whats in a typical day at nursing school

aromarn · Aug 29, 2009

(My School schedule)Well, if we are talking about strictly only nursing classes,,, you start about 8:30am for lecture 8:00am for clinical in a hospital that you are assigned. The lecture is always half a day, very long and boring. Too much reading to be on your own, they do not explain everything , its only guidance, you have to do the reading on your own. Paper work are usually about disease case study, or summarize an article from nursing journal, there is also a teaching session , where you go to your community school , nursing home...etc to teach about infection control...etc. And everything you do , u have to write a report to accompany your work.

On clinical day, u meet up with your clinical instructor at 8 in the morning in the hospital lobby, we have to be on time because your instructor have to take you to the floor, then you are assigned to a patient and under the supervision of your clinical instructor and the RN for that patient , you will do whatever is required of you. That also ends 1-2 o'clock , depend on your instructor. I personally like clinical days, you meet the patients, most of the RN's are nice for students...u learn a lot. If you have any doubts about becoming a nurse, when you are on the floor you would know for sure. I remembered a girl who quit the first day we were on the floor. She had a very sick patient and she was sooo scared touching the patient.

Anyway, if you have the passion you will be OK. There is a lot of hard work ahead of you. Your family might not see you often, if you have kids like me you will live at the library. Even when i am home, my mind always preoccupied with nursing, reading , recalling what I learned. When I graduated I cried because Its over!! It was worth it!!

Now that I got the Associate degree, I have to do BSN and every time I think about it, I just want to cry!! Nursing is a hard work, but I am one happy nurse!! I love it and I am glad I did it!!

PacoUSA, BSN, RN · Aug 29, 2009

... Now that I got the Associate degree, I have to do BSN and every time I think about it, I just want to cry!! Nursing is a hard work, but I am one happy nurse!! I love it and I am glad I did it!!

Hoooooooly cow .... and here I thought you were describing a BSN program before I read the last sentence. Clearly nursing school is NOT for the weak-hearted!

:bluecry1:

aromarn · Aug 29, 2009

no , please do not get discouraged! I was told the BSN is not as hard as the ADN. For some reason the ADN is vert intense program. But all my friends and I did it while we all have familes. You just have to sort it out and your kids will understand.... u just have to tell them , mommy is going to be one fine nurse!! My kids love to tell people that I am a registered nurse, they dont even say she is a nurse, they say she is RN and they tell what RN stands for! They are 7.

Please do it, all you need is the passion for nursing, the rest you can get through it!! Good luck

Epona · Aug 29, 2009

Without getting too lengthy... you get up early and go to class. You sit in lecture for a few hours. Go home do LOTS of HOMEWORK. The next day you may have clinical-- working the floor for 6 to 8 hours. Then go home and do more HOMEWORK.

The nursing school and clinical itself was not bad. It was the GOBS, TONS of homework you had to do. I would come home, whip up dinner really quickly and then do another four to five hours of homework at night. I did not work. I had no kids. It consumed ALL... I mean ALL of my life for over two years. I LIVED in my home office and bedroom. It was the toughest endeavor I ever undertook. It was hard and very challenging. We started with about 50 students and in the end, around 15 graduated from my class. You really have to have the time and mindset to devote to it and be successful.

Whatever you decide, good luck and I hope this helped!

Meant2beRN · Aug 30, 2009

I'm expecting to be busy once I am in the nursing program.

JSTARZ · Aug 30, 2009

well...to start nursing school is a b$@#&! Its hard work, and it seems as if there arent enough hours in a day to accomplish everything you need to. This is my second semester in an ASN program and its only getting harder...but quite REWARDING when you finish.

Our program is set up where in first semester you take Fundamentals of Nursing and Pharmacology (which i loved). Our clinicals were at nursing homes last semester and we had it three days a week we had to be there for 0645 a.m. and we usually left around 03-0345 in the afternoon.

so we usually had class on mondays tues wed and fri. we have lab usually twice a week for two hours and you usually would have to study the rest of the time....

this semester we have moved over to hospitals in which our clinicals are 12 hour shifts once a week...oh and preclinical the day before clinical for two hours....ROUGH!!!! and all i was taking was nursing courses. so i would suggest take ALL of the non nursing courses before you begin.

