crbetts

So what do you do differently to pass this time?

Let me know how it turns out for you. I am just recently beginning to explore travel nursing, and the San Diego area is one of my choices.

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I was educated in MO, got a job in a small rural hospital on the river in NE MO, and now want to practice in IL where I actually live. I am in the process of submitting the IL RN endorsement app as well. 1. Can apply for a temporary license and endorsement at the same time? So can i turn in one application and just make sure i have everything else i need for each thing and be ok? Or do i need to send them in separately? I think you can apply for both at the same time. It's $50 for the license and $25 for the temp, but I think the idea is to apply for your temp wheile your license is going thru. Apparently, IL takes A LONG time to get their stuff together. Figures, the whole state is run by a bunch of Mafia crooks. 2.I don't currently have a job and haven't worked as a nurse so do i need to include the verification of employment/experience (VE) form? I wouldn't think you could include a VE if you haven't had a job 3. For the CT-NUR form since I'm licensed in MO and they use nursys I don't need to complete this form right? I just need to go to the site and follow the instructions there? You have to use Nursys for verification, not CT-NUR. It's like $30 for Nursys verification 4. Do i need to fill out the Health Care Workers Charged with or Convicted of Criminal Acts(CCA)? I feel like this answer is no because i haven't been charged or convicted but just want to make sure. Yes, everyone has to fill out a CCA 5. For the background check is all i have to do is get finger printed and they will do the back ground check based on that? Probably another duh question but just want to make sure. I think that is the case. I haven't set up my prints yet.

Here in rural Missourah, I work in a 24 bed telemetry step-down unit with usually a 4:1 ratio on nights, and no aide, tech, etc. So we do EVERYTHING for our patients. I do understand it is worse other places 5:1 or 6:1, I'm not sure if that's with a tech or not.

Dude, what the hell? Nobody cares how you look, this isn't high school. I'm a fat old bald guy as well (40 in Dec). I've been an RN for almost a year and a half. Just don't stink and brush your teeth. Don't screw around and take care of your patients and do your job. Personality wise, just be yourself and don't act like a creep. Yes, you'll work around 97% women, but these are your coworkers. Act professional - that's why they call us PROFESSIONAL Registered Nurses. Help out when you can, and it helps if you can keep a sense of humor when things get hectic. Be caring and comforting. Most of your patients are going to be really old anyway, in my year and a half I've had ONE lady say she wasn't comfortable having a guy take care of her. I guess what I am trying to say is just do your job, everything else is extraneous.

So I had my annual review yesterday. My first year as an RN is over! And I got a pay raise! Must be doing something right :-) Anyway, my nurse manager wants me to persue certification as a progressive care (step down) nurse (PCCN exam) Has anyone ever taken this exam? I guess it's similar to the CCRN exams for ICU nurses. Did you find it easier or harder than the NCLEX, or about the same?

I'm a new RN as of May at a small rural hospital in Missouri. I live 25 miles from the hospital, and I have to drive in frequently on my days off to go to training and policy meetings. This annoys me. I thought today that some sort of web based meeting software would be of benefit to me and other nurses in my organization so that we could attend these meetings at home. Of course, we would have to go in if it were "hands-on" stuff; but it frequently isn't. It's almost always just some person standing up talking his or her way through a powerpoint presentation. Is anyone out there using any meeting software? If so, what are the pros and cons? I think this is a fabulous idea, and I'd like to approach my management with it with as much information as I can gain. Thanks for any advice or experiences you can share.

How old is too old? Dead. You're never too old Go for it.

1. TCBY counter 2. Arby's counter 3. John Deere tractor repair 4. Drunk college student (pre-law major, but really majored in EtOH) 5. Car Wash 6. Hot dog factory line 7. Electronics factory temp 8. Pizza Hut warehouse 9. Convience store counter 10. Schwan's man 11. Receptionist in dermatology office 12. Medical office assistant 13. Nursing school while doing #12 14. RN on a cardiac unit

I'm a guy and my badge spins, so the boobs don't matter. (Although, if I don't lay off the cheeseburgers, I may get "moobs" pretty quick). This spinning badge thing frustrates the heck out of me too. I've tried the deliberately flipping backwards trick of the previous poster at three different institutions with no luck. I may try some sort of lanyard thing next ....

I just finished my 6th 12 hr night in a row. It sucked. And I've only been an RN since June.

You NEED that clinical experience. I wish IT people would realize that they need to design systems that work well for the nurses that are in the trenches. These people just sit in some office somewhere and program all day and don't have a clue about how their program works in the real world. Please, please, please get some clinical floor experience, then please design your program and get out there in the real world and try to use it with a real patient load of 5-8 patients for a real 12 hour shift. Just my 2 cents.

