badgernurse

Take the Barkley review. Period. This man and his associates not only gives you a condensed but thorough review, he also tells you what to key in on, what to study, how to study, what time frame, etc. I went to the review course, did what he suggested and passed the test. I feel like he knew exactly what would be on the test and simplified it, I bought the CDs and listened to the review every time I was in the car and I took his online tests to see if I was getting closer to being prepared enough. Sometimes it gets frustrating, confusing and a waste of time when you are pulling information from different sources. I know I sound like a Barkley salesperson but just ask around. My entire graduating class went to the review as suggested by graduates before us. Good luck!

Does anyone know where to find your facilities score?

Absolutely can be done. If it's what you love, do it and do not waver. You have had some great responses and if you need specific feedback, PM me.

I will tell you on good knowledge that an immediate supervisor doesn't matter. You need a well written LOR from someone with some clout. It is way too competitive to count on someone who can't write a good LOR. One director threw my LOR in the garbage simply because it was only one paragraph. His theory was that if they can't care about you enough to spend the time to write at minimum a form letter, then why should he take the time to read it. They want to see director of anesthesiology, director of cardiovascular services, director of intensive medicine, and a well thought out personal letter. Not to be taken lightly.

I have put together a few talking points for my meeting, some based on your responses. Thank you very much! I am not new to this facility and have passed in the past but like I said, this has been a problem with some of our best nurses for a while. After failing myself, I figured others have had this problem so after talking to the staff I have heard this has been a fight for a while which is why I was asking for your help. As we know, some people get 'institutionalized' in a way that they think their hospital has the right way of doing things and there is no other way. I am someone who has worked at other places but a different perspective isn't always welcomed. Anyway, thanks for suggestions!

You have all given me some good talking points, and my goal is to find a solution and to change this process of testing without discipline. I believe there is more underneath this situation but I'd like to see a culture change to a more non-punitive system. My coworkers are supportive, there are some very talented nurses with many years of experience and they are also failing. This should be a basic EKG test and it is extremely advanced in my opinion. We do have a review course given by the same person writing the test but there are still areas that seem grey. I am not new to this facility and have passed every other time but I didn't know about the whole hassle that comes with failing until now. I don't get why my coworkers have been quiet about this. Maybe I'll find out! Ugh!

Thanks for the replies. This has been going on for a very long time. An educator who is nearing retirement, people have just accepted this forever. I haven't heard of anyone being fired over this.

Hello everyone, I am hoping for some feedback on a work situation. I am an ICU nurse and we hold mandatory competencies annually. One component is an EKG test. It is the typical test with identifying the rhythm. I have taken countless of these tests in all my years and never had a problem. Well...this past year I failed along with 55% of the nurses on my floor. This is a large hospital and the nurses are very intelligent with a wide array of experiences. I'd like to think I am smart too, btw. Anyway, we were given the opportunity to take the test again, many of us passed. Phew! I was then presented with a disciplinary write-up to sign.Huh? How is this action disciplineable? I was told that passing the EKG test isa job requirement so I was subject to discipline. Everyone else also was disciplined. I might add that there were a surprisingly large percentage of nurses that had to retake this test twice. They were told that their job would be in jeopardy if they failed a third time. Why are we failing the test? Strips that are marginal, difficult to read, could be sinus tach or sinus rhythm when presented with a strip with a rate of exactly 98 bpm (or is it 100?) The possibility of buried p-waves, has anyone heard of a "very slow afib" with arate of 45? Etc. Most tests I have taken, the strips are obvious, or at least fair if you know your rhythms. I believe the test was flawed. With failure rates like this,the problem is usually the test giver, not the test taker. In this case, the test giver is a power trip kinda person. Anyway, my manager feels the same way I do. Why would she want to lose nurses over an EKG test? She is not in a position (or maybe doesn't want to be in the position) to do much about it but I am meeting with her boss...the director soon. My goal is to get the write-up out of my file but the broader goal is to change the process surrounding this test, the punitive nature of failing and the added stress going into this. What information do you think I should bring to the director that will make her take this seriously and not just say "Well, it's been like this for a long time" or "Policy dictates,yada yada". I don't want her to blow me off I want to bring her information like "At the University level, a high failure rate such as this would warrant a review of the test" or "Most ICU nurses are internally motivated to review knowledge regularly and do not require additional pressure of written disciplines". I'd like to have some data. Any ideas? Thanks

I am in the NP program at OSU but I am a nurse so I didn't do grad entry. I'm also doing Acute Care so I don't know how helpful I would be. Any specific questions?

