SurgicalRN19

It can take a while, but you have to do more than just submit online these days. Getting in contact with a recruiter is a great idea and I highly recommend going to an open house. Our manager only interviewed students that went to the open house! I interviewed at a few places and the never asked for references and they never contacted my previous employer. Good luck!

Hi all! Just wanted to share my experience and what I used to be successful and pass NLCEX first attempt with 75Q with 4 weeks of studying. About me: I graduated from a very good ADN program and had mostly high B's and low A's, but also had one or two not so good exams (low 70's). I actually really struggled with the exit HESI and couldn't score above 750 to save my life (took it twice, ugh). I did well on the other condensed ones throughout of the program, but the exit one was challenging for me for some reason. I have been known to be a "brain dumper", so I figured it was just a matter of reviewing material. NCLEX study plan: HURST, UWORLD and 35 page study guide from all nurses. -HURST: expensive $$ but I hate to say it... the book is pretty amazing. The classes were helpful, the videos not so much. I watched a few and then just found it to be a waste of time. So, I would start my day off by reviewing one section of the book before I did any questions. By the the last week, I could recall majority of information and I got to several NCLEX questions and was able to picture that specific page. Their questions and rationales however I found to not be so great, so I purchased UWORLD after doing about 100Q from HURST. ** Looking back now....I think I could have saved the money and just used UWORLD and the study guide. -UWORLD: IS URWORLD! A must have for studying! I started off doing 20Q a day and then just slowly increased and by week 3 I was doing 75Q everyday. I averaged in the low 50's when I started and then was consistently scoring mid 60's/80th percentile by my last week. I don't really feel like the scores are that important, but the key was getting to a point of consistent scores. I only finished half the Q bank 1000Q, and the last 5 days I only did the questions that I got wrong to make sure I understood the material. RATIONALES are the most important thing. My classmates who used it all passed in 75Q first attempt ....those who did Kaplan/HURST questions had anywhere from 130Q to 265Q. It's the key to success for NCLEX. I purchased the 90 day test bank questions without the full assessment exams. -35 Page review: also very helpful. I wouldn't have been able to answer a few questions had I not come across it. It is LONG, but I broke it up into 5 pages a day and only highlighted the information I was unfamiliar with. I wish I knew who made it because she deserves a huge hug (she even added some funny, comical ways to remember things) Just google '"allnurses 35 page review" and you'll come across it. * I also had the Lacharity PDA book, but did 3 sections and now that I've taken the NLCEX I don't think it made a difference. Happy I didn't waste my time finishing it. I was a nervous wreck that day and it took me more than 2 hours to get through my 75Q and just like everyone else I was sure I had failed.I had at least 25 SATA, 2 med calculations, 2 drag and drop and majority of the rest were priority. But honestly, it's not that bad. Felt like I knew so much more !! Just breath and take your time! Woke up on day 2 and kept checking pearson for my results, but nothing, so I figured I would check the board of nursing page and sure enough ... there my name was... with RN under it. Best feeling in the world ? Remember: It's only a test. If you don't succeed the first time then you just have to wait another 40 days and you can keep taking it until you pass. You got this!!! You can do this!!! YOU WILL BE A NURSE! ?

I know that a lot of students have filled the positions, but it did take a few weeks to hear anything from Seton...St. David's was much faster and it all happened within a few days. I've heard some positions open up again late January/February because of students either not passing the NCLEX or deciding that they need more time. Maybe start applying for June cohorts now and have something locked into place before you make the move? Some students started applying for the February Cohort back in August/September to make sure they got into the position that they wanted.

Yes :)

Congrats on getting into the program! I heard that they had to waitlist quiet a few students this round, so you should feel lucky!! Level 1 you will provide total patient care for one patient and give all PO (by mouth) meds and also you'll learn how to do subQ and IM injections, so lots of insulin and lovenox and you learn how to do foleys. Clinical will be broken up into two 7 hour shifts two days a week. Level 2 is when you learn IV skills and do IV pushes and hang bags. You'll move up to two patients and some professors even let you take on 3 patients if you're a strong student towards the end of the rotation. Again, broken up into two 7 hour shifts. Level 1&2 you have to go to your clinical site the night before clinical to pick your patients and get all of the information and then prep the night before (exhausting) but you only have to do this for the first two semesters. ** I highly suggest taking RNSG 1247 (it's a level 2 course) the summer between level 1 and level 2 to decrease your workload for level 2. Totally worth it because then you only have one class with a 5 hour lecture day and then two clinical days while in level 2. Level 3 is specialty. You'll be at Austin State Hospital for 5 weeks for a psych rotation. You don't really do much there but watch patients and try and interact with them and a lot of paper work as far as homework goes for that one. Then Dell Children's for 5 weeks in pedi and again you don't get to do as much because the facility is a little strict, but you do give some meds. Then you'll be at one of the area hospitals for maternity for 5 weeks as well. You'll do half of that five weeks in labor and delivery and then the other half in postpartum. It's a full 13 hour shift one day a week for all three rotations . Level 4 you have more freedom and can give some meds without a professor watching. You will provide complete care for at least 3 patients and maybe move up to 4 patients. Again, 13 hour shift one day a week and you don't get your information until that morning. Literally just finished the program yesterday :) so ask me anything!

