UPMC Shadyside School of Nursing '09'

Ravenx2012 · Dec 9, 2010

As a current student I can give you this "humble" opinion.

Stick with your plans on going to Shadyside.

Does the administration suck? Incredibly so. Once your in, it will feel like they are trying to fail out people weekly .... After the first two semesters you will likely have lost 15-20% of your class. Not all to failing, but many not being able to handle the stress. Sleep? What's that? You'll have time to sleep when you graduate 22 months later. So, why do I say stick with it?

Because, it has some of the best clinical experience anywhere. The program is incredibly tough, but on the floor, it quickly becomes apparent who are past UPMC Shadyside grads, and those who have graduated elsewhere. 200 Level Shadyside Nursing Students are catching errors made by other nurses left and right. 300 and 400 level students are far surpassing the skills of many Licensed RNs they work with. How? Well because it is the hardest, but best program in Pittsburgh. Clinical instructors are constantly challenging your knowledge and helping you to recognize all the possibilities within your scope of practice. They don't stop with just reading a few chapters out of a book. Your not just a number to them, and your not just a nurse when you graduate. You will be a highly skilled individual and one of the best in your field. You will have a great understanding of the practice; and know how to think and rationalize as a nurse should. Too many of the nurses on the floors these days are paint by numbers certified. It is painfully obvious who these people are by the quality of care they give.

So does the administration suck? Well .. Yea.. the points you bring up are just a few of the reasons why... but is it worth it .. Most definitely.

Get in, keep your grades up, pay attention .. and the only time you will have to deal with admin is when your clearances are due, and when you graduate.

audreyrasmusson · Dec 9, 2010

Thank you for responding. I really appreciate your insight about what to expect once in the program. Yes, I still hope to go to Shadyside. Hopefully, this has all just been an administrative scfew-up and I'll get in for the fall and not some strange way of discouraging me from applying again. Thank you.

mcRN2b · Mar 27, 2011

If I could have done everything over again I would NEVER have chosen to come to Shadyside. I don't like it at all. I am not impressed with anything else but the location. They have been implementing PBL so, why should I pay so much to learn to be a nurse if I have to teach myself and have other students teaching me? I wish I accepted the acceptance letter for CCAC North campus instead or heard about Citizen's school of nursing. I think Shadyside is a joke and I don't feel that they deserve the NLN award at all. I even find it hard just to concentrate on my school work at times. I am only in my second semester. Don't listen to all the hype. Go where you want to go, see the place for yourself and take your time with your decision (if you can).

audreyrasmusson · Mar 27, 2011

What is PBL?

kbm318 · May 27, 2011

What is PBL?

During your 200 semesters you will have PBL which is Problem Based Learning. They give you a scenario of a patient and you and your classmates (you will be split into small groups) have to figure out top priorities and interventions that you would do. You pretty much have to figure out what's wrong and what you would do for it. Most of them last 2 days and then you will have a day of SIM correlating to the scenario you did in PBL. The instructor's reasoning behind this is to get you to think and to learn, they say that medical students and even I guess resident's do this all the time to better themselves. It does suck because you cant really use it to help study for your test you will actually have to read the book. (wow this is why people throw a fit but seriously your an adult and in college don't expect everything to be spoon fed to you). They used to offer a test remediation on the tests that had PBL material on it so you could improve your grade up to an 84% but they recently took it away saying that people were relying on it to pass and they weren't studying. I hope this helps you.

Cbarbello · Aug 26, 2012

Help! I am starting at UPMC Shadyside in the Fall 2012 semester (as in my start date being September 4th) and I have not received my book list! I have informed the school and they keep on saying they sent it to me yet I have not received it. Can anybody please send me the list to my email... at this point I wont have them for the first week and I am a bit stressed about it.:/

[email protected]

merner1012 · Aug 26, 2012

Just curious, is Shadyside still doing care plans? They did when I went there, but these PBL things sound a whole lot like a care plan and then using the sim lab to act it out?