grnmtngirl

Thanks... I'm considering whether to uproot us to a completely different state. There are plenty of OR programs out there that could be great...but that's a whole different post

Considering an OR transfer after 1.5 years ICU. I'm trying to read all I can over the past few months but having difficulty finding warm contacts in person. Recent unit changes are making it hard to get hours and I may jump ship a bit sooner than originally planned (originally I hoped to wait until next spring and try to transfer when new grads come in to take advantage of the formal group education/training programs offered then). I requested the manager contact me directly to discuss the position and whether training would be available (the position does not list experience required or preferred but also does not list any training specifics). Clearly I would not want to try to step in without any sort of education/precepting experience. I think I would eventually like to travel. I really wanted to do OR in school but was told I'd lose all my skills and be blackballed in nursing forever and never get out again. Now I know that's not true, and that, to some extent, specific assessment/intervention skills are part of every unit including my current one! I'm not 100% sure the OR is right for me though despite many observations as a student (over a dozen) because then I was really focused on how cool the surgery was and not so much on what the nurses were doing. Any advice on getting clear that the OR is the right fit for me? Anything in particular about this OR I should ask the manager to determine if it's a good place to start/train/work? Any pc ways to feel out whether or not I'd be hired for the job over the phone (she'll already have my R.N. background/resume from HR when she calls me) before going in for a formal interview... which is when I have to tell my boss that I'm job seeking?? Thanks in advance...

Thanks everyone. I'd say based on these responses right now, we're not ready. I appreciate the honest feedback.

:heartbeatHey All, I'm considering becoming a navy nurse for a few reasons. DH and I have decided to be child-free and I am (and likely always will be) the breadwinner for our family of 2. We love to travel and visit new places. I've lived overseas for short periods and found it wonderful and enjoyable. I've always enjoyed the hospitality of foreign nations. He is younger and has only finished an associates degree but is working towards a BA. I have a lot of drive (and a nursing degree) and do the majority of our life/financial/long-range planning. These are the things I am looking forward to: -competitive pay with the private market -travel to work in overseas locations -regular relocation every 3 years or so on somebody else's dime -tax free cash But, honestly... can my husband come with me? How often will we have to be apart? Worst case scenario? I have no problem being stationed just about anywhere- so long as he is with me. If he were to enlist, he would be "enlisted" instead of an officer like me. I don't know if that would make it easier for us to do joint assignments but I'm thinking it wouldn't. The information online has been very limited. I've been hesitant to contact a recruiter because I've been trying to find unbias answers myself to make a decision. I know that deployment will be a fact of service-- just wondering if I can get around that for the most part (assuming a 20 year career- I'm under 30!) if willing to do a lot of overseas locations. I know my husband would have an extremely hard time coping without me. Not that anyone is overjoyed to see a loved one go... but, it's a huge factor. I make good enough, or better, money in the private sector now. I like the fringe benefits and travel opps to work in foreign countries with u.s. wages. That is something I don't see offered as much. Plus, as a relatively young nurse, I feel like the structure of the military could really enhance my career satisfaction. My parents were MPs and I find the lack of order and structure at work to be difficult. I like stringent penalties for late coworkers and equitable vacation times for all. These things are lacking in the civilian world. Any advice? Thank you to all of those who regularly contribute to these boards... I've been reading all night! GrnMtn Girl

Just a followup- I spoke with a great resource person last night who has offered to help me out with questions and has a great deal of knowledge regarding patho, technology, and developmental care. I think this person will be very helpful in my development as has offered to help as he can. Also, I spoke to the charge nurse and asked that I be given assignments for at least 2-3 nights/row at a time (at least for awhile- whenever possible) to help transition into taking care. I always found in school that no matter how bad day 1 was, day 2 was always easier because I knew the patient and had an idea of what worked and what didn't in my routine. Also, it helps me to come into work and see what happened with the patient's care so that I can start to look ahead to how patients progress through the unit and what sorts of proactive things I can be doing and suggesting to residents at night to make sure my patients are getting the best care possible overnight and not just waiting till morning for an attending to come and write the order for the more senior nurses. Thank you again for the posts. I had an awesome night at work last night, with yet again, a different assignment. Your posts reassured me that I would be ok and that my assignments weren't off the wall (though I assure you they felt that way!!!) Thanks again!

