Worthless_Nut

Thank you so much for the advice and well wishes. I am looking forward to starting my new job and I know I have much to learn. It's nice to meet people who are willing to remember what it was like when they were new to their specialty and also willing to act as mentors to others.

Thank you so much for the advice, I am headed to Amazon to check out the book now. I want more than anything to be the best hospice nurse I can be. I appreciate any and all advice / pointers.

Hi all, I am a certified oncology nurse with 6 years experience and I am going to be joining the home hospice team. While I have cared for many inpatient hospice patients, I have never done home nursing care. Are there any books or reference guides I can buy to help me kick start my new career? I have already purchased The Hospice Companion, as well as, the Core Curriculum and study guide for the Generalist Hospice and Palliative Nurse. I hope to take the CHPN test within the next year. I am really excited about my new job and I have an exceptional love for the end of life patients. I look forward to being the best hospice nurse I can possibly be. Any words of advice to help me start on the right foot?

Hi Rayne I am currently working on my RN-to-BSN online through the partnership program at University of Texas at Arlington. There are core classes such as statistics, history, government, literature, etc that you need to take but there are also nursing research, holistic health assessment, holistic care for the elderly, holistic care for vulnerable populations, management, etc. I can't say that I have learned any new nursing skills, but I do feel as though I am gaining a new perspective regarding how important my job is and what a difference I can make not only in the lives of my patients, but in the lives and careers of fellow nurses. I have learned new information regarding other populations, such as the elderly and the underserved, information that we only skimmed over during the ADN program. Like so many others, I needed to get through school and get a job. Now all my classes are online and I can go at my own pace while still providing for my family. While I am so sick of school and will be happy to have my life back, I am glad I made the decision to continue on and get a higher degree. While I don't currently have any desire to work in a management position, you never know what the future will bring and it's always good to keep all your options open.

Thank you Daytonite and all the rest of you who took the time to help me out. Your insights and opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your comments, the "minor incident rule" is part of the Texas Nursing Practice Act, it is rule 217.16. This is a homework assignment and I am having a hard time wading through the legal speak. Under 217.16, if you have less than 5 minor incidents in a 12 month time period, the peer review committee doesn't have to report you to the BON so my question really was this: if a nurse removes a vial of any medication, checks it once and fails to note it is outdated and proceeds to draw up and give that medication to 5 pts, is it only one incident since she only checked the vial once or is it 5 incidents because she should have checked the vial before drawing up the medication for each patient?

Hi all, I am an old fart that is new to nursing. I graduated from an ADN program in Dec of 08 and passed the NCLEX in Jan,09. I started an internship on a med surg/oncology unit in Feb, 09. While I am a new nurse, I feel like I have finally "come home". I love what I do even though some days are not easy and I occassionaly wonder what I have done to myself. I go home exhausted with my feet killing me, but I am up the next morning proclaiming my love for my job. I am currently in an online RN-BSN program. While I love med surg and all its' craziness, I have a particular love for gerontology (the older I get, the more I love it :chuckle). I hope to someday specialize in that area. I wish I had gone to nursing school 25 years ago.

yes Morte it is a scenario that I am trying to address. My classes are online and the only book I have to work with is the Texas Nursing Practice Act which is not an easy read. The question I am trying to determine is whether to report that nurse to the BON, or does this fall under the minor incident rule which states you can make 5 errors before reporting to the board. I think it is reportable due to the risk of harm it could cause. I just didn't know if since she didn't put the vial back in the fridge and pull it out each time, would drawing up 5 syringes be considered 1 incident or 5. I think it is 5 but I just want to be sure I am correct with my line of thinking.

Hi all, I am an associate degree RN taking RN-BSN classes and I have a question that I hope someone can help with. If an RN takes out a vial of insulin that is outdated and over the course of 10-15 minutes gives 5 people injections, she/he doesn't ever put the vial in the fridge, so they have only checked the label once. Is that 5 medications errors incidents or just one since they were drawn up at or around the same time? I have tried to find this information but I have a hard time understanding the lingo in the Nurse Practice Act book I am looking things up in. Thanks for any help you can give me.

