Jasonat6034

Your eagerness to learn is exactly what your future co-workers want to see. Honestly, as a new nurse, expectations of your nursing knowledge are low. Not that you aren't knowledgeable, but nursing is like 80% on the job learning. As long as you ask questions and don't do anything you are not confident in doing safely on your own, you will do fine. If you really want to review, definitely review EKG rhythm interpretation, Post-CABG care, neurological assessments, stroke/MI signs and symptoms, pulse assessments, and lab values. For lab values, what I tend to focus on the most are potassium, calcium/ionized cal, troponin, hgb/hct, BUN, creat, WBC, and ABGs. When I started my first nursing job and when I came to the ICU I asked my nurse managers the patient population and what content I should review. Both provided power-points and other very useful resources for me. Also, most hospitals have mandatory education classes that you will have to take throughout your first year. A year or two from now you will look back and think, why was I ever worried. Best of luck on your nursing journey!

Haha.. This post exemplifies a major problem with nursing. DRAMA. Why can't people just got to work, do their job, and go home? Who cares about who is dating who in the hospital. Lmao, it just seems so trivial.

Most of the hospitals in my area of Ohio do hire new grads. However, it's typically new grads who just did their senior preceptorship on that particular unit. Actually, this happened to be the case for most if not all of the people from my program who did their final rotation on an ICU. From my experience, ICU nurse managers don't typically hire new grads who did not already do clinicals on that unit.

I work on a progressive care unit (really just a med-surg unit tbh) where we also don't receive report from the ED. Is it ideal, absolutely not. It often leaves several gaps and unanswered questions. There have been times where most of the notes are "ambulated pt to the bathroom" or "pt to CT," which isn't exactly the most helpful. However, it has still worked out on our unit for the most part. I work as both floor and charge nurse, and by the time I get the page that the pt is assigned to a room, there is generally enough in the chart to gauge whether the pt is appropriate for the unit. We also receive three separate pages. One when the pt is pending into the unit, one when they are actually assigned to a room, and one which pretty much tells us to expect the pt on the unit within the next 20/30 min. Now of course the system isn't perfect. There have been times when we have had to quickly transport a pt to one of the ICU or step-down units, but it has been pretty rare in my experience. That being said, there are several factors at play so what works at my particular hospital isn't exactly applicable everywhere. Just sharing my personal experience.

I’m 32 and I’ve worked as an RN for just a 1 and a 1/2 .

I graduated with my BSN in July of 2016. I moved to NYC (from Ohio) that September and started a serving job that paid so well I kept putting off taking my NCLEX. I eventually took and passed my boards in December of 2017. Unfortunately, on January 9th, 2018, I was in an accident that left me an AKA. This forced me to move back to Ohio, but with great PT and an awesome prosthetist, I felt strong enough to apply to jobs in September, 2018. I was hired at my first interview early that month and have been there ever since. I definitely lucked out bc I live in a high need area, but stay strong! Life happens and interviewers know that. Just make sure you focus on your strengths and learn how to creatively spin your weaknesses. Have someone review your resume and do everything you can to show them how bomb you are.

When you explain what happened, employers will understand. I just got hired on to a unit on my first interview despite having graduated 2 years ago. I lived in NYC for a year, and then I was in a serious accident that took 10 months to fully recover/rehab from. My interviewers were very understanding that stuff happens. I should note that I am also in an area where they are desperate for nurses, and I'm sure that certainly helped me out a bit.

When I am preparing for an interview I research a number of questions and write out answers. Below are the questions I gathered from all over the internet that I used to study. This help me feel super confident during my interview, and I was ultimately offered a position. Although I studied all the questions listed below, I marked the ones that I was actually asked in the interview with an (*). I hope this helps. Good luck!! Be able to discuss all previous work experiences. *Tell me about yourself. Tell me what you know about this particular specialty/unit. *What interests you about this facility. Tell me about a time where you showed integrity. What are your strengths/weaknesses? *How would your previous employers describe you? *Tell me about a time where you felt overwhelmed or under a great deal of pressure. Why should we hire you? *What personality traits do you have that make you a great nurse? *How do you handle a difficult patient? Tell me about a time when you had a problem with a coworker. What happened and how did you handle it.? *Tell about a specific time where you did a good job as a nurse A patient is visibly upset and wants to talk to you, but you are busy with other patients. What do you do? What would you do first if a patient is aggressive? Tell me about a time you failed at something. What was it and how did it turn out? *Tell me about a time where you went above and beyond for a patient. What has been your biggest challenge.

That's awesome news! Congrats Linette!!

This is where I would like to see documented proof. I do not deny the importance of a high GPA for this particular kind of program, but I would like to see both the average and the lowest GPA of admitted students.

A 3.45 is a great GPA, and definitely keep working to get it as high as you possibly can. But I think you have a great chance of getting accepted to a program!

NurseP00kie --- It seems that you are assuming that this rant is a direct response to the the "4.0 is the golden ticket!" thread, and I should clarify that it is not. That's actually why I started a whole new thread rather than adding a reply to that one. Sorry for the confusion. That thread just kind of reminded me of this issue and it sent me on a bit of a rant. This has been annoying me for a while now and I just felt that it was something that needed said.

I keep coming across these posts from nursing students who say YOU MUST HAVE a 4.0 to even bother applying. Although I understand that there exists steep competition for nursing school admittance, I can't help but roll my eyes every time I see one of these posts. And for every person who says that their school did not accept students with a GPA below a 3.9, I want to see documented proof beyond all this he said she said. The cornerstone of nursing practice is the holistic model of patient care. I would imagine many nursing programs would adopt a similar holistic approach when selecting students for admission. Although GPA may be heavily weighted, many schools also incorporate test scores, interviews, essays, references, and even community involvement. Now I am not saying that a 2.7 GPA is going to get you into nursing school. However, I think aiming for a decent 3.4 and producing a solid essay can get you in. I have applied, and have been successfully admitted, to 5 nursing programs without a 4.0. I feel we are often discouraging our fellow nursing hopefuls when we try to play as if every nursing program is actually Harvard Law. Again, I am not saying that being accepted to, or even completing nursing school is an easy accomplishment. I just think we need to do a better job of encouraging our peers rather than crushing their hopes and dreams by claiming these impossibly high admission standards that are so often not even true. ---End rant---

I got into NYU, university of Rochester, wright state university, kettering college (local private school) with a 3.5 from a previous degree and a 3.4 in pre-reqs. Although A 4.0 surely doesn't hurt I don't think it's entirely necessary. Particularly if you interview/ score well on entrance exams.

Awesome story!! You should be very proud of your success, and I wish you the best of luck with your future nursing career!