That's all I needed to hear. Thank you guys! I cried a lot this morning. I cried through my whole shower at home. My husband felt really bad for me and assumed one of my patients had died. My babies were relatively stable (barring the admit which turned into a nightmare that nobody saw coming which led to a lot of "excitement"). I still got all of my work done, meds given, things checked off. Babies on vents don't matter to me so much. 2 stable babies on vents, cpap, etc isn't a big deal. The "technology laden baby" was a very young unstable baby who has coded in the past week and just had a lot of tubes which as you know require a lot of "paperwork" and documentation and it's time consuming as a new person to do a thorough check. I still take approx 30 min to do a phy assessment and care on a baby while I find the seasoned nurses can start the baby up about 15 min before the baby is due to feed and still be done on time. I'm sure the eye of experience counts for something in knowing if something is wrong. I have to judge (especially if I've never had the baby before which is how it seems to be progressing every night) based on my vital signs and a thorough careful assessment to the best of my ability. I just don't want to make a critical error because they're in a critical state. I'm going to print off these posts and keep them because I think they address a lot of my problems and fears. I was somewhat challenged in school but never in a critical care environment. And I had a great orientation with very supportive preceptors. But I had very doable assignments and my preceptors jumped in to help and give me lunch/breaks. It's just different being on your own and knowing there's nobody there to check off all your work before the next shift comes in. It all falls on my shoulders. I appreciate the feedback. I'll dry my tears and go back to work tonight and will not complain about my assignments. I'll trust they're giving me safe, learning assignments and will provide support if i I get into trouble. Thanks for taking time out of your weekend to respond!

yes, visitors (including parents) who smoke must wear gowns when handling babies.

i'm particularly interested in opinions of those with experience as charge nurse, preceptors or those with several years experience to judge whether or not these are safe assignments for me to be taking. *****my question was answered. thanks to those who took the time to respond!***********

Do NOT STRESS! You and I, we had a similar format test and I expected it to shut off at 75 and IT DID! The waiting is definitely the hardest part but nothing to fret over. It's done for now. You've done your part. Way to go!

congratulations pirituba! That's EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes, that's the book. IT was great. Helped me soooooooooooooo much!

Exactly 48 hours later and Pearson Vue reports me as PASS!!!!! Thanks for the support here everyone!

WAY TO GO!!! Have fun celebrating!!!!!

I'm sorry to hear that you have to retake the test. When it shut off at 75 I felt so encouraged by the low number. It's like, people are more prepared to fail if they went through 200+ questions... maybe not. I walked out figuring I must have passed since it shut off at 75 but I have not heard yet. It's so difficult to think about preparing for it again when we felt like we just finished all those questions and all that review. In getting the energy to do it again I would ask myself a few questions-- Did you review content or practice mostly questions in preparation for your last test? Did you review all of the areas equally or did you skip over a particular unit like oncology, pedi, maternity?? Did you take a review course or practice on your own? Maybe you just need a new plan of study. If I have to retake it I will definitely do the Kaplan q trainers that people seemed to find esp helpful. Best wishes as you prepare to take it again... keep your chin up and do something nice for yourself today!

no answers yet, still waiting to hear... the secret is probably to keep studying. i did review pharm very intensely for about 5-6 hours a week before the test. i felt like i got it that night. had never done that before (we didnt have a dedicated pharm class in school) and it seemed to come together. good luck!

hey girls, That 250 alt question book was definitely helpful. Everyone's test is different but the material in there is very general and covers ALL areas (pedi, maternity, cardiac, renal, gi disorders, infection, etc) so it is an EXCELLENT review! Not so many priority questions in there-- mostly select all that apply and math for those who do happen to see some math on the test. Still no word on whether I passed. But as for my materials, I had a kaplan book but did not buy the questions or the classroom from Kaplan. If I had to retake it I think I would do the qbank and trainers from Kaplan. I used Drexel's video course, Lippincott's alt questions, Lippincott's test questions with five 200 question practice tests, and a Saunders book with cd (didnt read any of the material in there- just did the questions on the cd). The first few weeks I reviewed videos about 1-2 hrs/day. Then I reviewed videos for about 1 hour/day and did 25-50 questions/day. Then for the last month I did 1-200 questions/day. Throughout the 2 months I did several 200 q practice tests to gauge where I was at. In the end, I did 5000 questions. Still waiting on results... good luck to those who are still studying. Hang in there and keep it up! At this point, it feels good to have put my all into it no matter what the results are.