SCARY! i know, but its interesting...i passed last semester with a 3.0 and im no genius my gpa was barely a 3.0 when i began nursing school so its very do able...just have to be VERY motivated!. Best of luck!

sleepyRN2 · Aug 30, 2009

rn-adn program is intense therefore time management is crucial, for all, in order to survive it. since the RN-ADN program is abbreviated compared to an RN-BSN, one has to be on top of things; hence, one must read and clarify the materials before attending class or have at least a gist of what's being covered in lecture. Most of the materials are covered in A&P, Chemistry, Biology classes, the only difference in an ADN program is that pathophysiology is given a lot of emphasis because that is what we nurses work with the most. Also, the NURSING PROCESS, that's the one biggy in any nursing school, this concept helps the nurse to connect the dots.

My first clinical days were challenging not being accustomed to going to the hospital the day before to choose an assignment or two, of patients, then after spending at least 2 hrs researching I go home to spend more time researching a patient's condition(s), meds, labs, etc. I go to bed exhausted, I wake up after a 3 to 4 hrs of sleep, if I'm lucky. I head back to the hospital to spend a full 12 hr day doing what nurses do, caring for patients. It gets overwhelming HOWEVER by 3rd semester, all the nursing knowledge and skills have now coalesced into one ginormous interplay of concepts--i.e., a working machinery---One transforms into that, a nurse, and mind you, a confident nurse at that. The product of all that hard work. For me, the capstone is that there are times a patient would say to you sincerely "Thank You" or "I hope you come back and be my nurse again."---all the sleepless nights and that feeling of being tired somehow dissipates. Then the patient's family there by his bedside giving you that suggestive nod of thanks or you did a great job. You sheepishly grin or smile on your way out of their room somewhat elated and oblivious to added bounce in every step you take. you pause for a second, and you think...Yes, It's worth it after all. I didn't make a mistake in becoming a nurse.

Oh, well. for those of you just don't be afraid to ask questions when stumped, and be annoyingly inquisitive. and remember that this, while in nursing school, is not the time to show off but it is the time to learn as much as you can, to absorb as much as you can, and try to familiarize yourself in a hospital setting, to carefully observe those around you. Heed those constructive interventions when given, and not get offended when they give them to you--in droves. Imitate the things they do and keep how they are done, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And above all, always keep your patient(s) your priority--be their strongest and staunchest ally, you are their a patient advocate.

motherofgirls · Aug 31, 2009

thanks you guys, this has been very helpful. can you tell me the names of the classes you take first semester and the names of the classes second semester. i will have all my prereqs done so i will just be taking nursing classes. i am in a BSN program, so i dont totally understand the difference b/w ADN andn BSN. does all the homework come from tests for the classes or is it working out patient stuff from the hospital and what kind of research do you do?

Destination1 · Aug 31, 2009

I'm also in a BSN program. 1st semester schedule:

Tuesday

8:00 -10:30 Child - Adult Nursing 1

10:40 - 12:30 Pharmacology 1

Tuesday Evening

Pre-clinical

Show up at hospital and get patient assignment

for clinical the next day. Go home and work

up a care plan for the client.

Wednesday

6:30 - 3:30 clinical day

Work the care plan!

Try to get as many skills completed as possible that day.

We have this little booklet we carry around that lists all

the skills we are expected to do. Once we do a skill it

has to be signed and checked of by the clinical

instructor. Check list must be 75% completed by end

of semester. 50+ skills.

Thursday

8:30 - 12:30 Child - Adult Nursing 1

Not a bad schedule!

Most of the lectures are brutal. By the end of the day

its all I can do to keep my head held up :) but I must say

that pharmacology is really interesting. Most of our home

work is self study and absolutely tons of reading.

Of course there is always those pesky care plans.

Second Semester schedule:

Add - Nursing research

and place the number 2 where you see a number 1 in the

first semester and there you have it.

Hope that helps.

motherofgirls · Sep 1, 2009

thank you sooo much, i really appreciate you taking the time to write that out. thats the breakdown i was looking for.

csab · Sep 2, 2009

Sleepystudentnurse, your post was very inspiring, thanks!