Sacramento City College ADN 2014/15 - Anyone hear a decision yet?

HopefulRN86 · Apr 10, 2015

Sure, from what I experienced, during all the semesters; mondays we ALWAYS had off. Tuesdays we usually had lecture from 8 or 9 until 2 at the latest but sometimes we would get out as early as 11, and Wednesdays were usually lecture from 8 or 9 until about 11/1130 then we go to the hospital to prep on our patients until 2. Then Wednesday nights we have to do careplans which usually take like 6-8 hrs which are horrible. there were times when I didn't go to bed until 3 or 4, and had to wake up at 530. Thursday fridays we had clinicals at the hospital from 630 to about 2 pm. 1st semester we have only 1 patient, 2nd semester we have 2, 3rd semester we have 3, and 4th semester we have 4. Don't get too scared, we are working with a nurse who helps you. I'm in 4th semester now with 35 days left, woohoo!! in 4th we have no more careplans so it is so nice. They were such a time waster, I hated them.

So... 1st semester is hard because it was like culture shock for me. I had never been in health care, and I didn't know anything, I was so stressed. What I learned from 1st, is don't be afraid to ask for help!!!!!! I felt so discouraged because the staff really don't like seeing the 1 on your badge which means 1st semester, so honestly they are not nice when u ask questions, because they know u don't know anything, but don't be scared, ask ask ask! If you don't ask for help you might not be safe when moving a patient who just had hip or knee surgery, and then u could get kicked out and hurt a patient or yourself! I bought a lot of nclex books with the practice questions, during peds and ob I did like 300 a week, and I credit those a whole bunch for me passing the exams. I had to actually get on anxiety medication during part of the program and I had never been before, it was very stressful for me, but hey I made it, and I dont have to take it anymore. I think the most stressful part for me was in the hospital with the instructors watching us like hawks! No one is gonna hold your hand and teach you everything you need to know in the program, it's like boot camp, you gotta work your butt off, you get out of it what you put in. And just know where to find the answers at the hospital, use your resources! Look forward to the end though, it really is the light at the end of the tunnel. It's kinda funny because when you get in you are so excited, but once you are in the program you just want to graduate and get out ! 4th semester is so much easier than the others though really, it all comes together at the end! Feel free to ask me any other questions, I hope I didn't get too off topic. Good luck!

Onmyway17 · Apr 10, 2015

Thank you SO much for all your info. It was great hearing from someone who is going through it and is almost done! Congrats, you must be so happy! I'm sure you remember where I am at, lots of questions and worrying what it will be like and how I will juggle everything.

I'm curious, what makes these care plans so horrible? Is there a lot of writing or research involved? Did you get faster by the end of the 1st semester?

Was the culture shock you experienced to do with seeing people's body's and "stuff" (lol) for the 1st time and coming in contact with it all? Just curious? It will be interesting to see how I react to all these new experiences.

Thanks again for your great advice! :yes: I am definitely Listening.

Kel

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Apr 10, 2015

Hi HopefulRN86,
How is nursing school going for you? How do you like the school?
If you have a moment, I was hoping you could just give me a quick summary of what the class schedule is like 1st and 2nd semester? How many days? When are clinicals vs. class/lab time, etc.
What time were you usually home?
I have a family and I'm trying to prepare when I get into SCC or ARC. ;-) I tried posting this question elsewhere but no response, so hopefully you can help.
Thanks! Kel

I graduated from SCC about a year ago. Here's how things went for me.

The first 5-6 weeks in the first semester you'll be in class Tues-Friday, usually from about 8-2. During this time, you're learning the very basics of nursing, in effect, you're learning to be a CNA with a few "extra" things thrown in. Once you go to the hospital, your schedule gets modified a bit from what you were doing and it'll generally be this way until you graduate. Mondays off. Tuesday you do lecture from about 8 until about 2, sometimes a little earlier or later. Sometimes they'll have to do lecture later in the day, and if that happens, it becomes more like 11-4. Wednesdays are almost always short lecture (about 2-3 hours) and about 3 hours of prep at hospital. The lecture time usually matches Tuesday's start time and you start early, your prep will be in the afternoon. If your start time is late (afternoon) your prep will be in the morning before class. You'll do your care plans Wednesday night. At first this will take about 6-8 hours. Eventually you'll whittle that down to about 3 hours. Thursday and Friday you'll do patient care at the hospital and you're usually going to be there from 8 am to about 2 pm. Your clinical instructors usually require you to turn in your care plans so make sure you update them Thursday night. Bring along a blank copy or blank prep sheet as you may need this if one (or more) of your patients is sent home or is transferred.