So I am doing a presentation for my Nursing Management class on what the New Health Care reform law means to us nurses, and it's SO HARD to cut through all the political crap. Even the ANA site is biased in favor of the law. Of course, there are plenty of sites against the law. Is there any sites out there that anybody knows of that provide an unbiased "it is what it is" look at the law and what it means for nurses? I'm not looking to start any debates here. I don't care about your view of the law, and you don't care about mine. I just need some unbiased information on what it is going to mean for our practices. Thanks.

I've already paid money to MO and submitted an application to get my Authorization to Test for the NCLEX.

I have seen a couple of threads kind of related to my issue, but not quite. I wasn't sure if I responded to one of the older threads if it would pop up, so here goes: I am graduating on May 19 with an ADN from a community college here in Missouri. I want to move to Quincy, IL and work as that is where my fiancee is. My school has already submitted the applications to the Missouri Board of Nursing to take the NCLEX in MO and be licenced in MO. When I called a couple of hospitals in IL, I was told that they would accept new nurses, but not graduate nurses. So I have to have an IL RN license to work in these IL hospitals. So my plan was to sit for my NCLEX here in MO, get my MO RN, and then apply for a IL RN license after that. Can I apply for an IL RN license when the ink on my MO RN is still wet? I have read threads that say that it takes the IL board like 2 months to get your IL license. Is that true? Is anyone else here living on the border of IL and MO or another state and has been through the same experience? What should I do? Thanks,

I posted this on the Peds board before I found this board. OOPS! I am a last semester ADN student doing my clinicals in Maternal Child Health. Today, I was able to observe in a NICU. The RN that I was observing said that it had been her overwhelming experience that an African-American female premmie would grow better and get stronger and have a better recovery from the NICU out of all races and genders. She then said that the AA males and Caucasian females were kind of middle tier in their recoveries, and that Caucasian males recovery rates were much lower. She said that there was a marked difference. I though that was really interesting, and I thought that there must be some literature to back that up if true, but I can't find anything. So then I wondered if this was a universal trend, or just local, or just that one nurse's perception. What is your experience? Is there a difference for races and/or genders in NICU recovery rates? I'm just really curious about this now. Thanks.

I am a last semester ADN student doing my clinicals in Maternal Child Health. Today, I was able to observe in a NICU. The RN that I was observing said that it had been her overwhelming experience that an African-American female premmie would grow better and get stronger and have a better recovery from the NICU out of all races and genders. She then said that the AA males and Caucasian females were kind of middle tier in their recoveries, and that Caucasian males recovery rates were much lower. She said that there was a marked difference. I though that was really interesting, and I thought that there must be some literature to back that up if true, but I can't find anything. What is your experience? Is there a difference for races and/or genders in NICU recovery rates? I'm just really curious about this now. Thanks.

8 is the largest size I've seen. I'm a big guy, 6'1", 280#, and I have big hands. 8s fit fine. One thing you might want to look at is make sure your hands are dry dry dry when you put those gloves on. The least little bit of moisture makes them a bear to put on. So if your hands sweat like mine do ....

I'm a 2nd year nursing student, but I've worked with this sort of thing for years. This is the most effective way to do it. The only other choice is a charge sheet for supplies for each patient, but that won't get filled out by staff. Administrators just have to realize that there is going to always be a certain amount of "drift" with those supplies.

This, I think, is the key. NEVER GIVE UP !!! No matter what is between your legs.

Maybe they are talking about antidotes? Like acetaminophen and acetylcysteine?

I am a nursing student, and the attached sheet is just what I've been looking for! Thanks a million for that!

That's good advice! I'll try that for clinicals next semester, and hopefully be able to carry that into practice. Thanks!

My first year of nursing school is over next week! Just wanted to gloat there, but the real point of this thread is that I received my clinical evaluation today. I did really well in clinicals, and my instructor says that she thinks I'll be a good nurse, but she had some concerns over my organization and my inability to multi-task. I am very much a linear thinker. I've been told that on several different occassions on and off the job. But I am myself concerned that it's going to get in the way of my being a good nurse. A couple of times in clincals, I have put something on hold to complete a more important task, or have gotten interrupted, and forgotten or almost forgotten to go back and complete the original task. Fortunately, it's been nothing major that would have jeopardized patient safety, but I'm afraid if I don't get this under control, I'm really going to screw up someday in practice. I asked my clinical instructor for advice, and she thinks that I would so better as a nurse in a clinic where one type of patient is seen all the time, then as a general floor nurse where you see all kinds of different patients. I'm posting this is the male thread because I'm hoping there is another guy out there that has had this problem, as it seems to be more of a masculine problem. How do you learn to multi-task? Any advice or experience would be more than welcome! Thanks!

I am starting my second semester tomorrow in an ADN program. We had clinicals last semester in our Fundamentals of Nursing class, and I feel like I am able to better assess a patient now, but I didn't get a chance to do any injections or caths, or any of that skills based stuff. I assisted in changing some dressings and turned alot of patients, did a couple of tube feedings. Is my experience in line with most of yours, going into the second semester? Or am i under the gun because I didn't do injections, caths, etc? What was your second semester, Med/Surg I experiences with skills? Thanks