novicenrs

Long post ahead! I graduated nursing school in May of this year, and was lucky enough to have an ICU position waiting for me as a new grad in a large hospital. I was ecstatic. Critical care is where I've always wanted to be, and I knew it was going to be a huge learning curve, but I jumped in feeling more ready than ever. In this ICU, they do 18 weeks of orientation with a preceptor (which I was also incredibly excited about). Fast forward to now, I am currently on my 15th week of orientation and terrified of the thought of being on my own in just a few weeks. I feel as though I am not ready at all, and every day it seems to get more overwhelming. Every shift I feel like I make a different mistake or forget to do something minor, and I really beat myself up for it. For example, last night I had to call a doctor to ask a question about a patients insulin drip. Before calling, I wrote out everything I needed to talk to him about, had my chart open in front of me, and had out my most recent set of vital signs and lab values. I paged him, and when he called me back I explained to him the situation, gave him my patients most recent electrolytes and asked what he would like to do next. Instead of telling me, he caught me completely off guard by asking me why we monitor electrolytes with patients on insulin drips. I was dumbfounded, and after a moment of thinking I told him that I honestly was unsure. This angered him, he scoffed at me over the phone and asked to speak with my boss. I handed the phone to my preceptor who was sitting next to me and he proceeded to give her the new orders instead of me. I have never been more embarrassed and I immediately asked my preceptor to explain to me why we monitor electrolytes afterwards. I was near tears the rest of the night. As I sit at home now, I can't stop thinking about how I should have known the answer. I will be on my own soon, and I won't have a preceptor that I can hand the phone to if a doctor gets mad at me. It's all so overwhelming. I feel like there's always something I'm missing or not even thinking to check. I'm comfortable performing my assessments and passing my medications, I'm decent at time management, but I feel like when it comes to the big picture there are always a few things I'm missing. The nurses on my unit are very encouraging, they told me that I'm one of the good new nurses and that they will be there for help when I'm off orientation, but I still can't get over this panicky feeling. Will I ever feel ready to be on my own? Does this overwhelming feeling ever get better? I would appreciate any advice right now.

I'm scheduled to take my NCLEX RN towards the end of next week and I have never felt so panicked in my life. I've been studying since I graduated in May, but I feel lost at the same time. I'm unsure if I've been preparing correctly and as my testing date gets closer I get more and more nervous. I have an ICU RN position set up for me that I start in July that obviously requires me to pass my boards, so I NEED to pass or I lose my dream job. I did fairly decent throughout nursing school, with mostly B's in each class. My school's program has prided itself on how well their students do on the NCLEX, with 97% of graduates passing it the first time. My program also focused heavily on ATI, which I usually scored 2-3 on, and the comprehensive predictor I took in my last semester of school gave me a 99% chance of passing the first time. Now, despite this I didn't want to slack on my studies for the NCLEX. I've been reviewing around a chapter a day, and doing 75-200 practice NCLEX questions a day for about a month (using mostly Saunders and the NCLEX-RN Mastery app). Still, I feel unprepared and at this point I feel like none of the knowledge is sticking. Any advice before the test? And extra study tips? Anything would be much appreciated!

Thanks so much for the reassurance! I definitely need it right now lol. I know I'm probably just overthinking all of this. I'm thinking if I still don't have my ATT 2-3 weeks after graduation, I'll contact them then.

So, I graduate from nursing school next week and I'm starting to get anxious about the NCLEX. I have a job waiting for me that I start in July, so I would like to take the NCLEX as soon as possible after graduation. I'd like to make sure that they have everything that they need so that I can get my ATT soon after graduation. My problem is, I can't seem to figure out where to look so see a detailed status of my application. I've tried my states board of nursing, but all it shows me is that my application is in review because it needs additional information. I understand that I haven't graduated yet so they do not have my transcript from my school, but I would like to know if there is any other additional information that they need. My main concern is that they did not receive my background check, which I had done over a month ago. I never got any confirmation that they received this, so I'm a little worried. Is there a way to check to see what additional information they need?