misstoast

Ok, I am a new grad and am having a difficult time obtaining my first RN position. My background is in LTC (6 years exp as a CNA). My background is good, my references are good. I just moved from Indiana to Pensacola hoping that there would be more job opportunities. I've been job hunting for two months to no avail. Recently one of my relatives said that one of her nurse friends was leaving a local LTC facility to work at one of the hospitals. I do not know this friend, but I do know the name of the facility. Would it be improper to fax a cover letter and resume to this LTC in hopes that there might be an opening? If so, should I even attempt to explain how I was directed to their facility? Also, I didn't go to school down here and I think that does not help my cause. I do have more than one letter of recommendation from my nursing professors. Would there be any harm in including a copy of those when submitting my resume? Thanks

I took the NCLEX RN this afternoon and passed at 75. I only got 4 or 5 SATA and they were pretty straightforward; easy compared to the rest imo. I had been expecting 20 + SATA based on what some local grads from last year had on their exams.

OP, did you pick up the Hurst Review NCLEX-RN Review book that you can get at B&N or Amazon? Having that book, in addition to the core concepts book they give you during the live review, helped me out a lot. I stink at analysis, I stink at strategy, I tend to stink with critical thinking in general. I did really bad on the school's ATI Critical thinking exam going into NSG school; I did worse just a few months ago on the exit exam if that tells you anything. I don't know why Hurst sells this book separately, but it goes into great detail about NCLEX test taking strategies, how to break down the question, what NCLEX is looking for and soforth. I did the Hurst Live review early in May. This afternoon I finally took the NCLEX exam and passed at 75. Granted, it took me 3 long hours to nitpick those 75 questions apart, but I was able to be confident in the answers I selected. I walked out of the building knowing that I passed, even though there were only two or three where I was absolutely 100% confident that I got them right. I was glad to walk out of there like a NORMAL human being instead of the sobbing and hysterical mess my RN friends warned me about. In addition to studying the Hurst Review materials, really the only thing I did was go through all the stressors and noted what the most dangerous complications of each were and the presenting s/s. That helped me out a lot on the test too. I probably sound like a salesperson, but if it were me, and I didn't have the strategy book, I'd get it and look at it before shelling out the $$ for a different review company. Good luck to you!

Hey Amber, if you do a search of my posts, you can find all the stuff that I thought I would love to do when I graduate... and of course I'm doing something completely different, halfway across the country. Hopefully I'll figure out what it is soon

We're getting ready to graduate in May. I think, out of a class of eighty in our ADN program, I am the only one who is willing to work in LTC. I work as a CNA, so I suppose I am aware of what I'm getting myself into. As far as the hospital and LTC rivalry goes, I pretty much agree with the points previously posted.

Thank you both for the fast and straightforward replies. I too suspect that many of the behavior and anxiety issues are in fact pain issues. My facility isn't too bad regarding pain management (as a facility), but I've worked in others to know that it is a big problem. Pain and pain management is the only subject which I find fascinating in its entirety; etiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, chemistry and all. I think I'll continue to look into pain management despite the low probability of doing such in LTC. Though it's not ideal, perhaps through a pain clinic I could act as a facility consultant or something of the sort? Thanks again for the input.

Hi all: I'm going to be graduating in May and I'm confident I will remain in LTC. I have been a CNA for 6 years and I'm sure I will be fine with the duties, but I'd still like to have my bachelor's. The application process to the University of Kentucky's RN - BSN program involves a statement of professional and academic goals. Any college beyond the BSN would be to specialize in pain management. Other than that I have no real desire to do anything other than bedside nursing. I know chronic and complex pain tends to be a massive problem in nursing homes. I personally believe that every LTC facility should have a pain management team just as they are required to have a dietitian, social services and soforth. That's just me though. But when it comes to the possibility of working as a pain management nurse, so far the responses seem to be rather cynical- "there's no market for it" and "that's silly". Am I being unreasonable? Would continuing on to a DNP in pain management be impractical? Will my boss laugh me out of the room if I ask about it?

We've had a number of problems with attention seekers in the facility where I work. One was simply an extroverted type whom lacked social interaction. Once we started wheeling her down to the lounge (instead of putting her in her room after meals) with all the other chatty ladies, the behaviors significantly decreased. Another resident sometimes "forgets" how to eat during meals, so we have to feed her. I personally do not mind this- I put the fork in her hand and put it up to her mouth. After about 5 minutes or so, she gets tired of me and, of course, she feeds herself like normal. And then there are residents that are exceptionally irritating. We have a handful of these. Their behavior is so frustrating that it drives everyone away. When someone is being unreasonable, I point that out as gently as possible. Same for things the resident can (and should) be doing for themselves. If there is no illness fueling the behavior, the one thing that seems to work the best (overall) for me is acceptance. Not the willingness to accept bad behavior, but simply accepting the person. I wouldn't say it's easy to do, because a lot of times it requires letting go of a lot of built up anger and resentment towards the resident. After finishing whatever tasks the person needs, I'll squeeze the resident's hand and give them a wink that says "You're allright", or something along those lines. I guess it's a matter of conveying a message that says "I'm enough, you're enough and there's enough". When a person feels like there is enough, they are content (and not acting out and driving everyone bananas).