Still waiting for the results to be posted and it hasn't even been 24 hours yet... everyone at work was really comforting saying "oh, I'm sure you passed..." but you get this little pit in your stomach like, oh no, what if I didn't and... I felt more confident leaving the test than I do now. I'm glad I posted when I came home... cause right now I feel like there's a good chance I picked the wrong answer on all of my questions!!! I look forward to hearing everyone passed today or tomorrow...

Phab-- I was bummed to have no calculations as well-- I agree that they are freebies!!!!! Does the pearson vue site always go down at night? It's unreachable. I figured with only 75 questions my test would be easy to "doublecheck" and there was a remote possibility it might be up tonight. No such luck if the site is down. Thank God I'm working the next couple of nights or I'd be home researching every question I can remember... Azor- Thanks for the good wishes. Let's hope it works out ok!

I took the test this A.M. It stopped at 75 questions. I didn't feel it was that hard... there were a lot of questions I wasn't 100% on of course but at least I was able to eliminate answers on most of the questions. Also, as for pharm, for those who haven't taken it yet, all I can say is DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED. I read a lot of responses and all of my friends have said "It's not worth studying. I didn't even recognize half of the drugs." I studied pharm a lot and I recognized all but 1 drug on the test. And the drug I didn't realize I got a little blurb about what it was for before they asked the question. So, it is worth it to study. I would say the content area stuff for the test breakdown was definitely accurate. The percentages of maternity, pediatrics, pharm were all relative to the % listed on the NCLEX website. Also, I got a ton of priority, delegation, and select all that apply questions. On a recommendation from here I bought the 250 alternative items book at B&N this week and went through to do the practice questions. I found it so helpful! Those were my weakest area and I felt better at least having had some success answering the ones in the book. I hope I did alright on it... otherwise I'll be back here posting a lot while I wait to retake it and get a lovely vacation from work... I will be back to post my results when I get them. Best of luck to everyone who is about to take them or who took them today. I know there were several of us!

I hope it's not as scary as everyone says... Good luck tomorrow you guys! As a night shift worker I can't sleep tonight... oh well. Hopefully all this ER rerun watching tonight counts as review... right?

Good Luck tomorrow.

Hey Amy, I devoted 1 night to pharmacy this week when I was off. I've been scoring 70-80% on my pharm practice tests (about 50 questions each) since then. Just wanted to share the encouragement. Reviewing it helps it come back again... I'm still not doing well with ears and eyes, GI and alternate questions. I went out and bought the book recommended by one of the members here and it is AWESOME! 250 alternate questions-- they come with rationales. I've been rewriting the answers I get wrong and it's making me feel better about the alt questions already. Good luck studying. You're lucky to have the weekend off... I'm working Thurs, Fri and Sat night... GRRR. Good luck studying this weekend. I hope it comes together for you.

I'm taking mine on Monday too. My focus this week has been pharm, L&D and a few random Med/Surg topics that I just cant get a grip on (dietary/GI questions, eyes and ears, and endocrine). I'm working through it the best I can but with full-time work I had to do self-study on my own these past couple months while working through a difficult internship period in a critical care unit. It never seems to be enough studying. WE ALL SEEM TO BE FEELING THAT WAY. And it seems like all my classmates have taken it and passed (even those that barely passed our courses) so I feel some added pressure to get it right the first time since I was one of the honors students. BEST OF LUCK TO EVERYONE ON MON... I'll be thinking of all of you and will report back here as well after the test. Feel free to come back and post if you need to throughout the week-- I'm checking nearly every day after I get home from work and before I study...

Thank you so much for the replies. Jess, thank you for reassuring me about your test scores. I was freaking out because even though they said 65% I felt that was too low... I thought I should be getting higher scores by now. Your scores are in line with what I've been getting 65-low 70s... thank you so much. Good to know you passed in 75 questions... 1 week left to go...

I've been slowly reviewing med/surg material for 6 weeks. I try to do 50-100 questions/day about 5 days/week. I admit, I haven't studied every day! I'm reviewing pharm this weekend. I have about a week left to study... I just don't know where to focus my efforts. I haven't reviewed maternity, pediatrics or psych at all. I figure I should probably do practice tests in those content areas and not study them if I do over a certain percentage. There are still med surg areas I am not strong in even after studying... GI, endocrine, ortho... I feel like I'm running out of time even after putting in a concerted effort for nearly 2 months. I've done about 3500 practice questions so far in preparation for the NCLEX. Kaplan says scores of 65% or more are good enough. To me, it seems low and I feel like I should score higher. What percentage is considered ENOUGH before moving on from a content area??? Advice on how to structure my final week of study from those who have been there, done that and passed Thanks for the support...