Rayray15

I'm sorry to hear about not passing. The first time I took nclex I had over 100 questions and failed. I also had a job lined up and unfortunately the offer was taken back. It wasn't my ideal dream job but it was in the city where I wanted to live. To prepare myself I took the Kaplan review class again. I did it online the second time instead of in the classroom, and truthfully I found it not only more convenient but more satisfying for my learning. I literally went through the entire book and questions. My results double higher than the first time I tried to study. The ati and hessi (sp?) questions I used too for some studying, but found the Kaplan questions to be more like nclex. I really stuck to my 4 week learning schedule that was in the book. I think my problem the first time is that I felt like I was studying all day all the time. I would only allow myself to study for 2-3 hours a day with a break every hour then take my test, after that I was done. Before I went to sleep I would review my notecards and that was it. Doing this helped me retain so much more information and keep my sanity! I forgot to mention I have really bad test anxiety so the day of my nclex exam I had all 265 questions! I could actually tell this time though when I was getting the questions right and wrong, I must have been borderline the whole time. The more select all that apply means your doing well. When your getting more basic questions you know you are starting to fall under the pass range. It was a mind game the whole time. But the way Kaplan teaches you to approach and answer the question really helped me a lot. Everything happens for a reason and honestly if I did pass the first time I don't believe I would be where I am now, in a new city that I love and having my dream job. Keep your head up and good luck to you!

I work at a level one trauma hospital and the majority of the staff are rn's who scrub and circulate, however we do have some ST. As rn's in the or there is no "I just scrub" or "I can only circulate". With OR experience or not we all go through our orientation learning how to do both through each service and are expected to do both after orientation.

I worked on a medical floor for 3 months as a new grad then switched to recovery. I worked in recovery for 9 months until a got an interview at a big teaching hospital that took nurses without OR experience. I think me working in recovery helped me a lot throughout my interview process. I also became charge nurse in recovery, which I think helped also.

I work at a large level one trauma center and part of our green light process is that the patient must be checked in by the or nurse in preop before the patient can go back to the or, for the exception of emergency cases. Anesthesia cannot bring the patient back until we check them and sign the chart allowing them to come back.

I was kinda in the same situation as you. I worked as a RN though for 3 months on a medical floor and then transferred to PACU. I was still considered a new grad, but you can definitely do it! After 2 months of orientation my manager made me pm charge nurse. Do not be afraid to ask questions to your nurses, crna's, and doctors. I was hired to work in main and outpatient recovery, however I also asked if I could be trained in assessment. In assessment, I learned to admit patients, brushed up on my iv skills, and learned how to do blocks. I also tried to take the more complicated patients while I was still in orientation, it made me more comfortable once I was on my own because I knew what to do. The good thing about PACU is that you will never be by yourself! You will always have other nurses there to help and a doctor will always be there! :) I love PACU and I couldn't see myself ever working on the floor. Best of luck to you!

I am also a new grad but from Illinois and just moved out here in Dec. I just had two interviews last week and Seattle Children's and Swedish Medical Center. Both are hiring but you have to check weekly because they only post new grad positions literally for a week before taking them down. I'm lucky I just got hired at Swedish, and they informed me they are starting to do 3 more RN residencies this year in addition to the two they already have. My best bet would be to try Swedish. Good luck on the job search!

MJB2010 gives excellent advice. I would look up the mission and vision of the hospital. I know on my last interview, which they ended up hiring me, they appreciated that I knew it and somehow incorporated it into my interview answers. Also a lot of situational questions, such as dealing with conflict, teamwork, feeling overwhelmed and how you handle it. And ask them questions!!...It looks bad if you come without some sort of questions about the position. Since you don't have any experience try to really sell yourself on your clinical experiences! Best of luck!