amj12

yea u of c pays up to 36/hr but thats by not taking any kind of incentives, so no insurance, holiday, vacation or anything like that

Stop worrying about it. I think alot of the senior nurses forget they were you at one point. Take it with a grain of salt. Learn as much as you can during school and do your best. I never once worked as a assistant or anything and I had no problem in nursing school. You'll pick it up fast in school so don'tfret and goodluck!!!

What is your nurse to patient ratio? Do you have mandatory overtime? If you're continuing your education: How willing are you to work around a school schedule? How long is the orientation period?

No. Once you take the NCLEX you should never have to take it again. You have to fill out an application for IL and assuming you have met all the criteria you will be recognized in IL as a registered nurse with a valid license

Maybe the student just lacked confidence. As a new grad, I know in school even when I knew how to do something I still lacked the confidence at times b/c what student wants to screw something up?!!? They may have done it one or more times before, but in that particular setting was just a little nervous to do it on their own.

I live in Northwest Indiana and I know the Ivy Tech's up this way have a very poor reputation. Nurses who work w/their students or their graduates talk about how poorly prepared they are. So just because their NCLEX pass rate may be high doesn't mean it is a solid program preparing nurses to be nurses once the RN is behind their name.

Thanks. I know that I do know stuff. I wouldn't have graduated w/my stellar gpa otherwise , but in the relativity of nursing I still have so much to learn. Do I feel prepared? Absolutely. Am I still terrified of all the nurses out there that have been working for years and have already mastered the simple things that may take me an extra two minutes to do? You betcha. Being in the real world doing nursing now gives me the opportunity to take everything I learned (even those dreaded careplans we ALL hated doing in school) and put it to good use. It allows you to refine your assessment skills because now you are doing it on a more regular basis, gives you the opportunity to gain confidence in talking with doctors, and ultimately gives you the experience to be more comfortable in what you are doing. I feel like they say you learn so much in your first year not because nursing school is failing to properly prepare us, but because now you are doing this and you are seeing things you may not get the opportunity to see in school (i.e. procedures, diesease processes, cultures, and so on). Plus like nursemike said you get to learn from all of your colleagues b/c each one has something to offer.

I agree with the poster above. There were countless times I would prep the night before clinical to go in the next day and suprise my patient was discharged/transferred. Then I would have to do a quick once over the new pts. chart so I atleast had some idea of what was going on. Another thing, no matter how prepared we are when finishing nursing school the MAJORITY of every nurses learning comes from that first year out in the real world. Is it scary to think?!? Heck yea it is. I start my first job as an RN tomorrow and I'm terrified knowing that although my clinicals prepared me I basically know nothing b/c my learning is just beginning. There is so much to teach that it is impossible for a nursing program to teach you everything. So instead they give you the fundamentals and a hopefully solid foundation on which to build from once you have the RN behind your name.

You are definately not alone. I start my first job next week in hem/onc pediatrics and to say I'm terrified is an under statement. Just keep in mind you're clinical instructors felt you were competent enough to continue through nursing school and eventually graduate. You know how to do an assessment, which is the most fundamental part of nursing, everything else will come in due time. We can and will be successful in nursing! Good luck!!!

I'm not sure about this. I would think if you did do something like that it would put alot of undue stress on yourself as you would be studying for the NCLEX which drains you of everything as it is very hard on the nerves and studying for your tests in school as well. School is draining in itself during that last semester, adding the NCLEX studying during it would be a lot to take on. I would think if the hospital was that interested in you they would be willing to start you on a new nurse orientation once they know you have passed, no matter the date. Good luck w/whatever you decide!

I also love peds. I officially start working next week but I did my peds rotation at the childrens hospital where I was hired and I had such a phenomenal experience. It's not just that you can make a difference in a child's life, but think of how much of a difference they make in yours. I also find that I relate alot better to kids b/c they say what they mean and mean what they say. Everything is black and white for them. It's also easier for me to move children as I am a very small person (to paint a picture I could easily pass for 12 and every adult in the hospital would ask me if I was even old enough to drive..my response: Not only am I old enough to drive, but I'm old enough to drive you to the liquor store and buy you some scotch! that always got a laugh)

I actually got it in a week. The recruiter for the hospital I was hired at knew someone down there and made a call and the contact pulled and licensed me. I realize this had everything to do w/who I knew. Also, My friend received hers in 3 weeks. So I think it could vary depending on the time of the year and how much they have going on

I'm sure I'm late in responding but here are questions I asked at my interviews: 1. How long is the preceptorship? Can it be extended depending on the individual? 2. What is the nurse to patient ratio? (It is VERY important to know this) 3. How willing are you to work around school schedules? (this is important if you are getting a BSN or for grad school) 4. Is there mandatory overtime? 5. Always end the interview asking where do you go from here. when shoudl you expect to hear back? (this lets them know you are thinking ahead)

Its not going to matter whether you apply while you're an LPN or not. I HIGHLY recommend applying to take the IL boards. They are notoriously slow at endorsing licenses. The only reason mine only took a week is b/c my recruiter knew someone down there and got in contact w/them and pulled some strings. Otherwise it would have probably been a nightmare, seeing as how my app. sat for a week. I had a friend who applied and it took over a month before hers was processed. Had I known what a headache it was I would've paid an extra $200 to take the IL boards (I had already sent everything into IN when I got my job offer). Plus IL requires so much more for their application as you must get fingerprints done and if you are being endorsed you must pay a fee for them to look you up on the NURSYS database. I cannot stress enough how much easier it would be to just take the IL state boards. Good luck in nursing school :)

I agree that you need to take a break. At this point you still are upset about failing so starting to study will not help b/c you're not in a good state of mind. Take a break and when you get your confidence back start studying again.

