Organifi Green Juice

Fast easy way to get more healthy greens in your daily routine to provide more energy, better memory, and less stress. For More Information,

Visit: My Organifi

How I Passed the HESI RN Exit Exam

I passed my HESI RN Exit Exam! If you want to know how I did it, keep reading. I will also share my HESI scores with you.

HESI exams are extremely difficult. Although they are given to predict how you will do on your NCLEX exam, they are nothing like the NCLEX exam in my opinion. The questions given on the HESI exam are much different than the questions given through the NCLEX exam. I struggled with this. The NCLEX exam questions are more straight forward than what is on the HESI. I could answer NCLEX style questions all day long with ease, but the HESI questions, well, they were not done with so much ease. The HESI exam questions are designed to trick you because they want to test your critical thinking skills. If your critical thinking skills are at or below par, you will not pass the HESI exam no matter how much knowledge you have in the way of content.

I Graduated RN School

Well, here I am. I finally made it to the end and graduated from RN nursing school. There were many times I doubted myself and my abilities, but I kept at it, and I did it. I am so proud of myself for hanging on, although I wasn’t sure I could. Now that RN school is over, which seemed like it took forever, I am starting BSN school in a few weeks. I know, I am gluten for punishment. I am afraid to take a break, for fear I may never finish the plans I have laid out for myself.

For those of you who do not know, I have been an LPN for 22 + years. I started RN school before I ever went through LPN school, but unfortunately life and it’s happenings got in the way of me completing my RN degree until now. I wasn’t sure I would ever make it to this point. I am 45 years old with two practically grown children, so graduating with my ADN was bittersweet for me. My well laid out plan includes completing my BSN in the next year, and then going on to complete my Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner degree after that and be done with everything by the time I am 50 years old. This will still give me at the very least 15 years to work, save money, pay off bills, and retire comfortably by the time I am around 65 years old. God willing, this will still give me time to relax and enjoy the rest of my days on this earth. The only regrets that I have in all of this is not seeing the light way before I turned 4o something. It is what it is though, and I plan to make the most of it now.

I plan to continue adding things throughout the rest of my school journey in hopes of helping other students. By all means, if you have questions, do not hesitate to ask.

New & Final Semester

Here I am. I cannot believe I have made it to the final semester of RN school. It has been a long hard road with many struggles and sleepless nights. I know this semester will not be any less than the previous ones. We actually have 2 classes this semester and 180 clinical hours to do in basically 2 months time. In addition to this, we will have 2 different HESI exams, 1 Exit HESI and 1 NUR 203 HESI. We have to pass both of them or we do not graduate. We do get 3 attempts to pass the exit HESI, but only once to pass the NUR 203 HESI. This time, the NUR 203 HESI is an all or nothing exam. If you do not make at least an 850 on the HESI, you do not get any points. This means that you either make the 850 points on the HESI, or you do not pass the class the way it is set up. This makes me nervous. All the other semesters, you at least got some points for various scores on the HESI. I did well on the NUR 201 HESI, but not so well on the NUR 202 HESI. I do not like the HESI exams. They are meant to predict whether a person will pass the NCLEX test or not, but the questions do not actually seem like they are set up the same to me as the NCLEX questions.

Nonetheless, I am going to study my butt off for both these tests because these 2 tests are what will make or break me as far as graduating.

I Made It Through Another Semester

Well, I made it through another semester, NUR 202. I am now moving on to the final semester of RN school. It will include NUR 203 and NUR 204. I am ecstatic. NUR 202 was a hard semester for me, but if I can do it, anyone can. I am no spring chicken anymore, so everything is double as hard for me this go around in nursing school. I could beat myself up every day for not doing this any sooner than I did, but sometimes life just gets in the way of your dreams. The important thing is that you never give up hope of fulfilling those dreams. Your time will come! When it does, you must seize the moment and go all in to get to where you want to be.

End of Another Semester ~ I Made It

Well I made it through another semester. I was a little worried at the mid-way point. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pull it off. I had to do a lot of praying and change of my study methods. What I was doing just wasn’t working for me. Thank the good Lord, I finally figured out what I was doing wrong in time that it made a difference in passing or failing the entire course.

Finals 8/3/2015: I ended up making an 83

HESI 201 Exam 8/30/2015: I ended up making a 929. This was a shock, because I had never taken a HESI exam in my life. I had no idea what to expect other than going through the questions on the practice information that the instructors sent us this semester. This test was actually harder than the mid-curricular HESI exam that we took on the same day. All together, there were 200 questions + 20 pilot questions.

