cameron5575

I know you mentioned seeing a doctor about your anxiety and getting a prescription for an antidepressant but who have you spoken with about this besides this particular doctor? Did they recommend speaking with a therapist? Medicine is just one side of anxiety and depression - behavioral therapy can also go a long way in helping such a complex issue. Especially considering your anxiety is impairing your life this much, this is definitely something you want to seek professional help for. I would start with reaching back out to your doctor and explaining your anxiety about the medication then asking for a reference to a therapist. I wish you all the best!

Hi All, So I passed my NCLEX on July 31st and have been on the job hunt. I have been interviewing with a big hospital system in my state for an ortho floor. I even shadowed a few days ago and was told by the unit manager that everything was a go and that I would be offered the position. However, I was initially told this position would be for nights (which is why I applied). When I spoke with the manager after my shadow, however, he started talking about days. I explained that I'm not opposed to working days however, as part of my religion, I have an obligation to attend my meetings during the week. One is at 10am-11-45am on Sunday and one is at 7pm-8:45pm on Wednesday. It is really not an option for me to skip these meetings. Working nights wouldn't interfere with my Sunday meeting. Wednesday would obviously be a scheduling conflict but on my first interview, the manager told me we are allowed to put 2 days out of the month on the schedule that we can't work. He also said people on the floor would be open to switching days if you worked another day for them - so I figured it wouldnt be too tough to switch two days out of the month with someone else (especially since I would be open to working weekend nights). But when I told him I had religious meetings and that I wouldn't be able to work on Sunday morning, the deal was basically off. He told me it wouldn't be fair since no one else on the unit gets a set day off. I guess my question is do you think I should just keep applying to different floors at that same hospital? Or should I try different hospitals all together? I personally know of a few RNs in my area who work inpatient jobs with the same religious meetings as me (and they have regular meeting attendance). But I don't know of any that work at that hospital specifically (but there very well could be some that I just have never met). Thanks in advance for weighing in.

There's a big difference between practice questions and test banks. Which are you asking for? Because if it's practice questions you want, try RegisteredNurseRN (she has a Youtube channel and a website). Here's a link: https://www.registerednursern.com/nursing-student-quizzes-tests/ If it's actual test banks that you're looking for (as in the banks that your school selects real exam questions from), know that that is not practice. That is cheating. I hope it was the first one, though! Best wishes.

What type of unit are you going to be working on? Med-surg? Tele? Definitely review the common medications of the unit and focused assessments that you might complete for the type of patients you'll see. This way, you can better connect the dots of what you see with what you know and start to better develop your critical thinking and clinical judgement skills.

Not to beat this into the ground as I know the point has already been made by multiple people but, yes, I totally support this 100% Often times, the absolute best way to get back at petty and conniving people who did you dirty is to rise above them and show kindness instead of stooping to their level. This may be difficult initially but the pay off is huge. Either they'll feel tremendous guilt and actually make an effort to better themselves (win for them, win for you) or they'll have to face the crippling humiliation of letting people see how they treat poorly such a kind person with no good reason (win for your reputation). Whatever the outcome is, you'll come out on top no matter what. And the piece de resistance is that you won't have to waste your emotional energy on hating them (as they are clearly doing with you). Best wishes!

What have you done to try to improve your academic experience in school? Have you gone to your school resources for help? Looked into tutoring? What is it specifically that you struggle with? Definitely don't throw in the towel before doing a solid self-assessment and figuring out what exactly your weaknesses are. Otherwise, you'll get stuck in a loop of making the same mistakes every time you enter a program (no matter how "hard" or "easy" you perceive it to be). For example, do you struggle with understanding concepts? If so, which ones? Do you complete all of your assigned work or do you procrastinate? Do you let nerves get the best of you when test taking? There are so many reasons why one might not do well in school. Before you rush in to another career path, identify the core problem, plan on how to correct it, then follow through. And, by all means, utilize your resources and ask for help.

