schroedie

to be honest, i have days i leave and never want to go back. then again, i have days where they fly by and i find myself thinking that despite the floor where i work (peds hem/onc which is a very difficult floor in terms of emotions and job description) i have the greatest job ever. it usually just all depends on what has happened to me that day. i think the key is to remember that nursing isnt just a physical job - it can be an emotional one too, and that can make for some very challenging days... but it can also offer the most rewarding days as well. over all, i have had far more good days where i love my job than where i hate it. i guess that means things are going good!

from personal experience, i would try to contact them until you are able to confirm that they have ALL the info they need from you if you do not receive your ATT. the reason i say this is that my name was on the verification page for months, and all of my classmates got their ATTs and i didnt even weeks later. i was finally able to speak to someone only to find out that they "never received" my background checks and that i needed to "resend them." this is also known as they lost them because i was told when i contacted the agencies to have them sent again that they had verification that they were sent and received. all in all a very frustrating process because it took nearly a week and a half to get a person on the phone to tell me they didnt have everything - and the unfortunate part is that speaking to a person is the only way to find out if they have everything they need. good luck!

just keep working. dont focus on the little things that are nagging on you and "what you arent getting done" and focus on what you have accomplished so far. i dont mean to not worry about not getting all your work done. i do mean that just realize that as my preceptor told me when i had my mental breakdown (just a few weeks ago) that nursing is a 24 hr a day job and you can only do so much. you have to realize that in this job things usually dont go according to plan and you have to learn to go with it. things that have helped me: i WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN. i even spent a few hours at home one night making myself a daily work list (several line for each hour where i can write in meds/doses/things to be done that hour like half rate tpn etc, reminders of when i need to do assessments, chart I/O, boxes for each set of vitals, a section for iv access notes, and misc activities like dressing changes, cap changes etc). it has helped my organization tremoundously! as i take off orders i also write them on my paper that same second so i dont forget a new order dont hesitate to ask for help when you need it. i make it a point to check with everyone else to see if they need help when i have down time, and when i need help myself i try to see if my coworkers can help with little things (like turning off a pump, checking a pt etc) believe me, ive definitely felt incredibly incompetent at times too, but i realized just this week all the things im doing now that gave me a panic attack to think about in orientation. you just have to keep doing things as best you can and suddenly youll realize that youre doing what you were worried about, and doing it well! hang in there!

hey elizabeth... congrats on your assignment and good luck! just curious, was your position difficult to get in the current economy? im interested in traveling as well esp an assignment in texas, so im curious what youve found so far. thanks!

hi there. i just read this and i can totally sympathize. i graduated last may and have been working on a very difficult peds floor since july. i have had a few days where i was just drowning too, and i was reduced to tears last week because i was so overwhelmed. i completely understand where you are coming from. its great that your manager seems willing to work with you and your coworkers seem very supportive. maybe you could talk to your manager about how assignments are made and see if there is a way that they can maybe make a few assignments for you where you have the same number of pts as the rest of the coworkers but who are maybe a little bit easier pts to take care of (not as many meds, abx or whatever) that way you can get used to working with that number of pts and finding a system that really works for you and then see if they can start working in more difficult assignments. i dont know if thats a reality, but it seems like your manager is willing to help you out so its a possibility. thankfully on my unit they try to take the difficulty of the pt into consideration, although i have had a few days where i felt like an epic failure because things just didnt "go the way i had planned" and my days fell apart which is funny because i have to keep telling myself that its the nature of nursing to not go as planned lol. believe me, i still have good days where things go great, and days when i want to hand back my license and quit on the spot. the main thing i learned from my recent experience is not to wait for someone to ask you if you need help. go and start asking for help as soon as you realize you are starting to drown because its a lot easier to think and do things before you are in a full blown drowning state than it is when the water is already over your head and youre going down like a brick. ask as soon as you need it. even though i feel afraid that people will judge me or think im incompetent for asking for help, i would rather do that than prove them right by not asking and having something go terribly wrong. just remember, you arent the only one who has felt like this... i know a lot of my fellow new grads have had this kind of days.

i was very nervous at first when i had to start dealing with the mds but i quickly realized that residents are not to be feared (i work at a teaching hospital) and its getting to the point where ive been on my unit long enough that more attendings have started approaching me for opinions. that usually catches me off guard more than scares me because im starting to realize that my opinion and assessments are important to the bigger picture. what scares me the most though is when the resident asks me what the order should say or what order they should give me. holy cow. the sbar tool is great. i was taught that during one of my advanced clinicals and it is just a great way to deal with a doc. if you are unfamiliar with sbar it is: situation background assessment recommendation ive noticed that mds seem less annoyed when you keep it short, to the point, and you really knwo why you are calling them. when you call, say something like im calling about so and so who has x y z order, this is what i have (vitals, assessment info etc) and i was wondering if you could (make a suggestion - put in an order for pain meds, tylenol for fever, can you come see the pt - although only suggest this if you are talking to an oncall or someone already there - somthing along those lines. and then my last real suggestion is to document document document. its totally CYA but its necessary. document your assessments and what you did about it - you called the MD, made a request, and the response you got. a lot of time, i will document what i found, that i notified which specific md and then whether they said they would see the pt etc. if they give you a negative response, document that as well and as objectively and accurately as possible. that way if something does happen ie a pt dies then it "wont be your fault if the resident dies" because you have all the legal documentation of your actions and efforts. there is only so much you can do and without md orders we are "stuck" so to speak (obviously if the pt is going to die dont just sit there and watch, but i think you know what i mean).

