Thomas Jefferson FACT Program

U.S.A. Pennsylvania

Published

Hi.

I have been accepted into the TJU FACT program that begins in May but the orientation isn't until a week before classes begin and I would like to get a better idea of the scheduling. I know it's 5 days a week but does anyone have some more specific info? i have to arrange for child care and transportation and a general idea of the class/clinical hours would be helpful.

also...anyone else out there starting the program with me in May?

Fil149 is pretty dead-on, I agree with everything he said.

It's a lot of work, but nothing that can't be done. For me, the first quarter was the most challenging. (but...i still have one left) All of the faculty members are approachable and willing to help. Schedules change occasionally but all-in-all, you will know what is expected of you and will have all the support you need to get things done. I've even managed to fit in a decent amount of down-time.

We have classes on Thursday and Friday and clinicals are 2 or 3 days a week (8 or 12 hours).

My advice...don't panic, get through the summer and try to enjoy the challenge. It goes by fast. Good luck.

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Thanks Fil and Jello... That info really helped!! I'm sure I'll refer back to it when I start as well. I'm very excited about the program. Good luck finishing up! Either of you going on to the Masters?

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Fil149 and Jello18966- Thanks for describing your experience of the FACT program. It was really helpful. I'm also starting the program this May and am always interested when people talk about the program because it's been hard to find a lot of detailed info on it.

I was curious about the clinical placements. If I'm remembering correctly what I've heard before, you usually have clinicals at a few different hospitals per semester. Is that right? Do your clinical days each week stay the same or do they rotate (e.g. if you start out with Sunday and Monday for clinical days, does that stay the same throughout the whole semester or while you're at a given hospital)? Do you get to choose 2-12s or 3-8s, or is that decided for you?

Thanks again for any info you can give. I'm glad to hear you like the program - makes me excited to get started.

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Glad the info helped. About clinical placements, for the summer quarter you start clinicals about a month in and it lasts 8 weeks (this is your longest rotation). The faculty usually gives you a sign up sheet for clinical placement where you can list your top 3 choices. They will try to accomodate your top three the best they can. For our summer rotation all clinical placements were af Jeff, not sure if they will do this again this year but that's how it worked for us. As Jello mentioned, after the first month you will have classes on Th and Friday for about 8 hours and clinical days can be picked M-W or Sat and Sun. I had MT for 12 hours each day and yes the schedule remains constant until the particular rotation is over.

I agree with Jello the first semester for myself was also the most difficult so far. But I have found things getting easier because you learn how to manage your time and learn the best ways to study for the exams. After the first semester you clinicals will vary from can go as short as 2 weeks to 5 weeks long. Second semester the rotation is as follows:

Telemetry: about 4 weeks

Maternity: About 3 weeks

Third Semester

Peds: About 5 clinical days on unit and 2 days in school like setting.

Neuro: 4 clinical days

Psych: 5 clinical days

We are about to finish up our third semester :rckn:. After that you will have community rotation and a critical care rotation. Once again good luck to all in the program. I agree with Jello don't stress out just stay focused.

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Thanks so much! I appreciate the info. That is exactly what I was looking for. Good luck with the rest of the program. :up:

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I'm reviving this thread to see if any of you helpful people who posted know the answer to this question: can you choose to do 2-12s for clinicals, or is it out of your hands whether you do 2-12s or 3-8s? This actually is pretty important to my thinking right now.

Thanks so very much to everyone.

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You usually get the opportunity to chose 2-12's or 3-8s, however your not guaranteed your choice. However, if you have a good reason like kids, etc. sometimes they will take that into account. You have the opportunity to switch with people too.

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I'm in the FACT program now. Just wanted to add to what sunshine wrote. At the beginning of a clinical rotation, you are given a sheet with all of the different rotation units/times/days and asked to give your top three choices. The 8 hour rotations are M/T/W from 7a-3p or M/T/W from 2p-10p. The 12 hour rotations are from 7a-7p on either Sa/Su, Su/M, M/T, or T/W. Classes are all day Thursdays and Fridays. As sunshine said, you are not guaranteed one of your top three choices but if you have a specific reason for needing a certain day/time slot, they do take that into consideration. FYI- they require you to do at least one weekend rotation during the program; this would be either a Sa/Su or Su/M rotation.

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By the way, they don't keep track of who signs up for weekends so you don't have to have a weekend clinical. They just say that to people in the beginning but I know they don't follow what they state as far as having to have at least one weekend clinical. I actually preferred the weekends but I know people who didn't have one weekend at all.

