iWish

Honestly, I think it's a mindset thing. Yes, this public and anon forum for nurses is a great place to vent and relate with others going through the trenches. I have honestly only had one job in my whole life that I would look forward to going to, and that was a haunted house I worked at in high school. Besides that, it's a little different to be "excited" to go to work. Work is hard, even if you love what you do. Nursing of course is pretty easy to burn out on if you're not in the right place. My current job is good. I don't hate it, don't love it. I'm ready for a change for sure. It's not all bad though.

Thank you for the advice! Steady watching for more tips and tricks as I start my new journey in the ED.

Hi everyone! I’m so nervous and excited typing this right now. I’m a new nurse in my 1st year of practice. I graduated in the middle of the COVID pandemic which means I didn’t get my last semester nursing clinical, and no nurse residency programs were taking graduate nurses at the time. I thankfully found a position as an infusion nurse at a private Dr office right after graduation. They have been so good to me but ever since I started there I’ve been beating myself up for not waiting for a residency program to open up. Well, a golden opportunity just fell right into my lap! I just landed a chance to interview with my local trauma 2 hospital in the ED for a nurse residency program. This is my DREAM POSITION. I have never wanted anything more in my life. This is my career GOAL! My interview is less than a week away and I will never forgive myself if I’m under prepared and let this slip through my fingers. Should I expect an exam for my interview? Would they quiz me on drugs or scenarios? I want to be over prepared. Please share any and all advice you have. This is my dream and they just cracked the door open for me I just have to get through that door! Thanks for reading.

Good Morning! Apologize for the length This has been on my brain for a couple of months now and I'm scared of the responses I'm going to get. So back story, I graduated in the Summer months of 2020 from my ADN program. Passed NCLEX and landed a sweet job as an Infusion Nurse at an office. I was hoping my first job would be in a hospital because my heart is in the ER. Like I feel the NEED to work ER. I feel like since I'm a new nurse and I didn't work on the floor when I first graduated nursing school I won't know anything, I'll forget everything I learned in nursing school, and no one will want to hire me in the hospital in the future. I love my job to be honest. It's a comfortable environment, my management couldn't be better, I make the amount I wanted to make, and I'm actually good at my job. I mainly chose this job because I knew I could do it and be comfortable since I was a medic before this, and so I could have the time to go back to school for my BSN. I figure I'll finish the BSN program I'm in by the end of 2021. My original plan was to work 1-2 years here in this office and then jump ship to the hospitals. I've been looking at PRN positions in hospitals, but what I've concluded after reading the advice from AN is that why would a hospital train me to work if it's only PRN and especially since I'm a new new nurse with no experience in hospitals. If I didn't feel a NEED to be working in a hospital/ER I would just stay at this job I'm at for my entire life tbh but I just can't do that and feel complete. I'm going to wait 1-2 years before I make any career changes for certain. My question is, is it going to be difficult for me to find a job in a hospital in a year or 2 from now? I never hear of nurses getting hired and being trained as a "new nurse" even though they've been a nurse for a couple years, just not in a hospital. Please Please share your experience if this was you. If you started off in a clinical setting and then switched to floor nursing, please tell me how the transition was for you and if you would do it again.

I don't know why I asked this question knowing dang well I was going to do it anyway. & y'all were right, I should have waited haha but oh well. I'm so busy & stressed all the time. I am determined to finish what I started here though. Literally just came back here to rant, ugh.

Thank you for the advice. This was my concern.

Hi everyone I'll be graduating from my ADN program in the near future. I want to get started on my BSN as soon as possible but I'm worried about starting to work as a new nurse and also balancing a RN-BSN program. I'm really excited to start working as a new nurse and I'm mentally preparing for the challenge. I know it'll be difficult adjusting to the life of a floor nurse. My question is for the ADN graduates, how long did you wait if at all to start a BSN bridge program after getting your first nursing job. Do you have any suggestions on good bridge programs? I've looked online at some already, and price is not an issue. My college is opening a new BSN program at my school but I'm not sure I want to do that.

If there's any way you can enroll in a course this summer, do it, and knock the gen bio out of the way. If you can't this is how I'd lay out the semesters. Fall: Gen Bio, Gen chem, and Phil. Spring: Anatomy 1, statistics, and nutrition Summer: Anatomy 2 and micro This would leave you to apply for the fall 20' start if you were successful in these courses. Taking A2 and micro in the summer together will be rough but it's doable and it would help slightly prepare you for the amount of studying that nursing courses require. Main tip: take "mini" courses for the less intense courses if you can. It helped me in the long run to do it this way so I had most of my time dedicated to the more difficult science courses near the end in preparation for nursing school. Don't underestimate statistics and nutrition. I took a mathematical statistics course and in a 5 week course. It was very difficult to maintain an A in the course. Also, with nutrition.. some may say it's one of the easier courses to take for a pre-req and blow through it for an easy A. I took mine online in a "at your own pace" course and I wish I had spent more time on it really learning and memorizing it. It came back to bite me because nutrition is a large part of nursing/exams (for us it was in the first semester,) and it will show up on the NCLEX. Best of luck.

