NurseZone Blog: Ask Cassie

Champions for Community Health

2012-04-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

Champions for Community Health I recently sat down with a leader in my community who participated in a recent analysis of the health disparities in our city. This conversation was part of a school assignment, otherwise I most likely would not have found the time for this in my busy schedule. The meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes, but we talked for over an hour about some of the

A Matter of Degrees: ADN to BSN or MSN

2012-03-09T12:42:00.001-08:00

Receiving an associate’s degree in nursing (ADN) allows for entry into the nursing profession without the need for taking many prerequisites, or being in school for a solid four years. Its primary focus is to create nurses with the skills necessary to be safe and successful within a 2-year timeframe. If you pass the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination), you will still be given the

See One, Do One, Teach One

2012-02-10T13:17:00.001-08:00

The old saying of “See one, do one, teach one” has been told over and over again to me, in nursing school and in practice. The idea is that after seeing a procedure done correctly (as in starting an I.V.) you will then be able to do it correctly. Then, by teaching another person, you solidify your understanding of the procedure.I think this motto is an absolutely accurate one, but what happens

NCLEX Coming Up? Don't Throw Out Those Class Notes Just Yet

2012-01-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

During nursing school I remember wanting to get rid of every trace of my notes after finishing a class (specifically the classes I didn’t enjoy). Fortunately, I fought off this urge in most cases and kept many lecture notes, note cards, PowerPoint slides and books from my completed classes. This proved invaluable as I sat down to study for the NCLEX (the National Council Licensure Examination).I

Nurses Start To Occupy

2012-01-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains momentum, more and more people are joining this loosely organized group of people – including many nurses. Nurses in San Francisco are joining forces in support of a tax that could help fund health care services, while nurses in Washington, D. C., marched in support of the government taxing banks to increase revenue to taxpayers and their patients, of

Look for the Seal of Accredidation

2011-12-20T05:18:00.000-08:00

I recently read an article about a woman who started fraudulent nursing schools and scammed many would-be students out of thousands of dollars of potential tuition. I remember how poor and broke I was when I started nursing school, and can’t imagine what a setback that would have been for me in that situation. This made me wonder … how could so many students be duped into this scheme? And did

What Nursing Students Can Do Today To Help Land That Future Job

2011-12-20T05:17:00.000-08:00

We all choose to go to nursing school for one simple reason – to become a nurse. So while you are in nursing school the job market becomes a very important and real scene as you begin to scope out you future career.My main advice for finding a job as a new nurse involves starting earlier rather than later. It is a good idea at the very beginning of nursing school to realize that every little

Creating and Encouraging Healthy Goals

2011-12-20T05:06:00.000-08:00

In nursing school it is hard enough to get your coursework done, work at your job, and fulfill your family duties; adding a personal health goal on top of it may seem nearly impossible. Although as nurses we know what we should be doing to be healthy, oftentimes we are just as unhealthy as the patients we take care of. This makes setting a health goal a very important aspect of caring for

Remote Video Proctoring

2011-12-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

Recently my graduate school (which is a distance education program) has announced that it will be implementing remote video proctoring during all of our exams. This means that we, as students, have to purchase a video recording device that has a 360 degree view of our environment and also records audio. It must also have a fingerprint-reading device to ensure that we are, in fact, the person

Learning to Care as a Nurse

2011-12-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

Being a nurse, in its definition, is to be a caring individual. In nursing school we are taught that caring is a fundamental role of being a nurse. We learn all about the great nurses in history—Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton and Mary Breckinridge, to name a few—who show us exactly what it means to care. But what happens when we stop caring? How do we get it back?I was recently speaking

Is the BSN Degree Program Really the Hardest?

2011-11-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my Facebook news feed was bombarded by fellow nurses posting this: The Bachelors of Science Nursing (BSN) degree has been chosen as the toughest degree among all the college degrees by the Guinness Book of World Records on 18 MAY 2011. It has 64 university exams + 130 series exams + 174 assignments within 4 years (max 1000 working days ). All BS nurses post this on your wall for

When Grading is Unfair

2011-11-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more frustrating than getting a poor grade on an assignment without an obvious reason. Recently this very thing happened to me after turning in a paper. I followed the instructions, used the sample paper as a guideline, and made sure to include everything listed on the rubric. To my shock and surprise I opened up my grade expecting to see above a 90% and was startled with a