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I'm in the FACT program now. Just wanted to add to what sunshine wrote. At the beginning of a clinical rotation, you are given a sheet with all of the different rotation units/times/days and asked to give your top three choices. The 8 hour rotations are M/T/W from 7a-3p or M/T/W from 2p-10p. The 12 hour rotations are from 7a-7p on either Sa/Su, Su/M, M/T, or T/W. Classes are all day Thursdays and Fridays. As sunshine said, you are not guaranteed one of your top three choices but if you have a specific reason for needing a certain day/time slot, they do take that into consideration. FYI- they require you to do at least one weekend rotation during the program; this would be either a Sa/Su or Su/M rotation.

How are you finding the program? I know you just started at the end of May. Does it seem overwhelming? Do you have kids/spouse/family?

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Thanks for the info sunshine. I didn't realize they don't keep track. They made such a big deal out of the weekend thing I figured they would stick us with one sooner or later.

AtomicWoman,

Regarding the program, I am very happy with it. I'm glad I chose Jeff and think it is as solid an education as you can get in an accelerated program. The faculty are great, I feel supported, and the material is interesting and always changing. The thing that I personally have liked the best is that they really try to give you a little taste of everything and try to make it interesting. Since this is the kind of info I searched for on the program and couldn't find, I'll give you some concrete examples... we had a PT come to give a guest lecture on positioning/body mechanics (and then had to position each other in hospital beds and do things like go up and down stairs on crutches to see what it's like for patients); we've had numerous seminars in clinical on things like drains/wound care/body casting (this depends on your clinical instructor); we are encouraged to view an autopsy if we choose; we had to attend a patient support group to see the psychosocial side of things; we use SimMan models for things like listening to lung sounds, heart sounds, murmurs, etc. We've been told when we get to critical care, they use the SimMan / SimWoman models to simulate code situations.

Some people have been less than thrilled with some of the disorganization, but I was expecting this to some extent in an accelerated program. I just go with the flow and things have been fine. I don't think the program is overwhelming overall but at times it can be. I have a husband, no kids. Some of the people in our program with kids seem like they're struggling; others are fine. Same is true for people with no kids, and/or no spouse/partner. I think it comes down to time management and prioritization skills and accepting that you'll never be able to do all of the readings (which is okay). Some of us are able to work part-time outside of school but I have not found the time to do this. I agree with previous posters that the first month or so was the hardest (TONS of reading and lab time). I've felt in the past few weeks that we've all settled in and think the rest of the year will be fine. Absolutely doable. I realize I'm only nearing the end of the first quarter, but if you have any specific questions I can try to answer them for you.

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AtomicWoman,

Regarding the program, I am very happy with it. I'm glad I chose Jeff and think it is as solid an education as you can get in an accelerated program. The faculty are great, I feel supported, and the material is interesting and always changing. The thing that I personally have liked the best is that they really try to give you a little taste of everything and try to make it interesting. Since this is the kind of info I searched for on the program and couldn't find, I'll give you some concrete examples... we had a PT come to give a guest lecture on positioning/body mechanics (and then had to position each other in hospital beds and do things like go up and down stairs on crutches to see what it's like for patients); we've had numerous seminars in clinical on things like drains/wound care/body casting (this depends on your clinical instructor); we are encouraged to view an autopsy if we choose; we had to attend a patient support group to see the psychosocial side of things; we use SimMan models for things like listening to lung sounds, heart sounds, murmurs, etc. We've been told when we get to critical care, they use the SimMan / SimWoman models to simulate code situations.

Some people have been less than thrilled with some of the disorganization, but I was expecting this to some extent in an accelerated program. I just go with the flow and things have been fine. I don't think the program is overwhelming overall but at times it can be. I have a husband, no kids. Some of the people in our program with kids seem like they're struggling; others are fine. Same is true for people with no kids, and/or no spouse/partner. I think it comes down to time management and prioritization skills and accepting that you'll never be able to do all of the readings (which is okay). Some of us are able to work part-time outside of school but I have not found the time to do this. I agree with previous posters that the first month or so was the hardest (TONS of reading and lab time). I've felt in the past few weeks that we've all settled in and think the rest of the year will be fine. Absolutely doable. I realize I'm only nearing the end of the first quarter, but if you have any specific questions I can try to answer them for you.

Thank you so much for all that detail! A couple of questions: how many hours per day or week do you study? Do you have 2 clinicals/week or 3? How long a commute do you have? (I'm in S. Jersey.) Have you had any exams yet, and are they do-able?

Thank you again!!

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