tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29842855952406008552009-11-20T21:05:55.786-08:00Student nurse, Cassie Applegate, answers questions, responds to comments and offers plenty of insight for student nurses on all things related to nursing school. <p>Contact Cassie at <a href="mailto:zeuxia@gmail.com">zeuxia@gmail.com</a></p>NurseZonenoreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-66183916899066194722009-11-20T10:56:00.000-08:002009-11-20T10:59:17.189-08:00

Death is a part of living and we will all have to face it in our lifetimes at some point or another. I have dealt with very tragic losses in my personal life and seeing other families go through that process is heart-wrenching and brings back many deep wounds. In nursing school we will all take some form of "Death and Dying" class, but will it really prepare us for our first patient loss? My

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-4261417221776212962009-11-20T10:49:00.000-08:002009-11-20T10:51:26.926-08:00

As the end of nursing school draws near, the fear of being all on my own with a patient load becomes more and more scary. Will I really be able to handle it without having a mental breakdown every day? It seems that hospitals are also considering this concern, as the reality of new graduate nurse "burnout" is becoming a problem for staffing and resources. More and more hospitals are turning to

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-54469382268946780722009-11-12T09:55:00.000-08:002009-11-12T10:00:08.105-08:00

Alternate item formats are generally the most dreaded questions on exams. Usually instructors will throw in one to two of them into the majority of multiple choice questions on exams. They are usually the questions that students get wrong.So what are alternate item formats? Alternate item formats are pretty much any question that is not multiple choice. They include multiple response questions

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-60918082721475040292009-11-12T09:53:00.000-08:002009-11-12T09:55:21.511-08:00

Today we had our senior/sophomore experience. A senior/sophomore experience (for those of you who do not have this clinical at your nursing school) is a day where seniors get to develop their delegation and leadership skills, while assisting sophomore nursing students on their first clinical in the hospital. I was in one of the first classes at my nursing school to start in the fall semester, so

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-24542663539940936742009-10-01T11:17:00.000-07:002009-10-01T11:20:09.938-07:00

Preparing to take the NCLEX-RN exam is a very scary and stressful place to be. It is a time to transition from being a nursing student to a nurse. How is that accomplished? How do you make that leap?Here are some very practical and simple tips to use while you prepare to take the NCLEX:1. Start soon! When is it too early to start studying for the NCLEX? Never. Most nursing school books

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-73576675489486688662009-08-31T08:52:00.000-07:002009-08-31T08:53:52.899-07:00

Every semester in nursing school we are required to get a PPD skin test to determine whether we have tuberculosis or not. Every semester my PPD skin test has come back negative - until this summer.This summer in order to work at the hospital I had to go through all of their procedures before acquiring the job. I had to be cleared by the occupational therapist, show my current CPR certification,

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-91041466682362290292009-07-30T14:54:00.000-07:002009-07-30T14:58:13.447-07:00

As my summer ends and my last semester of nursing school looms near, I have become more and more overwhelmed by the pile of NCLEX study material that has accumulated in my house. I have put this pile near my bed in an effort to remind me to study when I wake up, but instead I see it right before I sleep. This has led to numerous stress-related nightmares where I can never remember the right

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-83019587217300974742009-07-06T15:05:00.000-07:002009-07-06T15:06:25.487-07:00

My biggest fear while I have been in nursing school has been starting my first IV on a real live patient. I have had plenty of time and practice on mannequins with plastic arms and red water, but even I knew that a plastic vein was a lot different than a human one.While I have been doing my externship in the labor/delivery department of my local hospital I have had numerous opportunities to

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-49860715628454957652009-05-26T11:02:00.000-07:002009-07-06T15:04:53.377-07:00

Recently I've been seeing fliers around town inviting nurses to join a weekly meeting where their journal entries are shared and discussed. I found this idea of sitting around with other nurses discussing work-related journal entries very exciting. As a nursing student I think it would be a wonderful idea to get other nursing students together and do the same thing.Along with all of the joys of

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-61607666703704460972009-04-18T12:56:00.000-07:002009-07-06T15:02:45.044-07:00

In nursing school we are taught ways to become a well-rounded nurse and we learn a wide facet of skills to cover every dynamic field within nursing. But how are we outside of the classroom? As I sneak closer to my graduation date every day, I have come to ask myself the question, "Am I marketable?" Sure, I get good grades in class but is that all that it takes anymore?In the current state of

