delirium

I don't know, 6 weeks doesn't sound like an adequate orientation for a new grad. But maybe that's just me. Mine is 12 weeks with an 8 week transition.

My first visit to the gyn was horribly traumatizing. I was 12. There was something wrong with me... I had just reached menarche a few months before, and I was bleeding excessively. I remember one night I went to bed in sweatpants, and I woke up the next morning soaked in blood all the way to my feet. So I went to the gynecologist my mom went to. She was a nun. It wasn't bad, she used the smallest speculum, but the whole experience was terrifying. To this day I've never had a normal cycle. Just have her relax, explain how essential it is to good health, find an experienced and friendly female doctor.

I agree. This is what I did: I attended a few hospital open houses, I went to the job fair at my school, and I sent out my CV and a cover letter to area hospitals that I was interested in. I received immediate call backs and generally you can glean any information you're looking for from the nurse recruiter over the phone. Unless of course its one of those hospitals who won't disclose any wage/recruitment bonus information until interview.

They're against policy at my hospital. Also at my nursing school. So guess who doesn't have acrylic nails? My nails are nice and strong, though. Attractive.... but what I wouldn't give for a full set with a french manicure... (Or is that a freedom manicure?)

I had a great time in my med-surg clinicals, nasty unit secretaries notwithstanding. We take 5-6 patients each. I even did my first NG tube the other day. That was, uh, interesting.

I should have been a lawyer. Maybe there's still time?

I can't believe there are places where you still have to wear the caps. I think it reinforces a lot of negative sisters of mercy stereotypes about nurses, but that's another thread. I'm just glad we wear street clothes for our pinning and are not required to dress up like flying nuns.

Staple it to your head using one of those high powered staple guns as seen on Trading Spaces.

You'll be fine. All check offs are sort of nerve-wracking because your instructors hover over you waiting to pounce on any mistake (or mine were). Did they teach you the ape to man heart auscultation? (aortic, pulmonic, erb's point, tricuspid, mitral) Remember to breathe, don't let them rush you, and you'll be great. Good luck!

We had to do this with no cheat sheet and really its a piece of cake. Have you been in clinicals at all? Just truly do it from head to toe, think of the body systems.... like start at the head, do the pupillary response to light thing, palpate lymph nodes, ask a few questions, palpate pulses peripherally, heart/lung sounds, bowel sounds, neuromuscular checks, etc. If you develop a method, and perform it systematically, it will help.

We cannot miss any clinical. If we do miss, for a *really* good reason, we have to make it up by a certain time. GIT is "mandatory" but so far they haven't punished anyone for not attending. If you're absent the day of an exam, you have to call before you're scheduled to take it to reschedule to take it in the testing center, and they deduct 10 points from your final grade.

Hmm. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess she's referring to a particular poster.

We also have an instructor with us on the floor at all times. If we float to specialty areas such as ER or ICU there are only limited things we're allowed to do.... passing meds is *not* one of them.

I was not suggesting that any nurse graduates feeling competent and secure in his or her abilities. If you'd read my post in its entirety, you'd know that. I am suggesting that if you continue through all your clinical experiences only performing the role of a tech, you will be more clueless than those who had more relevant experience while in nursing school.

I don't know about having to repeat. More likely is that you'll graduate and feel clueless once you're actually working as a GN or an RN on a unit. You are paying to be trained, and you deserve appropriate, relevant training. You're not in a CNA class, and really its in everyone's best interest to train you to become a safe, competent nurse (and its my understanding that we will become safe, skillful, competent nurses in time). Besides, this is good situational training to teach you to be assertive and ask for what you need. We'll need this as novice nurses.