Rant, complain, and vent here.

Hey everyone! For those in Australia, how relevant are resources like Lecturio or Osmosis? Do their curriculums line up decently or is it best to steer clear of them for most things as it isn’t necessarily applicable to us?

I can’t imagine there being too much that could go wrong if I’m not using it as my MAIN study following the curriculums, but instead to search out the topics I need.

Currently in nursing school but working nights as a nurse's aid on a med/surge floor. Tonight I just had my first rapid response (only my third day) and all I did was run and got ice and then emptied a Foley bag. I felt useless....I had no idea what was going on and just stood in the corner until I was told to do something. I know that this is in my scope of practice, and there really isn't much else I could do, but let me tell you what. I have such a drive now to do more than ace my classes, but learn and retain as much as I possibly can. I've recently been in a funk with school and slacking a bit. I hated that feeling, and I know it'll happen again but I'm going to do everything in my power to fix that. Just wanted to share the experiences from my third night as a nurse's aid and recommend all nurses work as an aid before finishing school. Now to study for an A&P 2 exam I have Wednesday!

Looking for some cool/unique ideas and suggestions other than the typical ones you find on etsy. Will also include a gift card but wanted to give them an actual gift too. Thank you!

Hi all,

I am finally eligible to begin applications, and have, but I am in the hell that is Los Angeles, and have little faith in my ability to get accepted. I’ve seen a lot of people recommending out of state- for example, Missouri, Utah, and Texas. I am a bit overwhelmed with options and just want to get this done- every year I wait is a year wasted, and 150k at CNI or WCU seems outrageous. I could move for a lot cheaper and probably get a better COL while I’m at it.

I’m wondering how those of you who went away went about it- did you move first? Apply to a handful and choose from there? Did you have to take a bunch of weird extra classes (every program seems to want just one different class)?

For reference, I’m trying for ADN programs. 3.89 overall GPA, 4.0 core, 88.9 TEAS, 500 Volunteer hours, and currently getting CNA license.

Thanks and GOOD LUCK to every soul in the same boat 🛶

I am having anxiety around performing my physical assessment in the morning.

My professor wants us to go into our chosen patient for the days room alone and initiate and perform a physical assessment on them.

My patient last week was in her 70’s with a hip fracture & I was having anxiety about going in the room and asking her to perform any of the tasks for a physical assessment that require her to move or reposition.

Any advice on what to say going into the room to start? And while performing one?

I feel shame because I feel like I am making them uncomfortable for the sake of my schooling, because I am not a nurse yet and none of this information will actually go in their chart….

Any advice here? 🥺

Hi! I’m new here,

So basically I graduated high school early in February rather than June. And I have been pretty set on becoming an RN. But the more I read about the competition here and the people who have applied a lot and got denied for years have scared me a little. (California by the way)

So I got my phlebotomy license and I’m looking to work and get experience in health care first. Also save up money.

Now I discovered a private school called west coast university in both Florida and California but it is pretty expensive. I can’t decide if it’s worth it to just save up money for four years then get guaranteed in or just do prerequisites for community colleges and try my luck with the programs near me. But I’m afraid I will be wasting my time waiting to get in only to get rejected again and again.

Also each rn program requires different courses to take. Some are non transferable to out of state programs. Some require different tests (teas, hesi, or sat and act)

Is there any advice you guys can give me? Or any less competitive schools either in California or another state that I should look into? Maybe if you have time please tell me how you guys did it.

Thank you all :)

I start my ADN program in August and I constantly see advice online to take every learning opportunity you can even if you’re scared, especially with skills and clinicals. I fully intend to do this even though i’m super nervous about it.

That being said, for those of you that do this/have done this in nursing school, was there a large amount of other students trying to volunteer to do the practice?

Like are/were you having to ‘fight’ people to be the one trying the skills in front of the class or doing the hard things? obviously, I know every cohort would be different, and I’m not going to argue with people just for the sake of being the one to do the skill or whatever just kind of gauging experiences you all have had.

