Mimium

Hi all, I’m a nurse who’s working in a level 1 trauma center in New England on a med-surg floor. I’m coming up on two years of experience this February. Recently COVID has gotten pretty bad considering New Hampshire has the most COVID case per capita and we aren’t getting any new nurses anymore (and the ones we do get end up quitting). My mental health has been declining because of work stress and I have pretty bad seasons depression so I’m looking to moving to a warmer climate. I’m looking into Florida…specifically the Miami or Orlando area. I was wondering what is better a travel nurse gig or being a full time employee? I’m a bit nervous to do the travel nurse thing because I’m not sure if I’m “good enough.” The floor I currently work on is pretty acute (we have patients on insulin and dilt gtts and high flow along with the demented dump patients) but we have a lot of support. Our current ratios are 5-6:1 but we have LPNs and float RNs to help with the med passes. We also have an IV team and phlebotomists so I’ve never had to any of that myself. We’re also lucky enough to have separated the COVID patients from our floor so I’ve never had to take care of them either. I’m deliberating which one is more stressful because I know that hospital admin treats their permanent staff like garbage so I’d like to travel and at least get paid more if I’m skilled enough. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated ❤️ #travelnursing #florida #medsurg ~Mimium

Hi All, I'm a recent graduate/new nurse who is applying to a nurse residency program. I have finished my resume and cover letter, but I'm having trouble with the letter of introduction. This nurse residency program requires "a detailed letter of introduction to include the clinical rotation that you found most interesting, where you completed your clinical rotations, externships, internships and/or senior practicum if applicable and your top two or three areas of clinical interest." I don't have a problem with writing about what clinicals I've done, but I have a problem with trying to sell myself to them. For instance, I want to work med-surg because I think its a great place to gain experience, but I don't know how to tell them why I'd be good for that floor. I don't have any healthcare experience outside of nursing school, and while I was in nursing school, I was a nervous wreck. I honestly like working with people but I do lack confidence, and this residency program is kinda an outlet for me to gain confidence in myself. Can you guys list some very general things people who would want to apply for a med-surg floor (or any nursing floor) would say about themselves so that I can be pointed in the right direction?

Congratulations to you too!!!

Hi Everyone! I want to update you on my progress and thank you for your kind suggestions. I took the NCLEX for the first time yesterday and passed in 75 questions!!! I thought for sure I failed since the first ATI comprehensive predictor I took said I had a 46% chance of passing. The second time I took the predictor I had a 86% chance of passing, but I still felt like I wasn’t good enough bc all my classmates got above 90%. In prepping for the NCLEX, I used both Hurst and UWorld. I heard that although Hurst’s content review is great, it’s practice questions were not that difficult, so I used UWorld’s question bank. I studied both Hurst and UWorld for the past two months. In all honesty, I think UWorld is the main reason I passed. Even though Hurst’s content review was superb, I feel like I relied a lot more on the test taking strategies I learned from practicing UWorld questions than the content I reviewed with Hurst. On another note, I’m starting therapy pretty soon to help manage my anxiety. My whole journey through nursing school has helped me realize that I am smart enough and passionate enough to be a nurse but my anxiety is preventing me from expressing myself properly and l makes me hypercritical of myself. I mentioned in my first post that I thought all my professors hated me, but when they found out I passed they congratulated me and told me the would give me job references. This whole time all my worries were distortions of reality caused from my anxiety. I hope a nursing student who is struggling with school and/or anxiety will read this and realize there is hope. If you work hard, you can do well in school, pass the NCLEX, and become a great nurse. If I did it, so can you. ~Mimium

Got my results today! I passed!!!!

Hi All, Finished the NCLEX at 10 am this morning...did the pearson vue trick at 3 pm and 5pm. I got a pop-up that didn't allow me to re-register saying, "our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. another registration cannot be made at this time," but it doesn't have the red triangle with the exclamation point next to it. All the examples of the "good pop-up" on Google have this symbol, so did I get the right pop-up or not? Thanks, Mimium

Thanks, everyone! I was feeling very down in the dumps when I wrote this and I appreciate every word of encouragement and the advice you all have suggested.

Hi All, I'm in the last semester of a two year ASN program and I feel totally defeated. All of my test scores this semester have been good (my class average is 89%) except for the ATI comprehensive which said that I have a 49% chance of passing the N-CLEX. I generally do bad on ATI tests, but this was the worst I've ever done. Furthmore, I absolutely suck at clinical. All of my classmates are flying through their days and look extremely confident while it takes me forever to do EVERYTHING and I look like a nervous wreck the entire time. I have extremely bad anxiety and I always feel that is transitioning into my work. Since I apparently am so far off from passing the N-CLEX and I'm still horrible at clinical even though I'm a senior, I feel like this might have been a mistake. I've always dreamed of being someone who is competent and confident. That is what actually drew me to nursing-I admired how smart and assertive nurses are. But I'm starting to feel like since I'm not confident and I'm bad at being assertive, maybe I'm not going to be a good nurse. I kinda feel like all my instructors hate me too. I'm 20 and I don't work because my parents support me, but I'm the only one in my class who struggles with clinical and school. I feel like they think I'm some spoiled kid who doesn't care about nursing because I'm doing bad and I'm so anxious, it doesn't look like I'm enjoying working with people. Honestly, I have 2 months left till graduation and I'm scared for my future. Will I pass the boards? And if I pass, then what? Will I even be good? I absolutely love watching and helping experienced nurses work, but when I do it (and mess up), I feel miserable. I'm kinda just venting here, but I'd appreciate any advice. -Mim