RN Baby!

I would like to inform everyone that I passed our local licensure exam! *happy dance*

Click here: June Nursing Licensure Exam Results 2008

27,765 passed out of 64,459 examinees = 43%

The moment I received a phone call from a friend saying that I passed, I felt elated! We were all jumping, screaming, and smiling. Of course, I couldn’t miss thanking the people who helped me along the way. First and foremost, my heartfelt gratitude for my ever loving and supportive family. They have been supporting me financially, spiritually, and emotionally. Although there were difficult times when I wanted to study and they wanted to watch TV at night. To my colleagues, it was such an amazing race, completing the required documents for registration before the deadline. It was fun and now all are hardwork is paid off. We need the vacation that we deserve.  Special shout out to Miss Donna for all the info that I need that made my cases easier . To my good looking batch mates, thank you for believing that I could make it. It is so overwhelming that you kept in touch until now through phone, text, private messages. To my scholarship/sponsor, I can’t thank you enough. You have been a blessing in the midst of crisis. To my reviewing buddies, yey we all made it! Kudos to our reviewers, teachers and our university. For all those who prayed for me, muchas gracias!

xoxo,

Gemini Star, RN

The Agony of Waiting

Waiting is hard or excruciating for some who waits for a certain period of time. It may lasts for days, months, or even years. We all wait for various reasons: waiting for the results of the licensure exam, waiting for the answer of someone, waiting in line to get the papers done, waiting for your turn to be ushered by the waitress, waiting for the taxi or cab to take you home, waiting for someone to answer the phone on the the other end, waiting for someone to love you back, and as for John Mayer, waiting for the world to change.

It is agonizing especially if you are waiting for something or someone that will determine your future. It has been part of my life to learn how to wait. It started with lining up in government establishments that took waiting time on average of 4 hours. In the middle of it, there are times that I wanted to give up then suddenly would change my mind saying that to better finish it when I am already halfway through. What I learned from all the chaos of waiting is the virtue of patience. The waiting part of our life teaches us something to indulge in things that can occupy the useless time of waiting and thus doing something productive while that something or someone awaits you. Not the other way around.

Variation Law : If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now (works every time).

Very true! Just make sure if you change lines, the other line is half the line of your previous line. If not, better stick to your original line.

I heart Allnurses.com

I am an active member of the forum since May 2006. I really love this forum and it is quite addicting. It was founded on the year of 1998. Currently, it is the #1 nursing community for nurses at the same time the largest active online nursing forum. Allnurses has given me direction on my nursing education and now my nursing career. The people there relentlessly without a doubt answers your every query. They welcome everyone and has been very helpful from the start. It helps in motivating one in your chosen field in nursing. There are significant information that can be learned every day which only takes some few minutes to read.

The forum is a complete package; it has everything from jokes, scrubs, NCLEX, nursing specialty to nursing experiences. There are regional sub forums that specifically caters people according to their location. Like for every state in US, Philippines, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and UK. Everything that you can think of is all there. Although, you have to read first the previous posts since most of the queries has been discussed already. Remember also to follow the posting guidelines.

I would like to give thanks for the moderators in every sub forums there. Special shout out to Brian Short, RN, the founder of Allnurses.com. Mostly, all the moderators are working as RNs while investing their valuable time and effort in the forum during their spare time. If you are student nurse, RN, LPN/LVN, whether male or female, you might want to drop by the forum and let your voice be heard.

PS. I hope I could get a membership upgrade, anyone? I would be very thankful. =P

Thank you very much Brian. I am enjoying the benefits so far and glad that I’m one of the platinum members of AN. I will continue to spread the passion of nursing.

Nursing School Performance Part I

Update:  For the results of the June 2008 NLE, please go to my “RN Baby!” or Performance of Nursing Schools Part II articles.

After couple of weeks of tallying, encoding, and reviewing the nursing schools with ratings of 50% and below, it amazes me that there are more crappy nursing schools than better performing schools. Now, I know why they don’t publish such statistics. There are two parts in the file. First, is the list of all schools with their ratings and the second part is the categories of passing rates of the schools.