I'm not trying to study 12 hours a day or anything, but I just feel like I'm not cut out for this despite making a weekly routine for my hybrid program. I've done several practice quizzes but, unless I'm not making them right, feel like they're covering stuff that wasn't touched in the modules and I wind up getting stuck in the 60-70% range. I checked the textbooks too and I still couldn't get much of an answer. I'm convinced it's a "me" issue and despite my interest in health sciences, I feel like I'm already at my intellectual limit.

Has anyone else experienced this who has advice? I know they say being overwhelmed is normal but I feel like my situation is more unique.

Hey Everyone!

I’m just feeling a bit confused at the moment and would really like some advice from anyone that’s been en in a similar situation! Sorry for this passage of text just feel like I have to explain my situation.

Right now I’m at a community college in SoCal and I’m doing my prerequisites for nursing I change my major to this from engineering. Because I found that this is what I want to do with my life from working at a health care job. The thing is the first year of college my grades weren’t the best I had Cs on my chem lecture classes🤦🏻‍♀️ this was mainly just because I was unhappy with myself because I didn’t like engineering and felt stuck, so I didn’t focus on school as much. Now I’m doing so much more better as I managed to get a 4.0 GPA last semester and I’m hoping to finish of strong this semester too even while working two jobs!

My dilemma is that my cumulative gpa is a 3.5 and the highest it will go by taking future classes will be a 3.7. I know in order to transfer to get my BSN in a Californian college that makes me very uncompetitive even with a CNA license and other variables. I don’t want tot say I’ll never get in I just don’t want to be unrealistic. And I don’t want to pay so much of out of state tuition. Even when I looked at WUE schools they are also very competitive.

While ADN programs seem great the application time period is what bothers me because at the time of application classes can’t be in progress which I understand but I will not finish my prerequisites until the spring time meaning that for most in my area I’ll have to wait fall of 2025 to apply to get into a school in 2026, I don’t have a previous bachelors degrees. So I just don’t want to wait that long to see if I get in since most of these schools are lottery based anyway.

And I don’t want to subject my self to a private for profit school and have to pay 100k for an BSN.

This is something that I really want but I’m not so sure what to do has anyone else been in the same situation, if so what path did you guys take? Any advice would be appreciated!

I FINALLY received admission for Fall 2024 to the BSN program I’ve been eyeballing for years now. FINALLY got all the prerequisites done after almost 4 complete years of life tossing me every which way during.

Background info: 28yrs old, single mom to an 11 year old daughter and a 6 year old son who has autism/adhd/odd. I work as a PCT at a large demanding hospital full-time, but I’m technically PRN so I can adjust shifts as needed for school. I also drive 1hr30mins to work one way from my home because in 2018 I had my first PCT role at the hospital where I live and after 2 years the manager finally found a way to fire me for being on my phone (long story short) —I drive because I WANT to be in a PCT/hospital role as well as the flexible scheduling.

So NOW, with this acceptance to the BSN program in my city, guess what?! Clinical placements are at the hospital where I got terminated. I’ve emailed HR every year since termination and literally get nothing more than “our decision for your rehire will remain a no” —I went on linked in and found the regional director and CEO of the hospital and emailed them both my story. Fingers crossed but doubtful. add in the same HR big head that terminated me with my manager has been apart of my rehire decision since.

—I emailed the clinical director and told her my situation and she was extraordinarily understanding. She said I can post-pone my enrollment till Spring to see if I can get on the rehire list OR she can transfer my admission to their other campus. Which is 1hr30mins from my home 😵‍💫🤌🏼🤦🏻‍♀️. (So basically my work is 1hr30mins East from me and the other campus is 1hr30mins West from me)

—although I do have exceptional (free) childcare from family members. I don’t have a lot of support otherwise. So I will have to work as much as I can through nursing school.

I’ve thought about student/family housing, or airbnbs for the long class/lab/clinical days that are back to back. I also plan to either find other work where I live or where the campus is and do the minimum required at my current job. Granted I still have to make a living for a family. I also cannot get approved for any type of student loans. My credit score is low low.

