none the wiser

Have you ever had a surgeon want to/try to do a procedure not on the consent, or actually perform a procedure not on the consent? What other odd consent-related occurrences should I be on the look out for? I'm still on orientation and already observed a case where the patient signed a consent that said none under "other practitioners" and the attending wanted residents assisting.

Learning surgeon preferences and knowing where things are/what the heck they're asking me for has been hard. And I surely miss knowing what I'm doing. You're starting from square 1. Basic things that seem like "common sense," and coworkers think you should know...you won't know them. It's like being a new grad. They say it gets better after a year, but I'm only 3 months in so I can't vouch for that :) That said, I'm not sorry I left the floor. At all.

I don't regret getting experience on the floor, but it sure would have saved me a lot of grief and misery to just go straight to OR. I don't know that I would worry too much about getting a job on the floor after doing the OR. Floor jobs are a dime a dozen, coming open all the time...I waited 2 years for an OR job to come open in my hospital system. You may not be able to do another specialty like ICU from OR, but I would be shocked if getting a floor job would be difficult. And trust me when I say you can get stuck in a job you hate for 2 years even without a contract. Trust me Have you actually been working in the ORs? Do you like it?

1:5-6 for nurses, although we often have 7-9 patients in a day due to admissions and discharges. 1-3 techs for 28 beds 1 charge nurse, 1 secretary. We max out at 6, so after that the charge nurse will take patients.

Definitely definitely call. And apologize profusely. ETA: I don't think you've blown it...it's still worth calling about regardless.

I edited my post, but the shifts are all 12s except for the first one. If it was 8s I wouldn't even think about trying to change...I could do many more 8s in a row than I could 12s. I've about decided to just do it. I do worry about my quality of care the 3rd and 4th day though. This isn't "oh I'd like to go to the mall or go to the movies instead of working." I'm worried I'm going to make a bad mistake. I know it's silly to be nervous about 3 patients, but I've never had more than 2 in nursing school. Thanks again for yalls responses. I really appreciate your insight...as a new grad I don't know much about "real" nursing. Yes it's all a big joke...you're so smart for picking up on it. Aren't I funny.

For what it's worth, that's exactly what I'm worried about. Is that common, to work 4 shifts with 2 days off before you're back on again? ETA: The first one is an 8, the other 3 are 12 hour shifts.

I have just received my schedule for the next 6 weeks. I am on orientation. One week, I am working 4 days in a row, then I have 2 days off, then I'm working 2 again. Is it appropriate to ask for them to switch one of those 4 days to any other day? (and I mean really I'll work any day if it means not having 4 in a row). It's also the first week I am to have 3 patients, and the first week I am sharing my preceptor with another orientee. I just don't see this going well at all. I'm next to useless by the end of the 2nd day, so 4 blows my mind.

What do you find stressful?

I would talk to your manager...personally I would schedule a meeting on your day off. I wouldn't wanna be weepy and have to go back to work...this meeting may be stressful. I interviewed in an ICU, and the NM told me that if, during my preceptorship, I felt that the ICU was not for me, they would work with HR to reassign me to a floor that I would like. Your floor sounds similarly understanding.

White and royal blue...we can wear either or both. I got my fill of white in school, so I'm tending to the blues.

Woo! Congrats. I agree, apply early. However, I would call the hospitals that you're interested in and ask when they take new grad applications and how to apply. Each hospital does it differently. We were told to wait till about 3 months out from graduation. For the jobs I applied for, there was a special new grad application to fill out. We had 3 forms for our references to fill out (no letters) and we had to get our transcripts together as well. You chose your 3 favorite units and they tried to get you interviews there. Here, more emphasis by far is put on your recommendations from instructors and grades than your resume, from what I understand.

I disagree, nobody was being rude. She's right, many hospitals around here hire very few LPNs. I'm sorry if that fact upsets you. And the previous post spoke truth as well. You may find some doctor's offices hiring LPNs. It's hard to get into Lexington Medical Center at all right now, regardless of qualification, except through doctor's offices from what I hear. I checked on the LexMed site and it looks like there are some jobs available for LPNs in Urgent Care. At Palmetto Health there are private duty LPN positions, but they are PRN. I wouldn't be offended if someone said "Well there are some great hospitals, but they prefer BSNs so they may not hire you." Or "They are not hiring new graduates." I would say "Thank you for warning me that I may need to consider other options." I am sorry you haven't found a job. I hope you have better luck.

Cost of living is significantly less in the south usually :)

Thank you so much for all the responses! I read them all and appreciate them very much. The Ortho interview was the recruiter's idea...while waiting for my PICU interview, she asked me what other specialties I liked. I said ortho, and she called up the manager right there, because she had heard there were 2 positions coming available, one day and one night. I have a slight curvature of my spine in my lower back, and it causes weird nerve pain sometimes. It's nothing serious (in the grand scheme of things), and has not been an issue yet. I shadowed today on the Ortho floor...the nurse I was following said it was close to the hardest day she had had, and very abnormal. Lots of medical overflow, and all of her patients were medical, not Ortho, and very heavy care-wise. We talked for a long time, and she was very upfront with the pros and cons of the unit. I would feel comfortable taking a position on this floor...I have been on several med-surg floors in the past...people were unhappy, understocked, understaffed...that was not the case here. I left a good 4 hours later than I had planned to and really enjoyed the day for the most part. I am thinking I will call the PICU tomorrow if I don't hear back and see what's going on. I really see myself being happy on either floor...just two very different kinds of stress.

