Stony Brook Accelerated Nursing Class of 2015

successful_danny · Jan 16, 2014

Hey guys i was accepted as well. Orientation is in JUNE/ and classes are starting mid-late June. I spoke to some of the staff and they told me to relax and enjoy life before the program :]

anna91 · Jan 16, 2014

the classes are starting in June not July?

HopefulSRNA1234 · Jan 16, 2014

the classes are starting in June not July?

According to the academic calendar you guys start July 1st. When you talk to people on the phone at HSC you will be told a different thing every time. It's really disorganized and no one knows what is going on but they all think they do.

fkanaffn5 · Jan 17, 2014

Im so confused! June? July?

Is anyone 100% sure? lol

Kris10Noel · Jan 17, 2014

Im so confused! June? July? Is anyone 100% sure? lol

Last years accelerated class began July 1st and had orientation the just the week before. I'm sure your class will be quite the same. July 1st falls on a Tuesday this year. Perhaps you will start on June 30th (a Monday). Don't sweat it. They will email you information in due time. For now, enjoy your freedom. Seriously!!

Mehv · Jan 17, 2014

Is the school going to communicate with us through the email we provided on the application or do we have to set up our new email on SBU site?

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2014

Is the school going to communicate with us through the email we provided on the application or do we have to set up our new email on SBU site?

Your first email from the professor will be sent to the email on your application.

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june_bug_blue · Jan 21, 2014

Can anyone give advice on whether I should get a car to get around? I saw on the website there is a car share program with Enterprise, but will we ever need to drive to other hospitals or facilities?

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Jan 21, 2014

Can anyone give advice on whether I should get a car to get around? I saw on the website there is a car share program with Enterprise but will we ever need to drive to other hospitals or facilities?[/quote']
If you are not in the Stony Brook 24, chances are good that you will likely have clinicals at off-site hospitals. You definitely need to get there by car, although you can always find people to carpool with. This may work out unless you are the type that hates to depend on others for rides like I am. I found having a car essential not only for clinicals but for commuting since I lived off campus. Even the LIRR to campus has a very shoddy schedule.
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bloodorange · Jan 22, 2014

Not to flog a dead horse, but I want to understand the clinical situation a little better.

As I understand it: SB24 means you sign up to have all your clinicals at SBUMC; Traditional means you go to different LI hospitals for your clinicals, including some at SBUMC. OK. Then there's the DEU, which is going to be a unit at SBUMC where you do both your med-surg and your capstone, if you pick DEU. Is the DEU choice separate from the SB24 vs. Traditional choice?

It seems like if someone is set on finding a job at SBUMC, they should go DEU and probably also SB24 (if that's an option). For someone willing to roam around LI or maybe go for one of the NS-LIJ hospitals, Traditional would be fine. I am personally not dead-set on working at SBUMC after graduation, although it would be great; that said, it seems smart to get the intensive clinical experience of the DEU. (I'm also not dead-set on a specialty. I currently volunteer on an ortho med/surg unit and like it; I'm also interested in midwifery and public health and am a little bit all-over-the-place. I'm looking forward to "feeling the pull" toward a particular type of work during clinicals.) I'm thinking about trying to go DEU, and then being open to doing my other clinicals as Traditional (all over LI).

Does this get fully explained during orientation, so we know what the heck we're deciding for ourselves? (is my Type A showing???? I WANT TO DO EVERYTHING RIGHT, DARN IT! ha ha ha.)

What do you current students/alums think about choosing a clinical path?

Thank you all for being so awesome along the way!!

HopefulSRNA1234 · Jan 22, 2014

It will definitely not get explained at orientation! Like not at all! But you have a different director so that could change. I just wrote like an essay about this in a different forum so I'll paste it here :)

To answer your specific questions though, preferential treatment for SBU employment is given to SBU24, not really DEU. Problem with working at SBU is that they can/will offer you a job before you take your NCLEX so before you can even apply to other places. So that means that if you want to explore other options, you won't be able to accept SBU employment so early (so being in SBU 24 is not going to help you). DEU is a completely separate clinical track than SBU24 and traditional. You choose one of the three and you're in that track for the whole year. you only get the DEU experience for med surge and fundamentals. For the other clinicals you will be just like the traditional people and can be placed anywhere. DEU isn't a specific unit, it is a clinical track. So you can be on any actual unit at SBU for med surg and fundamentals, it just means that you will be placed with nurses in a 2:1 ratio rather than 8:1 (though that isn't always how it turns out).