This is common grading criteria for nursing courses. In my program 75% is passing. 74.9% is failing. If you score anything lower than a 77% on an exam, you have to remediate with the professor and the academic advisor plus filing out paperwork. There is no rounding at all in my program.

Think small and take one day at a time. Literally, one day. This is how I manage. Make small family goals to accomplish weekly and incorporate them into your schedule. Ex: Tuesday nights I will take my family out to eat. It may be only for an hour a night, but they'll have your undivided attention for that hour. If you take one hour each night to put the books and phone down and to socialize one on one with them it'll make the guilty feeling of not being around as often less. (current nursing student with 3 young kiddos)

In my personal experience, the ADN program is more flexible time wise than the BSN. I was previously enrolled in an extensive BSN program. It was hectic and basically impossible with my family life. I switched to an ADN program and it's much more manageable, plus, if you need to work while attending school it's an option whereas the BSN program wouldn't allow that to be possible due to the schedule. This ADN program I'm in is a fraction of the price I paid for the BSN program. It's funny, I'm taking the same classes and relearning the same things I learned in the BSN program but at a cheaper price. Fortunately, my school will be offering a BSN program next year so that I can continue my education right after graduating. I hope this insight helped some. Best of luck with your decision and future education.

YES! It's doable. Single mom of 3 right here (6, 4, 2.) It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life and I was a single mom in the Army before this (active duty.) My biggest hurdle was getting over the feeling of guilt when repeatedly having to ask for help from my mom to watch my kids so that I could study even if I wasn't in class. My first program (BSN program) was impossible for me. I went through half the program just to withdraw. It was a hectic schedule, 5 days a week, 8-5, 1-2 clinical shifts (12 hrs each) per week on top of the full day classes. I was commuting an hour each way and I couldn't handle it. I withdrew and found a closer ADN program that I'm succeeding in. It's half the time in class compared to the previous program which means more study time and that I could still have my kids in soccer and baseball. If you want it bad enough, anything is possible. I have zero option to fail and that remains my mentality. Best wishes!!

Ours is this way too, but it could change with each clinical since it is up to our clinical instructors. My CI last semester was by the book, care plan for every clinical day, due 72 hrs after clinical ends, etc. I had classmates that had 7 days to complete theirs. I hated the 72 hour due date at times, but it was sort of a blessing because it forced me to get it done and not procrastinate.

This! The detailed care plans are tedious but I remember things I've learned so much more than doing the shorter care plans.

Thank you! What I did was I took about 8 weeks to "be sad" and not think about school. After that I started doing my research for other schools. Just keep in mind, it's May and there could be application deadlines approaching soon. Not to rush you, but it wouldn't hurt to look at the date of deadlines even if you don't want to apply to programs right now. The date will stay in the back of your mind. Don't give up if you want this!!! There is another way, I'm proof of that. It's not a race either, and it'll be that much more special when we reach our goal. Best of luck friend!

Seriously, BEST of luck to you on your Hesi exam. It seems like we share the same passion for nursing and whether it's 5 years or 10 years, it's not a race at all. I have to remind myself that on the daily. Thanks for sharing your story!

Honestly, it seems like a much more efficient way to do it for your class. I wish my class would adopt methods like that but hey, thats where end of course surveys come in handy.

5 pages equal medication cards, nursing dx page is usually 3-4 pages, discharge plan is 2 pages, intro page is 1, I&O is 1, lab values is 2, correlation sheet is 2 but suchhhh a pain, plus more. It's very very detailed and imo overkill. The previous care plans I wrote were strictly nursing dx and discharge planning without all the other details. To add: most of it is box type for ours as well but each box is completely filled in and the entire page. It takes me several hours to write. It's not that difficult but very time consuming. I wish all we had to do was our nursing dx page and discharge planning page.

In my BSN program: first clinical = 2 care plans; 2nd clinical = 3 care plans; 3rd clinical = 1 care plan (didnt finish the program) these care plans were easy, maybe 8 pages total. My now ADN program: first clinical = 5 care plans (22 pages each) killer for time. 2nd clinical .... probably just as many if not more, we shall see.

I relate and I just wrote a post about my experience. You're not alone.

I've never used a study group while in nursing school. I used one during my prerequisites and it was so very helpful. My professors this semester are really trying to push study groups on us but I've been doing really well studying on my own because I'm a reader. I read the textbook until I know the material and not a lot of students study that way. To each their own. If you do choose a study group, try not to pick your friends. It's harder to stay on topic (from experience)

These science courses are difficult for sure. Nursing courses are even more difficult than they are to be frank. If you don't really really want to be a nurse, that's okay! There's absolutely nothing wrong with changing your degree path. If you do absolutely want to be a nurse and to make it into nursing school, try to join/make a study group. It helped me so much to study with other students during my prerequisites. If you can teach it, you know it.

