Ruylupez

At my hospital the weekend differential is $2/hour and is paid on any time worked from 11pm friday through 11pm sunday. We have an evening shift diffential of $1.50/hour paid from 3pm to 11pm and a $4.50/hour night shift differential paid from 11pm to 7am. I also get a wekend option differential of $10/hour for all hours worked for agreeing to work every Saturday and Sunday. All of these differentials really add up for those of us who work weekend nights.

I worked through school as a CNA at a local hospital. On graduation I stayed on the same unit working as an RN and had only a few problems making the transition. I have now been an RN for about 4 years and have no regrets about my decison.

When I started nursing school no background check/drug screen was required. One hospital did a drug screen on anyone doing clinicals there but that was it. During the summer break between first and second year we were informed the rules had changed and we were required to pay for a background check and drug screening before attending clinicals the next semester. Then we had to pay for another background check in order to take the NCLEX and I recently had to pay for a THIRD background check when I applied for a license by reciprocity in a neighboring state where I am now working. By applying to work as a nurse you are asking for access to some medications that are illegal to have without a prescription so I understand they want to make sure your not in the habit of popping those pills yourself. Three background checks in less than three years does seem a little excessive but sometimes you just gotta jump through the hoops they put before you to get to your desired destination.

I worked 7p to 7a nights as a tech and now I am working the same schedule as a nurse. I don't have a spouse or children which makes it easier to sleep days without missing the family. These are some of the things I have found helpful. 1) Keep the room dark, I have thick black curtains to help with that. 2) Turn off the ringer on your phone or you will be disturbed, and if your phone won't let you turn off the ringer buy a new phone. I keep my cell phone on a charger next to my bed and those people I trust not to bug me with something that is not important have been told they can reach me on that phone. This works mostly because I don't give out that number to everyone. 3) Keep the same or similar sleep schedule on your days off as much as you can. Your body adapts to a particular wake/sleep schedule and trying to go back and forth between sleeping days and sleeping nights can be very hard on you. 4) Find the late night or 24 hour stores/resturaunts/movie theaters in your area if they exist. It is not uncommon for me to do my shopping at 3am. 5) For those things you can't do at 3am try to schedule them for on the way home or after you normally wake up. I usually sleep from 9am to 5 pm and that leaves me a few hours in the evenings to do the things I can't do late at night. 6) If you have trouble adjusting find something that will help you get to sleep. I keep some sleeping pills in the bathroom and if I am still awake at 9:30 am I usually will take one to help me get to sleep. If sleeping pills are not your thing find something that works for you.

My class started with 52 people. Two years later 65% of those graduated. If you count those who for whatever reason fell behind a semester the graduation rate went up to about 70%. The ones who did a lot of study and hard work for their classes tended to be the ones who made it, the ones who didn't put in so much effort tended to be the ones who didn't make it.

I took the NCLEX in March and walked out of the test confident that I had passed. When I took it again in May I walked out thinking I needed to go back to nursing school I passed that second time.

I took the NCLEX about 3 months after graduation and didn't even study all that much between graduation and taking the test. Just over 50 days later I took it for the second time with a LOT of study time during those 50 days. I just found out today I passed :)

I don't mind daylight savings. In the spring I get off work an hour earlier one day and in the fall I will get an extra hours pay. It would be worse if they changed the time during the daytime while I'm asleep.

After I was laid off from my old job I decided that I needed a new career so I researched several options. I wanted a career where I could be in demand and never be unemployed again, I wanted a career where I could help people, and I wanted a career where I could make make enough money to support myself reasonably well. Nursing was one of the few career choices that gave me all of these things.

I recently graduated and I will be getting my first nursing paycheck in just 8 days! My list so far: 1) Pay back my loans 2) Pay off my car 3) Buy a new house 4) Buy new GOOD furniture to go into the house. I am expecting I can have it all done and paid for except paying off the house in about 3 years, then I will start saving for retirement.

I got a cheapie when I started nursing school and couldn't hear much of anything with it. I eventually gave up on it and got a Litmann Classice SE II. If you are going to get an expensive stethoscope make sure to get your name on it, a few of my classmates have lost theirs over the past two years and I only avoided losing mine when the nurse who had it couldn't explain why she had my name put on the tubing of her stethoscope (Which she insisted she had purchased over a year ago).

My experience is that most of the instructors treat us all the same, but there are a few exceptions. I did have one clinical instructor who I think went a little easier on me in clinicals because I was male. Several of my classmates, both male and female students, insist that one of the clinical instructors who I never had was very easy on the female students and very demanding of the male students.

I am attending the ADN program at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois (Near St. Louis, Mo.). I am due to graduate in December. I have noticed one big differences in the way I am treated compared to my female classmates, I have been through three semesters of clinicals and so far I am only assigned male patients while my female classmates get both male and female patients. So far the only time I have been assigned a female patient was the one day I was doing post-partum work during my OB rotation and my instructor even excluded me from the room during part of the assessment on that patient. Anyone else have instructors who are avoiding assigning female patients to you?

You will be 41 then regardless of what choice you make so why not make the one that will make you happy? I am currently going for my ADN and will be 40 when I graduate later this year. I am far from the oldest person in my class. Don't let someone else's idea of what you should be doing stand in the way of doing what you want to do!

Just a side note, if you do choose excelsior check with your state board of nursing first. I almost started there until I learned here in Illinois they specifically state that an education from excelsior is "an unapproved nursing education program" and it is identified by the state nursing act as "not meeting the requirements for licensure"