Nurse2bSandy

I had several of my classmates get jobs at the Stanford Children's Medical Center (not sure of the actual name... it is a woman's name) in the NICU. They were offered good preceptorships, along with a relocation allowance. I also have a classmate that will be starting a program in Berkeley next month... not sure where. I think that there is also some good opportunities in the Concord area... I had a friend who checked into their new grad program... you can google for a local hospital there.

I have been working at a temp agency until my job starts next month. Many don't take new grads but I found one that did. They will let me work at a convalescent or prison as a meds nurse (I volunteer already at the women's prison, so that was a good fit for me). I am scheduled to work a flu shot clinic next weekend. Once I got in with some hospitals they saw how I worked and told me to apply for positions. I already had one though, was just waiting for it to start. Good luck!

Hey, congrats! What I found was that many times hospitals are hiring a ways out anyway for new grads. My two interviews were for jobs that would start in 6 weeks... may be different for you but I don't think waiting two months will be a problem. About the health status... again, I don't think you need to worry about it. They will probably ask you if you are limited in what you can do and will require a physical or health status form before you start the job like they do all new employees. I was hired recently and then they scheduled me for a physical by their health center. Am not sure yet what that will entail, but I was just glad that I didn't have to make the appointment and pay. Good luck! Sandy

Lynda! How fun to see you here! When's that hubby home? yeah, if I get a bunch of people quizzing me I'll just say "Uh, I don't know..." It was bad enough that this unit sent me a 5 page questionnaire with stuff about why I want to work in the Special Care Newborn Nursery (does, it's the only one who has wanted to talk to me so far, count?) critical thinking skills and how I have used them during clinicals, Interdisciplinary Care Team and how I have related to team members during clinicals! Hello... I was a student... I stood there and listened! Luckily, my real skill is writing... Well, gotta hit the books! I'm starting to feel very DUMB... gotta get my confidence up... I CAN DO THIS!!! Chat at ya later... Sandy

I feel so much more prepared to go to the meeting... not only at this hospital, but any hospital that I go to. I was planning on taking a notepad... if for no other reason than to look like I knew what I was doing... Monday NCLEX.... eeewww! Thanks all! Sandy

These really help! I have to take a meds test before they will interview me... and I was emailed a study guide... it was about 9 pages! Your questions are just what I wanted. I'm so glad that I didn't ask about pay... I was wondering if that's what she wanted me to ask. Good luck to you... do you have a job? Any interviews? Thanks again! Sandy :)

Hi all, I'm beginning to get some calls on my new grad apps and am trying to put my stuff together. I was talking to a unit manager the other day on the phone and she was telling about their new grad program. After she was done she asked, "Do you have any questions for me?" I have to admit that I was so excited that someone had called for me that I went blank. I just fumbled and said that I would like to visit the unit then I would have more specific questions. The problem is... I don't know what I should ask... this was not an interview... just a set up on the way to the interview. So what sort of things should I ask that would make me sound like I am informed and know what I am doing. I am actually very inexperienced when it comes to getting a job. My last full time job came to me when I got married... it was called housewife! Thanks! Sandy :)

Hubby went for it! He said he thought it was an honor and if I could finagle it, I should go! I'm working on funding and he's faxing the application! Anyone else going to go? I'm so excited!!! :balloons:

Okay, I got my second letter yesterday... I had put it out of my mind... but now I am really thinking about it. I want to go into community health and I have always had a transcultural emphasis. Also, last year I was able to go on a trip to Mololkai to Kalaupapa, the area which was where the Hansen's disease patients were exiled. While I was there I had this overwhelming feeling like I would do something with HIV/AIDS. I'm going to bring it up again to my hubby and see what he thinks. I gave up Starbuck's for new year... that should save me about $20 a week! I could start my fund there! :rotfl:

I work as a substance abuse counselor for the chaplains program of our women's facility. I just love those gals! It is as others have said, those people are just like we are... they just made different choices for their lives... illegal choices. I have heard from them that many times the medical staff seems uncaring... and I would like to make a difference with them. I am hoping to work as a temp there so that I get some corrections experience. Enjoy it! Oh yes, you will be taught about safety... but we got that with psych too. I took my 17 year old daughter with me this Christmas to play her flute for my gals. They just loved it! She was very apprehensive, but I wanted to show her how she could use her musical talent to minister to others. When we left she was a different person... she decided that next time she would thrill them with a quartet! The gals are always so appreciative of any attention from the outside world... they are very isolated. Have fun! I wish I could go with you!

and would love to go. My hubby just laughed because it said 'to the parents of'... I'm 48. I hope to be working in the public health field and it seemed like a great opportunity to learn. I didn't think the money was so bad considering what you will be doing... but I doubt I will go. I will graduate in May and it seemed like a perfect gift! I wouldn't worry about being 'old'... none who have responded here so far are under 30... how do they know who will go... they sent all the invites to 'parents'.

