RPN, Bridging Program & RN

[R2K2NE1]

Hi To All The Nurses On This Forum.

Well I got a few questions, but before that I shall tell you a little introduction about myself.

I am currently a practical nursing student at Sheridan College at Brampton. I'm not exactly the most brightest student in the course but I'm not the dumbest I think. I believe I could get better marks if I could focus more. Hopefully by December 2010 I will finish because currently I am suppose to be in fourth semester, but because of my low marks I wasn't able to pass everything from the past semester. Sadly I still have to do 2 course from semester 2 and 4 more courses in semester 3 to be able to do everything course in fourth semester. If your wondering what course I did bad in it is Lab 2, I get really nervous when doing finals and tend to forget and ramble on things. Lab 2 held me back so I wasn't able to do Lab 3 which is holding me back to do some Semester 4 courses because Lab's are a big prerequisite. But I did pass clinical 2 and could have done clinical 3 but decided not to do clinical 3 without lab 3.

So to get on with my questions-sorry about my long intro.

1) If I were to finish RPN this December and hopefully pass the board exam(oh GOD help me) will I be able to do Bridging right away?

2) Do I really need to do bridging to get to RN or I can just go straight to RN?

3) How long will I be in nursing school until I finish RN?

4) This is connected to question 3-Will my RPN years be counted for RN years like since I finish 2 Years of RPN does that mean I only have to do 2 more years of RN plus bridging if needed which will be 3 years? or my RPN years will not be counted and I still will be doing 5 more years of Nursing School.

5) Any recommendations of Colleges or University that has Bridging Programs within Ontario? And any Colleges or University you could recommend I should attend when I go onto RN within Ontario.

6) Any suggestions I could do to be less nervous when performing In front of teachers when doing demo's?

Early Thank You To Everybody Who Took The Time To Read And Help Me Out With My Questions.

[Fiona59]

Uhm, I would focus on actually graduating as a Practical Nurse. If you are having problems with the diploma, the degree could be a nightmare waiting to happen.

If you are nervous with instructors, how do you manage with patients on your clinical hours?

[kaiasunshine]

1) If I were to finish RPN this December and hopefully pass the board exam(oh GOD help me) will I be able to do Bridging right away?

My advice would be to go on a college website that offers the bridging program and look into it, all the school's I've seen that offer it want you to work at least 6 months as an LPN before you take the program.

2) Do I really need to do bridging to get to RN or I can just go straight to RN?

I don't understand the question?

3) How long will I be in nursing school until I finish RN?

Vancouver Community College has a bridging program where you come in on year 3 of the nursing program, so it would take you two years to get your degree if you're already an LPN I believe! I'm not sure that all schools do it the same way but, again, if you look on the websites of colleges that offer the program then all this information should be on it.

(can't help you with question 5 right now, unfortunately, google isn't working for me but it should be fairly easy just to search engine "practical nurse to rn bridging program ontario" or something like that!)

6) Any suggestions I could do to be less nervous when performing In front of teachers when doing demo's?

I get nervous in front of teachers too, and I think they expect you to be to some degree. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that you learned all of this before, you have the knowledge inside you, all you have to do is reach down and grab it! Pay attention in class, study HARDER THAN ANYTHING (this is college, not high school, you need to bust your ass constantly or else the only one who loses out is you!), take notes, and generally be prepared, and you will be more confident because you know you've tried so hard! Talk to your teacher and ask her/him about how to relax more and feel more confident doing demos, remember you're all there to learn :)

(btw I realize this reply is quite a bit late and you might already be finished, I hope you did well!!)

[R2K2NE1]

Hi this has been awhile, but I did graduate at my wanted date of december 2010 and got my license right away after graduation and within a few weeks of getting my license I got hired for a job =D and still working there.

For your question about managing with patients during clinical hours.

For some reason during clinical practices, I do really great. I get praises from all staff member on how well I perform duties and interact with everybody (When I was a student).

Now I'm trying to get into BScN but like I said in the past post I wasn't the brightest or dumbest. My marks weren't always the best except for my last 2 semester my marks were in the A's, but because of my short comings in 1st and 2nd semester which I did past but had really bad marks. I gotta repeat a few courses before getting into an Bridging program.