Hi everyone, My family has relied on me to be the "medical expert" in all things from a bruise to a stroke. I'm sure you can all relate that our friends and loved ones look to us for answers, reassurance, or just free medical advice about everything. I am an open heart recovery nurse and have been for many years. I try to steer people in the right direction and often send them to their doctor with a few questions to ask and all is good. However, lately I am in a situation concerning my mom where I hardly have any answers and feel like I'm dropping the ball where I need to be helping a lot more. The problem is she was diagnosed with temporal arteritis at the beginning of the year. She has had the symptoms probably for a year starting with really bad headaches. She was put on Prednisone as is the treatment of choice but what worries me is her respiratory status. Since starting prednisone, she is increasingly dyspneic with minimal activity where she was previously extremely active and totally independent. She is 67 years old. She is on home O2 and can't walk a flight of stairs, much less go to the grocery store. This has gotten progressively worse in the past few months. She was hospitalized last month due to her sats being 79. The ruled out PE, CHF, pneumonia and did not see evidence of lung ca on CT/Xray. They sent her home with no answers and she has gone from independent, working, travelling to confined to her home and miserable. Her sed rate is up and down so the prednisone is adjusted as well. She is seeing a pulmonologist, cardiologist, rheumatologist and they keep saying she will get better. I have scoured the internet and found very little useful info to help me help her. Oh...and she lives about 500 miles from me. I feel useless to her when I should be her strongest advocate! Does any of this make sense? Could the arteritis cause all the pulmonary problems this quickly and not resolve with prednisone? She does have a smoking history and likely has emphysema but I would think the prednisone would help and not cause this to worsen in such a short period of time. Any thoughts or direction would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Well now, you bring up an interesting point. I've wondered how much Valley helps. Does it keep you focused in the right direction? I'm debating on going to Valley next year or just buying someone's old sweatbook-memory master.

YAY!!!!!!! I'm just 4 weeks into my program and the time could not fly by fast enough. I know you worked your butt off! Good luck on boards! Nice to relax a bit...

Here's the position statement from the AANA: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/DNP/DNPPositionStatement.htm Here's a fluff piece on the whole thing: http://www.nurseweek.com/news/Features/05-05/DoctorOfNursingPractice_print.html The whole thing was cooked up by the AACN to supposedly give APNs more authority (yet there will be no more authority), respect (who cares), and "parity with" other professions such as therapists, pharmacists and if you can believe it-docs. I for one think I'll see my taxes go down before I see parity with docs. I've looked into a couple programs. With the exception of VCU, you're looking at business, leadership, research courses. I do not see much clinical relevance.

I just started my program and it's frontloaded. I spend 16-20 hours per week in class and spend the rest of the time studying, working on projects, etc. To say studying is time consuming is an understatement. I study all the time, probably 40 plus hours/week and I still feel like I need to devote more time to it because the bar is set pretty high. I am not complaining though. This is what I signed up for.

This is your life, your future, your career. Do you really want to leave it all in the hands of 3 other people? In my experience, I don't think the adcom cares if you waived. You do need to have a discussion with your people on what this means to you, how competitive it is to gain entry and always provide a resume. Ask them if they have ever written a rec before. You don't want someone just checking boxes and you certainly don't want someone writing anything negative about you even if they think it is benign. It's hard enough getting into CRNA school and you don't need someone making light of the task or sabotaging you because of something personal.