Student offers advice on 2-year training

[cougarnurse]

I thought you students would enjoy this article: Student offers advice on 2-year nursing training

Though it's not on the list of fastest-growing professions, nursing job opportunities are still expected to grow 22 percent through 2018, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

An associate's degree is required to become a registered nurse, and many of the Maricopa Community Colleges offer two-year programs, which typically cost about $6,650.

The students who make up those programs are diverse. Many are one-time working professionals who quit their day jobs to try something new.

Mesa resident Kati Wijdenes, 23, falls into that category. The former economics major left school to work full time for a local community group, and after taking a course to become an emergency medical technician, Wijdenes discovered her passion for health care. She is now in her final semester of the nursing program at GateWay Community College. She gave a rundown of what those hoping to enter the nursing field can expect:

Question: What was the biggest challenge you faced after starting the program?

Answer: I had gone from being out of school for a year to being in school full time, working 24 hours a week and studying constantly. I went from being able to enjoy myself and have fun, to having to take test after test. It was hard because it is a very rigorous program. You are expected to absorb information fast, and you have to consistently do well to keep moving forward.

Q: What do you enjoy most about the program?

A: When I'm doing my clinicals at a hospital, working with other nurses and helping patients, it's amazing to think that I'm still in school and able to do this. It's so different from any other kind of training, except for maybe medical school. It opens you up to so many diverse experiences and people. I've been able to watch all sorts of surgeries and procedures.

Q: What advice do you have for others hoping to enter a nursing program?

A: Get all of your prerequisites and co-requisites out of the way first, so you don't have anything to distract you. For me, those were English 101 and 102; microbiology; anatomy; physiology 201 and 202; chemistry and some humanities and other traditional college courses. Once you are in nursing school, you have very intense lectures and tests almost every week. If you are going through that and also doing an English class, it will be distracting. Having to do research projects and write papers on top of nursing classes is a lot.

[OldSquidNewNurse]

One piece of advice I tell people starting a program is depending on how your medication lists are type them out on an excel spreadsheet. It’ll pay off in the end by just cutting and pasting medications. Also a good care plan book is a must. Mine broke things out from medical dx with related nursing dx.