Mandys76RN

Nice to know I am not so alone in this. The facility I work (rehab/LTC) for has a total of 120 beds which is in 3 units. There are TWO nurses during the NOC shift that I work from 10pm to 6:30am. I am a new grad and many of the times I work am or will be the only RN and the other is an LPN. Aids are always calling in sick so sometimes there is only 1 to 2 aids on each unit. I mainly work unit 1 which has 44 beds (but currently 40 filled beds) and until 2:30 am I work unit 2 as well which has 24 beds (but currently 18 filled beds). That is a total of 58 people I am responsible for. At 2:30am I pass off Unit 2 to the other RN or LPN that is working Unit 1. That still leaves me with 40 patients! My main unit is mostly rehab so I have a couple people on IV antibiotics and a lot of post-op patients who need pain meds to sleep. I don't stit down until I can squeeze some charting in. Besides passing prn narcs all night along with other scheduled meds, I have IV bags to hang, wound dressing changes, edema assessments and other "office work" such as getting paperwork done for the patients doctor appointment the next day, paperwork ready if there is a discharge the next day, labs, restocking my three med carts, recording report and so much more. I had a patient who's blood sugar was 34 and it took me two hours to get to 134. Not only stressfull but time consuming. I only had 6 days of orientation (was only supposed to have 5). I took lots of "to do" notes during my orientation days but I am just exhausted when the shift is over. I just had my first night on my own a few days ago. It was busier that night than any of my orientation nights. I managed to get everything done by 6:30am but I don't feel like i did it as safely and thouroughly as I should have. This can't be safe, right? I am trying to get on at a hospital so my fingers are crossed. Even my seassoned nurse orienter has a hard time keeping up but after 12 years of dealing with it I am taking her place. How can I be a charge nurse as a new grad with this patient load!!??? Doesn't make sense to me.

I did some clinicals at Evergreen and really enjoyed it. It is also a very nice facility. I used to work at Harrison while I was in nursing school (as a nurse Tech) and really loved it. I found everyone to be friendly and helpful. I graduated nursing school a couple of months ago and I am trying to get back on with Harrison. I am working somewhere else for now but if and when I get the call I would go back in a heart beat. :redbeathe

I applied during my last quarter of prerequisites but that was the earliest that we were allowed to apply. Our school doesn't have a wait list either. You make it or you don't. If you don't make it you have to reapply the next time with a clean slate.

When I was in A&P I started off taking it in class. I felt like I couldn't get a grasp on it and knew I wasn't going to get the grade I wanted. I dropped out of the class and ended up taking A&P 1 and 2 online. I absolutely loved it. The discussion boards were extremely helpful and I had an instructor that checked it. I didn't feel dumb asking questions. I have found I do the best with online classes over all. Since then I have finished nursing school and am now an RN. I felt like I learned a lot from all of my online classes... at least enough to do a good job in nursing school.

Dajulieness, I almost have the same story as you! I lost 55 pounds on weight watchers 6 years ago. During my first two years of school (prerequisites) I gained about 5-8 pounds. Then nursing school started and over those two years I gained 25 pounds! I think being so inactive was the biggest contributor and snacking at the late hours of the night. I didn't pig out much, just didn't have a balanced diet and schedule. It made me sick. I just graduated on June 12th and I said enough is enough. I started weight watchers again and have lost 5 pounds in the past week and a half. I am determined to get that weight off. I also started working out to Wii Fit and Wii Active. When I don't do that I go to the beach and walk 4 miles (about twice a week). It feels so good not to be sitting on my butt studying all the time. Oh yeah, I also drove to college for the past four years an hour each way so that was an extra 2 hours a day of sitting and snacking during the boring travel time. Good luck with your weight loss everyone who gained during nursing school!

This may be a dumb question but what is the difference between a Progressive Care Unit and Acute Care Unit? I am thinking PCU must be patients that need close monitor but not as close as ICU (sort of like a step down unit from ICE) and ACU is more like Med/Surg or is the same thing as Med/Surg? Thanks

Jasminerain... thanks for the reply. I actually realized I was doing it wrong. I did it the right way and got the pop-up I wanted to see. I found out the next day that I really did pass! Thank you though!

jamsinerain... thanks for the info. I actually realized I was doing it wrong. I did it the right way, got the "correct" pop-up and found out the next day I passed. Thanks though!

Whether or not the "trick" is 100% full-proof, it gave me a piece of mind. When I walked out after taking the test I was in tears and 150% sure I totally failed it. Of course I was hoping the test was going to shut off at 75 questions but it kept going, it finally stopped at 165. I started to read these message boards yesterday (which was the day after my test) so I tried the "trick" and it gave me the pop up. I tried several times and got the same thing. I found out today I passed and I am still in shock! I let my other classmates know about the "trick" but also told them that I don't know how accurate it is. It helped me sleep last night

I am trying it and it says "Our records indicate that you already exist in our system" and then below that it it says "Please complete this process to reset your password." Then it asks for my user name, First, and last name. Does anyone get this message? I didn't try to reset my password. Thanks