rayshanna

Are you an experienced nurse? If you are one of the most important things that you can do is stress this to your new coworkers. Sometimes it is hard for some to realize that an experienced nurse is inexperienced when in a new specialty. The second thing you can do is try to do as many cervical exams as possible, Ask other nurses if you can check their patients if they have epidurals. The most important thing that you can do is to choose the hard patients if your preceptor allows you to choose your patients, if not have a conversation with your preceptor informing them of the type of patients that you would like to care for. Example: fetal demise, magnesium patient, preterm pt, multiple gestation pt., PIH pt, gestational diabetic pt, eclampsia pt., etc. I hope you enjoy L&D.

as a new grad it is up to you to get everything you need out of your preceptor. i am finally over my 1 year mark, so like many i was just being precepted myself. i had 2 preceptors. my first preceptor had 7 years of experience as a rn, but just 7 months experience in medsurg. my very first day with her was extremely unproductive (i had my license prior to starting) because all i did was hand out medications. being that medsurg was new for her it was difficult for her to systemically provide care. before my first day was over i sat down with her and informed her that even though i was a rn, i was 100% new to nursing and needed more from her. she seemed very receptive, but at the end of my third shift with her i still was unable to say that i was getting what i needed out of orientation, so i informed her that i was going to request another preceptor, which i did. to my surprise she was supportive and in agreement. she told me that she was very stressed because she was still trying to learn how to manage her days and did not feel like she was capable of precepting yet. my new preceptor had 8 yrs of med surg experience on my unit of 60 beds and she was awesome. she showed me everything from protocols to skills to the qualifications of becoming certified in med surg. sometimes while you are in orientation you have to speak up. it's not a crime to request a different preceptor if you do it professionally. if you are unable to get what you need from your preceptor "speak up." it's too late to complain after orientation is over, do something about your dilemma while you have the opportunity. for those who precept: please refuse to precept if you feel like you are unable to, regardless of the cause, because at the end of the day you are still stuck working with us inexperienced ones. if we are not taught you are the one's stuck helping us pick up the slack one way or the other. why not put the extra work in while orienting us rather than cleaning up after us (i.e. night shift, cn, buddies, etc.). i am extremely grateful to all those who precept willingly or unwillingly, because without preceptor how would new grads become equipped? so thank you to all of you preceptors out there.

I just graduated in May from MSC nursing program and school was Never 5 days a week. Unless something has changed in the program you will only have school 2-3 days a week, depending on when you have clinicals for Mental Health. Some of my classmates worked throughoour the program, but I didn't work until out last semester because I have two children (a 6 yr old and a 2 yr old) which were 4 yrs old and 2 months when I started the program. Nursing is hard no matter where you get your degree from so don't worry about the horror stories. If you got in the program just work hard and you will succeed.

Your first semester will require one day for 2 nursing classes (usually from 8-2 or so) and you will have clinicals for Fundamentals once a week through out the semester and clinicals once a week for 1/2 the semester or 6 weeks for Psych. So for 1/2 the semester you will have class/clinicals 3 days a week and the other 1/2 of the semester you will only have it 2 days a week. Hope this helps.

i am currently working on a very demanding med surg floor in a trauma 1 facility and i find myself ready to walk out the door and cry at times. i just graduated and took and passed boards in may so i am extremely overwhelmed. next week is my last week of orientation (6 wks) and i am soooooo scared. my preceptor keeps telling me how much of a good job i am doing, but i don't see it. i have been taking care of all of our patients (5-6) since last week in preparation of being by myself in a week. my issue is this, i am a very happy bubbly person, but i have noticed, as well as my new coworkers, that lately i haven't been smiling. when i am at work i isolate myself until i'm caught up with my work which is usually around 12, then the real me comes out. i feel like in the five weeks i've been working i'm losing my happiness. i know that i can do the job but i fear that in doing my job i will lose my happiness. will the sun ever shine my way again? lol. any suggestions?

