DimplesRN

thanks to both noahsmama and wonderbee, we definitely should keep eachother posted on the positions we took, noahsmama :) what are the odds of both of us being peds backgroud. thanks to you wonderbee, for the very smart and practical advice. i know what you mean. i know nurses that feel "stuck" related to financial obligations. i am so glad that i have been pretty careful with my spending. i have let myself be available to a great opportunity withough worrying so much about making ends meet. i would have felt terrible if i had to let the chance pass me by. i start on monday. i get more excited every day. wonderbee, do you mind telling me more about what you do in your job?

Only one response in a pm. but just wanted to update that I got the position. I am so excited for the opportunity. I cant wait to get started. I will post back in a few weeks with updates.

Hello all! I am finally back :) I have been a nurse for 3 years. I have only peds and newborn experience. My first love is definitely pediatrics. I am in the newborn nursery now, but am having issues with management, wishing to leave night shift, and desiring to get out of the hospital setting, and have discovered a newfound interest in public health. I am a RN-BSN student who is going to graduate next semester( God Willing), and have applied for a health dept postion in the neighboring county after my community health rotation in my city's health dept. I really love the teaching aspect, the one on one with the clients, and all of the outside experiences, i.e. travel clinics, screeningss, flu shots, etc. I feel that community health is a way to combine both my love for peds and public health. I know I will have to take a pay cut, all of the nurses warned me of this at clinical, but I don't mind, because I am just taking care of myself and my dog. I guess I just want advice, about anyone in this situation with experience, words of wisdom. anything constructive would be appreciated. I will have a 30 min commute, vs 10 min now. But I think the pros outweigh the cons. I have an interview this Friday. I am so excited. Can anyone give me interview advice? I also wanted opinions on the fact that where I am interviewing is a lot smaller health dept than where I did clinicals. I want to be able to learn all of the programs well, and I don't want to be bored if they have a lot slower pace. Any advice is appreciated, Thanks in advance. DimplesRN :)

I am so happy for you. that job really sounds awesome. Sounds right up my alley. I have really been looking for a community health or clinic position. It must feel great to be part of a facility that goes above and beyond for the clients.

1. How many questions did you take on NCLEX? 75 Questions 2. What study materials did you use? Did you take a test review course? I took a Hurst review for NCLEX 3. Did your SON offer any testing (ERI, ATI, HESI)? We started with ERI, then switched to HESI my last year 4. How long did you wait for results of the test, or are you still waiting? I did my quick results, which were available after 48 hours 5. What were your thoughts coming out of the test (total disbelief, certainty you had failed, confident you had passed)? When I came out of my test, I just knew that I had failed. I didn't feel that I had proven that I would be a competent nurse. When the lady at the test center tolf me good luck, I told her that I would be back to retake it, 6. Was this your first attempt at NCLEX yes Good luck to all who have to take it :)

Thanks realityrn, and to everyone who replied. My anxiety has decreased some, and I feel a little better. I have working as a gradnurse(extern) for about a month, so I feel mostly oriented to the unit, but not so much yet with other things I will be doing on the job. I can only do so much as an extern, but hopefully that will change soon. I take my NCLEX tomorrow! I do want those letters behind my name.

Thanks to everyone who replied, it means a lot to me. I feel so much support here, and it helps to hear from nurses who have gone through similar situations. I love most of the staff there. I work days for now, and they are great. I just have a lot on my plate right now, but today went pretty well. I was talking to a nurse at work today, and I was just telling here that I wanted to not only learn to be a nurse but to learn how to be a great nurse. Everyone has good and bad days. I have always put extra pressure on myself about things. I really believe in self fulfilling prophecies, so I need to stop will all of the negative thinking. Thanks for all of your support!

Hi all, I have so many feelings that I just have to get them out of me. I know that I have seen so many friendly nurses provide information and help/ advice, so I thought that I could use some of the advice that I am always seeing offered to other new nurses. I applied for a Peds RN position at a large teaching hospital, and I got hired as a graduate nurse until I pass boards. I am feeling so much anxiety. I am having a hard time distinguishing whether it is regular new grad anxiety or full out panic. I have so much fear. I am scared of being a "real" nurse, scared of asking a dumb questions, sounding dumb, looking dumb, afraid to talk to residents and doctors. I really like Peds, I love the staff, they are great, I don't know what my problem is. Our hospital also has student loan repayment( which I REALLY need), but I am afraid to take it because I am afraid I won't make it a year, and that I will have to repay all of that money. I did my Peds clinicals there, so I knew that I wanted to work here, but of course it is SO different than clinicals. I feel anxiety looking at all the things the nurses have to do every shift. I have only been working two weeks, and take boards in two weeks from now. A friend of mine said that I could transfer units,( post-partum was my second choice) but I don't want the staff to feel that time was wasted training me, if I decide to leave. I am confused and nervous, any suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance. Dimples

Do you have the Saunder's NCLEX review. I did SSSSOOOOO many questions that I lost count. That is all that I did, and I passed the first time our school gave the test. Our school gave us two chances or we couldn't graduate, but it was nice to pass the first time. Good luck with whichever you decide.

Can I join the club too? :) I graduated on May 11th, and I feel such a relief, and such happiness. I am a graduate nurse! I just came back from my last day of Hurst review( which was awesome by the way). I start officially as a graduate nurse this Monday at Children's Hospital. I am nervous and excited. I actually got to read a leisure book last week, and looking forward to reading many more on my off days, but for now I am concentrating on passing NCLEX. I am happy to be out of the nursing student phase, on to grad nurse, and will be even more excited to be a registered nurse.

Thanks Suzanne4, I had been wondering about this too.

Thanks both of you. Me and some classmates are trying to work out all of us going to a Hurst review for 4 days. i think we all have Saunders too, so I hope we will do okay. Thanks

Sorry

Hi All, I was wondering if anyone has taken the NCLEX-Rn review by the Hurst Review. I have been reading other forums on the Kaplan review, and they are offering a course at our school for us after we graduate. I talked to some nurses and even a nurse recruiter and they have me a little reluctant to sign up for Kaplan, because they say the course depends on the instructor teaching. How is the Hurst review? Me and two other classmates are debating whether to take this one instead, because at a hospital we had clinicals at, 100% of the nurses who had taken this one, passed their first time. I want first hand opinions though. So.... Hurst Review or Kaplan Review. Thanks in advance. DimplesRNstudent

My favorite content was OB, Peds, Neuro, Endocrine. Least favorite was our Psych and Med Surg 1 class. It was right after our fundamentals class and the transition into real disorders and nursing interventions was a little tough for me. Surprisingly though, the topicst that most of the rest of our class is struggling with I am making high B's in. 2 weeks until graduation!!!!!!!!