TuckerBug

Hi everyone, I'm a new grad and I'm starting in heme/onc at a pediatric hospital next month. I'm going to be working three 12-hour shifts a week (nights), and I'm wondering if there are any tips any of you can share about working nights. Also, any big tips that you wish someone had told YOU before you started as a new nurse? What do you wish you'd known? Thanks! TuckerBug

Thanks..I've heard a lot of people do that (wait 'til classes are over). My classes are done in August, but I'm starting to study a little right now--just starting to review a lot of the pathophys/basic med surg stuff.

Hey, I'm taking the NCLEX in September...just wondering how long you each studied for to take the exam? TB

Hi all--I'm in the MEPN program at UW in Seattle, doing ID as my focal area. Right now i'm in the fifth quarter, taking NCLEX in September and starting the master's part then too. Have any of you graduated from one of these programs and started practicing right away as a nurse practitioner? How was it to find a job? Did people question your program at all, that you did a direct entry one? I'm in my last RN clinical right now and the nurses have given me a hard time about this program, thinking that it is impossible and that I will not be a good NP without lots of RN experience. What was your experience? Thanks TB

I'm currently a student nurse in Washington state, and I'm African-American/Caucasian and I often wonder when I too will have an African-American instructor, preceptor, or even another student nurse. I think it is totally discouraging sometimes---it is hard to be the only minority (of any kind) in a group..it makes me sad that most people who look like me in hospitals are the techs and maintenance people. Both are good jobs, I just wish people of color were more spread out at all levels of occupation. That is unbelievable that you've never had another AA nurse with you on staff, that is a hospital problem for sure.

Hey everyone---I'm a lesbian nurse in the Northwest, still a student but about to graduate. I'd love to hear from other queer nurses about whether you come out to your patients (if they ask if you're married and you have a partner, for example) or how you decide/deal with that. If another staff member asks, I tell them that I have a partner, but I'm not sure what to do with patients. Advice? No homophobic remarks please. TB