Gilly

Hello! I am planning on relocating to Salt Lake City for a while just to experience a different area, advance my career and meeting new people. I was wondering, what is the patient to nurse ratio in Utah? I live in Southern California and the patient to nurse ratio is 1 nurse to 4-5 patients in our Medical/Surgical floor. At times when they are short of nurses we go up to 6 but it is rare. I have 2 years of experience in Medical/Surgical floor. I plan on acquiring my Bachelors through the University of Utah. My sister who lives there has mentioned of a work study program at the University. I was wondering if there are any nurses or student nurses who've done this? I love Utah and can't wait to meet other nurses!

I took my test in July of '08. My advice is to do as many questions as you can prior to the test date. Do like 25 questions the first day, then 50 the next and then increase it as the days go by until the big day. The night before the big day, just rest. Rest your mind. A lot of the questions are pretty basic. You must know the s/s of the disease or the prioritizing, certain medications. Diabetes. Math. It's pretty much questions that if you don't know it by then, then...there's a problem. While you're taking the test, make sure you take a break. Even if it's within 1 hour or 3 hours of your test, take it! Just get some fresh air or get some water. Don't be afraid to write mental notes on the little pad they give you. Take your time! TAKE ALL OF THE time if you need it. And don't be scared if you finished it in an hour or in 3 hours. Take your time. Some of us weren't great test takers in school because we had bad time management. Well, you get some 6 hours to finish this test. Also, try to remember the last question before it shuts off. Go back and look at that question. If you got it right, then you have a pretty good chance you passed the test. I read in many, many blogs that day regarding NCLEX and many of them have remembered their last question and got it right; passing the test. And remember, even if you don't pass it the first time. It is not the end of the world. You'll do just fine! Just don't give up and finish what you started.

Woo-hoo! July! Woo!

Hello, I'm doing orientation 6 days every 2 weeks and studying Kaplan questions. I'm taking THE test on July 15. I'm hoping I'll do great. I just want to be able to pace myself and be ready for this test. What do you think?