TO CSULB NURSING STUDENTS:

Congratulations! You’re to be commended for making it into this very competitive program! There are a lot of confusing things that appear each semester, so here’s a list that hopefully can clarify things. Please e-mail craigfnp@yahoo.com if things on this list needed to be updated.

The Class of Dec. 2001

Semester I
NRSG 200	Introduction to nursing (lecture)
NRSG 200L	Med-Surg clinical (Torrance Memorial; Irvine Med; Western Med; LB Community were some of the sites).
NRSG 202	Health Care communication (lecture)
A/P 206 (2 units)	Pharmacology
FCS 339 (1 unit)	Metabolic functions of nutrition
11 units total

You will be going to the hospital the day before your clinical day to choose a patient, and “pre-plan,” which is studying the patient’s chart in-depth and figuring out how to take care of him or her. The first three-four weeks there is no pre-planning as you practice doing things in the Learning Center with your instructor. Wear professional street clothes and your lab coat for pre-planning. No jeans! No smacking gum! You’ll become quite accustomed to waking up very early in the morning. Get lots of rest. Don’t stress out, or it’ll be Coldsore City!

Your uniforms are all white. Shoulder patch on left. If someone gets an inkling to redesign the patch, do it! We have the ugliest patch around. White athletic shoes are okay. Be neat. Clipboards with calculators on them are good. Long hair needs to be pulled back from the face. See-through nail polish and nails that won’t poke through gloves are good.

You’ll need:

· adult stethoscope. Try not to get one with light tubing because the ambient noise is too high and you won’t hear stuff well. Single head or traditional is a matter of taste. In third semester pediatrics, you’ll need a pediatric stethoscope, which has smaller heads. Better yet, buy a stethoscope with screw-on pediatric/adult heads. You’ll use the stethoscope a lot, but it doesn’t have to be an expensive one.

· Pen light (you’ll use it a lot)

· Tape measure (impress your instructor)

· blood pressure cuff (will use for learning purposes and practice only)

· bandage scissors, forceps (will not use this much)

You’ll need copies (not originals) of:

· TB test (called Mantoux or PPD)

· Titers or immunizations (Hep B; MMR; varicella) Titers measure your body’s response – antibodies – to foreign antigens.

· Malpractice insurance (through National Student Nurses Association it’s $20/year. See http://www.nsna.org )

· CPR certification (American Heart Association-certified course for health care providers). Get this through AHA, or a local hospital or Red Cross, etc.)

· Pre-entry physical exam results (need by first week of school)

Semester II
A/P 305	Pathophysiology (taken during second semester, or summer session)
NRSG 250	Intermediate Med-Surg Nursing (lecture)
NRSG 250L	Clinical (Some sites included St. Joseph Hospital in Orange; Irvine Med; LB Community)
NRSG 260	Gerontological Nursing (lecture)
NRSG 260L	Clinical (VA Hospital)
NRSG 312	Physical Assessment
NRSG 312L	Phys Assessment lab
13 or 16 units total

Pre-planning for patients continues for 250L. Some pre-planning for 260L, depending on your assignment.

You’ll need copies of the usual stuff (see Semester I).

*Some classes, like nutrition, pathophysiology, human development I & II, physical assessment and legal issues can be taken ahead of time, or credit can be given if you’ve had the same class content. Check with individual instructors.

Semester III
NRSG 307	Human Development I (neonates to adolescents lecture)
NRSG 330	Women’s Health Care (lecture)
NRSG 330L	Women’s Health clinical (sites included Hoag; St. Joseph’s)
NRSG 340	Pediatrics (lecture)
NRSG 340L	Peds clinical (sites include Shriner’s; Miller Children’s Hospital)
NRSG 351	Legal Issues in Nursing
14 units total

If you’re at Shriners, you can wear something other than white uniforms! Colored scrubs are fine. It’s a long drive and plan to car-pool because on-street parking is tough. You will pre-plan for peds, but not maternal/child.

You’ll need copies of the usual stuff (see Semester I)

· Renew your CPR card annually, even if it’s good for two years.

Semester IV
NRSG 300	Psycho-social aspects of nursing (similar content to NRSG 202)
NRSG 357	Human Development II (younger to older adults lecture)
NRSG 360	Critical Care Nursing (ICU; ER)
NRSG 360L	Critical Care Clinical (sites included Harbor-UCLA; St. Mary)
NRSG 370	Psychiatric Nursing (lecture)
NRSG 370L	Psych clinical (sites included St. Joseph; UC Irvine Medical Ctr)
14 units total

You wear street clothes and name badge at psych clinical. Pre-planning in great depth is expected for critical care, but not for psychiatric nursing.

You’ll need copies of the usual stuff.

BOARDS: You can apply to take the NCLEX examination late in the semester, but you will take the test as a “non-graduate”, which may be a hassle if you move to another state because you have to deal with that state’s Board and that state’s requirements. If you already have a bachelor’s degree, you go into a different category, and make sure the Nursing Dept. marks you off correctly on their application or it will delay things. You will need to study 3-6 weeks steadily, using an NCLEX study book, or if it helps you, a review course.

To see what NCLEX pass rates are for nursing schools in California:

http://www.rn.ca.gov/schools/passrates.htm We gotta do better 49ers!