I wavered between posting this here or in the New Grad section, but I thought everyone might see it here. I'm hoping to get experienced and inexperienced nurse opinions. This week, I had two interviews. First was the PICU. I have really been pursuing this job, and I finally got an interview. It went well I think...it was a typical interview, and she said she would let me know if I get a second interview, as she is interviewing several others for one new graduate position. Afterwards, I was taken downstairs to a surprise Ortho interview. I felt like she spent most of the time telling me about the floor, and before I left she offered me the job. She said she had not posted the openings yet, so I was the only one interviewing. I really had good timing on this. Salary is the same, excepting night shift/day shift differential. PICU is night shift, and could be for a couple years. Orthopedics is day shift. Staffing is reasonable on both...PICU is 2:1 with techs 1:15 or so. Ortho is 5:1 and techs 9:1 on the busiest days. My concerns are this: PICU is so very acute and emotional, and I am a new grad. I know they won't toss me in the deep end but it is still daunting. Also, I do not do well on little sleep as it is. I'm getting married in October, and I worry about a new marriage + night shift. Ortho, I am worried I am backing myself into a specialty that will not allow me to go anywhere else but more med-surg. Not to mention I am very small and I have some back pain already. I also worry that the skills I will learn on the ortho floor are not as impressive/expansive as the ones I would learn in PICU. I love both these specialties...I don't think I was prepared for the possibility I'd have two interviews so close together in two places I actually like. And I was definitely not prepared to factor a day shift position into all of this. As a new graduate, should I accept the position I was offered? Wait to hear from the PICU? What if I lose the ortho position and then don't get selected for the PICU position? I don't want to lose two perfectly good positions because I hesitated to commit.

You might want to call the hospitals and ask whether they're hiring new graduates and how they handle it, because I have found the hospitals handle it different ways. The recruiter at one hospital told me to apply anyway. One told me there was a special new grad application I had to fill out and THEY would get me interviews and place me somewhere I wanted to work (I found this to be the easiest). One told me they hire new graduates in some positions, but that I just had to keep my eyes on the site. So far, with this one, I have not seen one internship come up. I had 2 interviews set up before I graduated, and most of my friends who applied 3 months or so before graduation had jobs. I'm hoping to accept a position this week. In the grand scheme, the job market here is better than a lot of places. :) I am in the Columbia area. I heard there was a new hospital opening up in Charleston...a Bon Secours I think.

Did you rule out an ADN program altogether? 4-5 courses in college is a full load, trust me...lol. That'd probably be labeled as 12-15 hours, but really you spend a lot more time in class and studying than they give you credit for.

Well I passed the NCLEX. So this is the official happy ending to the story...haha. :)

UPDATE: 215: Everybody's great. They're all really nice. I highly recommend Ms Rivers though. Everyone's at Lexington, except Ms Praelue (sp) but she's apparently not teaching for the spring semester. She goes to Providence. 264: Sooooo much better than 263. I :heartbeat Ms Earn.

Congrats! I just took my boards yesterday...now comes the agonizing wait to Monday. Haha. Where are you all at now?

Hi Jessica, I took my boards yesterday...pretty sure I passed too. :) I have a job interview on Monday. I stuck with it. Turns out the first semester, and indeed the first day (when I wrote this) was pretty much the worst. I hit another wall in the last semester, but that first day was definitely the worst. The thing about nursing is there are a lot of different areas. Lots of floors, types of environments...you can even work for an insurance company or a law firm as a consultant. Nursing school is not representative necessarily of what you will be doing the rest of your life. Not everyone will end up in med-surg. Does your program have specialty classes like OB-Peds, Psych, Critical Care? You may find you like one of those. Not to mention there are specialty med-surg floors...I hate general med-surg, and I feel even more strongly about medical. Hate it. But I love Orthopedics. If there is something you're interested in, ask to shadow one day on a floor somewhere. See what a nurse really does...we did not do that until 5th semester. I would have felt far more encouraged if we were allowed to do that earlier in my nursing school career. I guess it depends on your reasons for hating it too...I didn't know what I was doing, which as far as I'm concerned is the worst feeling in the world. But I know that that is one thing that will definitely get better over time. It could be your teacher. It could be the floor you're on. Nursing school was bar none the hardest thing I've ever done, but now I'm really glad I didn't call it quits.

How did you choose where you'd go when you graduated from nursing school? I have so many interests, and all I can say is not general med-surg or LTC...hated them both so very much. Pretty much everything else has been a blast. I guess I worry I'll be pigeonholed into one type of specialty or patient population and won't be able to get a job outside of that. For example, if I go into NICU, but decide I want to do ortho later, there may be a problem. I have half a mind to shotgun it and just see who offers me a job. So how did you choose? Were you satisfied with your decision?

...that would have made too much sense Haha. I tried that just after I posted this thread actually. It did come up with some hospitals, but not many. Before today, I've been using the google maps feature and just typing "hospitals" and looking manually. It seems...inefficient. It'd be really nice if there were a directory where you could select the units you want, and hospitals with those specialty units would pop up. But I think the non-google maps trick might open up some more possibilities anyway. Thanks :)

I did some searches and most of what I came up with was how to find a NICU job...but how do you find an actual unit to apply to? I'm moving out of state after graduation, and I know where a NICU is in my state (I had a clinical there ) but I don't know where to begin looking for others. On the offchance someone is from one of the states I'm thinking about: TN, VA, NC and maybe PA are all options.