The "maternity" care plans and psych care plans will be done differently from your med-surg care plans. You'll get the hang of doing them "that way" during those rotations. Third semester will be likely your most in-depth care plans and you'll be doing 3 (or more) of them every week. A couple times I ended up doing 6 because all 3 of my patients went off the floor (home or transferred) on Thursday night, so I had to pick up 3 more, assess them, and prep on them that night.

Fourth Semester, you'll still do some care plans, but not as involved. You still prep as much as you did before, but your care plan will be very much a skeleton of what it was before. Doing this care plan takes about 10 minutes. It's more like just pre-filling a brain sheet. Follow your instructor's lead on this. Certainly when you reach your preceptorship, you won't have time to prep. You show up, take report on your patients, and get things going. That also means no care plans at all. By then, you're expected to know your stuff.

Preceptorship is likely to be at least a 96 hour experience that takes place after your regular clinical time is complete. You're still doing at least 326 hours that semester in total. You can do AM or PM preceptorships and you'll work on your preceptor's schedule, so that could be a challenge. There are some restrictions for which days you can not do your preceptorship because you'll be in class or getting ready for class. I have heard of people being failed out clinically during preceptorship (even very, very late) so just because you've made it that far, doesn't mean you can relax a little and do things the way the floor nurses do them. Always be safe and do things the way you were trained to.

SCC's nursing program is one heck of a ride, but it's a LOT of fun and a great learning experience.

HopefulRN86 · Apr 10, 2015

Hey akulahawk, so i see you are kinda all over on this site lol, how do you get updates on who posts on the forums you follow?? Do you just check them all the time? You are so fast to reply to ppl! I have read some of your threads, so you are an ED nurse now? Was is hard for you to get a job? I hope to get hired thru sutter since I go to extended but there are no guarantees :/

HopefulRN86 · Apr 10, 2015

@kelhopeful, honestly akulahawk may have gotten faster at the careplans at the end, but I definitely never got it down to 3 hrs, maybe 5 at the least for me but everyone is different. The careplans aren't necessarily hard, they just take a lot of time researching meds, labs, and the patients' diagnosis, all the stuff you need to do to safely care for your patient. The culture shock came from basically the gravity of how much you need to know at the hospital and to care for patients, and I basically didn't know anything. At the end of the program they get you to know enough to know when to ask for help, they get you so you are safe to start learning. It takes years to become comfortable working as a nurse, and even then you don't know it all. We will always be learning, accept it now! Things will always be changing in medical care. Also, before I got into the program, I did everything I could to get organized at home, it helps when u get in. And maybe extended campus is different, but we never had careplans in 4th semester, just filling out our prep sheet/brain. :)

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Apr 10, 2015

Hey akulahawk, so i see you are kinda all over on this site lol, how do you get updates on who posts on the forums you follow?? Do you just check them all the time? You are so fast to reply to ppl! I have read some of your threads, so you are an ED nurse now? Was is hard for you to get a job? I hope to get hired thru sutter since I go to extended but there are no guarantees :/

I just go through recent posts and look for threads that might be interesting. I am an ED nurse now, but still very early in my career as one. It took me about 8 months to find a position. Many of my classmates are getting jobs or have moved on to a new 2nd or 3rd job. Some are just finding their first jobs. I was at the main campus, so I do not know how the Extended Campus grads are doing. I will say this much about the Extended Campus... it's much faster overall, but your program should otherwise be pretty similar to the main campus program. It's still 4 semesters, just all with about 2-3 weeks of a break between semesters. While you're at clinical, consider this one very long and protracted job interview so act accordingly. Get to know the major players and hopefully they can make things happen for you to get hired.

Onmyway17 · Apr 11, 2015

Thanks akulahawk! I appreciate you taking the time to share all the SCC info. I have a lot to straighten out with my family before I start school, so it's very helpful. It gives me a little peace of mind, knowing what's ahead.

Thank you!

Kel

Onmyway17 · Apr 11, 2015

Thanks HopefulRn! That is something I think about, just the enormity of what I will be learning and need to retain. Best of luck to you finding a job!

Kel