Armygirl7

Hey- I see this is kind of old - but just because your facility "prefers" candidates from a certain specialty doesn't mean they will reject you. Get a year or two of some kind of nursing experience that matters to you and then ask if it's just a...

Feeling overwhelmed in Nursing School is par for the course. Remember, Radonda's case is getting a lot of attention because it is an outlier in a lot ways, both her unsafe choices and the severity of the outcome, and the severity of the charges....

Completely freaking slammed. ER Nurse (and also surge Rapid Response Team Nurse)here in Queens, NY reporting first hand that this has been an overwhelming and horrible tide of suffering and death in our hospitals. Our hospital had to expand into e...

Ditto Sheehy's! I used (and still use) Sheehy's Manual of Emergency Care and Sheehy's Emergency Nursing: Principles and Practice. Two big helpful books!

Wow I have never heard of such a thing! I've only met our new managers and assistant managers when they are interviewing with the director or current manager and getting a tour; and then voila they are the manager. Unless I've just never been invite...

I used the BCEN prep/practice book; I gave myself about 8 or 9 weeks to study. I committed to doing questions (goal of 10-20) every day, some days after getting home from the ER it was like 1 or 2 questions LOL!! But I did consistently do questions a...

Absolutely normal to feel that way! I remember my first semester of nursing school I was like, "What? This is nursing? I don't get it!" I agree with Neo Soldier - you really learn how to "be a nurse" after you pass the NCLEX and get a job and prac...

I've been in the ER going on 7 years. I started in a new grad program, it was awesome, and very challenging, to go from student to ER nurse! One thing I had to realize quickly was that I was no longer a student! Even though we spent a great deal of ...

"...then walk out an put in an order for a throat swab. BTW, the swabs have always been right next to the tongue depressors." OMG this kind of stuff drives me bonkers in Fast Track - because we have SO many patients to see quickly and so few nurses. ...

silkysteph, Don't get to hung up on having all the exact "right answers." If you are a brand new ER nurse you're not expected to know how to be an ER nurse! But what managers and educators want to see is capacity for thinking on your feet, for priori...

Yeah this! An ice breaker I have used many times with MDs where I feel like there is an unexplained tension or hostility or with grumpy pts too where things are going poorly - I just say "Hey, Dr. Zhivago, I sometimes wonder if you and I got off on ...

I am an ants in my pants kind of student, a leg-shaker...it is very hard for me to keep still in class. I did a lot of drawing during lectures, I had a fun set of colorful ink pens, and I would change the color every 15 minutes or so...my notes were...

Hey Cat365! Welcome to the joys of ER nursing! I also started in the ER as a new grad and I gave some cringe-worthy reports at first for sure. All the advice the previous posters gave you is right on. The floor nurse can look up a Potassium level, o...

SIRVA!! Shoulder injury related to vaccine administration. IM injection given too high and with too great depth, the vaccine goes into the subacromial or subdeltoid bursa. It can cause significant injury. Treated a pt with this problem last year. ...

God Bless You! LOL! I went to nursing school with a nurse who ironed her uniform, I felt like super-schlub next to her! She could also achieve 100% perfect hospital corners on her bed sheets...also not my forte, but I admire it!

Hiya Fiveeighteen, You sound kinda burnt out as opposed to not cut-out for ER! Holding pts in the ER is such a drain, it is a completely different rhythm to be managing an admitted pt at the same time as multiple acute patients - it hurts your brain!...

So sad - what a tragedy for your community. Hats off to those school nurses. I am an ER nurse and I could not handle working as a school nurse - I think it is a tough job and you are all alone - even though I deal with death and acute situations ever...

Hi newnurse866! Good luck on your interview....so stressful! I had a pretty intense interview for my first ER job too. I had to walk the HR interviewer (who was an RN) through a head to toe assessment, she asked me a lot of questions about drugs (ca...

THIS! Nothing, zero, nada about your student or professional doings on FB. Also since every person is different (like if I was a pt, I personally would be paranoid and uncomfortable if I found out you knew my family!!) so as a student or a professi...

How awful and stressful. Maybe you can champion a training or debrief - there is so much to learn from your story. If you take up the cause and hold a huddle/training or provide bullet points for your manager to hold huddles on these issues that i...

I also work in busy NYC ER- we are "supposed" to never have more than 7 pts, but my worst night was 11. And in Fast Track we typically can have 25-30 pts split between 2 nurses. I have no praise or patience for nurses who are mean or humiliate new ...

Ugh - you have a full plate, and if you've already applied for 50 jobs that's pretty discouraging, sorry to hear that. I did my online RN-BSN at City University of New York -School of Professional Studies. It was a tough program but very cheap! It ...

I took 2 months to study for the CEN and used the ENA book also. I passed and here's what I did - maybe my style will work for you too. When I reviewed each practice exam I did I made myself study from Sheehy's Emergency Manual the stuff I got wrong,...

For what it's worth try just changing your perspective a wee bit. OK so you can't go to school full time right now but maybe just take one class online towards your BSN or in some other subject or field that you might have a dream of pursuing. Some...

I agree! When I worked nights I was strict - straight home, no eating, decon shower, and straight into bed: dark-curtained, cool bedroom, eye-mask, and rainymood.com on my smartphone! Life balance is difficult - I did miss out on some daytime stuff...