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Hey brainkandy87! () Your situation sounds similar to mine! Hopefully after gaining good experience on the med-surg/tele unit I'll be confident and great with cardiac patients which will prepare me for the ER! Cardiac isn't my strongest subject either but it's fascinating and I like it! My new job will be challenging and a great learning experience for me so I'm excited (& nervous! lol). Thanks for the post! :)

Hey WesClinicRN! I didn't get an offer from the ER...they wanted someone with experience b/c they had already hired several new grads/nurses a few months ago! :/ I hope I don't have trouble when I try switching! Seems like I probably will! Thank you for your post though! I'll keep what you said in mind!

Hey Scarlettz! Female intuition had a GREAT study method! Mine wasn't as organized as her's I just used the Kaplan online program...I did almost all the Q bank questions and too all 7 of the Q Trainer exams. I passed the first time as well with 265 questions! Good luck to you! Do all the Kaplan questions and look up terms/procedures/tests you are not familiar with!!! :]

Thank you!!! I'm in Austin, TX! I graduated in December 2011 and was having a hard time finding a job and then out of the blue I got a few phone calls for interviews for a couple of positions all in like two weeks...it was very weird and unexpected lol. I know Austin definitely does not have a shortage of nurses. It took a few of my friend from 6-8 months to find a job. I'm just very thankful..I was ready to take any position offered lol

Thanks JesseJ! I actually accepted the med-surg/tele position! The ER was also looking for something with a little more experience than me. I'll look into transferring to the ER once I have worked for a few months! :] Glad the ER worked out well for you! I know its a GREAT learning experience b/c you never know what you're going to get! ER a unit I do want to experience working at one day, maybe right now it's just not the time! Again, Thanks! :)

hiddencat, i replied to your post and i have no idea where it went! i wanted to thank you for your post! it was very helpful! i did get a better "vibe" from med-surg. the manager and staff just seemed nicer and i felt like i would fit in better with them. something kept telling me to go with that positon so that's actually what i did! & it all worked out b/c the director of the er also said they wanted someone with experience and once i have experience i can reapply for the er position! lol to your " are you a cowboy or a farmer? love em and leave em or long term relationship? malcom x or martin luther king jr" comment! i was starting to get confused as well, hehe :] thanks again!

Hey MyBSN! I'm posting here in hopes you see my comment and email me! I read ur message and I wrote out a long reply but couldn't send it b/c I don't have enough posts on this forum (LAME)! Please email me at [email protected] and I'll be more than willing to help you out!!! :)

CONGRATS!! So happy for you!! So I just received a private message from one of the members..."MyBSN" and it's about the NCLEX I really want to help this person out but I can't reply b/c I don't have enough posts on this forum! This really sucks! MyBSN, if you're reading this (which I hope you do) please email me at [email protected]! I typed out a long post and when I clicked post an error message popped up about me not being able to private message yet..SO sorry!! Female Intuition (love your user name!!)...CONGRATS once again! & I love your post! :)

LunahRN, you certainly have much more experience than I do which makes me think maybe I should start with Med-Surg first. I understand with the ER, I will either love it or hate it!...thank you for the post! :]

You comment made me laugh b/c I like hiking, running, being on my toes but I also love sunsets, painting, baking, etc. :] I feel like I could fit in both jobs!

Thanks for the reply!! :) Having a 6 month ER experience..even as a student is very help and pretty awesome! I wish I had the opportunity to do that. Unfortunately, I need to let the managers know what I decide very soon so I will not have the chance to visit the ER and see what its like. I would like that though...it would give me a good feel of what the ER is like and what exactly goes on and how crazy it gets! I was told there is a 90 day (3 month) period where I will but assigned a preceptor and I will be doing everything with her for these 3 months. After that, I will have a meeting with the clinical educator, manager, and director to see if I feel confident enough to move forward or if continued time with the preceptor is needed. My main concern is not having much experience with skills....but then again, I know I will trained well. Maybe I should try making a pros/cons list and see what suits me better! Again, thank you for the reply, I appreciate it much!

Hello my fellow Nurses! I'm confused . I interviewed for a Med/Surg/Tele position and after interviewing with several people, I was offered the job on the spot. Today, I had an interview for an ER position. I felt that the interview went pretty well and I find out on Monday if I got the job or not. Now IF the ER hires me as well, I don't know what to go for. I just want some opinons/advice for this matter...maybe your experiences can help me put things into perspective. If you were a new nurse (with no experience) how did you like the fast paced, you-never-know-what-you're-going-to-get ER environment? Thank you all in advance :)

Thank you so much for your post! It was helpful! I applied to both Seton and St. Davids. I really want to work for Seton. Do you have any tips on how I could possible increase my chances on getting interviewed for Seton? I got my license in the beginning of February! So that's definitely a plus! Any other tips/advice? Thanks for your help, it's greatly appreciated! :)

Thanks so much for the helpful information! I really want to work for Seton but it has gotten so competitive! There are about 350-400 new applicants for the June '12 Cohort. Any tips on how to get an interview?? Last semester I got interviewed out of 300 applicants and they only interviewed 17. Out of the 17, only 5 got hired and I wasn't one of them . This time around, I'm licensed. So that's a plus. Any other tips? Thanks in advance! :)

Hey! I just took the NCLEX and I had 265 questions . Trust me, I felt the same when the computer didn't stop at 75! One thing I know for sure is the number of questions DOES NOT mean you passed of failed. I passed with 265 questions. I know people that have passed with 85, 190, etc. Try to relax and keep your mind off of it! The 48 hours were terrible for me and I couldn't get my mind off of it so I do understand how you feel but I kept myself busy with watching shows and hanging out with my sisters! I wish you the BEST of luck! & know that this test doesn't determine what kind of nurse you will be! Stay positive! Praying for ya! :)

