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Thank you all for responding to my post, I appreciate it. I was told by a couple of nurses that are always chilling at the NS talking, gossiping, texting, waiting on 2nd shift etc. (I envy them) that I spend too much time with pts and their care. I was told that I need to cut my time in 1/2 with them. Ex. bedbath, gown, linen chng and poop clean -2 mins tops, VS and BS-1 min tops per pt, that every morning I should be able to go thru 6 charts look up everything that I need to know on each pt - 10 mins total time tops. How is that possible??? I'm starting to think that this whole nursing thing was a huge mistake for me. I have been at this going on 5 months on my own and it is NOT getting any better, (this is not happening for me yet ) don't know if it ever will...so depressing. Please understand that we have no teamwork, it is every man for himself. usually 1-2 techs for 40+ pts so not much delegating going on there and nurses dont help each other. We have to draw labs, do VS, BS, bedbaths,linen chg, feeding pts, clean poop, transport pt to/frm procedures....how can i incorporate all this with....caring for pts needs, chart checks, scanning orders, pulling/passing tons of meds(most times the meds are not in omnicells so they will be late due to searching hi & lo on the floor then notifying pharmacy and waiting on them to send up), paging docs, interventions, tons of paperwork, admissions/DC, charting assessments and notes q 2hrs, and responding to no less than 30 calls a day from pts, family members, MDs, depts, not to mention outgoings calls I have to make, and the list goes on. Is there any kind of order to this madness, it is total chaos for me. I just want to manage to feel good about my pt care, get my orders completed and get out on time!!!!! (Hoping one day I will be able to look back and do this )

Hi all, just needing some help with a couple of things. My notes, they seem to be just too inadequate, too much, too something. I really don't know what exactly to put as an opening note and we have to chart q 2 hrs. we chart by exception. It seems that I basically chart almost the same things on all 6 of my pts and that can't be right. Some say I chart too much info. I always get out late because I have to go back and chart on all my pts. I try to do as I go but that always seems to fail. It also takes me about 10 min to chart each assessment on each pt. I also have a hard time leaving unfinished orders, iv's, dressing chgs etc... that I didn't get done for the next shift to do (they get mad at me if I do leave things). My mgr says I had better start leaving on time or else!!! I just want to be able to leave with the rest of day shift. My shift if over at 7p but I don't leave till 9p or later:crying2:. How do I leave on time?? Any help and advice would be appreciated.

I am at the end of my orientation and I still can't seem to get it together. My time management is sooo horrible and I don't know how to fix it. I am a total wreck everytime I work. I am on a very busy med/surg floor with 6 pts and I am in panic mode as soon as I drive into the parking lot. I want my days to go somewhat smoothly with some kind of organization or time frames or time blocks or something to help me get thru the day. How do I get everything that I am suppose to do done on time and within 12hrs??? I don't even know how to get the mornings together!!! I am running around like a crazy person all day long. I work 7a-7p (actually I am normally there 2-3hrs after my shift is over). It is so disheartening, and I get sooo frustrated for being the only one from my shift to have to stay into the next shift. Is there any way that I can leave on time?? Please help me, I am desperate. I just want to throw in the towel. I can't seem to catch on and I sure don't feel that I should be on my own. I am just terrified, like in fight or flight mode and I can't do either one. Sometimes I feel as if I will just literally die from all the stress. Please help me, I don't want to give up, but I don't want this to kill me either! Please share with me how you get thru your day??? (break it down for me :redpinkhe)!!!

Yea kinda leery, I had been visualizing the patient just hanging on by a thread and....Oh Boy!!! I was thinking that kind of stress would be just too too much to start with. I just might reconsider after I do some checking around at different hospitals about their internships, the length of time and what it consist of etc.

Call me crazy but I am thinking of starting off in M/S and then maybe moving on to ICU. The ER may be a little to fast paced for me, it's always hopping lol, but I know it can't be anything less than exciting...that is why I have to live it thru you!!! I am closer to downtown Dallas so I will probably try big Baylor, closer drive.

Thanks girl, I will apply right now!! I am sooo excited for you Ms. RN...hmm...Yup! it still sounds pretty. lol Keep us updated on your adventures through the ER! I need to live vicariously through you !

Yang, how was the atmosphere at Baylor when you were doing clinical rotations there? I am thinking about applying there.

Cool, I will do just that, prime her and then pump her..LOL Wow that is awsome about your test. I'm hoping I will get one just like it because pedi and ob are my Achilles heel. Hated everything about it and just couldn't my head wrapped around it. I"m thinking that I will need to take a month or so before I take the NCLEX to brush up on that stuff again....with my luck I will probably get 20 questions on that crap..lol.

So Yang did you have a lot of SATA questions and meds on your test? Were the questions totally different from what we have on our exams?

Yes Yang, I must admit that the RN behind your name is quite pretty indeed ...you are soooo funny!!!! Oh thank goodness that I picked the lesser of the 2. If the lady knows exactly what she wants for the careplan, I hope that she will be willing and able to convey that information to us in an understandable manner. I have had those that know what they want in their own heads, but could not put it into words well enough for the class to get a clear understanding!