I used flashcards, which are a great study tool when you study either alone or with others. I also have a 4 person study group. We meet when we can, sometimes at a pizza joint, we eat, talk, quiz each other with flashcards. I even hosted a dinner and mock lab practical at my house. The key to studying in a somewhat fun setting, is you are more relaxed and sometimes the laughing and silliness that goes on helps get the stuff firmly planted in your head. A couple of times I have heard one of my study group gals snicker during a test and I know she is remembering something zany someone said during one of our study sessions. I hope that helps.

Wow, your plate is full, but first let's address all the what ifs. What if the world ends tomorrow and none of this will matter? Life is full of uncertainty and we have a choice to make, do we crawl back into our shell and let life pass us by because we are scared of "what if", or do we meet the challenges head on and do our best? So what if you fail, all of life is one big happy chance that we all take. What if you had made a lousy mother? Did that keep you from having a child? What if you really suck at being a wife, did that stop you from marrying? You can do this girl. Take a deep breath and evaluate what is going on in your life. If you fail the first time around, pick yourself up go at it again. There is no shame in failing, only in giving up. What stress can you get rid of? How can hubby and child help you? I study by using flashcards, maybe your 10 yr old can quiz you using flashcards. That way you both spend some time together, you benefit from being quizzed, and your child gets to see how important school and learning is to you. Maybe hubby can take on some more responsibility also. Find someone you can study with, that also helps. Tell hubby that if he will just pitch in and do........., then the two of you can set aside friday night for .......... Maybe what you need to do at the present time is take fewer classes and give yourself a chance to ease into all this madness. I feel for you hon and am here if you need to talk.:typing

Jules, you so hit the nail on the head. I felt the same way when I read about not loaning, or giving a scantron to a fellow student who may have just made a simple mistake of leaving them at home or actually forgetting about a quiz. It must be nice to be perfect, I cannot, however make that claim. It frightens me that the biggest obstacle I may have to overcome as a nurse, is not demanding patients and their families, not arrogant physicians with their God-complexes, but my fellow nurse who is out to screw me over. What a shame that we have sunk to these lows. Life is a struggle all by itself without us sniping at one another. What happened to the idea of paying it forward? I have spent the last 7 years in a job where I was the only woman, and let me tell you. Men are so much easier to work with. They get mad and tell you off, but 15 minutes later it's over. Why can't we women do the same?

I so agree with stpaulgirl. I am an older student and way past the age of the high school game playing. We are adults trying to make it through some very difficult times. It is my goal to help all those who come to me for help, whether they are competing against me or not. Have we all forgotten that we are on this earth to help one another? So what if someone gets ahead of you, things happen for a reason and maybe you are supposed to wait. This is my philosophy and even though many will probably make fun of me for it, I stand by it. We need to stop sniping at one another and come to each others aid. If the strong helps the weak, it makes us all stronger.

I am so sorry that happened to you. It takes the wind right out of our sails when we do poorly but we were so confident we were prepared. The funny things is you were probably very prepared, you just didn't get asked the right questions. You need to assess how your instructor prepares tests, do they test more from lecture, handouts, the book? If you don't already, make yourself some flash cards, these are great for studying by yourself or in a group. It may also help if you try studying with a few other people for the next test. The advantage of doing that is you get other people's perspective of what is important to know for the test. Please don't give up. You are not stupid, you merely hit a speed bump in the middle of the road alittle faster than you should have. We all stumble, what sets us apart is how we handle it. Good luck. You can write to me anytime you need a word of encouragement.:nuke:

Wow, while I greatly respect everyone's opinion, I am left wondering where does the compassion come in? You have not really shared if this is an ongoing problem with this one particular individual. I don't have a problem helping anyone out. Maybe they thought they had scantrons in their backpack. Maybe they just rushed out the door, honestly not knowing they left them on the kitchen table. I see everyone's point about coming to class prepared, but if this person isn't constantly coming unprepared, I would be happy to help. I pride myself on never missing any classes and always being prepared, but occasionally we all drop the ball.