actually i wouldnt make the assumption that the hesi is "very easy" and "if you have to take it before you graduate there should be no reason you can't pass it." the hesi can be tailored by the company to the exact educational requirements your school specifies. my particular school had a test designed for the end of each semester (in my accelerated program) or at the end of every year for the regular program. each time the test was designed, they added in additional information that should have been learned previously (so its just a&p and med surg for first years, all of that plus peds second year etc until it is essentially all of the info you could be tested on by the nclex when you graduate). the hesi is not easy. i suspect the test you took measured very basic non nursing knowledge (bio, a&p, cpr etc) if you had to take it to be admitted. when you take the full blown story, i think you may reconsider calling it easy and assuming that there is no reason for someone to fail it. of the 4 times i took it, i did fail it once. i will say something though, making it through the grad hesi made me as ready as anything for nclex.

look into st elizabeth and st luke in nothern kentucky. they are only about 10-15 minutes outside of cincinnati and hire new grads as well.

sorry to hear your clinical experience at university wasnt that great. i work at childrens and on my unit we have students almost every day of the week in the spring. i just graduated last year so i try to remember what it was like being a student and be nice to them and give them a good experience, but sometimes it can be very frustrating having students around for nurses. i wouldnt necessarily use your clinical experience at a place to judge the people. on my unit we are very very busy and with 10 extra people roaming around it gets crowded and difficult to get to a computer to chart at times. earlier this week i had two patients and both had nursing students so that in itself was overwhelming to me as the nurse having two people trying to ask me questions, and having to not only do my assessments etc, but also checking in on what the students were doing to my kids too. like i said, i was just a student myself not too long ago so i know what its like, and now i know what its like on the other side of the fence too. bottom line, i wouldnt necessarily judge all nurses at a particular hospital based on your experience as a student. it might be really beneficial to you to ask to shadow on the unit you are applying for at some point so you can get a better feel for what it will be like.

interestingly, i have a copy of that same article you have referred to. the admin at cchmc is reviewing the dresscode policy here (pretty much right now anything goes as long as it is appropriate and not teal - the OR staff color) for nurses. i certainly hope they dont change it. white is not a kid friendly color. besides being puked on, pooped on and any other assortment of wonderful things, white scares kids. the people who were giving their opinions clearly dont believe in white coat syndrome. personally, i think facilities should make sure they have appropriate identification for their employees and it wouldnt be so difficult for someone to figure out who the nurse is. we have badges that you CANNOT miss that identify as RN, PCA, HUC etc and all the docs here wear white lab coats. the only way someone couldnt identify you as a nurse is if they dont see your badge or dont care to look.

i work at childrens and both of my interview there i was asked why i wanted to work at children's. i imagine with the increased competition for jobs now, employers are really going to know why you want to work for them so bad. not sure if you are interested in peds, but do NOT answer that question with "because i like kids" thats possibly the worst answer you could give. say anything but that. consider what is special about the hospital you are applying for (are they magnet? are they applying to be magnet?) things like that are always good to consider because employers want to know that you want to work for them and not that you are just looking for a job anywhere you can find one. also, i would take a portfolio of your educational experiences with you. interviewers have been very impressed when i handed them a binder with concrete examples of my learning experiences (papers, projects/project summaries, clinical packets, clinical evals from instructors). its just one more way to make your case for why they should hire you and why you are better for the job than everyone else - and its verification of what you are saying about yourself. plus, its just really professional.

i have a friend who has worked at st e on the tcu for several years now and she seems to be pretty happy. i did my med surg rotation there and it seemed ok. they still used paper charting there which was not my fav aspect, ubt over all it was an ok experience. i work at cinci childrens now though and i have to say that st. e pales in comparison to children's but thats just my opinion.

id personally advise strongly NOT to live near university. i work at cincinnati childrens and the surrounding neighborhoods are not safe. hyde park is a great area and your commute would be 15 minutes. oakley is close to hyde park and is relatively nice and less expensive. mt lookout is also a great option. if you are open to living in kentucky there are some nice areas there too that are also short drives. ft wright is nice (check out wrights point apts), newport, and ft thomas also are good options. i live in florence and the only time the drive is really a problem is when the weather is bad... but then again, thats just cincinnati in general because people here cant drive for anything.

ive been hired as an RN there and pending the outcome of my nclex that i just took today, i should be starting on july 21. its really hard to get a job there because everyone and their brothers, sisters, and cousins wants to work there and its the only place you can work with a peds population in the area. the best advice i can offer based on experience is to start applying well in advance of when you graduate nursing school. they get so many applications that it takes a lot of time for them to get through and find the people they want. plus, the longer you wait, the greater your competition is going to be. once you do apply, if you dont hear from a recruiter within a week, call the main line for nursing recruitment and retention and ask to speak to someone to find out about your application. they are supposed to respond to all nursing applicants within 72 hours typically. BE PERSISTENT! thats basically what it takes to get in there. at least on my experience...

congrats to all who passed so far!!! i took nclex today at 2 and it shut off at 75 as well. i didnt count exactly how many SATA i had but i know i had a LOT. i also had 3 of the most ridiculous drug calc problems ever. they made my head hurt just working them out and i never had trouble with calcs in school... i also had a few drugs and diseases that were totally out there so far that my friend who is a PA has not even heard of them. wow. also, lots of prioritization, infection control, and i found it strange how many LEGAL questions i had. must have been not so good at those as they kept reappearning... hope to find out that i passed tomorrow! if not, im off on a three week vacation to get over it (or to celebrate pending outcome) and drink ireland and england dry if the news is negative...