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-61496666659453468272009-03-25T09:14:00.000-07:002009-03-25T09:19:44.064-07:00

When I first started nursing school two years ago, the local hospital had pages and pages full of positions for registered nurses. Now that list of jobs has shrunk to less than a page with only part-time or PRN positions available. The hospital has also done away with loan repayment for new hires and has also temporarily frozen personal paid leave. This had scared most of us who are graduating

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-26609314748941277152008-11-18T10:31:00.000-08:002009-02-27T09:51:25.789-08:00

Earlier this week, my class was unfortunate enough to have another classmate drop out of nursing school. This is the tenth person who has dropped out since we started nursing school last fall and drops our total class size to merely 25 students. If 10 students dropped out in 18 months, how many students will be left when we graduate in a year? This makes me wonder whether the drop out rate

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-90017555340431815332009-02-27T09:43:00.000-08:002009-02-27T09:50:15.775-08:00

A career fair is a great way to see what health care institutions are available in your area and what opportunities you will have when you graduate. It expands the possibilities outside of the scope of just the hospital setting—which is often the focus during school. Some participants may include local prison facilities, schools, companies, government agencies, etc. Recently my school held a

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-33336928682546937832009-02-09T11:18:00.000-08:002009-02-09T11:21:13.522-08:00

In nursing school we are taught textbook nursing and how we should practice our evidence-based nursing skills. Unfortunately our clinical experience doesn’t always back up and support this information. But that’s where “do as I say and not as I do” comes into play, right?When nurses do something in our clinical experience that is not “by the book” it is, for the most part, very obvious. Such

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-54332279337018876182008-12-05T10:18:00.000-08:002008-12-05T10:23:50.094-08:00

Today while I was sitting in my very comfortable spot in the back row of class, I counted roughly seven out of 10 students on the Internet and chatting with friends on their laptops, instead of paying attention in class. Although I am a very avid technology fan (and would probably melt away at the thought of going without the Internet for a whole day), I am appalled at the passive learning that

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-49500991660575856902008-11-10T10:19:00.000-08:002008-11-10T10:23:12.676-08:00

How do you transition from pre-nursing student to nursing student? Many students make the mistake of waiting until the first day of class to discover what nursing school really involves. I recommend that when the thought of applying to nursing school first enters your mind, you should have a list of questions for your school and yourself in order to prepare for what lies ahead. One very

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-56226345424035187822008-10-28T14:59:00.000-07:002008-10-28T15:06:01.764-07:00

I recently sat down and talked to one of my good friends who just graduated from my nursing school last semester. It was so helpful to get some of her tips on how to survive another year of nursing school and her advice for the NCLEX.One of the things she reiterated that was really important was to study NCLEX questions now. Her entire class passed the NCLEX on their first try and she credited

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-54389749832693956382008-10-20T14:23:00.000-07:002008-10-20T14:26:00.618-07:00

When looking over my assignments for this current week, I noticed that I have been assigned to read 24 chapters spread between three classes. This is not an unusual amount of reading in my third semester of nursing school, but it can feel a little overwhelming in comparison to the caseload of other homework I could be doing.So what can you do in this situation? One of the best things that I

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-20499292727724075612008-10-08T15:43:00.000-07:002008-10-08T15:53:32.368-07:00

As we near Election Day, it is impossible to avoid the news coverage on the presidential candidates, even in the midst of a busy semester. But don’t let the media hype or the stress of classes deter you from being involved; as future nurses in America it is vitally important to be aware of the candidates’ health care platforms, because they will someday affect not only the care that we will

Cassie Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09790258591358127107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-6998781650670443072008-09-23T10:18:00.000-07:002008-09-23T10:20:20.392-07:00

Since joining the National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA) I have been lucky enough to be a part of multiple health screening fairs, blood drives and career fairs. It has been a great opportunity to practice my skills in a non-school environment (a.k.a. without a grade involved) and to get to know upper classmen. This last part has proved very helpful in getting tips on how to study for

NurseZonenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984285595240600855.post-84825546937287086822008-09-23T10:13:00.000-07:002008-09-23T10:18:32.589-07:00

Any student nurse has probably noticed that there are nice nurses during clinical rotation and there are not-so-nice nurses. Clinical rotation is often a very nerve-racking experience and having a supportive and helpful nurse can turn it into a very rewarding and memorable time. Here are a few tips that I have learned to help build a relationship with the nurse during the short time we have in

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