Jaxia, I am taking it at El Centro. Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement

:smiley_aa I just went to the mailbox and lo & behold there was a large envelope in it. My hands were shaking as I opened the envelope. Inside was my acceptance letter for nursing school. I laughed, I cried, I yelled. My poor dogs will probably spend all weekend under the desk! I wanted to be a nurse when I was a kid but made some life choices that required I give that dream up for many years. I have been given another chance and I AM GOING TO BE A NURSE!!!!! I hope all of you who have applied will get your letters soon also. I just wanted to share the news with people who would understand my giddyness.

I am waiting on my letter with the rest of you. Our deadline was August 31. I got a letter last week, it was a very skinny envelope and I about died. It turned out to be for Phi Theta Kappa. I thought my heart was going to burst through my chest as I opened the envelope. I thought maybe I compared so poorly that they went ahead and told me quickly that I wasn't accepted. I can laugh about it now..... I have applied to El Centro Community College in Dallas. We should know in a couple more weeks. Good luck to all.

Hi all, I have thoroughly enjoyed all the comments on this subject. It seems to me that it is the younger students who always ask this question. I have another experience to share along these same lines. I like to go to ratemyprofessor.com and see which instructors people liked and which ones they didn't like and why. I am constantly amazed at the number of poor ratings an instructor gets for simply expecting students to pay attention, take some notes, and put in a couple hours studying. I am so worried about whether I will be accepted into nursing school, then I look around me and smile. I have even had complainers tell me that I don't know what it is like since I am obviously a really smart person. This always causes me to laugh and explain that I am not naturally smart, I have to really study and apply myself. Maybe someday they will get the hint, but of course, if that's not going to be on a test............:roll

Thanks for the words of encouragement all. In response to panzyo3, I have applied to El Centro and Northlake. I know it will not be the end of the world as we know it if I am not accepted, but at my age, there are not that many more years left to complete a career, so I am hoping to get in the first try. Good luck to all of you and let's keep in touch with one another. We are all rooting for each other.

Well, after a year of studying my backside off and accomplishing a 4.0 GPA, I have finally applied for nursing school. This is my dream, and I have waited a long time to finally have the privilege of following my dream. I am an older student and am excited & scared all at the same time. The letters go out mid October and I am not sure my heart is going to hold up for that long. I hope I am accepted. Anyone one else out there chewing their fingernails along with me? Chime in, maybe we can all keep each other company.

I am taking A&PII this fall also. I just applied for nursing school last week!!! I am excited and nervous at the same time. This has been a tough road, but I am looking forward to rising to the challenge.

I too am 45 years old and quit my job to go back to school to become a nurse. I was very nervous and not completely certain I was doing the smart thing. I am now finished with my pre-reqs and will be applying for nursing school sometime in the middle of August, and I have to tell you, it's one of the best decisions I have ever made. As an older student, I have had many opportunities to help younger people focus on their studies, while they have taught me shortcuts in how to study. I was worried as to how I would be treated but I have been given a great deal of respect. So, take a deep breath and leap..... you will be glad you did. One piece of advice I have for you is to start out kind of slow the first semester. I only took 2 classes in order to allow myself a much needed adjustment time. It's been a while since you have been a student, it takes a little getting used to. Good luck, we are all rooting for you!!

Thanks to all who posted here and gave me great advice. I am happy to announce that I passed the NET with flying colors. I scored in the 98 percentile in math, which is what I was the most afraid of. Again, thanks everyone! Hope to be accepted for spring 07!! :thankya:

Hi Val! I just took the NET yesterday and the math is very basic. There are more fractions than anything else. The test started out with simple addition and subtraction of whole numbers and decimals. Next came muliplication and division of the same. The test sort of eased you into slightly harder math as it went on. Make certain you are good with fractions, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing them. Make sure you can convert fractions to percent and visa-versa. At the end, there are some algebra problems, but they are just basic algebra. The NET study guide has word and geometry problems in it, but there were none of those on the test I took. To be quite honest with you, I was shocked at my reading comp score. I passed both with flying colors, but my reading score was lower than my math score. It's not about how well you read, it's about how fast and what you remember. Just practise reading this next week and learn to pace yourself. You don't want to run out of time. Good luck to you and if you have any more questions, I will try to help.