Dear TLC2U My last semester of school was excellent. I did 2 months on a cardio unit, which I loved, and then two on neuro ICU. I enjoyed the unit that I precepted on so much that I wanted to work there, but my preceptor recommended that I go to the floor that I currently work on instead (she use to work on this floor). The floor that I work on has quite a tough rep the saying is "If you can survive 6Main you can work anywhere". A few of my instructors also recommended for me to go work on this floor because of "my energy level". I know that in a year I'm going to look back thankful, but right now I ask myself WHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Lol. Thanks for the encouraging words.

erin, your current circumstances sound all but too familiar to me. i am also a new nurse, since this past may, and like you i found and still find myself extremely overwhelmed. i chose to work on an extremely difficult med surg unit at my hospital (thanks to a number of suggestions from other nurses i trust) against better judgment, and now when it seems that the majority of my classmates are chilling and enjoying their life as new nurses i feel like i'm in the middle of a mass casualty crises. i have been on the floor for 5 weeks now and things are getting better. my first week i decided to take care of two patients myself then when i felt comfortable (100%) i went up to 3 patients, which took 2 1/2 weeks. i spent two days with 3 then jumped right to 5 and have been taking care of 5 patients by myself with my preceptor watching from the side lines. i have been extremely overwhelmed but i know in the long run i am benefitting from biting the bullet now. for the last 2 weeks my preceptor's job as a rn has pretty much been to get coffee and to check behind my documenting to remind me of things i've forgotten, and oh yeah "to hold me up and tell me to breathe from time to time." after next week i will officially be by myself, so i have done my very best to take full advantage of the little time i have with a preceptor by testing my coping skills. i will keep you in my prayers but rest be assured you are not alone. i will also keep your mother in law in my prayers. god bless, and keep your head up and hopes alive. ray.

i have noticed the same thing about night nurses being more laid back. in many ways starting off as a new grad on nights is beneficial but in many others days are better. for example, nights are beneficial to learn documentation and charting and your facilities systems, but days are better for skills and one on one interaction with doctor and other disciplinary members. i hope you like nights; sounds like it'll be a perfect fit for you.

My school sent my classes paperwork in Apr 25th then our transcripts May 11th. Got my ATT May 19th and tested on May 26. I live in GA. Sorry you're having to wait, I know it can be very frustrating. For some reason about 8 of my classmates still don't even have their ATT even though our paperwork were sent off at the same times. Here I've been a RN officially for almost a month come July 3rd (I was the first from my class to test) and some of my classmates don;t have an ATT yet.

Thanks for the encouragement. I wish the two of you many blessings. I'm back on days, do to a scheduling issue, but it's cool. Today I took carre of 3 patients all by myself, talk about happy. I was beside myself. Had to look up hospital policy on suction care for trache's. Lol. The last time I suctioned a trache was my 1st semester of school, over 1 1/2 years ago. i learned alot today, so I'm actually enjoying days. Best wishes to you two though.

I survived my first two weeks as a new grad. Unfortunately I took and passed boards before my first day of work, so when I hit the floor I was just another RN. After a conversation with my Department Educator than my Ass. Director, than my Director, finally I started getting treated as a new grad. Day shift is where I thought I wanted to be and two weeks later, I'm so thankful that there were no day shift positions available. Tonight will be my first night and I am looking sooooo forward to it. In the 6 shifts (12's) that I pulled on day shift I worked until after 8pm 4 out of the 6 days. Nights have gotta be better. LOL.

I'm sorry to hear that you failed. I pray that you will study some more than give it another try. May God be with you.

No I didn't get to the credit care page. I got the "our records indicate that you are already registered for this exam, please contact your board of nursing" message.

I checked it and responded. You'll do fine.

I think instead of focusing on the school name you should focus on their NCLEX pass rate. I'm sure that there is a school in your area that has an affordable nursing program with an excellent pass rate. Please consider the current economy. I know it will get better, but do you really want to hang yourself out there to dry? Say you do get a cosigner and somehow find a lender to loan you 100% of your tuition, with the current credit crunch you;ll be in debt the next 15-20 years of your life and for what? I do understand where you are coming from though, so please do not choose lightly.