Hey New Grads! (or less recent grads too!) What did you do for your pinning ceremony? Where was it held? What day and time? Who was involved? What worked well/ you would change? I am in charge of the pinning ceremony committee for our graduating class in May. We are attempting to make some changes to the ceremony... it is usually the Sunday morning before graduation, held outside on our campus. Last May there was a torrential rain storm and mud was everywhere. The tent where the graduates and their pinners sat was full of mud, people took their shoes off and waded in the mud to get to the platform! It was horrible and humiliating to think that after all the money spent, family members could not enjoy the ceremony... not to mention the graduates! Our campus is beautiful... but we do not have an auditorium. We have taken our complaints/suggestions to the deans, and they are not thrilled, but we are pushing to make it a very nice, clean time! I would appreciate any ideas... thanks! Sandy

I'm excited about psych! It's where I think I will probably choose to practice. I do my rotation this summer. I do have some experience, though. Our youngest has psych issues... when you see them as people, it's not so bad. I'm entertained! Last year we had to leave our son at a 'behavioral health' center (read: psych ward)... he was just 8 and it was very hard. But I did get to see what it was like. I'm fascinated... of course, I also volunteer at the prison, so maybe it's me that's crazy! :rotfl: Hey, there's too many normal people out there!

I did a quick google search and came up with a few sites... http://www.mexicanmedical.com http://www.healthenations.com http://www.healthserve.org there are many more out there. I also want to do some volunteer work once I have my RN and have been researching this myself. Many of these look like good opportunities. I hope others out there actually have some experience to share.

1. Hawaii Pacific University-- Kanoehe HI 2. BSN-- I'm in the accelerated class which takes 23 mos after all prereq's. 3. Aug 2005 4. 160 started in the nursing program in the fall... I don't know how many of those were accelerated, but I do know of several accelerated that will be dropping back to the regular route this semester. Haven't counted the guys, but in each class I have at least 2 or 3.

My husband and I were discussing this very thing tonight. He was in a hard school early in our marriage... it seemed so all or nothing... and when he had a good out, he took it. I was very resentful for quite awhile because I was planning on the extra income, status, etc. It was a very stressful school situation... probably not unlike nursing school. There was also a lot of pressure to stay with your class... don't fall back. I have long since resolved all of that with him... we've been together happily for 28 years and he supports me in school completely. What we were talking about last night was how it seemed so critical to stay with that class when he was struggling. If he would have dropped back a class he probably would have caught on to the difficult parts and graduated. I've had several classmates drop completely out of nursing school because they were struggling and couldn't keep up with the class. In the bigger scheme of one's whole life, taking an extra semester to complete the program and really knowing your stuff is perfectly okay. To summarize! YOU CAN DO THIS...DON'T GIVE UP!!!

I was excited to get my order from allheart.com. It took awhile to get at first and I called and found that my credit card didn't go through... don't know why. Anyway, gave them a new number and got my order within days... and that was to Hawaii! I don't know what happened to the other poster, but I wouldn't give up on the whole organization without specifics.

Jenny, Relax! Bathing is a part of life. You do it all the time. You touch your naked body to care for yourself. It's normal and natural. When you bathe a client it is the same thing, but you do it for them. I actually have enjoyed my "bathing" experiences. It gives me a time to offer some real caring touch to my clients. Okay, now so you don't think that I am just into bathing... I dropped out of nursing school when I was 18 because I was too intimidated by the intimate procedures that I needed to do on my elderly clients. I had a real block about doing this again. By the time we got to the hospital, though, I felt confident from our lab practice (and, no, we didn't practice peri-care on each other.) I just look at bathing as another skill that we do, not an intimate thing. In the hospital I had three particular patients that were bedridden and needed complete care. The CNA showed me their way to do peri-care (just carefully dump the water between the legs letting everything wash off, the chux catches it.) I was having such a hard time washing off sticky BM. I had two men and had to be concerned about foreskins, etc. THey are used to this and were very patient with me. Yes, if they can do it for themselves, it is good to let them. Good for ROM (range of motion). I must say that I have been hospitalized many times for various things and NEVER had a bed bath. Once you learn it, I don't think you will use it all of the time. Many patients do their own care, or there will be CNA's available to help. Just tell yourself that this is something that you must do to get through... then just do it!