Group Projects Do Not End in Nursing School

2011-08-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Nursing school is not only a time to learn about taking care of patients and nursing theory, it is also a time to connect with other nurses and to learn how to become a member of the nursing profession. Part of this comes from socializing with other student nurses, but a lot of it comes from working side-by-side with other student nurses and professional nurses. When you become a nurse you will

Incentives for Graduate Nurses

2011-07-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

I recently read an article in The Boston Globe (found at: http://articles.boston.com/2011-07-24/news/29810482_1_nursing-students-student-loans-ocean-state) about the governor of Rhode Island’s proposal to provide interest-free loans to nursing students who agree to work in the state after they graduate. This plan has been put in place to deal with the increasing demand from aging baby boomers as

Nurses and our Image on T.V.

2011-07-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

There has seemed to be a sudden increase in nurse-related television shows and movies in the past decade. Perhaps TV executives are finally realizing that nurses make up such a large percentage of the workforce and by representing them you may convince them to watch your programs.The television show “Scrubs” has been around since 2001, and features Carla Espinosa, a nurse who undoubtedly knows

Social Networking in Nursing School

2011-07-28T09:25:00.001-07:00

It is rare to find a college student in America who is not on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or many of the other social networking sites available today. Social networking has become a part of our daily lives and not only do we have access on our laptops or home computers, but now we also have constant access on our smart phones. There is not a moment that occurs during our day where we do not

Professional Nursing Organizations

2011-05-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

Becoming a nurse means becoming a member of one of the largest workforce populations in America. This means, that if as a group nurses come together as a united force we have much power to affect policy and change in our country. If, however, we each stick to our own and do not join together in professional organizations, we have very little impact on the national scheme of things.So what do I

Creating a Distraction-free Nursing Study Space

2011-05-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Creating a space to study is one of the most important and also one of the most neglected steps in going to school. While in nursing school I used my kitchen table to study, and remember feeling a little frazzled and unsettled when studying. Oftentimes I would stop studying to wash the dishes, clean, or write a shopping list. Now that I am in graduate school I made sure to create a quiet space

Keeping a Nursing Journal Has Many Benefits

2011-03-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

While in nursing school you may be required to write a few “reflective” essays on how you are doing or how you felt about your first clinical, etc. The purpose of these essays is not just to add another assignment to your course load, but rather to have you pause and honestly look at your current state of being.Not only do I think these assignments are wonderful while in nursing school, I would

Nursing Classmates are Valued Resources

2011-03-21T14:36:00.001-07:00

The first semester of nursing school I sat in the back of the class and tried as hard as possible not to socialize with my classmates or participate in the classroom. I lived off-campus and had my own separate busy life away from nursing school and wanted to keep my school life as simple as possible. By the second semester I was forced to be more social and participate in more group activities

Nursing School Interview Tips

2011-02-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

When I applied for nursing school I was lucky enough to avoid having the dreaded phone interview with admissions office. For graduate school, however, I was not as fortunate.The phone interview (or personal interview) has a variety of functions. The first of which is to determine if you would make a good student; furthermore, a good nurse. We had a saying in nursing school that “straight A’s

Distance Education Program for Nurses

2011-02-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

I have currently been accepted into a distance education graduate program and the thought of doing all of my coursework online is daunting, to say the least. The only other experience I have with distance education was taking pharmacology online during nursing school. Although I learned a lot and thought the teacher did a great job of integrating technology and not making the class feel as

Family Life in Nursing School. How to do it all?

2011-01-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

I’ve touched on balancing family life with school life in some of my previous blog posts, but now that my husband and I are expecting our first child this topic has become more and more real to me. Currently, I am working nights full-time at the hospital and am anxiously awaiting my acceptance into graduate school. My life right now is pretty simple and I wonder how everything will change when I

Get Familiar with Evidence Based Practice

2011-01-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

If you are in nursing school, you have no doubt learned all about the importance of Evidence Based Practice (EBP). In school, many of us have had to make countless posters and presentations on the current best evidence for why we do what we do for our patients. This involves reading numerous nursing journal articles and analyzing the evidence. If you think the countless hours spent on these

Military Service in Nursing School

2010-11-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Veterans Day has come and gone, but I have still not stopped thinking of the men and women in uniform that serve our country. Nurses have always played a large role in military service, one that perhaps has not received the recognition it deserves.Every career fair that I have gone to, either while I was in nursing school or out of nursing school, has had either the Navy or the Army present to