Here is my post in the other forum: There are three different options for clinicals: DEU, tradition (which may not be around for you guys) and SB24. In SB24 you'll have all you clinicals (except part of your psych) at Stony Brook. The benefit is that you'll always be at stony brook and that you'll be with a lot of the same people in your clinical groups which is nice. You're also a lot more likely to get a job at SBU after you graduate. Stony Brook is a great hospital to do clinicals. In general, people like being there for clinicals. The nurses are typically nice and since it is a teaching hospital, people who work on the unit are use to having students and most are helpful.

DEU is dedicated education unit. You'll be at SBU for Med Surg, Capstone, and Fundamentals, other hospitals for the other clinicals. At SBU, you'll be assigned to nurses in a 2:1 ratio so you typically get more attention from the nurses and get to do more with patients. You might learn a little more in clinicals. I was in a DEU and this wasn't always the case in my group but that is the purpose. The only potential downside of DEU is that you will have to do your capstone at SBU so if you were hoping to get some good quality experience at another hospital that you want a job at, you won't have that option. Other downside is that you can go anywhere for the other clinicals (Last semester I had one clinical in queens and another in Southampton, that sucked).

Traditional means that you'll also be at SBU for fundamentals (everyone is) and then can be anywhere else for any of the other clinicals. The benefit is that you have a lot more choices of where to go for capstone. So if you had your heart set on working at a certain hospital after graduation, you could potentially do your capstone there. But be warned, the school has to have contracts in place with the hospital you do your capstone at so it can be a total crap shoot as to whether or not you get the hospital you want. Also, as mentioned with the DEU, you can be placed anywhere on the island so you'll likely be doing a lot more driving.

In general, SBU clinicals are good because they are close to campus and generally the staff is nice and wants to help you. Going to other hospitals can be great and can be terrible; it really varies. Some hospitals are not used to having students and the nurses can be super annoyed with having us on the unit and in some cases just be mean. Other times you can have a great experience. It really just depends. Also, if you choose to do traditional or DEU, be warned that you could be driving all over the island for clinicals. This worked great for people who lived in queens for example because they would have clinicals close to home. As for me, I lived near SBU and had an hour commute to my clinical in Southampton which meant leaving my house at 5:45 am and getting home sometimes after 8 pm. I was not a happy camper with that. But the clinicals are short; we only went to that one 6 times.

I don't think I've heard anyone say they regret the decision they made (SBU, DEU, etc). Most people enjoyed their clinicals. It definitely matters more who you're with and who your instructor is than where you are. Also, most of the clinicals (with the exception of med surg) are super short and you only go a max of 7 times so no matter where you are, love it or hate it, it will be over soon enough! I went to various hospitals and I don't think I had a more well rounded experience than those who stayed at Stony Brook. Sometimes I wished I had just been at Stony Brook. For example, for OB, I think Stony seemed to be the place to be. They saw the most births. At some of the other hospitals there was not enough births for everyone to see one. Stony is also a state hospital which means you get a more diverse set of clients than for example a nicer private hospital. I haven't really heard that anyone really loved other hospitals but I'm sure some people did.

In my opinion, I think staying with Stony Brook is the safer bet if you live near the school. If you live in Nassau or the city, I'd go with DEU or Traditional. Well that was an essay and just my opinion but hope that helped!

HopefulSRNA1234 · Jan 22, 2014

As for areas of specialty I went in thinking the I wanted to do OB or ER and that the only thing I wouldn't do was peds and now Peds is my favorite! Keep your mind open. Things might be different than what you though (OB is horrendously boring! IMO). Some people still have no idea though and that's okay because the job market is so tough, if you have your heart set on something, you might be unemployed awhile trying to find it! Also, a lot of nurses recommend going to med surg for at least a year before you specialize. Don't worry too much about having to find your ultimate nursing passion while in school. It will happen eventually.