ally21

I'm a brand new RN and landed a 3-11 shift at a LTC facility. I can sum it up in a few words: I HATE IT. Everyplace wants experience around my area so I took whatever job I could get. I had orientation on 7-3 shift and didn't think it was so bad. Just was often packed with people--social workers, doctors, etc. Their med pass wasn't super huge since 11-7 shift covered the 0600 pass. 3-11 shift I feel like I have no time to myself. They taught me how to pass the meds on their old system, but switched to a new "faster" one about a week and a half ago. It is more of a pain the in the butt than the previous system. It doesn't save me any time. I feel so rushed right when I get to work. I have to scramble around getting people's finger sticks in so I can give them their insulin before they're shipped off to the dining room at 4pm. Aids sometimes will not ask me if people have been given their meds so I am so rushed around supper time. Then I have to stop what I'm doing at 5:15pm so I can go to the dining hall and watch over the residents. I'm supposed to be there for 15 min, but I'm lucky if I get out of there on time. Yesterday I didn't get out of there til 6pm! This cut into my med pass so I had to rush finishing up the med pass and get some treatments in. I was ever so lucky to get a resident back on the floor fromt he hospital yesterday around the time I had to go to the dining hall so I had to make sure I filled out the total head to toe body assessment on her. I'm not talented enough to do all the paperwork so my supervisor filled it out otherwise I probably would've been at work til past 12am. It is ridiculous. There is a nasty cold going around so residents have been acting more needy than ever. They expect me to know when their PRN meds are to be given. One wanted her dressing changed again even though I had done it an hour before... so guess what my unpaid 30min supper break consisted of? Doing her treatment. Oh, and I'm supposed to be a mind reader too. i got into big trouble yesterday over a miscommunication with my supervisor the other day. I'm being punished by being suspended for one day without pay. You'd think tehy would've sent me home that very day yesterday, but she's supposed to call to tell me when. I'm hoping it's Friday so I can have a nice 5 day weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have a job. I enjoy the residents. What I don't enjoy is how I was given a poor orientation and expected to know how to do things even though I wasn't shown properly. Things get twisted around and I don't even know how to write orders properly. Some supervisors are excellent whereas others are terrible. I feel like I'm on a sinking ship when I walk on the hall. One thing happens and everything turns to crap. I'm often there past 12am even though I'm supposed to be gone by 11:30pm... but have to do my charting and enter in I and O's on the computer! Stinks cause we don't get paid for overtime.

It's a challenging program, but overall it's great. Never realized how much driving was involved with nursing school until I was assigned a clinical over an hour and a half away. That's one of the things that sucked majorly... people would camp out early in the morning for the good clinical spots.

Congratulations

Congratulations. I am happy for you as well.

A+P is important and will help you in your nursing courses. The nursing courses I took expected us to know how the body functioned. They never retested us on that content. If you didn't know something it was expected that you review the A+P content for a foundation. That said Microbiology was the hardest class in my opinion. It took up so much time and was brutal.

I post stalked you, sorry. Lol I was just seeing if anyone went to LCCC. And this is a really old post, so sorry for bumping it. I graduated May 2010 and unfortunately quite a few people failed the final. I personally know of 3 people who failed nur 204 just because of the final.

Case studies help. We did so many of them in school for this extra class my school had us take.

Sorry if "nut job" offended you or anyone else... but I'm sticking to my guns about thinking those who take classes besides their regular nursing courses are very brave. I'm sure it is possible to complete the program in 2 years, but I can't imagine the stress of completing gen eds along with the regular nursing courses. Like, in my program if someone took their sciences along with nursing classes and happened to fail the science they risk being held behind. Not worth the headache and lack of a life!

Before I went in for my test I reviewed labs and tried to grasp why they might be low or high. Dosage calculations were also reviewed along with metric conversions. So glad I did that because I had some conversions I had to figure out. I looked at rhythm strips... again glad I looked because I had one of those SOBs on my exam. Don't know if I got it right, but doesn't matter now. Wish I had taken more time to go over cranial nerves and more about the stages of labor because I had a few things confused. Hmm also reviewed diet plans for patients which I'm also glad I reviewed because it helped out big time.

You are going to concur this test! I have faith in ya! But try not to just memorize the lab values. Instead, try to grasp the reasoning in why a lab value might be low or high. I took the nclex-rn on Friday and it needed more knowledge than just knowing lab values. You're not stupid! I love how you haven't given up which shows determination. Good luck to you.

Were you accepted into the nursing program or advised to take the gen eds? My advice to you is to get all your general classes out of the way before starting the nursing classes. I went to an ADN program and although it says 2 years, only the brave nut jobs do that. Most of us went longer than 2 years and took all the pre-reqs first like english, math, psychology, microbio, a+p 1+2.... But yeah, pay a visit to the advisor. They'll set you up with courses to take each semester. Does your school require you to take the NET exam? Mine did... lots of people at my school say they're in nursing, but are basically working at knocking off classes before even getting accepted to the program. good luck with everything.

Awesome!!!!! Crossing my fingers for you. The PVT worked for me, so I'm positive you'll see a big fat R.N. next to your name soon. :)

Oh dear, first year of nursing school was sooooooo expensive. I think I spent over $700 on books and supplies including a stethoscope, BP cuff, clamps, scissors. The only good thing about the books was they were used throughout the entire program. We'd have to buy maybe one new book each semester, but it wasn't bad. We'd also have to purchase notes from the school which was ridiculous. They costed around $25 each semester! Our uniform was around $60. I have it in my shed right now, but I'm itching to burn the thing. I never want to see it again. My tuition wasn't so bad because I went to a community college. I have another degree so I didn't qualify for much aid. Luckily I always found a way to get the money for tuition each semester. Often would have to borrow it from a family member then would pay them back ASAP around tax refund time. I did a payment plan one semester which was easier than paying a lump sum. But nursing school is expensive. I saved so much money by car pooling to clinical sites with a few other ladies. Gas money adds up quickly for school and where I went you need a reliable car or you're SOL since there was so much driving involved.

Oooh, you would like to know what was in my bag when I went to school? Ok well, I wish I had gotten one of those bookbags with wheels. I didn't, so I carried around a tote. We were required to bring our books to class. For my notes I would write them on loose leaf paper then come home and rewrite them into a notebook. I never brought my good notebook to school unless I was going to the library to study. Notetaking we were allowed to use whatever our little hearts desired. Some people brought their laptops in. Some teachers would supply us with powerpoints, but others thought they were troublesome so we'd have to write notes the old fashioned way. I'd write in pencil because it was easier to erase than pen. We were required to use pencil when taking tests since they were on scantrons. On laboratory days I'd bring whatever materials were listed on the calendar for that particular lab. Like somedays we had to bring our IV tubing and bags to class. They kept our syringes on campus in a locked room. As for clinical days I don't think I had enough pockets. We were required to have a pen light, scissors, clamps, stethoscope, alcohol pads, tape and a mini notebook... and a black pen and a highlighter. My tote contained some small books used for clinical, change purse, snacks + money for lunch at the cafeteria if I was on a 12 hour rotation.

The worst that could happen is that you'll receive plenty of tough love. Clinical instructors will push you to your limits to try to break you out of your shell. First year of nursing school I was sent home because I wasn't assertive enough. The teacher had a long talk with me about how she wasn't sure I'd make it through nursing school being so quiet. Proved that woman wrong in the end because I graduated back in May and just passed the NCLEX a few days ago. She did that to push me in the right direction. You won't get babied in school if you're shy. My final nursing instructor claims I'm going to be eaten by nursing barracudas or get taken advantage of because I'm not tough enough... Lovely of her to think that.