Andrew1403

Congrats on your new job! With all that said in mind, just be prepared that a Hospital Care setting has significant challenges that can ultimately lead to more stress and dire situations than a SNF job detail, and nurse bullies/preceptors. It is often good to hone your assessment skills, time management, and knowledge base in a LTC or TCU, before jumping into a hospital setting. Unless you are a know it all Type A person, or someone who is good at jumping in head first. It would be great if you could please post what challenges you faced in SNF in which caused you to feel like you were drowning? I only ask because then advise can be given, although you will be in a new care environment/ hospital setting, some things do not change from setting to setting, certain aspects will always be there, such as the need to provide safe, efficient, and compassionate patient care, all the while by utilizing good time management, prioritizing which patient has most acute needs that should be tended to first and completing tasks/skills sometimes while under a good deal of stress w/out making drastic mistakes. Hospital patients tend to be heavier in care and more complex nursing skills need to be carefully applied, such as checking an IV by first starting at the insertion site for possible phlebitis, infiltration, following the tubing making sure there are no kinks and air bubbles all the way up into the infusion pump, then checking the flow rate, ect ect (sry not the best example but) Administering a blood transfusion, in which two nurses must thoroughly complete a step by step safety check of the blood before it is set to the correct flow rate to be transfused into the patient, if one aspect is missed or overlooked, things could be drastic! Night shift does tend to be a slower more relaxed shift, but still possess its many challenges, and there maybe less staff to go to for support. My post is not meant to scare you, but to help you prepare for a more critical care setting. I would still like to help give advice if you could post what your struggles were at the SNF? Some advice could be beneficial to you as every nursing job is a juggling act of time management, prioritizing patients level of acuity/needs, completing complex nursing skills, and all of your cares/duties competently, and ending the shift by providing a detailed shift report to the next oncoming nurse.

Don't be nervous to apply at your age. I am 29 as well and have been an Rn for over a year, which took me two years before that to finish school and now I am working full time and got accepted into a Rn-bsn program. From what I saw in nursing school is a age range from mid 20's-late 30's, a few early 40's, with one or two mid 50's that were the outliers on age spectrum. Everyone was real friendly and worked, learned, and helped each other regardless of age. One male in our class was 54 and we called him the grey wolf and he was an awesome friendly guy. You should have no problem at your your age in nursing school. You will be right in the middle of the age spectrum and really who cares! This is from a two year rn college program point of view. It maybe slightly younger in age at 4yr bsn school because there maybe alot of first time college studdnts there. Good luck! Getting in the program is tough! Successfully navigating the program by graduating is even harder. Take thinks slow and plan time management , and don't procrastinate, study smart, put other life things on hold. Nursing school is a FULL TIME commitment/job in itself.

Hi cmr2012, you may have to do what alot of Rns do, actually do what I consider the unwritten rule of the road for getting nursing job. Many nurses right out of school think they will get the job they want right away, in most cases they are wrong, very few new nurse grads get hired into there preferred job area or even a hospital at that. I consider the unwritten rule of the nursing road is climbing the job ladder. Alot of nurses have to start out in LTC (for 1 yr) then transfer to a TCU or even a clinic (for 1 yr) and then apply for a hospital job. Only a few new grad nurses get hired into hospital right away right out of nursing school just because they were previously working in the same hospital as a CNA (because hospitals hire internally before looking at external applicants)or were lucky and applied to hospital were they did there preceptorship& clinicals. My advice would be to apply to a LTC or TCU and gain some experience for 1 year and then reapply to a hospital. Good luck with your job search!

I think it would be wise to first see what you are getting yourself into...take a CNA/NAR course and get a job as a nursing assistant... this will open your eyes to the nursing field....it will show you the basics of nursing....i dont think it would be wise to just pick this career because you believe the job stability is good...there is alot more in being a nurse than thinking about job stability....it is hard, emotionally draining, stressful work, but rewarding at the end of the day knowing you helped someone become healthier also...their is a freeze in medical hiring right now too... EDIT: Prerequisite for many nursing programs is CNA/NAR liscensure and current experience/ work in the field...

it has actually been researched and found that the TEARS when you cry contain a certain amount of the hormone CORTISOL ...which is related to stress and is often called the "stress hormone" produced by the adrenal cortex...anyway it can be harmful to your well being in the long run...too always hold back your tears if you feel like crying...i am not a wuss or anything and also rarely cry ever...but the rare times that i do cry i do feel really good afterwards...like a monkey has been taken off my back....anyway just wanted to share that with you guys...i happened to stumble onto allnurses website ...and man these forums are awesome...i already found alot of information to questions i had by searching the different topics...anyways just wanted to throw my 2 cents out there...

just wondering what kind of lifting where you doing? like lifting patient up in bed? lifting a patient up out of a wheel chair to a bed? and if you were using a Transfer belt? transfer belts make it easier and having a shoulder width base for how far apart your feet are helps..you want to bend ur knees and use your leg muscles more...lifing patients and not hurting your self at the same time is all about having good body mechanics....another way to counter this is to do some lifting on your own time....at a gym...forcus on back excerces to make your back stronger.....anway i am apsiring to be a Rn...and can only assume they do their fair share of lifting patients...hope some of this was helpful info to you