glow_worm

I have lived in Raleigh for more than 10 years, went to nursing school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and worked at Duke Medical for more than 5 years as a technician. I did only one rotation there during nursing school, the peds clinic -- it's really nice. My biased opinion (since I'm only one person with my own experiences): What the previous message states is true. The nurses tried to unionize a few years ago, but it was supposedly voted down by "clinic" nurses (not regular "hospital" nursing staff, so the rumor goes) -- the clinic nurses are supposedly happier, since they have day hours & easier working environments, and most of the hospital workers are supposedly miserable. There are a lot of travel nurses. Duke is notoriously a low-paying, stressful, poorly staffed, and racially charged place to work. The doctors are the most arrogant and rude you will find anywhere. When I was a technician and considered going to nursing school, I interviewed several nurses about their jobs & inquired to their happiness levels -- I could not find a single happy nurse. They all seemed to hate working there. The only happy staffers were the physical therapists. But this was more than 5 years ago. However, several of my classmates from nursing school loved their rotations at Duke & have accepted jobs there. That speaks well for the place, since graduates have many opportunities here (UNC hospital, Wake Med, Western Wake, Rex Hospital). The main draws: 1) the name, 2) the atmosphere -- it's an attractive hospital, and well-funded, 3) the technology -- it's advanced & supposedly nurses can do alot in the ICUs, and 4) continuing education -- they have a nursing graduate school, and UNC is right down the street (graduate school rated #5 in the country). Living in Durham -- no one wants to do it! It is the slums of RTP. The ER at Duke has at least one gunshot wound per night, but usually several. Durham has very little culture (though what culture they do have *and it's underground, really just one or two streets* is ultra-hippy liberal; the rest of it is run-down ghetto), since people are scared to live here. Most people in this area live in Chapel Hill (a notoriously liberal, pleasant college town), Raleigh (beginning to have a lot of nightlife; small town feel, though lots of cultural offerings), or surrounding areas. Chapel Hill is a much nicer town to work/live in -- I had a really good experience there, and most people are fairly happy. Much smaller than Boston, though! Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. Hopefully a nurse from Duke will send you some input.... :roll

And just can't believe it. This is awesome. I called the nursing board to check for a license number -- it announced my RN status after entering a social security number. I had to listen to it a few times just to make sure it was real! To all of you who are scared to death of this NCLEX..... I thought I had failed that test big time. I did not leave feeling confident. The test is structured so that everyone who leaves that darned thing feels like a failure. There is absolutely no way to determine how you did. You just have to wait for the results. I know for a fact that I missed several of the questions. I rarely felt like I absolutely had the "correct" answer for a problem. That test was horrible. So don't despair or over-analyze any of it, like I did -- it caused so much grief! Just let it go, stay calm, breathe deeply....

xantha31669 AND kimmicoobug... let me know how you do!! I've been checking the board of nursing site for my new licensure number (*please show up, please show up, please, please god!*)... let's all come back to this board and announce the results... good luck to you both! my fingers are crossed for us all.

Everyone on this bulletin board is awesome! Thank you so much for the support. I realize that most people leave the test thinking that they failed, but it is still AGONY. Yesterday (after the test) I wasted so much time going over some of the questions in my head, trying to find the right answers in my books -- how silly, for the test is now over and the results are fixed! Now I have FOUR WEEKS to wait for results -- even though the computer knows right away if I've passed or failed, the NC Board of Nursing has to mail the results to our homes (we're prohibited from viewing the results on-line). I feel so much pressure because my mom is a nurse, and I want her to be proud of me. Additionally, I need a job and want to start my career! And, I don't ever want to go through this NCLEX thing again. The test seems so unfair and out in left field, and I don't really understand how 75 questions can really gauge my capability or "safety" as a nurse! In fact, I wish that it had been a much longer, in-depth test! OK, I'll stop griping now. Thanks for letting me unleash this tirade. Good luck to all the other grads who took this stupid exam -- we're in this together! We'll all make it, either sooner or later...

What the heck is an "easy" question on the NCLEX? According to the NCLEX writers, if you pass 50% of only the "easy" questions, you fail after 75 questions. If you pass 50% of the "harder" questions, you pass. If you are close to the passing score, the computer keeps asking questions until it clearly knows if you can only answer easy or difficult questions. I just took the NCLEX. To me, it was a very difficult test. I have never seen these questions before, and I own 3 prep books for the NCLEX. Some of the questions were impossibly difficult (ex. name a single side effect for one of the injectible antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia -- it was a drug I've never heard before, in classes, clinicals, or working on a psych unit). But then I would get easier questions (basic A, B, C's). I also got 5 or 6 questions of the new type, ie. fill-in-the-blanks, and "select all of the above correct answers" (with no partial credit given). To me, this was a hard test. But maybe I'm just stupid? The computer shut off after 75 questions -- either I answered hard questions correctly (by guessing!), or I failed miserably & found the "easy" questions to be difficult. Can you tell I'm worried/stressed?? I wish I knew how NCLEX defines "easy"....

The viral load was probably incredibly tiny, making it statistically improbable that you contracted the virus. Additionally, it's doubtful that virus *if it was even present* had access to your bloodstream by touching your fingertip. That anxiety of yours is more likely to kill you than a chance encounter with an HIV infected customer's zit. Don't worry so much. Take a test to ease your fears, and then let it go.

That's ridiculous! I've never seen a report longer than 40 minutes, but even that was a rare occassion. Has your change of shift become a gossip fest?? What's the deal? Jeez, I would address that at the next meeting (or request one with the manager), or discuss a more efficient way to do this. It's a waste of time, a waste of resources, and it pulls nurses away from direct patient care.

I just read one of my own posts & cringed when I discovered all of the misspelled words. Luckily we have an "edit" button. Yes, we're not in school. And yes, a post is not an essay. But the sloppy spelling does matter, for this is a public domain. We represent nursing to the consumers & potential nurses perusing this board, and to one another. Poor spelling makes the writer look like an idiot (ditto with charting). Each time this issue is brought up, the messenger is beaten to a pulp. Please forgive me for pointing this out, but it does matter.

The hospital in my area is offering 15K for a 2 yr commitment + $17.50/hr + shift/weekend differentials (up to $10 extra for weekends). Also, NC pays off nursing school loans in their entirety if one agrees to work in this state for every year of aid taken out. It's a great deal. But regardless, I'm moving to Seattle simply b/c I would love to live there....