself. I had a free day almost every week where I would spend the day with my gf or family, just be wise with your time and don't feel guilty about not studying 24/7.

When I was in school I did not find my two years of prereqs for my ABSN program to be very demanding or difficult at all. I worked 25-50 hours a week while having 15+ credit hours every semester. I think I found it easy because all of those lower level classes are mostly just memorization which I excel at, but that came back to bite me in nursing school because I actually had to study a ton and had never actually studied before so it was a shock.

I dont think anyone has ever pointed out or discussed that I was a male nurse in school or at work. I dont think its even rare to be a male, sure we are still the minority but its definitely commonplace.

You need to educate yourself on the transmission of blood borne disease. There is absolutely zero chance you were infected with something from picking up an alcohol swab with a little blood on it. Even if you stick yourself with a needle with infected blood there is an extremely small chance of contracting the disease, it's less than 2% for HepC and less than 0.5% for HIV.

It all depends on the program, I would set up a meeting with them to talk about it in person when you apply. For what it's worth I knew two people who had a DUI on their records from several years back in my graduating class.

Yes, you are worried for no reason.

I would be concerned with the program itself. For one it doesn't seem very smart to do all of the exams at the end of the program, you should be completing them near the end of their respective courses. Secondly if you and most of your class are failing every exam then that means you are not ready for the NCLEX. The purpose of the ATI tests is to show how likely you are to correctly answer those questions during the NCLEX. You shouldn't need to study anything in order to reach level 2 if you passed the course.

Carhartt because they are really durable, have good pockets and don't break the bank.

I remember in my second semester that there was a student who fell asleep in lab one day and then a couple weeks later fell asleep in clinical, she was kicked out after that.

Pharm and MedSurg I was the hardest for me and I think most of the people I graduated with would agree. The pharm class was a disaster from the start because they changed the curriculum and was taught by professor who had never taught it before. The difficulty was further compounded by having every pharm and medsurg test on the same week one day apart. Almost everyone was drowning that semester and we lost so many people. This was the 2nd semester of a 4 semester 16 month ABSN program and the two semesters after that were a breeze in comparison.

No its not discrimination. She can not provide a urine sample for testing so she has to be tested in another way which happens to be more time consuming and expensive. Its not like the school has any control over the price, why does everyone want to play a victim?

I know it sucks to fail a class and have to retake but its not the end of the world. You are lucky you can retake the class next semester and not have to wait a whole year or even not be readmitted to the program. Tons of people fail a class in nursing school and come back, graduate, get a job and continue on like normal. Mentally prepare yourself for next semester and learn from your mistakes, dwelling on the past and feeling down will not help you.

We always got a card and small gift for each clinical instructor we had. But by the end of nursing school and half a dozen or more clinical instructors later it began to rub me the wrong way. Why give a gift and card to someone who is simply doing their job and getting paid for it? I can understand if the instructor was great and went above and beyond to help the students or you personally but many were not like that. Many people in my class felt the same way but we did it anyway because thats what was expected. But to answer your question I say you should send it since she helped you so much and made a good impact on you, they will be appreciative of it.