SAN JOAQUIN DELTA COLLEGE FALL 2019 ADN

33 minutes ago, BCAN said:

ok so regular cohort had lecture and skills with us. Half the class did skills Monday morning , the other half in the afternoon. Lectures were Thursdays 1230-5.pm . The regular cohort has more options when it comes to clinical sites and they go from 630 am to 2 pm I believe. Fasttrack only gets 2 options. You take one class at a time, so nursing 1 finished right around spring break, then we started nursing 2.

The math test I failed I was just stupid. I forgot how many oz were a pound or something like that. it was only 5 questions. It was about measuring meds ( not IV). I grew up abroad, so I learned Math a different way, and Mrs Porter insisted that I do the work the standard way and it messed me up. It was like trying to write with my left hand. I lost all confidence and got really nervous. I knew the material, but it was week 2, so it snuck up on me. They won't remind you that you have tests coming, so keep up and write everything down on your schedule.

The workload isn't SO BAD. I spend most Fridays and Saturdays studying or doing school work all day and I did well. With our schedule I couldn't get much done during the week. I commute, so I spend about 8 hours/ week driving to a from school. It sucks, but the drive gets better the more you do it.

How many times per week do you do clinicals/lecture? How long are clinicals?

Do you have kids or work? 

I will be commuting too and I have a kid under 2. I am scared. I’m a good student almost all As. But the commute (50 miles) and clinicals scare me cuz now I have to study with a kid! 

1 hour ago, Lady2020 said:

How many times per week do you do clinicals/lecture? How long are clinicals?

Do you have kids or work? 

I will be commuting too and I have a kid under 2. I am scared. I’m a good student almost all As. But the commute (50 miles) and clinicals scare me cuz now I have to study with a kid! 

For the regular cohort : Lecture is once/week,  skills is only the first semester once/ week. 2 days of clinicals (630-2:00 or 2:30?) So 4 days the first semester, then 3 days the rest of the time 
I have 2 kids. It's hard and I feel guilty all the time, my husband is very supportive and takes them out most Saturdays so I can study/ do work. His mom picks them up from school when I'm in Stockton and keeps them for an hour or 2  till my husband picks them up. Most people in my clinical group are parents, some work. I quit working in December. One of my friends is a single mom of a toddler and gets As all around. it's doable.
With a kid that small you should take as much help as you can. Time is flying by!. Your kid will benefit from this for the rest of their life. Mom guilt is real, but don't let it stop you.

I should add.. I wish I knew these things. It's very hard to fail one of your classes, so take a deep breath. There are remediation opportunities. Last week I failed my skill competency.I could not sleep the night before. I was so nervous because we had 4 or 5 skills and got tested on one at random, so you need to know all of them really well because you don't know which one you will get. They just told me what I did wrong, I went to practice, then I passed it almost perfectly an hour later. If you fail one of your care plans you talk to your instructor and redo it... they don't just say "Oh well, you failed... moving on" you know. I don't know about exams because I haven't failed any. You have to have at least a 75% in all your exams combined to pass (before they add other points from computer work) , so if you have 73% for all your exams even if your computer work brings you up to a 79% you don't pass. Makes sense? 
I heard of people going "on contract" which I guess is when you aren't doing so good. The idea is to catch it before it gets too bad ( instead of people just failing or waiting till the last exam to try to save the semester), so being on contract keeps you more alert and the instructors more aware of who is struggling.

2 hours ago, BCAN said:

For the regular cohort : Lecture is once/week,  skills is only the first semester once/ week. 2 days of clinicals (630-2:00 or 2:30?) So 4 days the first semester, then 3 days the rest of the time 
I have 2 kids. It's hard and I feel guilty all the time, my husband is very supportive and takes them out most Saturdays so I can study/ do work. His mom picks them up from school when I'm in Stockton and keeps them for an hour or 2  till my husband picks them up. Most people in my clinical group are parents, some work. I quit working in December. One of my friends is a single mom of a toddler and gets As all around. it's doable.
With a kid that small you should take as much help as you can. Time is flying by!. Your kid will benefit from this for the rest of their life. Mom guilt is real, but don't let it stop you.

Yeah mom guilt is awful. Thanks for all the info!

Dang, 1st semester sounds rough.  I have 4 kids and am trying to work part time and take a Physics class... I might have to drop it if things get rough, but I am used to a very heavy class load.

15 minutes ago, halfcourt95k said:

Dang, 1st semester sounds rough.  I have 4 kids and am trying to work part time and take a Physics class... I might have to drop it if things get rough, but I am used to a very heavy class load.

Dang! Why do you need a physics class? I took it along with A&P and it was hard to take two sciences at once.

23 minutes ago, Lady2020 said:

Dang! Why do you need a physics class? I took it along with A&P and it was hard to take two sciences at once.

I'm almost done with my BA in Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Science.  My long term goal for graduate school is to either do nurse practitioner, doctor of physical therapy, or maybe medical school.  I'm going to work as a nurse on night shift to put myself through grad school.  I quit a 15 year career to go to school starting from scratch, and this was the fastest path to a really good job that I could find... and also something relatable to those fields.

1 hour ago, halfcourt95k said:

I'm almost done with my BA in Kinesiology with a concentration in Exercise Science.  My long term goal for graduate school is to either do nurse practitioner, doctor of physical therapy, or maybe medical school.  I'm going to work as a nurse on night shift to put myself through grad school.  I quit a 15 year career to go to school starting from scratch, and this was the fastest path to a really good job that I could find... and also something relatable to those fields.

Oh gotcha. Yeah I am a Kinesiology major as well at Sac state, that’s why I took physics too.  I’m at 85 units but I decided to go nursing and then NP. My original plan was PT (when I had some injuries and was interested in the field) but I think it might be boring. So then I thought maybe PA but I don’t have any health care experience. 

So I switched my major to nursing after having a baby. I don’t want a useless BS Kinesiology major. And I would need patient care hours for PA school. 

 

My my dream job is to be a PA or NP. I have all the prerequisites for both. 

39 minutes ago, Lady2020 said:

Oh gotcha. Yeah I am a Kinesiology major as well at Sac state, that’s why I took physics too.  I’m at 85 units but I decided to go nursing and then NP. My original plan was PT (when I had some injuries and was interested in the field) but I think it might be boring. So then I thought maybe PA but I don’t have any health care experience. 

So I switched my major to nursing after having a baby. I don’t want a useless BS Kinesiology major. And I would need patient care hours for PA school. 

 

My my dream job is to be a PA or NP. I have all the prerequisites for both. 

Right on!  Yeah, I only need about 20 units to finish my BS, and then all I'd need for PT would be the physics series.  I'm taking Chem 102 this summer.  You are right about the BS, going only that far it is pretty useless unless you do a credential program to teach PE.  That would be fun, but not worth the investment on my education.  I had a union job for 15 years so I wanted to do something that would provide better for my family, and be more fulfilling.

Student Packet is up!

@BCAN thank you for the information! It was very helpful. 

Has anyone read the student information packet? It seems like we have a lot to purchase out-of-pocket. Any suggestions on where to purchase a decent, but not too expensive stethoscope? Also, any ideas about where to get the appropriate shoes?

@BCAN  you think 1 day of theory is enough?? Seems like you would spend more time on your own learning, it seems like 2 days of lectures will give you more of a guidance of what to study, do you know if people were fine with 1 day theory?