So if you made it past all that information and rambling. I just need ANY insight/advice on what to do. I’ve been known to do the impossible, but I’m really terrified at just the thought of it all currently. I’m scared to death to flunk out(I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD since 17), scared of the mom guilt I’ll have, scared of my children’s father and his family making me feel even more guilty (they are the childcare). I’m just scared 🤷🏻‍♀️ and I WANT to enter into a nursing program come Fall. I just don’t know if all this is realistically possible.

🙏🏼 please offer any insight/advice

I am a new college grad (engineering) and I want to go into nursing. There are a lot of ABSN Programs and I am trying to get into Rutgers, Russel Sage, Felician and Hudson Valley Community College. I do need to do some pre reqs this summer or in the fall semester but should I go to CC and pass the NCLEX test or should I take a bit more expensive route and go to other colleges? Does college really matter when i am trying to get a rob?

I started nursing school in January. My experience has been good until I started fundamentals. The nursing school I attend is expensive due to it being a private institution so that’s a given. But the lack of laziness from the school is insane. My issue is there are so many errors within the quizzes they give us, the videos they show us, and even the PowerPoints and lecture material. And the response from the instructors is either “I’ve been complaining for months for them to fix this on this quiz” or “Oh disregard this part of the video, it’s incorrect.” And I’m like so no one in academics thought to take out the time to fix these errors and recreate a video with proper information??? My concern is, if you can’t create SIMPLE quizzes with correct information and answers, how do I know these same errors do not happen with our Exams. Which there’s no way we can review what we got wrong. We just get a flimsy exam report telling us what percentage we scored in each area of the exam. Their excuse on why we can’t see what we got wrong is due to cheating from previous quarters. Change the exam questions then? They have a meeting held before we get our grades to discuss the Exam and see if any questions needs to be thrown out. I’m so annoyed with this program. Has anyone else experienced this? Have you spoken to anyone about the lack of trying to fix these errors?

Uhm this may or may not be a question I should be asking in this subreddit, but I really need help. My college interview will be tomorrow and they may ask me the question: "Why do you want to become a nurse?" or "Why do you want to take uo nursing in this university?". The main reason I'm gonna be taking this program up is practicality because my relatives told be that nursing pays good. I'm pretty good at humoring/comforting patients I think, and my actual dream is not too far related to nursing, but I suck at technical stuff related to nursing and I'm kinda slothy so I thought this isn't for me but I've made up my mind and I'm willing to learn. English is not my first language and I'm required to use it during the interview. I might not be able to make up an impressive answer....PLEASE HELP

I’m so proud of myself. I had a lot of feeling of not belonging this semester, but now I feel like I have a purpose in this profession!!

Greetings fellow nursing students, I’m currently in a dilemma to find a decent job to match with nursing school schedule. The jobs that are flexible with nursing don’t pay well and aren’t up to the quality of living standards required today. Compared to other jobs that may pay decent but are on contract and require a lot of mental and/or physical strain which may impede on the focus of my nursing degree. Apart from that, my mode of transportation is the bus, which can be quite unreliable at times and have odd hours of operation. Currently, I am working towards obtaining a car to make it easier on myself in the future. What should I do in this case? What would be the most logical resolution here. I want to make sure that I am able to be successful with my decision. Of course there are other outside factors that may interrupt my pace to complete my nursing degree. However, I’m determined to focus as much as possible.

Hello all! I am in an accelerated nursing program and will be having block 2 over the summer and it will be very condensed as you could imagine. Our two topics will be med/surge and psych, what good resources are there out there for those two topics? And what have you all used to help you pass? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hey guys, for the people that have taken the Nclex already was the ATI prediction accurate?

my cohort just took our final exam for med/surg 1 today and more than half of our class failed the class.

i scored pretty low on my first three exams in this class, and i needed an 88% on this final exam to pass the class with a 75%. i scored a 72% on the exam, and even though it’s not an 88%, it’s a much higher score than the scores my classmates received on today’s exam.

i know a few classmates of mine who were scoring better (than me) on our unit exams. they needed a score (lower than my needed 88%) on this exam just to pass the class. they scored lower than what i got and ended up failing the class. they failed med/surg 1 due to one final exam despite doing well in the class the entire semester.

i know three people who had a 74% in the class. the professors wouldn’t round up so now they technically fail the class.

tl;dr: how can only 10 students among our 24 pass? what’s going wrong?