Hello everyone! I am in a good place right now and I'm currently on my short "summer" break in between semesters. I wanted to take some time to sort of tell my story and hopefully encourage some students who are in the same place I was almost a year ago. To begin, I'm 25 years old (26 is not far away) and I am a single mother of 3 children ages 6, 4, and 2. My medical journey began at 18 yo when I joined the Army as a Medic. I served my term and returned to civilian life to become a RN. I went through a divorce near the end of completing my 2 years of prerequisites for the BSN program I was looking into. Thankfully, I got accepted into the school of my dreams during a hard time in my life. This school is one of the top schools in my state for nursing programs. I began the accelerated BSN program in the Fall of 2017. It was more difficult than I ever could have imagined. I was commuting an hour each way to school, had classes 5 days a week which included a 12 hour shift, and trying to balance that schedule with raising my little ones was almost impossible. I ended up failing my first nursing school exam (darn patho.) I made a 68 on that first exam and I ended up failing the course by .2 of a point. It was a set back but I wasn't about to give up everything I had worked so hard to accomplish to that point. Since I had failed, I had to repeat the course the following spring semester while my classmates continued the program. I finished my repeat semester with flying colors and was finally able to move onto my 2nd semester in the BSN program. By this time it was summer of 2018. Here is where everything in my life crumbled. I was taking Adult 2, pharm, psych, adult 2 clinical, and psych clinical. I had 24 hrs of clinical shifts per week and I was in class all day on the days I did not have clinical. It was difficult to manage and I began to drown financially. I was on the brink of losing my house due to unforeseen circumstances (life happens.) I started slipping in my classes very close to the end of the summer semester even though I was almost finished. I had money on my mind to say the least. I went into full blown survival mode. I went to see my academic advisor to help me with a plan to continue in the program despite my financial situation at home. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to continue and also keep a roof over my children's heads. I had to drop out of the program. It broke me, shattered me. I had worked so hard, spent thousands of dollars, years of studying, sleepless nights for nothing! I hadn't accomplished anything yet I'd been working towards it for years. I spend the fall 2018 working. I worked as much as I could to get out of the financial burden I had found myself in that aided in wrecking my degree progress. My friends were graduating with their BSNs and I was back working another minimum wage job. It was depressing to say the least, but I wasn't going to allow myself to be defeated. I had worked too hard for too long towards this goal of becoming a RN. While I was working, I also looked into a few other nursing programs that were ADN programs. They were cheaper, closer to home, and not as many classes in each semester. I went out on a limb and submitted my application for a local ADN program that had incredible rankings and NCLEX pass rates. Not that the BSN program didn't, they actually had 100% pass rate in their last graduating class which is amazing. I actually got accepted into their program. The game had not ended for me! I started my first semester in the spring 2019 and ended it with a 3.6 GPA in my nursing courses. I had to retake some of the courses I had already taken, but 3 out of the 4 classes I started with were much different than the first program I was in because they lay out BSN courses differently than ADN programs. I'm now in my 2nd semester of the program right where I ended my last program and I'm doing very well. I'm in the handful of students at the top of my class. It has taken me YEARS to get to this point but what I've gotten out of all of this experience is that this degree, this life, it's not a race to the finish line. I guarentee it's taken me 3 times longer than anyone else in my class to get to where I am. This degree/career is the only thing I want to do with my life and I will never throw in the towel. I've worked towards this since 2015 when I started my first prerequisite course. I'm still working towards it and that's OKAY. It isn't a race and it's taken me much longer than the average nursing student to finish. I have a year left still, and that's okay with me too. I will finish this and it will be worth it to me and my children who are watching so very closely. If you are reading this and you are going through something similar, I'm here to listen. I've been there and there's hope if you still want it. Thanks for reading and best of luck to all you nursing students and future nursing students. ❤️

Wow, everyone, thank you for the advice. I was not expecting this many responses. Thank you for taking the time to read and reply. I'm going to do my best to stop making a back up plan since I'm not failing at the moment. I don't want to put the cart before the horse and end up failing again due to fear and the fact that I am dwelling on the chance of failure. As for the marriage part.. LOL I wish I had used the word divorce and what-if in my marriage perhaps then I would have been prepared for my husband of 5 years to leave me out of the blue, unable to pay our bills (due to school), with two children at home, and in my 1st trimester of pregnancy with our 3rd child together. That was fun, haha. Glad all that is over with. I do believe since I hadn't been using my "back up plan" method during my marriage I am feeling more inclined to do so with my schooling so I don't get (you know what'd) again. Feeling out of control of things in my life make me want to plan plan plan ahead to prepare for the worst unlike I did before. I think I'm getting ahead of myself here planning ahead for a failure that hasn't even happened yet. Thank you for the advice.

I personally have a love/hate relationship with med/surg units. I'm sure you're working on a general med/surg floor and it can be slow and tedious at times. My advice would be to give it another clinical rotation to see the different units, hospitals, etc. The one thing I learned from my 1st semester clinical rotation is that I do not want to work at the hospital I was assigned to, but I do want to work in the medical center where it's located. Specialties are the exciting part of nursing where you get to choose what you'll be doing (basically anyway) everyday. Hang in there for now, and don't throw in the towel just yet. Good luck & best wishes.