Sanuk

I can completely sympathize with what you are going through (except for the pregnant part!). I think that securing preceptors is the most difficult and frustrating part of my FNP program. My advice would be first to keep calling. This semester after exhausting the "list" our school provides which is completely outdated, I googled practices in my region of North Texas and started making cold calls. I also looked for NP professional associations that had websites - many of them had NP locator functions that provided lists of specific specialties and several had email addresses for those NP's. I probably made about 100 calls and sent 50 or so emails before being able to secure sites for this semester. Please don't give up yet on staying close to your husband and home. I hope you are able to find something - I have spent hours crying and even had my first-ever panic attack over worry that I would have to drop because I couldn't get clinical hours.

Threads like this are depressing to me :) When I tell people that I am going to school to be an FNP, they all respond that I must be excited about making more money. I have to tell them that in all likelihood I will make less than I currently do (38/hr plus 0.60 per certification plus 5/hr night diff and 9/hr weekend diff). Very sad.

We get double pay on 12/24, 12/25, 12/31 and 1/1 plus the weekend diff which is $9/hr plus my night diff which is $5/hr. And we also get paid the 8 hrs of holiday pay (if you're off that day).

My advice: take it. Have you read all the posts here about new grads who can't find a job a year after graduation? If you absolutely hate it, you're at least gaining valuable experience you can use to move to another position later.

I'm kind of appalled at a lot of what I see in "education" lately. Way too many schools that will accept (and pass) people who can pay the tuition but have learned absolutely nothing and now have the title Nurse. Scary. So many threads here with the title "passed NCLEX on the fifteenth try!!!" What is your school teaching that you couldn't pass NCLEX on the first or second attempt? :chair: Nurses are going to have to set some standards on what is acceptable preparation for our profession.

This thread has been a reminder of why Press-Gaineys shouldn't be tied to reimbursement. Some people will never understand why the ER can't cure them. :hdvwl:

I've always really liked the Incredibly Easy series of books. I'm not sure I know of something that would lay it out better for you. If you have a few weeks, you should be able to get through it. Or, if you have a more specific area that you have a question about??

OP, I am glad that your manager called and cleared you for work, but be prepared for them to look for a new avenue of attack. I agree with the other poster above that you should put some feelers out for new employment.

I can remember when they increased our load from one patient to two thinking "how can I possibly get all this done?" It's a normal anxiety to have when you are getting ready to graduate and be responsible for your own practice. Give it time, and definitely don't quit one semester away from graduation! Worst case scenario, you graduate, get licensed and don't like it. Like you said, there are other options with a nursing degree - you don't have to work in the hospital or even doing patient care. Best of luck to you. Don't let this instructor derail you.

From what I read on these boards, you would be lucky to get a hospital to hire you, let alone pay your education costs back to another hospital that you ran out on after they put you through school. I don't get that. Why would you take money from them knowing you didn't want to fulfill the terms of the agreement?

I will concur with dixieredhead that ER doctors usually work more collegially with the nurses - we're all in it together kind of thing. If you demonstrate competence, they learn to trust you and value your judgement. As to whether that makes them nicer, not so sure. As far as TNCC, if you have a big hospital system near you, just call up and ask for their nursing educater / department and ask if they allow non-emplyees to take TNCC there. Usually they do, they just charge you more. Good Luck and let us know how it goes!

With the disclaimer that this is JMO: 1. Qualities: I would say assertiveness - you need to be able to anticipate what will be done as more times than not by the time the physician is there, you've done most of the workup. 2. Aside from those, maybe TNCC 3. Can't answer that for you. It will depend on how you cope with stress. All nurses have stress, just different ones. 4. :lol2: 5. Eh. Family can be horrible on the floor too. At least in the ER you don't have to deal with them for long (fingers crossed) 6. Again, I can't speak for you. I love it, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. Try it though, it can't hurt and you may love it.

That stinks. Unfortunately most places won't take any returns that have been personalized or monogrammed. I've had hit or miss luck with allheart and think their shipping is ridiculous - I prefer amazon and they have a ton of nursing supplies plus good reviews so you know what you're getting. Sorry you wasted your money, but congrats on finishing your BSN. :)

Am I the only one who has always found it serendipitous that the badge lands face down?

Oh, it's pretty darn common for sure. Some managers are complicit, some are just ineffective, and some don't care. I've seen it too many times and it p****es me off. I've found the higher the male nurse ratio, the less this occurs, but that's not a hard and fast rule. Maybe you could look at working in a clinic or Dr's office where you might be the only nurse or have a smaller group where the cliques won't rule the roost. I hope it all works out for you.

I went through something similar several years back. There was a concerted effort by a small group of nurses to get me to quit or be fired. I tried to fight back for a while, but after some time with increasingly horrific things being said about me, I cut my losses and moved on. Like someone else said, you should use this time to look around at other jobs in your area. Best of luck.

I probably wouldn't. Just can't think of a way to do it and not come off bad. JMHO. If she wanted to add her influence, she should do it on her end and not tell you to drop her name. Good luck with your interview.

I don't know about your particular school, but I found that my high GRE score and my recent coursework with A's combined with my experience made up for my GPA from when I was 20. :) My advice would be to start taking a course maybe through a CC that would be beneficial (you can look at all the prereqs on their website usually) so you can demonstrate that you are more focused and able to successfully complete their program. Good luck!

Had a patient tonight who, while I am doing an EKG for their CP, asked me for a pillow to prop their legs on. First, there are never any pillows to be found in the ED, and number two let's make sure you're not a STEMI first, then you can make comfort requests, mmkay?

Uh...no. So, hospitals have decided that nurse, tech, housekeeper, culinary, PT, secretary aren't enough job descriptions for its nurses and now they're going to be coders as well??? What are they thinking? To answer your question, I have never been asked to input ICD-9 codes. Hope this doesn't catch on like other horrible, terrible, no-good ideas.

I work at least 36hrs/week and usually 48-60. No choice really as I am paying for school as I go along. So, in my opinion, you could definitely do 24hrs/week and attend full time. This semester, I took Advanced Patho and two of my bridge classes for a total of 10 hours. I won't be going to orientation because I am already in the program, but I think it would be worthwhile especially if it's been a while since you were in school. Let us know when you get your class schedule. :)

Well, I am actually already registered for Spring :) so I know exactly what I am taking. I will be in Advanced Assessment, Nursing Research, and the last undergrad class I need which is Nursing Leadership. Hope to see you around, even just on the board. It would be nice to have a little thread for us to come back to and chat.

Hi Karen, Not sure if you read the whole thread, but I'm in the Post-Bacc RN-MSN program at TWU FNP track. That's a mouthful, huh? I will be finishing the "bridge" in Spring, taking two graduate courses and one last undergrad class. Chances are we may see each other if you end up going there. I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. Of course, I fully expected to hate it. :) Having been out of school for 9 years, it was tough going back.

I guess what I'm saying is you haven't got enough information. You could calculate a safe dosing range, as the poster above did, but it still won't tell you what the doc ordered. If you don't have that info, then I would make a note of that, along with what the safe range would be. At least that way, your instructor can see you attempted to answer. Good luck :)