mgbswan

Good luck GOLD 2010! I will be praying for your success. Keep practicing being relaxed and feeling confident in what you have learned, from taking the NCLEX before, studying and from your life experiences (especially as a mother). I'm sure you'll be helped by the support you have from God and all those of us who have chosen to become nurses.

Hi Gold 2010, I just found your thread, and wanted to respond and share my thoughts, though I know there's not much time to reschedule an appointment for next week. I also had to decide about taking the NCLEX before or after the passing grade went up, because I waited two months after graduation to apply for my RN license. I'm not sure what your current thinking is after chatting with Nurse Lil-lea, who seems to have a somewhat different perspective than I do. Personally, I decided that it would be better to spend a few more weeks studying than take the "easier" test by March 31. Like you, I'm using Saunders and the NCSBN learning extension. I still have areas where I score less than 60, and I realized that my incorrect answers are usually due to not remembering the pathophysiology, medication issues, and nursing interventions. Just as important, I felt that having more study time and better ability to recognize the correct answers in practice would boost my confidence and decrease my nervousness at the actual test. Nervousness and worry just make it harder to sort out the information that's in your brain. A great feature of the the learning extension review is the Rejuvenation Station exercises. You can use them to reduce your stress anytime you study, are dealing with other life stresses, or even while taking the NCLEX. I haven't posted enough to have personal messages, but we can always chat through this thread, if you'd like. I want to wish you the best of luck. :redbeathe

Thanks so much for all your excellent input, rninormatics. I am another beginning RN looking at entering this specialty, and I know that a foundation of at least a few years of patient care experience is important. I have a Master's in Social Work and experience in health care relavant to nursing, but it's not the same as being a nurse on a hospital unit. I want to second rn informatics statement from Oct. 27: 5) You are a good teacher, communicator and peace maker and have excellent social skills - sometimes the "softer" skills are the most important(I apologize if I didn't follow correct procedure for quoting, since I'm new to posting).' My husband has worked in software applications for a large company for 21 years, and I always felt that his communication and social skills were the key to his successful advancement (and increase in responsibility that adds stress). He learns what the users' overall objectives, etc are when he begins working on development of their request for a new report, new way of organizing information, or a change in the information collected. I suspect that many people go into the IT field because they're not interest in working with people, so my husband is fortunate to have both people and computer application analyst skills' I'll be monitoring this and other related posts, so thanks again, in advance. I may have specific questions to post before long.

Congrats! Thanks for reminding us about how difficult, yet important, it is to be assertive without being pushy and to hang in there with a positive outlook. I really appreciate reading a note from someone with a good experience. I would be very interested to hear how often you called to show your interest in the job. I'm just about to begin my ASN preceptorship, so I have a few weeks before I can do the full-time job search, and I know that my area has lots of new grads all looking for the same jobs. Starting out with a pesssimistic outlook will only further reduce my chances of success, so thanks for the inspiration. Good luck!

To 2nd wind, I agree, and I would say you have wisdom, not hubris to comment from the perspective of a new nurse. As a student entering the last semester of school I appreciated your thoughts. It will help me complete my list of what to observe when I'm evaluating potential worksites. Thanks to all for the observations and comments.