Saint Paul College

PeepnBiscuitsRN · Apr 10, 2011

Hi there!

I graduated from SPC in spring 2006. I won't lie, the program was rigorous- unless things have changed a lot in 5 years I'd expect the same, in fact I precepted SPC students for their peds clinical and heard a lot about how the program has evolved since I graduated. I did some skills test outs last fall too.

I'll be honest- I don't want you to drop the program over what I say because I passed NCLEX and I think I was better off because of the program. While in the program, however, I found myself hating it. I felt like the instructors were VERY intimidating, and very unpredictable with whether or not you passed or failed. The instructor I had for first clinical sort of set the mood. However, she was fired because she was just plain sadistic.

Expect that your instructors will want you to be on top of things, they will want you to be ready for med passes, have your med cards ready and understood. I think a big element for the program is humility- you know...just because you're an LPN doesn't mean you're not going to be doing CNA stuff. (Just as with your RN, you'll still find yourself doing CNA stuff and that's good). I think they were a tad heavy on the nursing home aspect of things, and didn't really cover a lot of ambulatory elements- when I was in the program, there were still a few hospitals that hired LPN's and so they taught under the understanding that we'd all be going to LTC/TCU/hospital. This was frustrating for me, who was intending to work in a clinic, in pediatrics.

Many of the instructors are kind of from the "old school" way of nursing, and so that's kind of how they taught, and the way they approached things. No arguments, just do.

In their defense though, having some distance, I can see why they were tough- a lot of it had to do with us. The students. Many students had a bad attitude, had a sense of entitlement, what I saw was a lot of people whose first language was not english, and that was NOT the problem, it was that they used it as an excuse to get away with some really not good things...like cheating on tests for example! There's been other things too, but it's been secondhand info from students I precepted, so I'm going to treat it as gossip, but some of it I believe. My advice is to find a good group of people to study with, and stick with it, do exactly as they tell you and know that you're working hard for something really good- and they know that and that's why they're putting you through your paces.

Oh, and I'll say it really prepared me to work with some tough docs, and it really prepped me for when I went back for my RN.

Good luck!