WANTED: Nursing student tidbits of advice

Nursing Students General Students

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hey guys,

I start this fall in my nursing program and Im extremely anxious!!! Im looking for any advice that will help me in school. Whats the thing you can NOT live w/o during nursing school? What was the best study method for you? Index cards, recorders, palm pilots? What should I take to clinicals? I know you all were anxious when u started!!!

thanks guys

p.s. ....im hoping this will end up being a HUGE thread that other anxious students can read

Now this I have got to hear :) How was your first week of nursing school?

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Specializes in Pediatric Intensive Care, Long Term care.

hey guys!!!!!

I just had orientation today and yesterday our school had our annual boatride. The boatride was a lot of fun and gave us many opportunities to get to know our classmates and faculty members. I already bonded with a couple of people.

Orientation was from 9am til 4pm today. It was actually very very imformative. They talked about all of the students services, our class statistics, and what we can expect from our nursing school experience. We recieved our badges, locker assignments, parking decal and card, and the last but not least...our clinical rotations! Illl start off on the orthopedic floor (sp?) which my instructor explained is basically knee/hip post surgery and etc. I wasnt really looking forward to starting off in mostly geriatic environment but hey im starting and that is all that matters!!!!!! We had a scavenger hunt to get to know the school and hospital grounds. We also were able to learn about our student senate and other student activities and opprutunities! I left orientation feeling like a million bucks!

I also am very happy to report that i saved over $500 on my books by shopping for them on amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and textbooks.com. Im soooo proud of myself and im super excited everytime UPS comes with another "package"! I took the advice of a previous poster and bought a good sized plastic bin for my truck to put my books in....making it my mobile library for when im out of the house and want to have easy access to my books. I bought 3 inch binders for my classes since we mainly use powerpoints for lectures. I have a little system set up where i will only have to take one of these binders to class a day so that i wont have sooo much extra space taken up in my bag. Then i will go home and put things in their appropriate binders (hope my explanation makes sense).

Oh oh,....i also found some fantastic shoes today!! They are called grasshoppers and they are the most comfortable shoes i have found to this date! They are technically an orthopedic shoe but you would never ever guess by looking at them...they are very fashionable (which is very important to me). even my husband who often criticizes my work shoes, calling them biscuits or houseshoes lol, said they looked really nice and professional. The best part is I only paid $40 for them at DSW!!!

I cant believe everything is finally coming together! In only 3 more days I will start my first day of class and i dont think I could be more excited...and nervous!!!:D:D:D:D:D

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I took a drug screen for my school, and im 99% sure i passed. But, is it normal for schools to screen during the school year? I couldn't find anything on the web site, but I've heard conflicting sources at my school.

Also, on a side note, would drugs are they screening for (whichones wont show up)?

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I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the variety of pts you see on an orthopedic floor. You will see ll ages, def not just geriatrics, but honestly my school does nursing homes in semester 1 and I think it better prepared me. As a newbie I think it would have been tough to have younger pt's. In the nursing home we worked at a pace that was conducive to learning and the patients genuinely appreciated us being there, loved the extra attention, and weren't usually impatient answering the slew of questions we had to ask - esp considering how unorganized we were. Good luck and enjoy!

hey guys!!!!!

I just had orientation today and yesterday our school had our annual boatride. The boatride was a lot of fun and gave us many opportunities to get to know our classmates and faculty members. I already bonded with a couple of people.

Orientation was from 9am til 4pm today. It was actually very very imformative. They talked about all of the students services, our class statistics, and what we can expect from our nursing school experience. We recieved our badges, locker assignments, parking decal and card, and the last but not least...our clinical rotations! Illl start off on the orthopedic floor (sp?) which my instructor explained is basically knee/hip post surgery and etc. I wasnt really looking forward to starting off in mostly geriatic environment but hey im starting and that is all that matters!!!!!! We had a scavenger hunt to get to know the school and hospital grounds. We also were able to learn about our student senate and other student activities and opprutunities! I left orientation feeling like a million bucks!

I also am very happy to report that i saved over $500 on my books by shopping for them on amazon, barnesandnoble.com, and textbooks.com. Im soooo proud of myself and im super excited everytime UPS comes with another "package"! I took the advice of a previous poster and bought a good sized plastic bin for my truck to put my books in....making it my mobile library for when im out of the house and want to have easy access to my books. I bought 3 inch binders for my classes since we mainly use powerpoints for lectures. I have a little system set up where i will only have to take one of these binders to class a day so that i wont have sooo much extra space taken up in my bag. Then i will go home and put things in their appropriate binders (hope my explanation makes sense).

Oh oh,....i also found some fantastic shoes today!! They are called grasshoppers and they are the most comfortable shoes i have found to this date! They are technically an orthopedic shoe but you would never ever guess by looking at them...they are very fashionable (which is very important to me). even my husband who often criticizes my work shoes, calling them biscuits or houseshoes lol, said they looked really nice and professional. The best part is I only paid $40 for them at DSW!!!

I cant believe everything is finally coming together! In only 3 more days I will start my first day of class and i dont think I could be more excited...and nervous!!!:D:D:D:D:D

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They screen for all illegal drugs. If you are on a prescription med that falls into a similar category, typically you will have to show proof. Usually they will ask you what meds you take prior to the test however. When you say which wont show up are you referring to illegal or prescription meds? Some people worry that things like poppy seed bagels would show up as opiates (cocaine) but this is not true, you would have to eat literally a pound of poppy seeds not just a bagel a day.

I took a drug screen for my school, and im 99% sure i passed. But, is it normal for schools to screen during the school year? I couldn't find anything on the web site, but I've heard conflicting sources at my school.

Also, on a side note, would drugs are they screening for (whichones wont show up)?

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thanks, that clears some stuff up, but any info on the screening through the school year?

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My school does random screenings throughout the school year. You have 24 hrs to go once they call your name or its considered a positive.

thanks, that clears some stuff up, but any info on the screening through the school year?
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whats the punishment? expulsion?

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Yes and you can not reapply.

whats the punishment? expulsion?
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many thanks

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The way my school does it, we only have one drug test at the beginning of each calendar year.. but each of the clinical facilties we are in has the right to do random drug tests at ANY time, just like with their own nurses. We never know when it's coming or who will be chosen to be be tested.

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Specializes in Pediatric Hem/Onc.

Hmmmm.....I was thinking about it, and I haven't had a drug screening! I had the barrage of blood titers and the physical, but I don't recall doing an actual drug test. I work at a hospital and had to do one for that, of course.

And um.....please don't take offense to this, but if you have to ask "which" drugs are detected, or how often the screenings are done....perhaps a lifestyle change is in order. Just a thought....

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