I've been working as a hospital extern for about 8 months while also juggling a retail customer service job. Usually, they're flexible with externs due to full-time schooling. However, I haven't been able to go in for a few months due to personal reasons and managing two jobs alongside school. Now, there's a hiring event for a spot in the emergency department, which I'm eager to try for, but my current job might also be there. With new managers in place, I'm unsure whether to inform them about attending the event or just go and try my luck at the interview. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, im at a crossroad right now ),:

What are all the details on the material you study? How difficult is it? How many hours of study per week? How many textbooks are you reading at once? It just seems really intimidating to me, even though I'm a bit above average IQ.

I want to get my teeth straighten, but I want to see if they’re allowed first and is it possible for me to have acrylics while working as a LPN even if they’re short?

I’m just trying to see because I’m going to enroll in my community college. Should I take dosage calculations and A&P at the same time? 

Hello all!

Apologies for the poor English as it is not my native language!

I just moved to the USA a few months ago.

I've always had a passion for nursing but due to family pressure pursed a career in It back home in the Philippines.

I already have a BS, but now as I am a few months into the job search for it here in the US but with no luck. I have about 10 years experience in it, and do have full authorization to work in the US, no sponsor needed.

I have been thinking about pursuing a career now in nursing, looking at several programs across Central Florida, specifically at UCF. Cost is not a concern as my husband has a GI bill and that will cover expenses.

Has anyway from outside the US pursued a career in nursing after moving to the states? How was your experiences? I'd also love to hear from the untraditional student, as I am approaching 30 and starting over is a little scary!

Thank you!

My professor says I’m ready, I’ve taken 3 Kaplan CATs and had green at 85 for all 3. I graduated last Saturday. I’m just so scared I’m going to fail! Any insight is appreciated!

For context I’m from Alberta,Canada- I did the RPI program first which is two years and now I am an RN student in which I have 1.5 years left.

Don’t get me wrong- I’ve made maybe one solid friend, but I don’t see them that much anymore because we have different cohorts.

Everyone that I see around me is very clicky and I feel is competitive. Many people have already made their groups from the get go- and many do have experience on working at various places as a RPN. Where I do not. Never worked as one.

I’m always a very anxious person and shy and as a result I feel that I come across as very unapproachable because of my negative aura. (Stern / serious resting bi*tch face etc.) I’m not a talker either so in the morning i don’t wanna talk at all. I’m dead and tired.

I don’t know what to do. To be quite honest I just feel like I’m used by now but at the same time I leave feeling lonely. I feel like i get attention as the only person who sits by themselves, I feel I get stares and everyone knows that I am a loner. I’m probably paranoid and tbh I’ve always been so shy and an introvert but don’t really come across as that until you get to know me well.

I don’t like ever speak about myself or my thoughts as I believe I’m not a very interesting person or smart one when it comes to speaking. I also don’t like to share my personal life until I’m truly comfortable with you.

This is a rant. I hope I’m not alone in this journey.

I'm 4 months away from graduating with my BSN and I'm always seeing videos and tik toks of people saying they secured a job months before graduation. I've been job hunting like crazy and I haven't found any job applications for new grads, only "staff nurse II" or "clinic nurse II" that requires 1-2 years of experience, and the only thing that I did see for new grads is their new grad program that you have to apply for. Even some old high school friends that I still follow on social media have all secured a job in a hospital before their graduation.

I really want to work in a hospital, I don't really care what department as long as my foot is in the door, but how are people lining up jobs so easily and quickly before graduation? Isn't it too early to start applying since I don't graduate until August? Am I missing something? Lol please help!

Just wanted to put this out there for all you lovely future nurses that you do not need to do a year of acute care, accept the first job you are offered, or need to get straight A’s.

Some nursing school tips

• in my opinion, above all else in nursing school your mental health comes first. Nursing school is stressful, but try to keep anything else you can control low stress or eliminate it from your life. Unsupportive friends? Don’t need them. Clique-y, rude classmates? Don’t need them. Your unsupportive parents? Don’t need them. You don’t need to be in a study group or fit in. I literally went to class and left immediately when done. Shared my notes if someone that didn’t rub me the wrong way asked, but I didn’t study with anyone, even my friends because we’d end up distracted.

