I'm So Embarrassed! : (

[westieluv]

I received a phone call today about a position that I applied for as a member of the internal float pool at a local hospital system. The phone conversation went extremely well, and the lady who called had checked with people that I worked with when I worked for this hospital system a few years ago and gotten all good reports. So far, so good, right?

Well, she then emailed me some competency exams to take online and the results would go back to her. I did fine on the Med/Surg and Pharmacology exams but I got an extremely low, almost failing, score on the cardiac stepdown exam...even though I worked cardiac stepdown successfully for several years in the late '90s and early '00s. She sent me another chance to take that one with an encouraging "I know you know this stuff!" message and guess what: I FAILED the second try! I feel so stupid. I have been an RN for 22 years and I couldn't even pass this silly exam. I doubt if she will want to interview me now, since she said that a lot of the needs are on a particular stepdown unit at one of the hospitals , the one I used to work at and did just fine!

Just needed to vent. I guess you don't get handicap points for test anxiety, or whatever the heck was wrong with me. Gosh darn it, the questions seemed so common sense, and I even looked up the ones I was unsure about as I took the exam!

[Susie2310]

Lots of sympathy here.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Cardiac stuff numbs my brain--just not my favorite thing. And if you don't use it you lose it, so no wonder that you forgot this. Perhaps email the DON who gave you the exams, ask if your other tests can be left on file, and see if you can take an EKG course, you study up on rythym interpretation, do ACLS, whatever it takes to refresh your skill set. Ask if then you can re-take the test for any future openings.

This stinks that this happend, but I am sure that it would just take a couple of refreshers to get you back up and running in no time.

Best wishes!!

[westieluv]

Thanks for the kind, encouraging words. I do have some leads for a couple of other jobs, one of which I have an interview for tomorrow, and they are both hospice jobs, an area in which I have experience and am certified, so it isn't the end of the world, it's just humiliating. Cardiac stuff kind of numbs my brain too, that's a great way of putting it! But it is one of those specialized areas where you really have to know your stuff. Actually, the lady who sent me the exams is a former critical care nurse whose job now is strictly running this internal agency, so she is rusty as well and she even told me that she took the EKG exam and "didn't do well at all", so that made me feel better. She seems really nice.

I love hospice nursing, so if this exam blew the acute care job for me, I will gladly go back to being a hospice nurse. I just liked the idea of being able to set my own schedule and not have to drive all over to patients' homes, but if I do, I do, field nursing can be a lot of fun and it's definitely never boring.

Thanks again. :)

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

And hospice is a spiritual journey and so important if you love what you do. There's plenty of time in the future for those "cardiac" jobs--which I have to say either one loves or hates--

Good luck on your interview and let us know how it goes!!