I got an "incredibly easy" book that had to do with drug calcs. It helped some... but actually our text book was pretty straight forward. I'd just like to say that I am usually math challenged but as of today I PASSED MY MATH FOR MEDS CLASS!!!! I still have to take the final, but we needed a 90% in the class to even be able to take it. I was sweating it today, but ended up the class with 25 extra points. My biggest bit of advice: Don't panic... just practice! They will teach you a method, or you'll find one that works for you, then PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Good luck! Off to bed and then to study math!

That must have made you feel so good! Congrats! You do us all proud! I only hope that I will be such a positive influence on someone!

I will be a BSN educated nurse and I can definitely say that my education is 'generalized'! I can't believe all that nurses have to know! Any other degree does not compare in my book... nurses not only have to generalize but specialize. And you can tell your friends I said so!

I don't know really... but just a thought... the TB ppd is a not really a 'shot' as in immunization. Does anyone know whether it actually circulates through the system or just causes a localized reaction? Here in HI TB ppd is req for any/everything. Haven't heard of any contraindications. Someone else probably knows more and this will bump this up!

It amazes me how many students do question the instructor in front of the class! Of course they answer defensively, they are on the defensive! In our school during the first semester of fundamentals there has been an assignment of an exhaustive care plan. You get a scenario with sort of sketchy details, some labs and some history. It is up to the student to research it and work the patient up. It is a major project for students not knowing what they are doing really and it determines much of the clinical lab outcome. Many students through the years have griped and complained about it. (I didn't, but then I love a good mystery and writing a 16 page paper is just my thing!) Well, last week in my fundamentals class one student started griping about it and saying that her clinical instructor, who is the head of the clinicals dept, said it was a waste of our time and would be dropped from the program in the future. She was saying it to the head of the fundamentals program whose "baby" the project is. The instructor handled it very diplomatically... while letting the student know that she was the head of the department and ran the meetings and hadn't heard the the projects would be removed from the curriculum. I just couldn't believe that an adult student could be dense enough to question an instructor in front of a whole class! Things are done for a reason. I know that in some of my clinicals we don't do everything that other students do... but I also know that in those areas I do not have that experience. Just think of all the experience you are getting with your patients. It's not just a bath... it can be a great therapeutic communication experience, a good time to do a whole body assessment, and a very special way to let patients know that they are being cared for. Have you talked privately to your instructor to find out what bed baths mean to her? Maybe she has some very good reasons to focus on them... and they may have very little to do with cleaning bodies! At the very least, I hope that you have learned that in nursing school there are certain hoops you must jump through in order to get where you want to get. That's been what I have learned best... when they say "jump", I just say "how high"... and know that when I have the RN behind my name, others might get delegated to do the jobs that I don't want to do!

We recently did bedbaths in our fundamentals clinical lab. It's to get us ready for the hospital. Yes, Jennifer, it probably is usually a nurses assistant job, but RN's need to know how to do them, and nursing students get to do them to practice skills on their patients. During the bath you can also do a lot of assessments and ROM which is good to practice. In the real world we may not do too many, but then it will depend on what type of unit we work on. It really isn't too bad to bathe each other... you are all in the same boat and we had on swim suits and shorts if we wanted. We didn't do perineal care on each other and I've been in the hospital several times and never have had it done on me. Most of the time pts would rather clean themselves 'down there' and just need help where they have a hard time reaching. My instructor said that she was in the hospital with back surgery and no one did perineal care on her! She said the nurses always encouraged her to do it... good for ROM and building self confidence when the pt can do their own self care! We go to the hospital on Friday! I'm excited! We are going to have an actual pt to deal with... not a smart alecky classmate!

Probably all "fundamentals" classes are different, but our instructor teaches us the basics of being a great nurse. We have other instructors that teach assessment, math for meds, pharm, etc. I can see how if she isn't planning on working in dosage calcs it would be a hassle to add that to a lesson plan. Maybe you could go to her and ask who is available to work with you when you aren't in class. There is probably a math for meds tutor or something. Now, in our school... which is also a nice pricey one... most of the instructors give us notes that do happen to be pp presentations... personally, I don't find that too helpful. Regardless, if we want anything else printed, we are allowed 200 pages a semester that is considered part of our 'technology fee' at registration. Anything above that, we are charged by the sheet. Since I have access to all of that at home, I haven't had to worry about it though.