What's your budget?

As gere7404 said, make sure you're specifically applying to new grad positions. I'm a senior and my school expects my cohort to be interviewing right now and securing jobs that will give us a guaranteed job under the condition that we pass the NCLEX in a few months. But they have to be new grad positions with orientation/new-grad residencies. Also, perhaps it would be helpful to go to the career center at your school and ask for help with your resume to make sure it's written and formatted properly. If it's written in the wrong font, the computer system that filters out online applications might not be able to read it properly and will basically throw away the whole application. This could be one reason you're not having any success.

Definitely watch RegisteredNurseRN on Youtube. She has videos on just about everything studied/tested on in nursing school and her mnemonics for remembering concepts have never failed me. She also has her own website with free practice questions for each video which she links you to in the videos themselves. I think she's one of the absolute best resources for nursing students.

Hey, congrats! I'm a student also graduating in May this year and I am very interested in home health care. However, both teachers, clinical instructors, and preceptors for my community/home health care clinical have all told me the same thing: home health care agencies rarely hire new grads. This is because of the vast amount of autonomy nurses have in these positions. When encountered with difficult situations requiring strong clinical judgment, new grads simply lack the experience needed to make safe and effective decisions and they don't have colleagues at the ready to ask for help as in a hospital or other type of facility. I agree with this logic and, after following my nurse preceptors for that clinical, I agree that I would have no clue what to do half of the time. So I'm planning on going to the med-surg route first. Of course, your options aren't limited to the hospital if you really don't like it. There's always doctor's offices and long term care facilities. And, technically, nothing's stopping you from applying to home health care positions - I don't think hiring new grads is something that never happens. There's always a chance. However, just make sure that you're acting in the best interest of patient safety. Whatever you choose, I wish you all the best.

These are the 3 biggest takeaways that I have found since doing vaccine clinics: 1. Follow the landmarks (three fingers under the acromion process/thickest part of muscle). I have seen many people administer too high (and have even had some people report getting their shoulder messed up because of it). And remember to inject at a 90 degree angle. 2. Use the z-track pattern instead of squeezing the muscles. Squeezing is a no-no and is more painful. 3. Tell the patient to relax their arm as much as possible before injecting them. Tell them to go "loosey goosey". The less flexed the muscle is, the less pain they experience. Most of my patients have told me that they didn't feel a thing.

@MunoRN @JBMmom @SilverBells Thank you so much for all of your helpful replies. And in response to JBMmom, sorry I didn't specify - I have a religious meeting on that night. Thanks again!

Hi there, I'm a student. I'll be graduating soon and will be applying to various positions in the coming weeks. I feel silly asking this question as it's probably something I should have known eons ago but how exactly rigid is hospital scheduling? For example, if I have a commitment every Wednesday night, would I still be able to be hired to a med-surg floor? Any other day would work fine (assuming I get hired to work nights or evening shift as a new grad) however I would not be available Wednesday night. Do hospitals expect employees to be available to work any of the 7 days of the week? Or are nurses allowed to have a specific day where they can't work? Thanks in advance!

This is definitely the best piece of advice that can be offered. From the way you describe this student, she's not purposely trying to put others down or make herself look better. She's just knowledgeable and excited to participate in class. This isn't a flaw on her part. True, with time and experience, she might come to learn that holding back even when she knows something shows humility and selflessness. However, she's not obligated to do this. If you feel that you would like to answer some of the questions that she answers, simply answer them before she does. Otherwise, she has a right to engage in the class and be the first to answer questions if she knows them. If that bothers you, a self-reflection may be in order to determine if you are feeling insecure about something on your end. Ultimately, we as individuals must all learn that others do not define who we ourselves are. I wish you all the best!

Yep, practice NCLEX questions now because those types of questions are used in school so it doesn't matter that you won't be taking the official NCLEX for a few years. Learn to think in terms of "they're all correct but which question is most correct?"