RNMariposa

Group study works depending on who is in the group... if it is a bunch of your friends then you may end up socializing instead of studying. Also, you don't want to spend your time teaching everyone else while not getting your own questions answered. The people in your group should be at the same level of understanding as you and willing to work and not socialize.

You aren't alone. I had a class like yours and I had to end up teaching myself. I went the the teacher and I didn't get any help from her. I have to do my own reading and look up everything myself.... I studied so hard for that class and only managed to get an average grade. (which I am still not over.. btw) But your teachers probably do not realize that some students learn differently. My learning style is more visual and auditory. I have to see it and hear it at the same time which is why having a good instructor is so important. If they don't explain what they mean, I get totally lost. My advice is to figure out your learning style. Make notecards, tape record yourself, make up your own quizzes... whatever helps you the best. Maybe the best thing to do so you won't be bored in class is to use classtime to read/ make notecards or whatever rather than listening to the instructor if that isn't helping you.

No, I wanted to know what other nurses thought and find out what has been the experience of others. I haven't been around long enough to know if this is normal or out there. I was trying to explain what I had been told during the interview properly and the overall jist of what happened. Overall, the patient load, the job requirements, pay and benefits all sounded normal. It was just this 3 year stipulation that surprised me. The orientation is M-F, 8hr shifts for one month. Then she said I definitely would have to get IV and ACLS trained and then whatever other training I think I might need to get my skills up.. such as trach or whatever. But I am really OK with my skills and I don't think I need anything extra past normal orientation. She said they expect the first year to be the training year with most of it being within the first 3-6 months. Any inservices they provide to everyone doesn't count as only the training for me specifically does. I realize that places may tell me anything too so I didn't want to blindly listen to whatever they said and sign away. I wanted to put some thought behind it and weigh my options. Which right now consists of signing and working there or staying per diem at my other job.

Yes they are

They gave me specifics... The orientation is regular pay rate. I would have to pay that amount back and the amount of any training they paid for me to get... as in getting certified in anything. Also, the health insurance is free. I wouldn't have to pay any. OK... let me break it down this way. Everything else they said was good. It was normal and what could be expected as far as from what I have heard from other nurses as in expectations of the job and raises and benefits, etc. Nothing else seemed out of line. The only catch was this 3 year agreement. If everything else sounds doable, would you pass on a job that made you stay for 3 years?

No it isn't

No, I haven't seen the contract but she said it was just an agreement that if they pay for orienting me and any extra training (ie- IV certification, PALS, etc) that I would have to pay them back the cost of this back if I left before 3 years. They said they had to adopt this policy because people didn't really want to work there or people whom really wanted another job but came there to work until something else opened up at the hospital down the street left after orientation or after they had spent all of the money on them for getting training and certified. The nurses left and they lost all of the money. She said they didn't have any problems after they adopted it because then they knew they were getting people who really wanted to work there. I understand what she is saying and I get why they might want to go that route... but the thing that put me off was the 3 years. I could understand maybe 2 at most but I was a little unsure of 3 and I wanted to ask around if anyone else had a similar circumstance. But the raises and shift selection or whatever have nothing to do with that. The raises have to do with skill set and performance. I would have a choice of two shifts. And holidays are on a rotating schedule for everyone. Yes, 3 people with whom I have shared my resume with have been qualified to professionally critique my resume. They only did minor tweaks. I really don't think my resume is the problem. I don't want to be a military nurse because I don't want to go overseas.

I don't really know as there are benefits to signing the contract. Just knowing that I am expected to be somewhere for 3 years is both good and bad. Good because unless I really screw up they aren't going to get rid of me and bad because I have to guarentee them I am staying 3 years or else pay them back for the training they give me. There is no sign on bonus. I don't want to go into too much detail but I have had my resume and cover letter looked over numerous times by about 20 people. I have sent out hundreds of resumes over the past several months. The thing is I keep getting the same response back- we want at least one year experience. It has nothing to do if whether or not I could actually do the job... the only thing holding me back is that I am new. I don't bother sending out resumes if it lists requirements of experience but even the ones that do not list it really want it. And yes, the positions I apply for are advertised. So this is the problem. I am pretty sure that if I say yes to the 3 years they will hire me. And since not too many people in my area are even looking at new nurses, maybe I should just take it the position to get the experience?