:clphnds:Contratulations Yang, I didn't have ANY doubts about you passing...did you? The psych major careplan is from a movie? Huh?? OMG, I thought you said this semester was the easiest and the best!!! You promised and everything Well psych is 1st, maybe it can only get better from there... Hope I don't end up being a psych patient!! It was the lesser of 2 evils, either psych with Grey or M/S with Chatman. I didn't know which was worse so I closed my eyes and pointed.

Thanks Yang. They always make it seem like you need the box and if you don't get it then you will not have what you need. Gahh, I am such a sucker!!! Did I tell you that my psych clinical is with Grey at Green Oaks, oh what fun. I just want to scream and do this . I just have a feeling those 6 days are going to be hell! Hope I can bear with her...and probably a $%^* load of paperwork to do

The 4th semester packet, not book box, which consisted of The Nursing Today Transition and Trends textbook plus the Nursing Today code, a user Guide for evolve, duh, and evolve online case studies, the same ones we had in 2nd semester which I already had and never used, and the DVD testing module for NCLEX. The book and 3 codes= $100.95, and the DVD= $282.65 for a total of $415.25 :flmngmd:!!!! Not to mention tuition was over $500 and not to mention that the HESI review is $145!!! I am just at the end of my rope, all that is left for me to do is jump! I guess they are making sure to make for-sure, for-sure that we are completely sucked bone dry by the end of the semester. Did you know that the 1st semester book box is now around $800!!! What a rip...the whole dang program is a rip !!!

Did you guys have to buy a dvd for $289 from the bookstore for an NCLEX review? If it is not required, I am soo tempted to return it!

Does anybody have any advice or have any idea of the types of questions that are asked during a phone screen/interview? I have a phone interview with a local hospital but have no idea what to expect, never had one of these before. Kinda nervous and don't want to blow it! I want to get that 2nd interview !!!

Jaxia, you will do great...no worries!!! Remember...you made it thru ECC/NL program and what could be worse than that???

Congratulations Yang, I knew that you would do a most excellent job !!! I'm sooo dawg-gone proud of you!

I wish you the best on NCLEX, it will be easy for YOU...you are sooo smart :wink2:

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all the responses. I'm sure that I will make the right decision and if not there is always a plan B. I am feeling much, much better after sleeping on it, and after reading your replies! If anyone else asks me what dept I want to go into, my reply will be...I'll know when I get there

I am feeling so out of it right now. I am in my last semester of ns and I still don't know where I should be trying to apply for an internship. One of my classmates asked me what dept did I want to work in after graduating and I said, maybe Med/Surg. She said, "I hope you are not SERIOUS or just STUPID! no one in their right mind would pick med/surg on purpose. You will be treated like crap". She goes on to say, "I'm going into the ER or ICU. You know the old saying, those that can do, those that can't do med/surg". What is so wrong with med/surg??? What's wrong with me?? Should I really be considering one of the other depts? Can anyone share how/when you decided and what dept you are in. Did you make the "right" choice and loving it, or do you have regrets and wish that you had gone in another direction.

Thanks everyone for the replies. SuesquatchRN I think that this may have been what she was trying to say, but in an around about and up the creek sort of way. I may be reading and trying to focus on too many small details, like all of the different kinds of cancer and things about each one. It was just starting to overwhelm me and I couldn't remember one from another! I failed to mention that she did say something like step back and look for the big picture in what you read. At that point I just figured the big picture must have been some place laughing and playing with the "concept"!!!:uhoh21: I wished that I had asked you-guys sooner about this, now I feel like I need to repeat the semester and read the book again, but the right way...:smackingf

Can someone, anyone help me to understand just what exactly my instructor is talking about. She says that when we are reading 15+ chapters a week for our lecture exams, to read, skim, go over tables and charts and make sure to "Grasp the Concepts"???? of what ever subject we are on, that is what is important. Say for example we are covering Cancer, or GI, or what ever, what the heck are the concepts that I am suppose to be grasping?? NO clue as to what this means and she can't explain what she is talking about either. Just said to read about it and get what I could from it...I really what to learn what I need to know about each subject, it is impossible to learn everything about it, but I what to know what I need to know in order to be able to take care of patients. Please help!!

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone has any 4th semester information that they would like to share or sell . I have no idea what to expect from 4th. There seems to be a whole lot more to do than there was 3rd. Any help would be greatly appreciated. You-guys are soooo lucky to be out of the circus (ECC)!!

Can anybody in 4th sem tell me what it's like? And what is the difference between a preceptor clinical and the clinicals we normally have. I am soooo nervous about 4th. Is it true that we will not get to enjoy our full Christmas break, and have to go to a psych hospital? uggh that would be so not cool :angryfire!!!!

Did anybody get an extern position during the summer before 3rd sem or during 3rd semester? What department do you feel is the best to start in to actually get a few skills and would not be too overwhelming?