Nightmaren

Hello friend, Unfortunately, some units have more toxic cultures than others and it's not really a reflection of the specialty of the unit. From what you describe, the fact that even the assistant manager is contributing to this toxicity means that the unit is a cesspool for such mindsets and will be very difficult to change. No coworker has the right to act so unprofessionally towards you, especially not someone who should be supervising them! It looks like that hospital's reputation is well-deserved. I know your dream is to work in ICU -- I know a lot of nurses with similar aspirations. But my sincere advice is to run as far as you can from this unit. This isn't weakness -- this is you maintaining your sanity and love for your career. No one deserves to be miserable at work. Your inability to "adjust" to this unit tells me you are a compassionate individual and any hospital will be lucky to have you. You will have another chance one day for the ICU and when you join a floor with a healthy unit culture, you will truly soar.

I would say go for it but also be careful -- some programs require that such prereqs be taken within the last 3-5 years (depending on the program). If there is a setback in your timeline for any reason, you may find yourself having to retake the courses!!

Thew endocrine system is all about balance! Certain glands increase certain hormones and certain glands decrease certain hormones. Knowing which glad increases/decreases what hormone helps immensely!

Yup. I agree -- get a comprehensive review, but don't spend too much time on it. I promise that you know more than you feel you do. After that, practice, practice, practice. As JulesOb pointed out, UWorld is a great resource for that.

Do not lose hope, friend. A classmate of mine failed in 75 questions -- they were so sure that they passed but the results suggested the opposite -- that they had misunderstood most of the questions on the test. Failing in 90-100 questions tells me that you were close. The computer wasn't sure to fail you or pass you at the 75 question mark and kept giving you questions for a little while longer. You know your stuff, but you likely need to polish your understanding a little bit further.

Also, (and I'm not trying to be facetious here), try to reason through it based on how much you have vs how much you want instead of trying to fuss about plugging in your numbers into a formula properly. If you have smaller-dosed tablets and the order asks for a larger dose, of course you will be giving multiple tablets. If you have larger-dosed tablets and the order asks for a smaller dose, you know that you'll be cutting up a tablet.

I know quite a few nurses who started off in mental health and then ended up transitioning to ICU or L&D at other hospitals. They were really quite grateful to have started in mental health because a large part of mental health is therapeutic communication. It's as verene said above -- therapeutic communication shows up no matter what unit you work on! I'm sure you can imagine how important it would be in ICU, L&D, or emergency settings. Honestly, it may just be the hardest nursing skill to be taught.

Apply broadly since your stats are kind of on the fence. At some schools, they may be fine, at other schools they will not be very competitive. Explore the schools' TEAS retake policy and look into programs who use the HESI-A2 as the entry exam -- who knows, you might be better at one exam than the other. You are in no way out of options, so please do keep at it!

So basically, from what you have written so far, it's not the end of the world yet. You aren't failing the class or fighting an uphill battle. All you got was a setback -- that's fine! You'll get tons of em when working shifts as a nurse. Do you see how I kind of focused on one aspect of the paragraph you typed above? It's because you are letting your thoughts run wild into a negative spiral! I know that a bad grade can often lead to a domino effect of sorts in nursing school, but there is no indication yet that any of that will happen so don't freak yourself out by thinking of it! I'm here to support you, friend. Truth be told, I used to think like that too until one of my friends would tell me to stop and breathe. I think that's exactly what you need to do. Stop. Breathe. ...and take a step back from the situation. These things happen -- who hasn't hit a bump in nursing school? Heck, you have so many excellent nurses who failed classes in nursing school back in the day! The most important part is that, as I gather, you can still recover from it. I know you can do it -- you just aren't feeling it right now because you've had the wind knocked out of you. So I want you to step back, close the books, and do something fun. I'm not telling you to do this every day -- just take a couple hours and do it. Take a moment, grab a friend, and do something fun like going to the movies. I hear the Kingsman movie was pretty funny. Distance yourself knowing that these tests do not define you. Distance yourself, and come back with a renewed attitude that you can overcome this obstacle. It's not over till it's over. All the best.

Due to the nature of clinicals, experiences vary a lot! As I was orienting to my job, my preceptor told me that she only had a chance to start "a couple" IVs in nursing school. Both of us agreed that, while we got to see some things in clinicals, most of our learning occurred during the GN residency. Don't stress -- this is why GN residencies are a thing! For now, just keep doing your best to try and see new things! Always talk with *everyone* on the unit, befriend them, and ask if you can assist/accompany them with their procedures. Yes, you will likely have to fill in a lot of gaps between clinicals and GN residency with Youtube videos and reading, but do not feel bad about it! It will pay off!

The job cycles have been quite treacherous in my area and many of my friends found themselves in the same boat. A lot of new nthem were bound for ICU or ER at any cost and then ended up taking floor nursing positions for fear of being left without a job. Some have taken to it, and some are miserable (for varying reasons). First off, to answer your question, yes, it would look bad if you quit just a few months into your job. Hiring new nurses, especially new grad nurses is a tremendous investment for a hospital and no hospital wants to risk hiring someone who may not offer any returns on their investment. It already looks questionable if an established nurse leaves so quickly, but for a new grad to leave so quickly, you would have to work very very hard to convince a hospital why they should hire you. You also may no longer be eligible to apply for a new grad residency. I sympathize too though. If your unit is as you describe, it seems that there are some culture issues there that are affecting your enjoyment in the workplace. I have a friend in the same exact situation and, well, she's stuck there until her contract runs out. Now it may be worth exploring the fact that contracts usually are binding you to the institution and not the particular unit, so it may be worth exploring other units. Yes, I know that you want ED, but that simply may not be possible right now. The trend in my area is to hire fewer GNs into ED and ICU programs and that's just the way it is. What you can try to control right now is your happiness in the workplace and, without risking career suicide, you may have to explore options on what sort of unit you can tolerate for the time being at your current job. Best of luck

It depends a bit on the institution, but sometimes the nurses are being compelled to take students due to it being a requirement for advancement within the institution. Other times, they are simply having a bad day, have a lot on their plate, or are dissatisfied with the staffing for the day -- there can be any number of possibilities. Even so, I disagree with any nurse's decision to treat you as a burden or as a pest. Even between students and nurses, there is a degree of professionalism that should be followed -- the nurse's verbiage towards the student would immediately raise an eyebrow from our unit manager. Most schools allow you to evaluate your preceptor at the end of your clinical so that the instructor can make better decisions next time. If able, please utilize this capability, not in a vindictive way but in an honest informative way about how you felt it affected your clinical experience. That being said, you had a valuable experience that let you identify a poor learning dynamic with your preceptor and you did the right thing -- offered to help out around the unit. As the other pointed, you are there to learn so it was very appropriate of you to seek out opportunities to learn rather than being pigeon-holed all day with a preceptor that would not teach. You will come across situations like these from time to time, but as long as you maintain your professionalism even in the face of such experiences, you will come out having learned.

I am someone who had a previous degree before nursing school. While a lot of newcomers felt otherwise, it was absolutely possible to have a social life in nursing school -- even necessary! Nursing school does not mean studying every waking minute of the day -- it means that you learn how to prioritize and study efficiently, just like a nurse in the workplace. Now, granted, you wont have time to be social all the time. Things will have to revolve around your schedule and you'll be declining your friends' invitations to hang out fairly frequently because you have coursework to do. For this reason, some find a social life with their friends in nursing school since they are on the same schedule as you are. Others beg patience from their friends and hang out with them when they are finally able. So basically, yes you will absolutely have time for a social life, but it comes down to having realistic standards. In fact, please do make time for yourself because stress is inherent in nursing school and having people that you can unwind with can help tremendously.

Hello and congratulations on beginning your journey! It sounds like you are pretty good at doing your research in terms of deciding which classes you need to take. Just be mindful that some nursing programs have varying requirements and to doublecheck their prerequisites just in case. It also sounds like you are off to a great start in terms of grades. Now in terms of taking classes with A&P, have you ever taken a memorization-intensive class before? How confident do you feel in your science knowledge? A&P often challenges students due to these reasons but it is completely doable. If possible, I would recommend you take lighter courses alongside A&P since it will demand a lot of time. You are also wise to tread carefully (as you pointed out) in terms of not overburdening yourself. The pacing and work required in nursing school often catches students off guard so this so this is the time to figure out what sort of studying style works for you, especially for lectures with lengthy powerpoints such as A&P (most likely) -- it'll be harder to refine your study skills in nursing school. Also, remember to take care of yourself too -- stress will come with the courseload and you also have mom responsibilities so knowing how to unwind in a healthy way will be invaluable! To me, it sounds like you know what you are getting into and you are approaching this in a careful manner. That's wonderful! Do post again if you have any specific questions. I wish you the best.

Yup. All RNs in any floor where patients are on telemetry must be ACLS certified at my hospital.

I agree, and here is another way to look at it. If you have a minor in Spanish and rate your ability to speak Spanish as "proficient," an applicant with no minor but the ability to speak Spanish "fluently" would still be the stronger candidate. The minor itself is more or less irrelevant -- the usefulness of Spanish to nursing purely boils down to communication effectiveness.