To apply:

You need to make an application to the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN), for which you’ll need:

1) graduation check sheet signed by your nursing dept counselor who is

assigned by alphabetical listing,

2) final transcripts you pay for at the cashier’s office and stamped. The receipt is returned to Nursing Dept. who will mail transcript to the board at the end of the semester

3) fingerprints taken at local police dept. (form is in the application packet) or Sheriff’s station or Al’s Fingerprinting at 350 E. Third Street across from the downtown Long Beach post office. $7-10

4) passport-type photographs of yourself (Al’s does this, too).

5) Cost is around $107 to make an “application to test” to the BRN. Another $30 if you want an Interim Permit, which allows you to work as an IP (an unlicensed RN) for up to six months or until you take the exam. Many hospitals will hire you as an IP, with the understanding that you will be hired as an RN when you pass the NCLEX, so make sure you pass the first time!

6) Separately, the cost of the NCLEX is $129.25 if you pay the Chauncy Group with credit card over the phone. It’s slightly less if you do it via regular mail, which is slower to arrange.

The BRN processes your application, and sends you an “authorization to test” if everything is in order and you’re not a convicted mass murderer. You call the NCLEX people with your “authorization to test” and NCLEX sends you more information, with which you make an appointment at a specified local test-taking center. Test takes up to five hours. Minimum number of questions you can be asked is 75; max is 265. You’ll keep getting questions until a basic level of competency is shown by your answers. Takes 3-4 weeks to get results and the BRN doesn’t like you calling them and bugging them.

Pinning Ceremony – This is the dress-up dinner where we all get our nursing school pins, invite all the nice people who put up with your nonsense for four years, and is generally a nice way to end to our undergraduate careers. A group of students begin planning for this event, which happens at the end of semester VI.

Semester V
NRSG 400	Health Care Delivery Systems (policy, politics, economics seminar)
NRSG 402	Community Health Nursing (public health lecture)
NRSG 402L	Public Health Nursing clinical (sites included Long Beach Dpt of Health; Torrance (LA Co); Orange County)
10 units total plus general ed if needed

No scrubs. Just street clothes and lab coat for clinical. No preplanning. Lots of projects, i.e., teaching, current event reviews, and 3-person debate for N400 and N402. There are 3-person debates each week in N400. Topics for debate should answer a yes-no question and bear some resemblance to the weekly topic under study, say, for instance, “Should pharmaceutical companies be allowed to advertise directly to consumers?” One person is the moderator; one, the “pro” side, and the other, the “con” side. There is a lot of preparation for this, and you will undertake a pretty serious review of literature. Here, we’re introduced to PowerPoint presentations, which is very cool. It’s a good way to help structure your debates and keep your audience, who will vote pro-con on your topic, interested.

You’ll be busy with community health clinical, too. The biggest hurdle is finding a volunteer “flex” time assignment, which you find yourself. You arrange to work with a nurse who in some way works with issues related to public health, and you put in, as I recall, 60-80 hours doing this, in addition to your usual once-a-week clinical, where you spend time with public health nurses. You will also have a health teaching project to do, and you’ll attend some health fairs, which may or may not have anything to do with your big health teaching project (it’s nice if you can work them in together).

Still need copies of the usual stuff, plus:

· car insurance copy because you use your personal car for home visits.

By March 1st, or Oct. 1st, depending on if you graduate in December or May, respectively, you will need to fill out a “request to graduate” form. These are available at the administration building, and it costs $30. This is for the school to look over your record and see if you’re delinquent in anything.

You’ll need:

· “request to graduate” form from administration bldg

· $30

· “graduation check” sheet from nursing dept., which is the same form you used for the NCLEX application (if you applied early).

Before mid-semester, sign-up sheets for clinicals for the last semester are circulated. You fill in which clinical you’re interested in doing (see Semester VI), and the instructors try to fit you in with your wishes. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get what you want, because you can shape your clinical to fit your interests.

Semester VI
NRSG 450	Research and Administration (lecture)
NRSG 450L	Research seminar (1 unit activity)
NRSG 45x	Advanced Clinical (4 units) in the following specialities: Critical Care (ICU, ER); Maternal/Child; Community Health; Rural Nursing Psych/Mental Health
NRSG 45x	Advanced Nursing lecture (2 units)
10 units total plus general ed if needed

Clinicals for this last semester are chosen the previous semester. If you do rural nursing, your clinical is done at sites in Northern California with a preceptor coordinated through Cal State Chico’s Kathleen Kirby. Your clinical is done over the winter or summer break for a minimum of five weeks up to eight weeks (unpaid!), but the good thing is that you get your clinical out of the way.

See http://www.csuchico.edu/cont/rcnp/

Try to get your application in early to Kathleen so you can get the placement you want, such as in ER, or ICU, or in a "generalist" hospital (20-bed hospital) where you have to do everything! If you plan on being in an ICU or ER, you want to have your ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) certification done. You can take this class through your hospital's education department, or through private firms, which you can find on the Internet. Cost varies for private firms, but can cost up to $200 for two days.

A copy of your mission statement, objectives and other info that you send to Kathleen Kirby needs to go to Dr. Leayn Johnson, who coordinates things at the CSULB. There are two sets of information, often different, that you must attend to. One goes to Chico, the other to Dr. Johnson.

You will keep a portfolio/journal for CSULB, and you will have to write a short paper, have evaluations done for both Chico and CSULB, and make a 10-15 minute presentation on your experience during sixth semester with Dr. Johnson.

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