elefantastic

i feel the exact same way. i have diarrhea before every shift. my bp is through the roof because i never know what i'm walking into. some nights are great, others are pure hell

graduated the end of june, took my boards the end of july, started working early august.. luckily i already had a job lined up before graduation.. lots of people i graduated with haven't been so lucky finding jobs lately

maybe your instructor means doing an assessment of the patients extremity for color, pulses, sensation, movement, etc.. that isn't part of a "normal" assessment, but after surgery to a body part it's important to look at. like for a knee replacement, you'd look for pedal pulses, movement of the foot/toes, skin color, capillary refill, you'd ask the patient if they had any numbness/tingling in the extremity. if the patient is in a cast following surgery, you'd probably want to do neurovascular checks for 24hrs following surgery, to make sure the cast isn't so tight it's impeding on circulation/etc.. hope this helps!

lol good one :loveya:

holy name hospital in teaneck, nj. there are no wait-lists, but i think you may have missed the cut-off date for september.. give them a call though, i had a friend who applied really late (as in a few weeks before the start of the semester), and she was accepted. good luck!

i live on the opposite coast from you, but i know around here, lots of people i graduated with couldn't even get an interview until they took and passed the nclex. so maybe once you have your license in hand, it will be easier to get a job. good luck!

i will be starting out in a nj hospital making just under $70,000 for my first year. the hospital i'll be working in actually pays on the "low end" for nurses in my area. people i went to school with have taken jobs that start around the $80,000 range at different/bigger hospitals.

hi all! i'm a newly graduated rn whose first position will be on an ortho floor in a few weeks. i guess i'm just looking for advice from seasoned ortho nurses on what to expect. ortho was not my first choice, but i was hired for the position and decided to take it to get experience, as i'm not really sure what area of nursing i want to pursue yet! so if you could let me know a little about it, it would be greatly appreciated! thanks! :loveya:

graduated the end of june, took the nclex last week. studied for 4 weeks, but took the last 2 weeks before the test most seriously.. probably did 5000+ review questions, between books and cdrom questions! btw: passed the nclex with 75q!

i did not take the kaplan course, though a couple of my classmates did. we had a review course at the end of our last semester, which i thought was enough. i passed the nclexrn this week with 75 questions having not taken kaplan. i think if you did well enough in school and you do enough practice questions, you will pass on your own. those i know who did take kaplan felt just as stressed after the test as those who did not. :loveya:

where do you live? if you live in nj, i've heard friends of mine complaining about nj bon's slowness in sending out licenses/numbers..