Right! They start off new grads with no experience at $24, but if you work critical care (OR,ER,ICU) you get a $3 shift differential regardless if it's day or nights and then after six months you get an increase of $2.60. I was offered a position at DCMC today :) I'm probably going to take it and turn down St.Davids !

That's awesome, congrats!!! I have experience in the OR so I'm a little surprised that I haven't heard back from them because they said they would be making calls last week ....and now I have an offer for a St.David's OR position and they made a great offer (yay!), but I really do not want to sign the contract. Did Seton make you sign a 2 year contract stating that if you broke it you will have to pay 10,000 back if you left within the first year and the, 5,000 if you left in the second year? Life happens and I would hate for something to come up and I'm out 5,000- 10,000 dollars. Just wondering if I should decline the offer and continue to try and get in at a Seton facility....

I'm currently looking at the same situation ...curious as to how it tuned out for you?

Hi Kay! I applied to a few of the same units...have you heard anything back yet from ICU main or Peds OR? Peds OR DCMC said they will call some time this week, but myself and another classmate have yet to hear anything back ....

Hi Kay! I applied to a few of the same units...have you heard anything back yet from ICU main or Peds OR? Peds OR DCMC said they will call some time this week, but myself and another classmate have yet to hear anything back ....

This is a great thing to do and I highly suggest it, but I would wait until you're accepted and make one for that specific class at that specific campus because things such as schedule and checkoffs are little different per campus. Study groups with people from a different campus doesn't work because the calendars are different... EVC may have cardiac and electrolytes week 2, but then CEC has that material week 10. Our class has a FB page for RN EVC Class of December 2018 and we have almost all 60 students on it from our class but just our students. It's great incase you missed class then you can make a post looking for notes, having a hard time with a specific topic, or even if they change an exam time ( which they do this every now and again and forget to mention it) and someone will post the change on the FB page. We had a student almost miss an exam because she didn't know that they changed the testing time on the calendar and she would have gotten a zero on that exam if not for the FB page annnddd then we did have a student who missed an exam because they decided not to join the FB group and were unaware of the change. So, yes, do it and encourage everyone from your class to join because you will use is a lot, but wait until you're accepted and know which campus you're at :)

This outline has made me super successful throughout nursing school.About to graduate this fall and I have followed this since the first semester and have done very well with mostly A's and some B's. I would go home after class every day and do this for each disease from that days lecture. It's fast, simple, and helps to highlight the important information so that you can critically apply it to nursing questions. 1)The disease: 2)General or important pathophysiology: 3) Etiology/Risk Factors/Population 4) Key Signs and Symptoms: ** do not list EVERY sign and symptom just important/specific to that disease 5) How it's diagnosed 6)Important Patient Teaching: 7)Key Interventions/Treatments: 8)Medications: 9)Significant labs: It seems like a lot but once you do it a few times it becomes incredibly easy. I found that I would only highlight these significant answers while the professor went through the powerpoint and it made it very easy and quick to make the outline after class each day.

It's not terrible. You can pick which sections you want to do first, so really think about it. I did the sections that I felt most comfortable with so that I would see my grade and wouldn't get discouraged moving on to the next section. The reading part is looooooong. I saved that for last, which looking back I feel like that wasn't a smart choice because I was fried by the time I got to it. Highly suggest buying the HESI book published by Elsever because they are ones who proctor the exam and the practice questions and material were very similar. Good news is that if you fail one section, you can go back and retake just that section. Also, don't freak out if you don't get an A. I missed it by an 89.4, went home crying my eyes out (lol kind of funny to look back on it now being that I'm a level 4 student), and sure enough I got in on my first try. YOU GOT THIS!

YES there is a BIG difference! I'm about to start Level 4 at EVC and every semester (I kid you not) we have gotten an average 3 transfers from RR so, I would highly suggest picking EVC or CEC. They will extend the deadline probably until October. They have done this every year, so don't sweat it. You're at the same campus for all four levels. Classes are typically Monday and Tuesday from 8-12 and then clinical is either two days with 6 hrs (levels 1 and 2) or one 12 hour shift (levels 3 and 4) Wednesday-Saturday. It's an AMAZING program. All the hospitals in our area will take an ACC student nurse over another student nurse from the other programs any day ....which you will hear that a lot in clinical :) It's hard work and sometimes you'll tell yourself- I can't do this- but you can and it will totally be worth it! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!! Please feel free to ask me questions.