HESI Mid-Curricular Exam 8/30/2015: I ended up making an 862. For those of you that do not know, this test was based off of the entire 1st year of RN school classes, which has been 20+ years ago for me. However, I still thought that it was the easier test of the two. Somehow, I still ended up doing better on the harder exam. I think that these tests are scored based on difficulty from what I have read, which is probably why I did better on the 201 exam.

IV Pumps Being Hacked. . .

O.K., so I just learned that Hospira’s Symbiq Infusion System IV pumps are being hacked. This is extremely scary. To think that someone could actually take control of an IV pump remotely, is crazy! This could get someone killed. The FDA is actually encouraging hospitals to discontinue using these pumps. I hope they heed the warning.

Read The FULL Article Here!

New (Summer) Semester

Well, Summer semester began last Tuesday, 5/26/2015. There was not much of a break from last semester, so I am still feeling the effects of that. Once again, I am sure I overloaded myself, but I have a plan, and I am sticking to it. This semester, I am taking Nursing 201, Pre-Calculus, and American Literature I. If you are not already aware, I am trying to complete all of my BSN General Education classes by the time I am finished with my Associate’s degree, so I can go straight into the online BSN Nursing program. I am doing this, because I am not getting any younger. My plan is to be completely through with my Nurse Practitioner’s degree before I turn 50 years old. I am 44 now. Do you think I can do it? I do, and I am going to do it! That is, if it does not kill me 1st. You know the old saying: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” I am definitely experiencing that right now in my life. If that saying is true, I should be one of the strongest people alive by the time I finish all of this.

We had our 1st test today for Nursing 201. It was based on Learning and Teaching concepts, as well as Advanced IV Nursing Calculations. We had a week to study for this test, so I am just praying that I did OK on it. My head started hurting yesterday, while I was studying, and it has been pounding all day today. I was hoping I could get rid of it before the test, but unfortunately that did not happen. I know it is all just stress. I have got to find a way to relax and calm my nerves. I don’t remember being this stressed out during LPN school, but then again, I was in my 20’s at that time. I am a pretty high strung person anyway, and everything has to be a certain way at all times (OCD, mind you). Sometimes, being OCD is not a good trait to have.

I Made It . . .

I had to let everyone know that I made it to the end of the semester. Let me tell you, though, it was not easy. I would not suggest anyone trying to take a full load of classes at the same time you are taking a Nursing Mobility class. There were times when I did not think I was going to make it through. Somehow, with a lot of prayers and sleepless nights, I managed to do it. I am one step closer to finally fulfilling my dream of becoming an RN. I am so glad and thankful to be moving on to the next semester. How I don’t know, but I ended the semester with 3 “A’s” and 1 “B.” Ideally, I would not still be working F/T, but I don’t have any other choice. I can tell that if I did have any other choice, I would not be doing it. I have 20 + years of nursing experience, and this semester has still kicked my butt.

Today is the 11th of May. I now have to get a physical and a boat load of vaccines or titer tests completed in time to have it turned in by the 21st of May, which by the way is next week I believe. Plus, I have to work in between those days. Then, the next semester starts the following Tuesday, the 26th of May. Therefore, we don’t really have much of a break in between semesters. I don’t care though, at the end of the Summer semester, I will be 1/2 way done with the program.

It’s Cram Time Again

As we are nearing the end of this semester, it seems that things are getting hectic again. I have one more assignment due in my Nutrition class, one more regular exam and one more lab exam in my A & P class that I had to retake due to it not being enough credit hours from the 1st time I took it years ago, and a few more things left to do in my Chemistry class. So far, I have an “A” in all of these classes. I hope I am able to keep it this way.

As for my nursing class, we have 2 more exams and one more day of 3 different check offs. One of the exams I have left and the 3 check offs (1. Initiating IV Therapy, 2. Tracheostomy Care, 3. Airway Suctioning) are scheduled for next Thursday. I have really been studying hard for this exam, but I always get nervous when it gets close to time to actually take the exam and do the check offs. I am always afraid that I will miss something in the check offs. I think the last exam we have to take is on like May 4th. I will have to double check that, but it is around this time. It is on Maternal Child, which is not my forte. Right now, I have a “B” in my nursing class. Although it would be nice to have an “A” in this class too, I will be happy to have a “B” at this point.