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Hey everyone, 3rd semester nursing student here on Summer break. I'll be around for some Q&A if you're interested. Feel free to pick my brains apart. I'll do my best to answer all questions. Good luck to all who have applied!

Are you looking to pack all your books, medical supplies, etc? Then you should get a suitcase with wheels... or something equivalent. Military rucksacks are great too if you don't mind bearing the weight on your shoulders. Chances are you won't really need to pack everything all the time unless that's what you want to do. I'd probably go with a SwissGear backpack. Plenty of room for books, supplies and your laptop if you wish to pack one for class. While we're on the subject of supplies. Two items I would recommend getting for clinicals: 1. A stethoscope holder. Some are cheap but you get what you pay for so consider yourself warned. 2. A medical folding clipboard. Why? Because during our clinical experience we had no place to place our folders or clipboards.

Think of practicum as a place to practice skills that you will apply in the hospital. They are definitely different in many aspects. Simulation day is a long day while practicum is either morning or afternoon. Practicum is more concerned with skills such as making an occupied/unoccupied bed, vital signs, etc. I also can't speak of simulation day because the first rule of simulation day is that you do not talk about simulation day and the second rule of simulation day is that you do not talk about simulation day. I think you see where this is going and you will see what I mean when you get there.

I work mostly for chump change but what I do for "work" is not in the context of what some of the other students in my class would do for a living. We have a student that works a graveyard shift and comes in that day to class after shift. How that student manages to function, volunteer, keep such high spirits and make the grade, is beyond me. The majority of the students in our class work their butts off over the weekends with little to no time off and most of them are making excellent grades. Anyway, I'm amusing that you will be taking Concepts, Pharmacology, Practicum and Clinical during the first semester. If this is the case, you will definitely feel spread out thin and there is always something due around the corner. Whatever "free time" you think you might have will most likely be spent studying for an exam around the corner or chipping away at future assignments, discussions, and so on. It's a lot but it is doable.

Dani, It's definitely not uncommon to attend class 4 days a week. So for example, lets make up a schedule and assign you to "Group 2". Your schedule might look something like this Week A: Tuesday - Sim day, Wednesday - Practicum, Thursday - Lecture, Friday - Clinical Week B: Tuesday - CRD, Wednesday - Practicum, Thursday - Lecture, Friday - Clinical Week C: Wednesday - Practicum, Thursday - Lecture, Friday - Clinical Now rotate week A, B & C every month.

Dani1951, CNA Our class was broken up into 3 different clinical groups. Group 1 would attend clinical on Monday and Groups 2 & 3 would attend clinical on Friday. Sim usually took place once a month on a day that you don't have clinical or class. Each group would rotate throughout the month. So for example, if you had clinical on Friday, you might have Sim on Tuesday the following week with your clinical group. And the week after you might have a CRD on a Tuesday with your whole class. The schedule was pretty solid. I don't ever recall having to change a clinical, sim or a crd day. Hope this answered your question.

They will walk you through everything on day one. That day is geared toward getting everyone on the same page and logged in to MyNursingLab. I believe our instructors provided us with a code to use for MNL even though we had an access code for both Concepts and Pharmacology.

DawnDragon21: Good news for you my friend. I did happen to stumble upon a study guide that I think might prove useful for you. It's called Fundamentals Success A Q&A Review Applying Critical Thinking to Test Taking (4th Edition). I wish I would have known about this book sooner. Anyway, I found it in B&N's Nursing section and decided to try out a few sample questions. I think pretty solid for a study guide that covers Fundamentals. Just keep in mind that nothing will replace your text books so when in doubt refer back to the books that you will be tested on.

I like the way you think! I also suggest creating a FB group page for your cohorts if no one has taken the liberty to do so yet. We have utilized this to keep in touch about up coming events, assignments, and so on. The sooner you and your classmates come together as a functional unit the better.

Personally, I found the ATI eBooks to be rather helpful. I believe these come as some sort of package or bundle deal with ATI so you don't need to worry about purchasing these books individually. A former student had advised me to check out Pharmacology made Incredibly Easy! but I never got around to it. Might be worth checking into if you have extra time on your hands. Unfortunately, I don't know of any other books or study materials that I could recommend to anyone. Most study guides appear to be geared towards the NCLEX rather than Fundamentals. The next best thing you could possibly do is create your own study guide. I suggest finding a group of students who will help divide and conquer all the modules that your class will be tested on for each exam. And in the end, you will have put together a huge final study guide for the final exam.

Charlotte campus. For practicum, you will only need to pack your Clinical Nursing Skills book. Be sure to watch any videos that are posted online before class and to print off any skills checkoff sheets that you need to. You'll be prepared and have a better understanding of what to expect when you do show up for class. For concepts, there will be days where you might want to pack both of your books. However, if you do read ahead and print off any power points you have for class, you won't really need to pack your books. I would however pack a laptop if you have one. Those come in handy when you need to look up information in class. Follow your syllabus and try to make a general outline of what you will need to focus on for each exam. As for clinical, we were never required to pack any books. I would suggest investing your money into a small clipboard that you can fold up and shove into one of your pockets.

Current FSW nursing student here for Q&A

I contacted a rep from ATI and they have made changes to their website. For example, the "Drug Guide" on your student homepage is no longer available (07/19/16) no further explanation was given at the time.

I do believe so. I've also been able to find the uniforms on Amazon as well as The Scrub Club inc.