Making the most of Clinicals Part 1: Turn negative experiences into positive learning

Every nurse remembers their first day of nursing clinicals. I would like to share my first day with you.

We were a group of ten brand new nursing students. Dressed in all white, some had excited expressions of anticipation on their faces. Others had the "deer in the headlights" look. I was blessed to have a wise seasoned nurse as a clinical instructor and she could see that some were leery of this first day of being on a real hospital unit. Much different then our cozy little lab. Read More...

APA Format and You...

I've got my first paper due in about a week or so. It's to be written, of course, in APA format. Now, in my prior papers, I've always done all of the work entirely by hand as instructed... however, I'm wondering - is there a legitimate and correct way to save some time on this by having a program or website assist in creating citations/bibliography?

I have been warned that the current iteration of MS Word does not do APA correctly, so I'm hesitant to trust any program I stumble across randomly. What do you recommend, if anything, that has proven accurate results? Read More...

Nursing School: First Day Jitters

Alarm clocks are going off - it's back to school!! Many are entering unfamiliar territory and are nervous as heck.

Will I like the teacher? Will the teacher like me? Will it be hard? How hard is nursing school? Are the rumors true about nursing school? Can I really be successful? Is this really for me?

These are just some of the questions you will be thinking about.

For those who have already gone through their first day...
How do you feel now? How did you feel?

Do you have any tips to share for those just starting school? Read More...

ATI is different: let's talk about it

In many NCLEX books you'll find a prototypical question about a patient with let's say pneumonia who has SOB, using accessory muscles to breathe, productive cough, and the question asks you what to do first:

In most publisher's NCLEX books like Saunders, Davis, and Lippincott (all the major publishers) the answer you would look for, in this case, is most likely is something like "Raise the head of the bed, Fowler's/high fowler's, etc." and if you didn't have that, you'd maybe pick something about O2 administration.

However, ATI likes you to pick the one the looks like, "administer oxygen via nasal canula." before repositioning the patient. I don't know why ATI is different, since they list textbooks from major publishers as references, but they are.

What other differences have you seen with ATI? I'm taking their med-surg test in a month, and I'd like to know anything that you've picked up. Read More...

Instructor teaching style

I just finished my second week of nursing school. I was wondering how your instructors teach your classes. Some of us in our class have commented that it feels like there is a bunch of self teaching going on. For example, we read from our Fundamentals books, Pharmacology book, do self study modules from the pharm. books online course, do the online course from Calc with Confidence, watch skills videos from the Fundamentals book, practice in the lab, and read some more. I know there is a lot to cover in so little time. I am just wondering how it is everywhere else? Read More...

Why I became a nurse: Discovering my dream job.

Why did you become a nurse? This is a common question that is asked of nurses. Here is my story of why I became a nurse and how I discovered my dream job. Read More...

Making the most of Clinicals Part 2: You're on stage-Make a good first impression

Have you ever been to Disneyland? I know.What does Disneyland have to do with clinicals? I enjoy going to Disneyland and have always been impressed with the excellent customer service that one will experience there. At Disneyland, all employees are “on stage” when they are out on the grounds, always performing, if you will, for the customers. It doesn’t matter if they work as a janitor, work at the snack bar, or as one of the characters. All employees that are in the public eye are “on stage”. How can you use this information to help you as a nursing student? By remembering that when you are in clinicals, you are on stage. This is your time to shine. This is your time to be a team player and work alongside the staff to help the patients, while you are learning and going through clinicals. Read More...

How did you do it?

I am an LPN, and have worked as an LPN for 5 years. I would like to try and go on to my RN. I live in a very remote area, and it would take considerable travel to go to any community college.

Has anyone gone from LPN to RN completely online? With clinicals, obviously not online, but anyone start from square one? I have no college credits, so I would have to take pre-eq's as well. Is online even an option?

I understand Excelsior is a choice, and I read that if you are an LPN who is currently working in acute care, you do not have to take the clinical exam? But you do have to travel to a testing center to take the exams. And I am not interested in the college network course of study. Read More...

Progressing from student to registered nurse

I am absolutely terrified. Nursing school is scary and stressful enough, in addition to the NCLEX. All I am worrying about is if I can make it as registered nurse. Being in clinical is one thing, but to have complete responsibility of a number of patients is very terrifying to me. Even in clinicals I find that I feel somewhat below the level of other students in my group or maybe I'm just being too hard on myself. Most of the students jump at the chance to perform skills in the clinical setting, but I never do. Most of my instructors say that I need to work on my confidence, but I have improved a lot since my very first clinical. Does anyone have these same feelings? Read More...

Teen Vaccinations Found to Be Increasing As Recommended

Since 2006, a year after the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices expanded the vaccination schedule for adolescents, vaccination coverage has increased, but vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) in females lags behind other routine vaccinations, according to research published in the Aug. 31 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. Read More...

How my first day went...

My first day went very well. (I am in a BOCES PN program.)

We got there for orientation and they showed us how to sign in. There is a logbook in the back of the classroom and we have to initial and put the time we got there. Then our two instructors introduced themselves and then we had to introduce ourselves and tell the class about us. We did an activity as an "ice-breaker"... Read More...

NCLEX studying giving me the blues only 6 days left to practice

The NCLEX studying is giving me the blues....I only have 6 six days left to study/prepare. I have the Kaplan book, the Saunders book and the Nursing/Pharm made incredibly easy book (supplied during the Sylvia Ray Hurst review)...Sigh....with all that I am getting more discouraged as the day grows closer.

This worries me....I always look at someone else's failure as mine. What should I be practicing within these last 6 days? I am trying to stay positive ... Oh! I also have been taking the Hurst review test on the online version, the first test I scored 77 and the second one I scored 89. Where can I find some good SATA questions asap? Read More...