Ami_J

Sounds like you work on my floor! Except I am in Minnesota... we are a peds floor with a bunch of adult over flow in the summer. Usually Hyst's or appys, stuff like that. We sometimes have an NA if we have more than 6 pt's on the floor AND another floor doesnt' need them first - but most of the time we are on our own. But we only take 4 pt's per nurse... which I think is best... at least for the day and evening shifts... on nights they can take 5 each I think. Hopefully the staff on your floor works well together like we do - we help eachother out without being asked so pretty much every pt on your floor is your pt... because you are willing to help anyone that needs it... but you only do assessments and notes on your own pt's.... this attitude helps TONS when you have too heavy of a pt load. I've also found that charting everything as it happens helps a ton, and also having a checklist of things you can cross off as they are done so you don't waste any time double checking that you charted it. For example on our computer charting we have section 1, 2, 3, 4, VS and i&O's so I check them off as I complete the section. And never be afraid to ask for help!

Wow that is a good idea! I am for sure going to bring that up. I think that would maybe work for our unit... at least a little, because there are some people that don't mind floating. We take turns the same way... we write down the date of the last time we floated and then it's the next persons turn... now they changed it to float based on hours floated... so if you have 12 hours and everyone else has 20... then you are the next floated! But the problem is when a person doesn't work much, they might be floated 2-3 times in a row.

I was wondering what everyone's floating policy was, and how you like it? Does it work well? I am on a board to work out the problems in our policy, particularly our floor being dumped on. I work on a 16 bed pediatrics unit, our policy says we are a part of a "cluster" the cluster is Peds, L&D, Postpartum, nursery and special care... for Pediatrics we only float to postpartum. One of the main problems is that we float to them, but they don't float to us if we need extra help. It's a one way cluster. Another problem is that L&D and postpartum take priority over our own units needs. If they are short staffed they will pull us and we will have to turn children away on our own unit. We float so often that we can pretty much count on being floated each weekend we work, and in the summer when our numbers are down we might float 2-3 times/ week. What do your hospitals do that might work better for us? Any limits on the amount of hours you are required to float? Anyone get paid more for floating? Anyone have any ideas that I could bring up at our meeting? Also, if you feel you have a policy that would work well, please share it with me... PM a copy if you can. Thanks!

I work in a non-union hospital, and it is VERY common on my floor to be put on call 2-3 times per pay period. They have started floating us to help us keep our hours (but personally I would rather stay home than float so often) Are you able to float to other units? It's stressful, I think, but helps with the paychecks

I had health insurance through my schools health services, check online there are companys that provide cheap insurance for students... I think I paid around $250 per semester for mine.

My summer internship made a huge difference according to my boss... also many internship programs offer you a job after graduation!

We use a system called voice care. It is a taped report by phone. We enter the phon number, and our user name and password, and then either listen to report on just the room number you enter or record report on those rooms. It cuts down on having to listen to everyone elses report, and you can do it on any phone. And there are no worrys of other people on the floor listening in on other patient, because if it isn't their unit, they don't have access to the report. It also saves the shift reports for 24 hours, so if you want you can listen to past shift reports. It takes about 10-15 minutes to listen!

I didn't do even close to 100/day... on a good day I maybe did 80, but usually I did 25. It's better to do a few and get them RIGHT, or if you get it wrong truely understand what you did wrong. Passing the NCLEX is more about how you reason things out... take time to figure out what the question is asking, and becausethere is usually more than one right answer, figuring out why one is more right than the others... if you can do this, what it the point of doing hundreds of questions?

Flash cards work well. I also bought the book "Pharmacology made incredibly easy"... and found it to be very helpful

Yes, I lived off my student loans. I worked part time for awhile, but clinicals made it hard to get hours. With the costs of school plus what I took out for living I now owe $60,000 which I will begin paying next month! Yikes!

I took the test and passed with 108 questions, my friend had all, what 265? Both of us thought we failed... but we passed! Almost everyone thinks they failed because the questions get harder with each one you get right... so they are ALL hard!

That is a cool test :) I took it and many of the top answers are things I am interested in... I work in pediatrics now, and that was 6th on my list, and number 1 was psych and I am VERY interested in doing that later in my career!

My friend got 3 dwi's while in nursing school (dumb her) but it didn't have any impact on career. She did have to write a statement on her application for her license but that is it... but maybe it depends on where you live.

Pediatircs Floor day shift 3-4 pts, no techs Minnesota

I get the same way, when it looks like something that is painful for the pt. Blood and wounds don't bother me at all but if it looks painful I get all tight in my shoulders and neck and if I don't notice my tension I get lightheaded. I have found it helpful to check myself when watching things, making sure my knees are slightly bent, that I relax my shoulders, and take slow even breaths... I know myself well enough to know if I start getting hot, then I better leave the room! :stone What is weird is that I never get this way when I do the procedure, only when I watch someone else do it. So weird... I am glad I am not the only one. I find it happens way more often when I have my period... is anyone else more sensitive during that time of the month??

