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I was an ER nurse for 1 1/2 years and now I'm applying for a PACU position - I think the experience you gain in the ER is invaluable! If you have a chance to get into the ER, take it. There you learn great skills that you can and will utilize in MANY areas of nursing - and PACU, such as: IV starts, airway management, medications, conscious sedations, how to respond to Code Blues, etc... Go for the ER! and good luck!

what, if anything, is the difference between the 2 sheehy books out there: sheehy's emergency nursing principals and practice, 5th ed. and sheehy's manual of emergency care, 6th ed. which is better for a new grad nurse entering the er?? thank you again!!!

Hi, I will start working in a level 4 ER in about 2 weeks (I just graduated w/ my BSN this past May) and the nurse educator at my hospital suggested I buy Sheehy's Emergency Nursing Principles and Practices book, 5th Ed. - the last publication date was 2002. The reviews on Amazon were lukewarm at best, and I'd like a reference book (be it this book or another one) that will really help me become more familiar with the ER setting and whatnot. I am wondering if any other ER nurses out there can recommend a new or better book for the ER?? Thank you!

I was hired by Evergeen Healthcare in Kirkland, WA almost 1 month before I graduated nursing school - so passing the NCLEX on my first try (which I am happy to say I did!) was vital... So it really depends on the area you are looking and what department you apply to. Good luck

Hi Christy - I will be starting in the ER as a new grad in about a month, but I spent my last semester of nursing school in the ER and it took me a bit to get good at IV's too. Like you, I did really well for a little while, then I swear it was the alignment of the planets because I COULD NOT GET ONE - even on men with these gorgeous veins!! I finally figured out I was doing wrong. When I first poked in and got flash, I kept advancing the needle AND the catheter - not JUST the catheter - For some reason I thought I had to keep pushing the needle in a bit more - WRONG - So I ended up always blowing through the other side of the vein and of course, the cath wouldn't advance - even though I initially had a flash. So, what I would suggest if you are still having problems, as soon as you get a flash, hold the needle still and just slowly slide the cath on in.... if you do get some resistance, make sure the vein isn't turning, if it is, sort of angle the needle and cath - you can probably make the turn. :) And like other posts - Practice makes perfect. I practiced a few times on other nurses and techs - that was great because I wasn't worried about hurting someone who was already in pain! LOL! Good luck - Wow, Trauma Level 1 - brave person! I'll be starting at Level 4, and did my last semester at Level 3 - will be lots of fun and loads of learning! Good luck!

Just checked the Washington State Dept. of Health site and it's official - I'm an RN!! My license is ACTIVE !!!! Yay! Thank you to all who helped calm my nerves and answer questions.

Hi to all - Just took my NCLEX this morning - it FINALLY cut me off after 224 questions- I seriously thought my computer was broken when it kept on giving me more and more questions - That was the worst test I've ever had! AUGH! Had only abot 2-3 med calc questions, lots of SATA, and then the rest seriously seemed to be TYBG - "Take Your Best Guess" - since any of the answers could be correct! LOL! Can't say if I passed or not - but at least it's over with for now! Thanks to everyone who posted and now it's hurry up and wait!

General E. Speaking - Congratulations - I bet you feel very relieved! Way to go!

Will the NCLEX be specific about when to round a med calcs?? Or do we round to the nearest tenth (3.56 is 3.5) or even to the 1's (3.56 is 4.0 ) ?? For example, I am doing practice questions and had to figure out a drop rate/min - I came up with a calculation of 37.5 drops/min ... However, I remember from nursing school that you can't actually figure a half-a-drop, so I rounded to 38. The question said I was wrong, and that the actual answer was 37.5 This was supposedly done on an IV pump - so is that the difference? Like if you are manually counting drops, then of course you can't count a half drop... but because a pump can be put to any number, then puting 37.5 gtt/min is acceptable?? Anyone have any ideas about this??

I take my NCLEX this Monday, 23rd. I've been working on Saunder's CD and then another site that has more NCLEX prep questions... Seems like I continually waver between feeling ready for it, then feeling totally unprepared! I do well on quite a few questions, then hit several in a row that I miss... or I do an exam and think I do well on it until the very end I get like a 68% on it! AUGH! Anyone else in the same boat prior to taking the test and then actually pass? I can't wait for this to be over with! Stressing in Seattle.

How did you like the Saunders? That's what I'm using to study and I test this coming Monday, 23rd. ATI is fine, but it doesnt' really give rationales the same way that Saunders does...

at my nursing school we took an exit ati predictor exam which gives us a percentage of passing the nclex - i'm wondering if anyone else out there who has taken and passed the nclex also did the ati tests and the ati predictor?? if so, how did you do and do you feel the ati tests were comparable in difficulty to the actual nclex?? thanks!

LadyTiger44 - SATA are "Select All That Apply" - can be any of the given answers - anywehre from 1 to possibly all of them! They are evil! LOL!

i take the nclex-rn on thursday june 26th and have seen posts by people about knowing prioritization and delegation material. my dilemma - i am studying from saunders' 4th edition and it says that assistive or unlicensed personnel cannot do any invasive procedures - they are basically limited to ambulating, bed bath, etc... when i took an ati online practice test, a question it gave was which task could the rn delegate the ap (assistant personnel/or unlicensed personnel) do - and my options were something like: a) assess patient before and after med admin. b) teach client about monitoring glucose levels (or some other teaching aspect) c) perform venipuncture and collect blood d) do assessment on newly admitted pt. and the answer it gave was the venipuncture!! none of the answers seemed correct, but yet it gave the invasive procedure as the 'correct' one, but gave no rationale!! can someone, maybe suzanne, please clarify what the limitations are for the various people - ap, lpn, and rn - and possibly give citing documentation for the definitive answer or what the nclex people use as their source for the "correct" answers on stuff like this??? thank you!

Suzanne - when you said that calculations are not good to see on the test, do you mean they are lower level questions and that you are not doing well which is why they are giving you calc questions?? Thank you!