I am Angie. I graduated in Dec. with an ASN and have 3 more semesters left for my BSN. I passed my boards in Feb. and am about to start working on a Peds hem/onc unit at a children's hospital.

I've been reading this thread for a while. I too enjoy the fact that everyone has been pretty much civil on the topic. I must say regarding degrees, an nurse with a BSN is no more qualified than a nurse with an ASN. It really has nothing to do w/the degree but more to do with the education behind the degree. I graduated with an ASN this past fall and am actively pursuing my BSN b/c I am young and had no idea when I transferred into this program that it was an associate degree program. I still spent the same amount of time in the nursing program as a traditional 4-year degree university, 2 years. I had the same clinicals. The only difference is the final clinical I didn't do a preceptorship. I think in the case of not getting to see as much, had mre to do w/the fact that I was at a satellite school of a major university in a smaller town, so our rotations were done at local community hospitals. Which anyone who works or did rotations at the smaller hospitals know you do not see as much, and that has nothing to do w/your education. I do not feel any less prepared to start my job b/c of the degree that I have, in fact I am only making a dollar difference as of right now. Critical thinking was emphasized ad nauseum in our program, so the arguement that ASN nurses don't have critical thinking skills doesn't apply in the case of grads from our program. Not to mention, that the BSN classes I am now required to complete our actually masters classes at any other program.

It doesn't matter whether you got your last question rong or not. I had 76 q's, missed my last q, and passed. It especially does not decide your test w/265 q's. With that many q's they must manually count up how many you got right and wrong and the difficulty level b/c you straddled the line so the computer could never narrow down that grey area of whether you were clearly above passing or clearly below. Good luck, my thoughts are with you!!!!

I used suanders to study and found it the most helpful. Yea the questions weren't always difficult, but the rationales had a great explanantion and it featured alot of content. I've recommended saunders to everyone who has come to me to ask what to study.

Thanks i definately will! and feel free to do the same!

I am right there with you. I also graduated in Dec. and took my boards in Feb. I start my orientation next week. The only thing keeping me sane right now is knowing for the whole first week I am in hospital orientation, but the week after that I start on the unit. Thinking about it makes me so nervous. Goodluck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone know exactly how long it takes to get endorsed in IL? I know it takes a while and I can never get through to get an exact answer so I was wondering if anyone in here knew. A classmate of mine was told two weeks from the time they get it to get out a temp. license..is that accurate?

I think shadowing a nurse is a great idea. To be honest with you when I decided to go to nursing school I had no idea what it entailed. I was originally a pharmacy major who just let organic chemistry get the best of me. My mother told me she didn't care what I majored in but I could not do business. I had a few of my sorority sisters in nursing so I decided to pick it. I left it up to fate. If I didn't get into nursing school the semester I applied I was going to choose something else. I got in, had my first clinical and the rest is history. It's very hard and a very demanding field. I would make sure you're in it for the right reasons. There are much easier ways of making money than to go into nursing. Your heart really has to be in it to survive. I'm new, but from what I've seen in clinicals you can tell those that went into it for the right reasons and those that went into it for money. There is a difference in their attitude and sad to say even sometime in their care. I would highly suggest shadowing someone. Or talking to someone who went through the schooling to get a full picture of what it is like. If you are interested in hearing what I have to say about nursing school feel free to pm me w/your email and I will be glad to share my full experience.

Working in a hospital, though great experience, really won't help pass the exam. The things you see done in a hospital aren't always text book nursing and NCLEX tests you based on text book nursing. So though it would expose you to alot more, it could at the same time hinder you b/c you could be learning how things are done in the real world, not necessarily how things are done in the text book. There are priority books you can purchase. I know one is published by Mosbys that was agreat help for me w/prioritization. It is a medical surgical prioritization and delegation book.

No you're not falling behind. I graduated in December and most of my classmates already started applying and being offered jobs long before finals and graduation. I decided to wait until after graduation to apply and I found a job within 1 month of being out of school. My only advice would be not to offer up the information about the possiblity of moving in any interview unless directly asked. If they ask you by all means do not lie to them, but do not offer any info unless asked. I took a job and have aspirations of grad school so may only be around for a year or 2. I told them I have grad school aspirations, but did not offer that my search will include schools outside of the city/state which I'm employed. I did not lie b/c I was not asked! There is nothing wrong w/waiting til after you graduate to get a job. There is nothing wrong w/taking the summer off even. Some of the people I graduated w/just decided to take the semester off and will job hunt this summer they said. Nothing wrong w/that.