Spend more time on NCLEX style questions and critical thinking skills. When I took my test I felt like it wouldn't have helped at all to even have all my books in front of me, because it doesn't test on that kind of material. It tests on how you work through problems, like which patient do you see first and what diet it best for a certain kind of patient. So you need to know the basics but it isn't what you are really tested on. So if you know you are really lacking in mental health or something, then study your notes, but focus on the basics. For me I had a question on a disease I had never heard of before on the test... but I was still able to reason things out, and I am pretty sure I got it right. My study guide suggested Maslows to figure out priority and it HELPS! Good luck with your test!

Check out nursing homes, they are usually looking for help. And if you aren't already a CNA the test is easy because you have already learned everything in school. Check out the ads in the paper and see if anyone needing home care, many times they just need help with tasks around their house like bathing and transfers that can easily be done by a student nurse. For me, I knew I wanted to work in pediatrics, so I worked in a daycare for 4 years (which helps me better understand my patients) so look for things that might not be "health care" but still might give you skills that you need.

A gift I received was a little kit with a pen, scissors and pen light and it has really come in handy. Or you could make your own kit with things like tape, scissors, pen light, calculator (things that nurses keep in their pockets all the time) Another nice idea would be a gift card to a scrub store. I also received a few angle nurse figurines that I really like. And the gift I liked the MOST and I would recommend to all new grads is a book called "Your First Year as a Nurse" by Donna Wilk Cardillo.

After my first semester I worked as a CNA in a nursing home. I hated every moment of it BUT I learned a TON!!!! Personally I don't like working with the elderly and it wasn't "my thing" but I would really look into it. It really fine tunes all the skills you learned this semester things like lifting, bathing, oral care things like that you learn in the first semester. You could also look into being a CNA at a hospital. I would think it is too late to get an internship at most hospitals most have you apply before December and want you to be at least 2 semesters away from Graduation... but FOR SURE apply for those next summer!!!! You won't get a better experience than that! Plus, many internships offer you a job after you graduate! And even if you don't want to work there, it gives you an edge when looking for jobs. I know that I got my job partly because of my internship experience. Good Luck! :)

yeah it seems that in the last month you have wanted to be Anesthetist, and OB/GYN nurse, and now a teacher all within 20 days! Not only that but you state you have a low GPA, no one likes you, and you are hard of hearing. It seems you use the postings to boost your self-esteem or something. Maybe a thread called "I need a boost, can you offer words of encouragment?" might work better

I graduated in December and I didn't get interviews until AFTER I updated my online applications or called the hospitals with my license number. After you pass the nclex expect the interviews to come pouring in. I had 2 interview a week after my test and then two offers a week after that! Also, if you are really interested in a job, don't wait for them to call you... call them and say something like "I applied for this position a week ago, and I was wondering if you had taken a look at my application. I am really interested in the job and was hoping for an interview" I did this and had an interview by the end of the phone call!

I had an interview at Mayo, but wasn't offered a job. I applied for quite a few positions, because they make it easy by just filling out an online application and then whenever a job comes up that you are interested in you just select appy for postions. Anyway, I had an interview for a position I didn't apply for and wasn't really interested in. The interview is really long and is broken down into 3 parts. Part one you meet with someone who tells you all about pay and benifits. Part two you have your first interview and part 3 you have a second interview with the floor manager. The questions are a bit harder than what I had at other hospitals, they almost always are more than one part... for example a typical questions would be "tell me of a time you had to work on a project, what were the goals and how did it turn out" things like that. What I thought was great :) was that they PAID me to go to the interview! I had a 3 hour drive and they pay for the drive, they will also pay for your meals and a hotel if you want to stay the night! Very cool.

I had only one on my test (out of 108 questions) and of all the new type of questions I had I think 4

I am also a December grad, and I began my job last month. I don't think they talked about how overwhelming this was all going to be. I say if you don't feel ready for the floor you have started on ask to transfer! I don't think they will mind at all. Talk to your manager ask if there are other openings in the hospital, and maybe suggest that after you are more comfortable with your nursing skills you can re-join the unit in a year or so. Personally I would rather admit that I'm not ready for the unit than make a major mistake.

My anatomy and physiology were not the same class... but I would say both classes were harder than micro. Either way get your note cards out and make flash cards because it is a TON of memorizing. The books that I really liked were the Made Incredibly Easy books... so check those out, they really put things in simple terms!