YEY! So happy for you guys!!! Changes are needed sometimes!:cheers:

Hey FaithfulGod, I took the exam on Jan 30th. I got all 265 questions and it took me 5 hours to complete but I passed (Thank God!) Oh, and the PVUE trick worked for me as wel!! I did the Kaplan review. I did all of the question in the Q bank (there are about 1200) and I also did the Question Trainer exams 1-7. I felt Kaplan did a good job in preparing me how to answer questions. I would write down the questions i missed and what the correct answer was so I understood why I missed it. If there was a procedure/drug/term I didn't know, I looked it up! I've heard HURST review is also good. My friend did HURST. I only focused on Kaplan and I didn't even use their book. They also have videos on website that you have access to. Those are pretty helpful too but I didn't get around to watching many of those (just 1 1/2). The only thing I did use the Kaplan book for what the LAB value (which I hardly got on the NCLEX). Good luck!!! Hope the advice helped! :)

Praying for you guys!!! Wish you the best of luck! Ya'll can do it! I knew a nurse manager who told me she failed NCLEX the first time...she's AN AMAZING person and she's doing great things! The test doesn't determine how good of a nurse you're going to be! Keep your head up! :)

Hey guys, I saw that many of these posts are several years old so for an update...here is my situation! I took the NCLEX on Jan 30th. I got all 265 questions and it took me about 5 hours to complete :uhoh21:. It was the most nerve wrecking thing ever. I had walked into the testing center feeling confident and ready to take on a 75 question test (lol). By the time I was a little more than half way done, THREE DIFFERENT people had came and finished their tests! The entire time I was wondering am I going to pass??! Why hasn't the computer stopped yet? Why are so many people coming and going around me?! I wanted to just punch the computer screen! It was just a horrible day for me, I wasn't feeling well either . I had TONS of select all that apply and priority questions. For most of the questions I would be stuck between two answer choices and that was SO frustrating . I had spent about 10-11 hours studying each day for a little more than a week, plus ~3-4 hours prior of that week of intense studying. I completed all of the Q Bank questions (there are about 1200 questions) and completed the Question Trainer Exams 1-7..which I did pretty well on. My scores ranged from 51-63 on these exams. My school also required us to pass the HESI with a 900 in order to graduate and I scored a 1,000 on my HESI. (Just giving a little background info so the situation is understood completely!) Regardless of all this studying, I felt very uncertain about passing. For many questions, I'd read it and think to myself "OH! I know thiss!!!!" and when I would read the answer choices they would be COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! SO I FINALLY finished the most WERID test I had ever taken and I felt like utter **** (to say the least..). I couldn't stop thinking about it; it was driving me insane. After a couple of sleepless nights, I found the quick result trick on this website so I tried re-registering for the NCLEX and a pop up came up. It said, "our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. Please contact your member board for further assistance". I was SHOCKED to see this message. I had been expecting to see the CC page that would allow me to re-register. According to this message, I had passed. But even after seeing this, I only felt a LITTLE relieved and I still didn't believe it completely. So I waited a little longer and checked the Nursing Board's website to see if my name was on it and it wasn't. This is when I decided to just pay for my result because I couldn't wait any longer. I just wanted to be at peace...weather I passed for failed. I paid for my results and I was SHOCKED to see that I PASSED!!!! I TRICK WORKED!! I felt SO incredibly thankful. :w00t: ADVICE: For those of you taking the NCLEX soon....don't go into the testing center prepared to take a 75 question test....if you get 85, 100, 190...or 265 GIVE IT YOUR ALL! Take it one question at a time and try to answer the question best of you ability. The number of questions you get DOES NOT determine if you passed or failed so please please please keep that in mind or else you'll feel more anxious and focus your energy on your nerves rather than the exam. The test is weird. You will feel confused and uncertain during the exam and AFTER the exam..this is normal. There was not a single person I spoke to that felt confident about passing (even those who had 75 questions). RELAX the day before and OF your exam. I had burned myself out so much a couple nights before the test because I had studied nonstop and not given myself enough breaks. I could not think and I felt like sleeping all day. DON'T do that b/c during the test you will burn out and do poorly..your brain and body need a break! GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU! If you have any questions, please feel free to message me. I understand what you're going through and I would love to help in any way I can!

It's pretty competitive to find a job in TEXAS! It took one of my friend's almost a year to find a job, whereas another friend found one before she even graduated. But I've heard from several people finding a job is tough and they look to see if you have experience.

I agree with Jersery BSN, it's probably not an unusual finding. In fact, during my Neuro ICU rotation, I had a patient that had AVM and the nurse told me it's pretty common and people are born with AVM and it's not until their 30s-40s that they even figure out they have AVM because they go to the hospital for complaints similar to yours, or a fall/head injury and when an MRI/angiography is done, it shows an AVM. During our post-conference meeting after clinicals my instructor told me the same thing. (I'm actually a student nurse and next semester will be my last semester before I'm an OFFICIAL nurse). I hope you feel better!! :)

Hi guys!! I just had my nursing school orientation this week! I'm super excited!! I just need advice from you folks..Where is the best and most reasonable place to purchase my supplies? I need a bp cuff, pen light, scissors, stethoscope, things like that and there are so many to choose from! The prices also vary. Can someone please tell me where I should purchase these items from? Also, any recommendations on which brand/type of items to purchase? One more thing, BOOKS! Anyone know good/cheap websites where I can purchase books?? THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!! I appreciate it! =)