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Thank you so much for your advice! Hopefully I'm on the right track. Just today, one of my preceptors was saying that she was using me as an example to her other preceptee as I always ask "good thought-provoking questions that make her stop and think" and she said one of my other preceptors agrees. I also carry a small notebook with me to work and I write down things I want to remember or look up every shift. I've started a reference document on my laptop, much like you said. Thanks again! ?

Hi all! I’ve got a question regarding adapting to a new to speciality role in the SICU. I’m coming from just over a year experience in med-surg/tele and to say the least, I feel that working in med-surg did not help me develop any critical thinking skills. Med-surg always felt task-oriented to me and fast-paced that I felt like I never really got to “see the bigger picture” for my patients. I am now lucky enough to be orienting in a new to SICU role and am learning to critically think. My problem is I am having trouble remembering what I’ve learned as I’m trying to absorb lots of information at once and then applying it to my practice. I’m still struggling to see the bigger picture. Because I’m focused on trying to remember everything I’ve learned, I forget the smaller details and things that I should already know and therefore make small mistakes I shouldn’t be making. I’ve also noticed that in some cases, I’ll know the information about procedures & diagnoses in my head, but in actual clinical practice, I blank out. I’ve been self-studying and bought critical care resource books as well as my notes from my didactics, but I just feel as lost as I did when I was a fresh new grad. Most of my preceptors have told me that they have faith that I’ll do well on my own, as they said that I ask lots of good questions and can see that I’m trying to critically think. They’ve also told me that I can effectively communicate with doctors and that my time management is great. However, I can’t shake the feeling of not being able to learn information quickly, retain it, understand the bigger picture, and apply it to my practice ? Any advice to adapt or improve my performance?

Awesome, thank you for replying! I had it the other way around - in my facility, there is only the Surgical ICU, BUT it is a Level 1 Trauma center so I assumed it was an umbrella term for Surgical/Trauma ICU as well!

Hi, all! Forgive me for my naivety, but I was just offered a position in the SICU at my dream hospital. I was just curious to know what the difference between a Surgical Trauma ICU vs SICU would be? I've tried researching this myself with minimal to no answers. Thank you in advance!

Hi, yes I did! To be honest, it was quite different than what I was expecting - in a good way! They asked me more behavioral questions and a few questions about customer service, teamwork, etc. It kinda caught me off guard but I was super excited to answer because I have 3 years of experience working in food service and I also have experience as a CNA, RN Extender, and Student Nurse Extern to pull some answers from! The interviewer then briefly explained what the position duties entailed and a quick run-through of the ICU environment. At this hospital, I was also going to be cross-trained in the ED and Med/Surg/Tele (which is what I want!) The next day they called me to offer me a position in their ICU ?

Hi everyone! I'm a very recent new grad (just passed NCLEX this past Tuesday!) and was just offered an interview for an ICU position at a smaller hospital on Wednesday. Is there anything specific I should know heading into the interview? Any specific medications or procedures? Anything that can help me stand out above other applicants? I feel pretty decent in regard to my resume - I have my BLS, ACLS, PALS, NIHSS, and have completed an externship in the ICU last Summer. I also currently work as a CNA, an Acute Care RN Extender, and Nurse Extern at three different hospitals (I took up the last two positions in an effort to help with the COVID-19 surge). I'm super nervous! Thank you in advance!

Thank you all so much! Your words mean so much!

Hi friends, Just wanted to update you. I took the NCLEX this past Friday and I walked out of the test center absolutely feeling miserable, despite how hard and how much effort I put into studying while working 3 jobs. I've never felt so defeated when taking a test. Everyone I've talked to said that it shouldn't be too hard, but literally 90% of my test were minuscule and trivial topics, which is unheard of to many people! I got a LOT of pharm questions asking about medications most of my peers and I have not heard of. This made me feel like I was failing, but my friends speculated that I was probably doing well. I had around 8-10 SATA, 2 drag and drops, 1 exhibit, and 1 med dosage question, from what I can remember. I remember feeling horrible for not getting a lot of SATA (I know I shouldn't be). Anyway, the test cut off at 60 questions, and I KNEW I had failed. I ran out thinking about how else I was going to improve my studying. I waited 2 hours to do the Pearson Vue Trick with one of my best friends... and I got the good pop up!

Thank you so much! I can't even sleep right now because I take it tomorrow. Thank you for your input! I'm really anxious to see how the questions will be but hopefully you are right in that I'll be able to figure out them out.

CONGRATS on passing! In regard to the difficulty of the questions, would you say that they were vague or straight forward? I take mine on Friday and my biggest problem is overthinking.

Thanks for the advice! I'm just brushing up on content right now and will be doing some practice Q's after I read! My biggest fear is not knowing how vague the NCLEX questions are going to be. I tend to overthink my answers a lot.

Hi, everyone! I've been seriously studying for the NCLEX for about a little over a month now. I've been using UWorld and notes I took from Saunders, UWorld rationales, and ATI (I had to have the program for nursing school). My test date is this Friday and I am beyond nervous. I've been maintaining my quiz scores in the mid- to high-60's and am in the 84th percentile. I just took the one practice assessment my package came with and got in the 57th percentile with a "high" chance of passing. Though I've been maintaining my scores in the 60s (which I heard is where I want to be at), I'm scared that I won't be able to finish my Q Bank as I still have about 1400 left. The reason for this is because I'm constantly torn between content review and doing/going over practice questions + rationales. Should I focus more on content review, or should I just continue to do practice questions + rationales? Also, is the NCLEX vague to the point where it's easy to overthink or is it pretty straight forward? Is what I'm doing okay? I'm so nervous. Anything helps! Thanks in advance!

Hi! CONGRATS on passing! I had a question - would you say that the NCLEX was pretty straight forward? I've heard the questions were pretty vague and I'm scared of overthinking too much into the question (this is a big problem I have).

Hi! I am currently in the same boat as you were -- 5 days left to take (I'm aiming for the end of this week) and aiming to do 400-500 Q's a day. Did you write down any of the rationale? I'm scared I won't be able to retain all that info but it also takes me forever to get through!

Hi, CONGRATS! Was UWorld the only study resource you used?