• personally I did not mind knowing or telling my exam scores. Don’t use it to compare, use it as a marker. If everyone does poorly, it’s more of a reflection of the teaching, and not the students themselves. I wanted to know if we needed to come together and talk to the professor or the director of the program if everyone was failing.

• have time to yourself, whatever you like doing as long as it’s not dangerous, you need you time.

• no all nighters, wake up early if needed, go to bed early or on time and wake up, get or make some brain food and study if you want before an exam.

Other tips (financial/job related)

• if you don’t get grants or aid, consider an ADN and have your employer pay for any other pursuit of higher education. Have very little debt or pay out of pocket.

• apply everywhere (within your own personal guidelines, for example I did not apply to any private for profits or any that used the HESI vs the TEAS). Don’t bank on one nursing school.

• Do well (A’s as much as possible) in prerequisites, especially if you’re going into a merit and competitive application process (most of California for example). You don’t need A’s in nursing school you just need to pass.

• work a job in the specialty area you want to be in, if you can find it. If you want to be in the ED be an ED tech, if you want to be in ICU try being a tech in the ICU or PCU, try being an anesthesia tech, SPD, supply chain, or PCA in the OR. Also look into externships after your first semester and know that many hospitals look internal before external for residencies and new grad jobs

• for your resume, name, phone number, email only. Do not put your references names, your address, etc. protect yourself and your people! Put any experience you have if no medical field experience and try to relate the traits needed to succeed to nursing.

• apply to any job, new grad, residency, etc especially if you want a specialty. Try to build as many connections as possible in nursing school. You can’t even get in the door if you don’t apply, it’s always worth trying. Also don’t compare yourself to your classmates. I had no job lined up when I graduated because I declined all non-OR jobs, and I got offered one after Christmas.

• for specialty areas, especially like ICU and OR, do your research and maybe study in your free time. Knowing stuff when you get interviewed especially if it’s not a residency made for new grads makes you look more impressive as a candidate. See if you can have observation clinicals in a specialty you want. If you have a passion, it’s not a burden or homework. Like I found myself looking up different procedures and the different robots

• Above all else, be yourself. I knew what I wanted in nursing school, and I know who I am as a person, outside of handbook guidelines, I did not try to mold myself into someone I wasn’t to appease my professors or peers.

I will also say, I learned nursing school can bring the ugliest out of people and job stress does it too to a lesser extent (coworkers may get short, but go back to laughing after the case or in the break room). I’m okay with that but some of the ways I was treated in school by peers was not acceptable to me especially for 2 years. I’m not letting you KMA when finished and going to be your buddy now that you can justify being nice to me. Stand up for yourself and protect your mental health and know your worth as a person!

Hope this helps. Never settle and always look to grow and achieve what you want.

I have a pediatric clinical tomorrow. I have done 3 OB shifts so far and this will be my first pediatric shift. Our instructor let us know yesterday that it is our responsibility as students to be able to carry out discharge on our own and that this is something we should be doing since we are third semester. I am already nervous about pediatrics, but this is making me feel like I'm all over the place. how does the process of discharge work? Only one nurse has ever let me watch her make the discharge form on the computer but I didn't get to watch the patient teaching or communication with the patient.

I have seen the thick packets and my biggest question is how do you know what information to teach them from that packet? Also, is it too much if I look through the packet before d/c to make little bullet points for myself to teach the patient?

Any help is appreciated

Hey all my fellow nursing students,

I had another dillema this week:

Option 1) Work im a hospital that is stressful, management is sometimes rude, small hospital but it's for profit and pays $5 more per hour. Benefits are about the same, give or take, but it's tolerable working there I consider it a job. Not a welcoming workplace culture by any means.

Option 2) UNION non profit, pays less but it's the happiest Ive been working in a hospital. Oh, and the benefits are covered more by the employer.

I'm leaning toward staying with Union but either way,I'm gonna upset somebody by sending a resignation or withdrawing because I accepted two offers and can only work at one