At the start, I have planned to write down the poorest performing nursing schools first, because I thought it would be lesser in number than the good schools. The turn of events was quite the opposite. The results showed that there are 369 nursing schools in the Philippines with passing rates of 50% and below including those with inconsistent passing rates compiled throughout the period of December 2006, June 2007, and December 2007 Nursing Licensure Exam (NLE) results. I didn’t find any list of nursing school performance for December 2005 NLE and other previous exams online. The June 2006 NLE results were not included due to the cheating issue.

In the span of 2 years, nursing schools from all over the country skyrocketed to more than 400. There were a total of 405 nursing schools listed last December 2006 NLE. The exact number of all the nursing schools couldn’t be found due to limited resources. Merely half are doing well on passing above the percentage of 50. The pdf file attached also shows 5 categories on the passing rates of nursing schools in the following order: 0-10%, 11-20%, 21-30%, 31-40%, and 41-50%. Take a look at your school in which category it belongs. If not found there, it means that your school is either safe or struggling to do better. There might be some school that I have missed out also due to limited resources.

Why in the world would someone enroll to a computer school, maritime school better yet a flying school to take up BSN? It is absurd that such schools offer BSN courses when their forte is computers, marine and flying high. I won’t mention names but you can see it for yourself on the file. I conclude that these schools that marked 0% on first try had constantly 0% passing rate for the succeeding exams wherein only 1 or less than 10 students took the exams.

The nursing schools were categorized in such ways one can identify who are the poorest among them all. As shown on the pdf file, 128 out of 369 listed schools belong to the 0-10% passing rate category. This category also has the most number of schools compared to the other categories. In the fifth category, schools with passing rates above 50% were included. These schools should be watch out for due to they have inconsistent passing rates. Meaning, they get a high passing rate in one exam and a low score on the succeeding exam or vice versa. If only I have the power to close these schools, I would without a doubt. Those that fall on first four categories should be closed. There is no reason for them to continue if for the past exams, no improvement can be seen. The 5^th category should be given 3 warnings before closing their program. If their passing rates did not improve or did not reach the 50% or obtain a higher passing rate after three chances, closure will be the best option. Considering the number of student nurses now enrolled and those who are RN, figures would be closer to one million RNs or maybe higher. It’s high time to weed out those who don’t perform well on the standards of nursing education.

Years ago, I enrolled in a university that belongs to the 5^th category (41-50% passing rate). All I can say is that, the facilities were poor as well as the teaching of most of the instructors. Often than not, I had to struggle studying on my own because what I learned is only 25% from my school. There were numerous instances that we didn’t have any hospital duty when we are supposed to due to many reasons. I can rant all about it here but the point I’m making is if my school belong to the 5^th category, what would be the education standards of those schools below the 5^th category have to offer?

Some would say that the school is not a factor and it all depends on the student. Let’s take a look at this scenario: Sarah, a nursing student with a little know how, would like to learn the nursing procedures, for example, administering medication by injection. What materials will she use for practice? Where can she easily get it? Who will show her the skills rightfully? How will she know if she is doing the right thing or not? These is what the schools can provide such as good facilities and qualified teachers to teach and guide the students the correct information that they need.

I believe that every individual deserves a good education. This will serve also as a warning for those choosing which nursing school to enroll. If you really want to study in a nursing school in the Philippines, do your own research before shelling out hefty bucks. Good luck!

Revlon ColorSilk

Dark brown hair. The color I wanted to dye to my jet black hair with some chestnut highlights which eventually faded after 3 months. Spending leisurely hours at the aisle full of hair colored products, comparing prices and quality, I finally narrowed my choice to Revlon ColorSilk. What’s the result? none according to others. It seems that I am the only person who can distinguish the dark brown color every time I try to put my head under a bright light.

Revlon Colorsilk boasts their products specifically its ammonia-free. It did not have that stinky urine like odor when you apply to your hair compared to other haircolor products. You can still smell some ammonia although bearable. Whoever came up with this idea is purely genius. It is pollution free as well as economically saving. Not to mention its cheaper price than Loreal. I wonder why it did not have any effect on my hair other than covering the previous highlights. Was it because it was my second time to dye my hair? I doubt it. Kolours for Asian Hair worked for me.

Revlon ColorSilk failed to grant my dreams of getting the exact color shown on the box. Indeed, it has great value but beautiful dark brown haircolor? Nada, only 25% changes seen.