ADPIE10

I recall learning in nursing school that nurses eat their young. If you are inexperienced, I'm going to assume that many may perceive you as still tender enough to eat. With regard to making mistakes... It is important that you care enough about mistakes to not repeat them, but not so much that it makes you react like a deer in headlights. Don't be paralyzed or overly stressed about making mistakes. A SLIGHT bit of anxiety can help us stay alert and perform better. If you are working NOC and then work AM, you are putting yourself through an adjustment to your activity and rest pattern. Only you know if this can impact your performance. Also, people often speak as if they are the best and never would make mistakes... If you are performing the same task for 3 consecutive days and have not improved or created "muscle memory" of the neural and muscle tissue type, then you may need more practice and a mentor. I feel that the best nurses are the ones that learn from their mistakes and become life long learners. Having empathy for our patients also means that we must go through the journey of compassion given to ourselves. Perfect people don't make perfect nurses, they make people with critical spirits and harsh judges. Keep your head up, be present for your patients, and persevere with love in your heart.

I personally know more than half of the class that recently graduated from Hartnell College. Due to the impaction of nursing schools and the non-waiting list method of student selection, the quality of students admitted in the past 3 years have been extremely high. Despite being a two year program, many of the students have Bachelor's degrees in other disciplines. As a result of these factors and an excellent teaching staff, the quality and rigor of instruction is extremely high. I'm aware that in recent years, the focus of compassionate instruction coupled with an unwavering standard of quality has resulted in a much lower failure rate than 3 years ago. The breadth and depth of the staff available to provide classroom and clinical instruction is impressive. In fact, one of the instructors has a doctorate and has recently moved on to teach the master's program at UCSF. Despite the instructor's departure, the remaining staff was so strong that the departure resulted in a neglible impact. Hartnell RN students enjoy some of the highest number of clinical hours statewide. This equates to greater hands-on experience and confidence upon graduation. Today, I think that the Hartnell program is second to none.

I'm also a new grad, I think that it's great that you found a job. There are so many variables that I don't know, thus it's impractical to give advice. I can encourage you not to become discouraged. Confidence is a big aspect of everything that we do. My recommendation is that you find a mentor and start celebrating small successes. You can only try your best, and your best must always be good enough to you! Communicate with those that you know love you. Contact your former instructors and seek their advice. Trust people that have a vested interest in your success. Good luck.

My impression is that you are admitting to committing a mistake and taking accountability, at a personal basis this is an important for all nurses. Additionally, it is unlikely that you will make this mistake again. If it were to occur again by you, then it would be obvious that you would be considered unsafe to practice. From a managerial perspective, a multiple root cause analysis should be performed. From the analysis, it is likely that new processes and procedures would be identified to decrease the incident of the same error occurring again in the future. It is important for management to distinguish the difference between unsafe procedures and unsafe nurses. Whenever an incident occurs, it's rare that a single event was the sole contributing factor of an error. Use this as a learning experience, perhaps this error hasn't been committed by some of us, but some error will undoubtedly be committed by all us.

Call the local IRS and ask them what you should do. Even if someone on this forum has experience and offers some to you, many of us don't know about state taxes, etc. of your local state and municipality.

I'm curious. What was the previous NCLEX pass rate for your college?

None of my class that worked at a hospital were hired by their hospital as a New Grad. The old advice and any advice given by everyone has pretty much not worked in the state of CA. According to urban legend, there is supposed to be some New Grad jobs in Texas, Nebraska, etc. I'll be looking into those in the next couple of days.

Do you want to actively pursue nursing or do you have other interests. I personally feel that false reassurance and advice isn't helpful. What do you want to do and what can you afford?

What are your thoughts on this matter? Certainly experienced nurses can tell you their thoughts, but when you practice the profession... Do you think that BSN nurses should clean up feces when their patients are soiled? At the bedside, what distinguishes a BSN from ADN or an MSN?

At least you're realistic: 4 to 6 years. On the bright side, the economy should be better by that time. At the age of 43, I recently graduated and passed the test for licensure. I'm currently trying to get a new grad position in this very ugly environment. At this point, I'd say that you have more going for you.

Congratulations! I'm sure your vacancy as a New Grad nurse will be picked up quickly and be much appreciated by another applicant. It is said that you can't have 2 masters.

It's just a matter of supply and demand. There's a huge supply of applicant's and a small demand. There's a greater tendency for people to be dismissive of others when they don't find as much value in others as they once did.

I agree that the economy will not get better, but will stabilize. People will shift to jobs that have a lower supply of applicants. Nursing was a lagging indicator. The economy tanked, then the east coast nurses got hit and it flowed to the west coast. It's likely that the economy will have to get better, then a year later, the hospital environment will improve and then demand for new grad nurses will improve. I just graduated, and it's a pretty bad environment. I would advise people that aren't anticipating graduating for a few years to pursue nursing. It should be better within 4 to 5 years, just in time for graduation. One should always chase one's passion so that there are no regrets.

I think that it is natural and healthy for you to miss them. It is noble and good for us to find value in those that we care for. It sounds as if you are experiencing grief for your loss: your relationship with those that you care for.

Perhaps his email can be posted and all RNs in this forum can send him an email regarding the legitimacy of him calling himself a Nurse. It's probably more appropriate for him to call himself Head of Nursing, if this is in fact his role. I guess he could call himself a "Head"?