NewGrad07

I am honestly not surprised. My friend and I just graduated, she took a teaching job at an elementary school. I took a job as a staff RN at a hospital. She makes ~$15k more per year than I do.

I hate this job. It is so hard to think of my job as a "career" when I get paid the same as a waitress & get treated like one too. I am disrespected on a daily basis by patients, their families, and especially the doctors. I am ordered around by doctors like I am a damn slave. Even with the most seasoned nurses, all integrity goes out the window when a doctor comes to the unit. I HATE that I have 15 minute lunches (that's usually all I have time for), yet I automatically get 1/2 hour cut out of my paycheck. I hate that my unit gets praised for it's "Top 10% in customer service" rating, yet the hospital gives bonuses to all the administrators and not the nurses who earned the honor in the first place. I hate that I am treated like a waitress by my patients. I hate hate hate that I wasted.. yes WASTED... 4 years of my life to become something that really could have taken me less than 2. I hate that I cannot sleep the night before I have to work because I dread going to work the next day. I hate smelling like poop when I go home.

Thanks for the kind words. And, congrats!! :balloons:

My best friend got the whole shebang and she was hysterical thinking she bombed it. But.. she passed. :)

I think it's normal to feel so scatter-brained since we are responsible for knowing so much material. Honestly, I felt the very same way when I was preparing. The most important thing to remember is that you know the material better than you think... you made it through nursing school! Try not to get too stressed out to the point to where it affects your performance on the exam. Study only half a day (or not at all) the day before the test. This allows your mind to rest up and prepare for the big day. I wish I had a foolproof strategy for you, but the truth is, everyone studies differently and has different strong & weak points so it would be hard to say which strategy is best! I wish you luck!!

I ended up doing so well the 2nd time around because I decided to invest in the "official" HESI NCLEX-RN review book. It's the one with the red and green cover. I had four days between the test I bombed and the retake. I went through the book and looked over procedures and things that I knew I was weak on and basically skimmed the whole book. And I prayed... a lot. Since each test is different, some of it does have a lot to do with luck. You might end up with some random questions that you just happen to know the answer to. Good Luck! BTW I really did not think HESI and NCLEX were anything alike.

We had to take HESI in order to graduate. The first time I took it, I did so bad that I won't even mention what I got. It was less than an 800 though. The second time around I got an 1100... I guess I was just more comfortable with the material on the 2nd test?

Thanks everyone for your kind words. And good luck to those getting ready to test. It's so nice to hear from people that are going through the same thing. Only nurses can understand what nurses go through!

Congrats!

I could really use some words of encouragement right now. I did a reasonable amount of studying and did well on Kaplan's Qtrainers. Well... I took NCLEX this morning & my questions were a mix of semi-easy and pretty hard questions. I know people says it's a good sign if you get mostly hard questions but I definitely had some easy ones. And I'm not quite sure what constitutes a hard question but I'm not feeling so confident. The computer shut off at 75 questions. After the test, I made the mistake of looking up about 8 or so questions just to find I got them all wrong. I also got some repeat questions that I know I got wrong. Is it a bad sign if you get a Hot Spot question? I know everyone feels like they failed after NCLEX but did anyone get shut off early and look up questions and find they got them wrong and then pass? I am so scared right now. Sorry this post keeps going on and on, I feel like a robot right now. I'm physically/mentally/emotionally drained. Thanks in advance for any words of encouragement.

I didn't, only because she seemed ok in the beginning but then she gradually began to seem like she wanted nothing to do with me. By that point practicum was almost over! Ugh.. she and all the other 20-something nurses were all so caddy and made me feel like I was worthless and inept.

I recently finished up my practicum rotation and I really feel like I got screwed with my preceptor. She herself was a new nurse and she had an absolutely horrible attitude. Nothing... and I mean nothing... I did was ever right. I always sensed her frustration when she had to explain something to me that I was unsure about. I'm wondering why someone with so little patience and so little desire to teach would ever volunteer themselves to be a preceptor. No one has ever made me feel so stupid in my life. It really scares me because I've never doubted myself before, but here I am wondering how I'm going to handle things as a "real nurse" at my new job. Has anyone else has a bad preceptor? Please share.

Thanks guys for all of your input! Jolie.. the hospital that I'm applying at has a huge NICU & so I think there will always be a lot of babies. I see where you're coming from as far as the availability of more in-depth training in Level III. I can imagine much of the NICU teaching would be more geared toward the more acute (level III) situations. I haven't really thought about that before. The reason I applied for II is because I am doing my practicum in the NI and I alternate between II and III and have found that I'm not so much into all the vents and technological stuff that go along w/ III. With level II, it tends to be more "hands on" with the patients, which I like. Thanks for your feedback, it has definitely given me a lot to think about!

I am doing my practicum in the NI... I work in both level II and III. I definitely prefer II because it is more hands on and less acute. The reason why I'm considering Mother/Baby is because I do love the teaching aspect of nursing. However, there is definitely a lot of family teaching invovled with NI as well... and I'm afraid I might get bored with MB.

Hey everyone. I'm new here and I just came across this forum for the first time this morning! I'm graduating this May and was recently offered a job in Mother/Baby as well as one in NICU (level II). I was just hoping some of you in these areas could give me some feedback on the pros and cons of each and maybe this could give me somewhat of an idea on what to expect. I told each dept. I would let them know by this week and so I need to make a decision but I'm torn! Any insight/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance!