mindaay

When I interviewed for a cath lab position, I didn't even know what questions to ask! Now after being here for a year.. I wish I knew what I know now! You mentioned that it is a small lab, do they do interventions or is it a diagnostic lab? If they don't routinely do intervention, is there a STEMI program where they do emergent angioplasty? If so, **what does the call schedule look like** very important question. If you have to take call, find out how often. I am on call 2-4 times a week at night, some labs only have to take call once or twice a MONTH! Are you just working in the lab or is it also pre/post procedure care? What is the role of the RN in the lab? Circulate (sedate) scrub, hemodynamics monitoring?

I agree, IR is a lot of fun! I work in a combined cardiac cath lab/IR department, so heading down to "special procedures" adds more variety to my day. There are so many different procedures done in IR, I'm still going in on some things that I've never seen before. I don't really have anything to add about preparation.. basically review sedation medications/reversals and cardiac monitoring, the rest is learn as you go! For my lab, we have a HUGE orientation book with all of the procedures and nursing responsibilities for each procedure, you could see if your lab has something like this to look over before you start. I'll say this much though... once you go procedural, you'll never go back to the floor/unit!

I took the boards in February and was pleasantly surprised by the difficulty of questions.. for the most part. I studied with the Kaplan qbank tests and I felt like a lot of those questions were completely random and irrelevant. While there were a few questions on NCLEX that I just had to click and move on (specifically pharm) I thought my questions were very fair. I passed in 75, so it was a nice relief when the screen went blue :) I would say that about 75% of my questions were straight up med/surg. Barely any peds, ob, psych etc.. It could be COMPLETELY different for you though! One thing that I was a little concerned with was the amount of "select all that apply" I got. I've heard that from a few people in my class so I would definitely recommend practicing the non conventional type questions. I found a book in Barnes and Noble that only had those types and really liked it. Sorry, forgot the name! Hope this helps, and good luck!

I graduated in December and I'd say about 1/4 of my class had jobs before we graduated. I'd say apply now, it couldn't hurt. I did the same with no luck but that was just my experience. After graduating I focused completely on NCLEX and held off on applying until I was registered. Recruiters were MUCH more interested in talking to me after being registered! I also learned that a lot of my apps didn't pass prescreening the second I clicked the button "does not have a current license to practice" in the online application. My advice, if you are really interested in a position that has that has that button, CALL. Your application probably won't make it anywhere if you don't.

I've been contacting nurse recruiters by e-mail a lot lately inquiring about new grad positions. I have the typical signature line with my name and contact information but I'm wondering if it's appropriate to put RN BSN by my name.. or is that tacky?? I've worked hard for those letters so I feel like I should! I'm just thinking that it might give me an edge by being registered and having a BSN.