mkhoaja

Guttercat, I did numerous searches but couldn't find an answer. I don't know why I didn't bother to search the dialysis forum lol. Thanks for the info!

Hello all, I am a recent graduate, and of course as we all know it's tough to find a job. I have an interview with a Dialysis center, and while it's not my first choice, it's a paycheck. My ideal situation would be in a hospital in Med-Surg where I could gain some experience, and ultimately transition to ICU. Is starting off there going to hinder my future goals, or would it actually help if I wanted to apply to a med-surg or ICU unit? Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I know how all of you feel. I am graduating this semester, but when I applied back in 09, it took them forever to reply to all of us. I wish all of you the best of luck, and if you ever need advice, don't hesitate to ask.

Congartulations on getting in. The best advice I received was from my foundations teacher, when she said to mass email all your family and friends, and tell them that your taking a vacation for 2 years and not to contact you directly, you will contact them LOL. Sadly this is a true statement because you will be too occupied with school work, and the days off you have will be used to recover and rest. Having said that, all of the high school graduates in my program are not there anymore because they were unwilling to make that sacrifice and commitment. Just remember, 2 years of sacrifice will equal a lifetime of reward. Sounds like a good trade off to me. Best of luck to you.

Congratulations. Enjoy the precious time you have before school starts because once it does start, time becomes more valuable than gold lol. I am in an ADN program and am almost halfway done, and I still cant believe it. Between school, clinicals, exams, quizes, preclinical, assignments, and prep for the NCLEX, you will soon find that it will be the most intense schooling out there. Good luck and just try to focus on your goals.

Your only too young if you think you are. Life is usually a state of mind, and you have to truly believe in yourself and your abilities. You cannot let other people dictate how you want to live your life. Good Luck! :)

Yeah I know what you mean because our teachers are watching us like vultures circling their prey. Not to mention we usually have 4 different versions of the test to begin with. There is no way that anyone could cheat at my school. Also, yes cheating is wrong. My instructors have emphasized honesty and integrity as vital to being successful nurses, and also as the key to success in life as well. The cheater will eventually get caught, or fail out all together. You cant cheat during clinical when your instructor asks you what to assess before giving meds or during physical assessments.

I had a heart stopping experience recently, which is really funny now that its over, so I thought it would be fun if we all shared some funny/dumb stories. I was taking my exam, and inadvertently left my cell phone on the table next to me. I was so focused on the exam, I had completely forgotten about my phone. So naturally i got a call 10 minutes into my exam, and as soon as I heard it, I swooped in and silenced it and put it in my pocket all in one motion. After the 30 seconds of panic thinking that my instructor was going to fail me, I realized that she hadnt noticed, and then convinced myself to continue my test. Afterwards, my friend next to me said that I was faster than spider-man grabbing my phone and silencing it into my pocket LOLLL. Good times.

You get curves on your exams?!!!?? LOLLL my program doesnt even round grades. If you make a 69.99, then you have failed that class!

For the record, I am a male student nurse. Having gotten that out of the way, I think I am going to end my post here. I have to say that it has been rather eye opening to say the least. I started a post thinking I was going to be enlightened and hopefully gain some insight. But all I have received are reasons for it being okay to be miserable. I cant win this conversation when everyone thinks its okay to be miserable. As a profession, nursing can be sad, and occasionally will be, but all of our patients dont die on a daily basis. (Miserable = people who dont like thier jobs, not nurses dealing with emotional issues like death, family, etc) I have a degree in marketing, and I have worked in the corporate world. Its really not that different. Your company asks too much of you, pays you too little, and wayyyy under appreciates your hard work. This type of corporate culture is not exclusive to Nursing. This is more of a societal problem IMHO really. Again, If I have offended anyone in any manner or seemed rude, please accept my sincere apologies. MK

Thank you carolmacca66 for seeing my main point. Nursing most definitely is unlike any other profession. My first clinical day, there was a family who was coming from the ICU to a room so their grandmother (going off life support) could be around her entire family. As they entered and were all crying, I started getting emotional because it reminded me of a personal event. Its human nature. But it was almost at that moment that I knew I was in the right profession. However, these are not the nurses/moments I am talking about. I am talking about the nurse who doesnt like his/her job and doesnt care. They give meds, do assessments, paperwork, etc all by 10:30, and then put it in cruise control till 6:30. They dont like having conversations with students,peers, patients, etc. even while they are browsing the internet for places to eat that night (sadly yes this has happend to me lol).

No, I dont know everything because I am a nursing student. (I hope you picked up the sarcasm)

Where did I make a judgement about any nurse? I am simply venting my observations. If i came across as being judgemental, then please accept my apologies. Like I have said previously, I understand where the pressure comes from, I just dont see that as a legitimate reason to have a look of eternal constipation. As far as the pressure of having a student nurse, I think all nurses need to step back and look at when they were in school and realize that someone at some point took the time to help them out. I have been around nurses who didnt want me for those very reasons, but I did not make a big deal out of it, and instead called my instructor and told her what happened. I was rewarded by going to the ER the next day and not having any paper work because I handled it right, with a big fake smile while the nurse stood there and proceeded to give me a lecture on how inconvenient I was lol. Life is about choices. And for the record, when I started this thread, I forgot to mention that this really only pertains to like 30% of the nurses I have encountered. I couldnt be happier with the rest. But, those 30% seem to get 70% of the attention unfortunately.

