So far I've finished my medsurg clinicals and mental is about to start. I'm looking forward to the mental section, but I'm pretty sure I don't ever want to do any mental nursing later in my life. The tests for level 2 are way more difficult than level 1, especially medsurg.
Hopefully I'll pass medsurg and move on, but it isn't easy.
Showing posts with label clinicals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clinicals. Show all posts
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Level 1 Nursing
So I am going to post a little bit about my experience through level 1 of the nursing program.
Books
The books for nursing school are very expensive. I did quite a bit of research on prices before I decided who I would buy them from. There are ways to get cheaper books, usually used is a better way to go. Renting books is also possible, but supposedly we'll be using our books throughout the program so sending them back to a rental store each semester is not really an option.
Studying
Studying for nursing tests is pretty rough. I used a book called Successful Problem-Solving & Test-Taking for Beginning Nursing Students to help me get used to the style of questions that are on the tests.
Clinicals
During level 1 clinicals don't start immediately. The semester is divided up where you are in the lab learning all the different procedures that nurses do on a regular basis and the rest of the semester you're at the hospital. The lab days and the hospital days are pretty long. I typically went to sleep immediately after I got home if I didn't have to work. There is also quite a bit of preclinical work that is done before you show up to a clinical session. This work takes a lot of time especially if the patient has a lot of medications.
Working
I typically work around 15-22 hours a week while doing nursing full time. I feel like 20 hours is pretty difficult to work and keep up with school work. This is especially true for me since I try to put in about 10-12 hours of exercise a week as well. Having a job where you can request off when you need is also a good idea. I also never work the day before a test.
Books
The books for nursing school are very expensive. I did quite a bit of research on prices before I decided who I would buy them from. There are ways to get cheaper books, usually used is a better way to go. Renting books is also possible, but supposedly we'll be using our books throughout the program so sending them back to a rental store each semester is not really an option.
Studying
Studying for nursing tests is pretty rough. I used a book called Successful Problem-Solving & Test-Taking for Beginning Nursing Students to help me get used to the style of questions that are on the tests.
Clinicals
During level 1 clinicals don't start immediately. The semester is divided up where you are in the lab learning all the different procedures that nurses do on a regular basis and the rest of the semester you're at the hospital. The lab days and the hospital days are pretty long. I typically went to sleep immediately after I got home if I didn't have to work. There is also quite a bit of preclinical work that is done before you show up to a clinical session. This work takes a lot of time especially if the patient has a lot of medications.
Working
I typically work around 15-22 hours a week while doing nursing full time. I feel like 20 hours is pretty difficult to work and keep up with school work. This is especially true for me since I try to put in about 10-12 hours of exercise a week as well. Having a job where you can request off when you need is also a good idea. I also never work the day before a test.