If I remember right, Picmonic has a trial so you can determine if you like it or not. I personally never found it too helpful based on the way my program delivered information but if you like it, go for it! As for studying beforehand, a lot of people would advise you to just relax before your program and honestly, so would I. But people pre-study for different reasons -- some even do it as a means to decrease anxiety. If it is something you feel the need to do, by all means, go for it! As for how effective it would be, personally I always found such resources to be too "broad" to really help me before I've seen the course material -- it's usually far more helpful to me if I use the resources after I've already had the lecture.

I'm sure personality types play a factor, but I'm not even sure if that alone can account for the differences in interpersonal attitudes within the programs. I think that program/institution culture plays a huge role in shaping these relationships and is also something that is often passed down from upperclassmen to underclassmen -- even shaped by the teachers themselves. In my nursing school program, there were "class representatives" that were designated for each cohort and we noticed that they essentially shaped the culture of each class. For example, in our class, we would basically pool our notes together, have student-led study sessions that were open to all, and huge student-organized celebrations at the end of each semester. There was a lot of unity and friendliness that was noticed by even the faculty. The class that came in after us however was extremely cutthroat! Nobody even ended up running for their representative until student council prodded them to do so. I kept in touch with friends who got held back and had to be placed into the newly entering cohort and they described a very survivalistic mentality where everyone was competing for the same jobs. It truly surprised me what a change it was. I suppose these are sort of two extremes, but an interesting dynamic I noticed nonetheless!

This is the sort of thing that truly depends on your clinical instructor. I will say first off that clinical instructors are not always 100% reliable when it comes to policies and procedures -- they often are, but not always. At the hospital where I work, sometimes the clinical instructors really seem to be out of touch with proper skill procedure and advise questionable techniques to their students. Now, as for your question, it truly depends on how willing your instructor is to throw you under the bus. In your case, I don't think it was that major of a mistake that you should be worried -- the most you probably have to fear is an unfavorable grade from the instructor. But I think you'll be fine. I have seen some cases however where a student violated privacy in a manner that was deemed "ok" by the instructor and had to get disciplined by the institution -- they were not allowed to complete clinicals at the hospital. You've learned a valuable lesson as you will encounter situations like these as a nurse. Sometimes a doctor will ask you to do something and you have to respectfully decline and fill out an incident report. In the future, do not hesitate to say, "I'm sorry but I do not feel comfortable performing this procedure."

I'm someone who has been in school for a long time, and one of the biggest adjustments that I had to make about myself was to learn how to effectively take notes in a paperless fashion. Once I mastered it, it was so, so, worth it! So many professors use lengthy PowerPoints these days that printing them all out and taking hand-written notes was becoming inefficient. I suggest a good note-taking program such as OneNote or EverNote. It might take a little bit to learn how to use effectively, but it will become your best friend once you master it. Plus... you get a search function for your notes =)

I agree -- I don't feel that studying ahead will help much, but I do believe there is merit to being organized ahead of time. For me, a large part of studying is organization so I would probably at least look at what types of topics that I'll be studying for the first few blocks (asking an upperclassman might help) and anticipate organizing my notes to best approach the topics.

I tended to hang out with friends -- not the sort of friends who have chronic testing anxiety and complain about studying all the time -- the sort of friends who made me laugh because of their antics. Sometimes non-nursing school friends were the best for this! Basically, my relaxation came down to me stepping back from the nursing school environment to get a breather.

In addition, nursing is a tremendously flexible job. In getting older, it might get difficult to, say, work in a neuro floor due to the amount of physical activity involved in turning/moving patients. Then you can pick up another specialty to explore! Numerous L&D nurses I knew were doing it for a change of pace in their careers as they grew older or had changes occurring within their family. If floor nursing isn't for you? You can pick up a job at a clinic! As a nurse, your job will grow alongside you. =)

Yup! I agree with the "routine" approach oceanblue52 suggested! Repetition helps a lot for the basic stuff and also ground you if you are at a loss for what to do during a sim-encounter. I wasn't someone who got too anxious per se, but I would often forget dumb things like hand washing... despite the fact that I already worked in a health care job where I habitually sanitized my hands before entering every room. Also, when talking, try not to pay attention to their faces too much. Just talk to their eyes if you must address them at all -- some instructors are more stone-faced than others and can cause anxiety with their lack of affirmation that you are doing the right thing.

How good are your memorization skills? A&P is a lot of memorization, as is pharmacology -- the majority of my time studying for pharmacology was spent trying to come up with mnemonics and it would often take an entire day or more just to wade through the material properly. And of course, memorization will get you the bare minimum to pass the class -- only in truly understanding the ins and outs of the content will let you excel in the classes. You know your study and test-taking habits best. If you feel that the classes are doable, go for it! If not, I would urge you to take the classes separately if possible.