Are you nuts? That doctor who put a hole in her esophagus wasnt allowed anywhere near my mom because she tried to get out of bed and hit him LOLLLLL. (im glad we can laugh about it now) How would you feel if a doc put a hole in your esophagus? And by the way, afterwards when my mom was leaving, she told me that it was the good nurses who got her through the whole ordeal, and she actually was even more resentful to the doctors because they came in for 45 seconds, and then left. (this was a reason why i chose nursing instead of med school)

Fribblet, I dont think thats fair. I go out of my way to make sure I dont add any stress to my nurse because I know he/she already has a full plate. Dont assume that I go in as a "know it all judgmental student." When I need something, I ask them during a slow period or I wont even ask if I have computer access. I take on every responsibility possible so that the nurse can focus on his/her priorities. I have never had anything but positive feedback and a lot of my nurses have gone out of their way and told my instructor how pleasant it was having me as their student for that day. Furthermore, I dont think I would answer my post any differently in the future either. I know what nursing entails. I understand the politics of it, the good, the bad, the ugly, etc. Just because I am a student doesnt mean that I dont see the things happening around me. I see doctors treating nurses poorly (unfortunantly), patients getting mad, stressing over time management, meds, family, etc etc. Again, I mean no disrespect towards anyone, and maybe I am the one student who isnt a know it all judgemental douche lol. I am simply just stating what I see. We all deal with stress differently, I was just writing what I noticed. :)

She was on Fentanyl pain patches, and some of the nurses left the old patches on, not bothering to take them off. When she asked about them, they told her it was ok. After almost overdosing, she was a little more careful. I hope that is reason enough to "yell" at someone. Plus, add to that the fact that she was supposed to have day surgery, and ended up over 3 months in the hospital because the anesthesiologist ruptured her esophagus when placing an endo-trach tube for her surgery. But this conversation isnt meant to determine why my mother was yelling at people. When any of us are mistreated in any profession, from nursing to plumbing, we tend to get angry. I think my overall point is being missed here. EVERY profession has crappy days. I used to work for a cell phone company, and it was great pay, but I hated my hours, my co workers called in, and if you think people treat you badly when their sick, try dealing with them when their cell phone isnt working. Sometimes i would swear to god that people would love money more than their own health. I am just simply saying that a little kindness goes a long way IMHO.

By no means am I judging anyone here. I see what my nurses have to go through and its not easy and can be quite stressfull. I am just writing what I am observing. I guess deep down it comes down a glass half full or half empty type of statement.

I have to vent a little on this issue guys. I am in nursing school and during almost every clinical, its guaranteed that I will see a nurse that is miserable, that looks like this is the last place he/she wants to be. I am sorry, but no one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to be here. Nobody likes being in a hospital, and it really brings you down. Seeing someone who is positive and overall happy helps the healing process IMHO. If a patient is sad and depressed, and then sees a nurse who is miserable and just not happy, it doesnt help the overall mood of the patient. I know this first hand because my mom was in the hospital for over 3 months and her biggest problem was negative nurses. She even yelled at a couple of them saying why are you miserable, your not the one in the hospital bed. I know we are all human and nobody is perfect, but at least try to mask some of it or try not to let your emotions show. I get it, nurses are underpaid and overworked and underappreciated. Well, that can be said to almost every other profession out there. So please, for the sake of our patients, try to be a little positive and look at the big picture, it can always be worse!

Its the 80/20 rule. LOL it always applies to everything sadly. 20% of the dummies get 80% of the attention because they ask such retarded questions, and the other 80% of the serious people get 20% of the attention but are lost in all the other stuff. 80/20 - universal explanation for all walks of life lol

It wont be due on the first day of class. The first day is orientation and they will explain everything there. Good luck!

DO NOT DO THE WORKBOOK IN ADVANCE! (health assessment) It is for a grade every week, and your only allowed to do the chapter assigned for that specific week. If you work ahead, they will give you a ZERO for that assignment. That was how it was for me last semester, unless they changed it. My advise is to not fill out anything, but instead do it on a seperate piece of paper. Good luck to you all.

You're right juliaann. There is nothing that can measure one program with another because the number of variables are virtually infinite. I had a 3.6 gpa from the first semester of school, which was pretty good, but this summer has been brutal and I will be lucky if i walk away with a 2.7 (medsurg, pharm, and clnical). After this though, the reaminder of my program is setup for one class, and one clinical the rest of the way. Thank god lol. So I am still hopeful that my GPA will be reasonably good for my ADN. Then if all goes according to plan, I would like to boost that in a BSN program too, and eventually apply to CRNA schools. I am hoping that admission committees do look at schools, but its unrealistic to expect them to know how good and how bad programs are. That being said, I have heard from alot of nurses and message boards that the interviews are a BIG part of the admission process, and hopefully that is where I can excel.

I am curious to know which is better. To have an average GPA from a really good school, or to have an outstanding GPA from an easier school. I only ask because like most people, I have to accept a C (hopefully) in one of my classes, and I started to think if this was really fair. I have aspirations to hopefully continue my education, but I dont want the person from the school that is way easier to get accepted over me because they had an easier system. I know nursing school is hard in general, but some programs seem to be much easier. I am in a hard program where usually only 30-50 % of the class graduate. Having said all that, I wouldnt change schools for anything because I truly believe that it will benefit me in the long run, but sometimes it just doesnt seem fair to me lol. Anyone think differently or have anything to add?

You will need a watch digital/analog for clinical with a "seconds" hand. Mine is digital, but it displays seconds on there as well.