I am a fairly new nurse. Currently, I am working per diem at a facility. It is great but they aren't looking to hire anyone full time in the near future. I am really needing a full time job so I have still been sending out resumes. I had an interview with a facility yesterday. Thje interview went well but I am at a loss as to what to do. I have semi been offered a job. The hitch is that they want me to sign an agreement to stay with them for 3 years before they will fully consider me for the position. But basically it sounded like they liked me but they would not hire me on the spot unless I signed the contract. What I was told about why they have that in place ( they spend a lot of money training and they don't want me to leave for something else I want to do 6 months down the road and then they are out all of the time and money training. They are saying three years because they figure the first year is trial and error and it is a learning time. The next two years they are seeing the benefits of the training) makes sense, however I wanted to ask around to see if this was a common practise? Should I be worried about taking a job that makes me sign a contract? They did say if I really wanted to leave before the contract was up then I would have to reimburse the facility the orientation and training monies. The other thing is this is the first full time position that has called me in to interview so I am a little nervous about a) not getting any other interviews and b) having someone else I really liked better call me up after I have already taken this position. On the plus side, I know I would learn a lot more than where I am doing my per diem work and that makes me want to say yes. But I am still torn. Would I feel better about it if they didn't make me sign it? Yes, I probably wouldn't have spent so much time worrying about taking the job or not if they hadn't said anything about the contract. What would you do?

I took my boards Dec 08 and I started looking for a job in Jan 09. I still have yet to find a full time position. Currently I am working per diem at a residential facility that is both a school and a hospital. I started there end of April. I like it but I wish it was full time.

Thanks everyone. I guess I am just having problems with determining where I want to go. I want to go back to school and do my RN to Masters but I don't know what area I want to be in now. I know there are programs but there isn't really information about how you can try it out and see if that is what you like. I also don't want to go through school and then figure out I don't like it. Take Pharmaseutical trial nurses... how do you get started with that field? I would just really like to talk with someone who is in these fields so I could determine in which direction I should go. Maybe I should just go for my BSN now until I figure it out?

I know everyone is for hurrying up with getting the test over but I am always wary of rushing things. If you have other things going on I would say wait until you get back. Take a book with you and study some a little everyday you are gone and then come back for the test. You will also have to register with personvue.. who may not have testing dates available for you until later anyway.

Before I entered nursing school I thought I had it all figured out as to what field of nursing I wanted to enter. Now I am not so sure because I have had the time to see there are more options than I had originally thought. My question(s) is(are)- what kind of nurse are you? Did you always plan to enter that field or did that change after graduating? (ie you really wanted to be a med/surg nurse and now you are in psych) Secondly, I want to further my education and before I do I need to figure out what path I want to choose. So, if anyone who is in/ has been in/ or knows about any of these fields please tell me the pros and cons. Case Management Occupational Health Forensic Nursing Labor and delivery Nutritional counseling Nursing Administration Midwifery Third, has anyone received a BSN or Masters through online classes? Are these reputable? Will they be taken seriously? Basically can anyone help me out with pros and cons of online classes vs. in person classes. Thanks!

I had a classmate like this. There were several people who believed this person should not have passed clinicals at all. Obviously, this person had the grades or they would have failed out but in clinical they were totally incompetent and made up reports and talked back to the instructors. While I was never asked to help this classmate, I agree with the middle of the road approach mentioned before. Help some but make sure you don't become stuck to your classmate throughout the program. You have to make sure you get your opportunities to learn and you aren't in charge of making sure everyone else passes. If they don't get it then they need to be allowed to fail on their own. Sometimes people learn more from failing than they would by other people passing them when they shouldn't have been. And we don't really need poor nurses out there anyway.

I agree with the above. Get the book now and just start to read over some things or at least try to start memorizing the bones and muscles. Flash cards helped me as did the A&P coloring book. Our teacher made us trace pictures of bones, mucles, nerves, etc and label them as part of our requirement for lab. That also helped. My questions were multiple choice. The CD with the book was great. Mine had practice tests and print out flash cards.