2bRNot2b

Perhaps a reason for my interest is that my choice of focus would have been education...if it was being offered. So I settled for administration as this was an area where I have had an abundance of experience. Thank you for your encouragement. I would appreciate your input on education theories, particularly any specific to this area and plan on PM-ing you in the near future. I am in total agreement on the coaching aspect. I don't know if the word "facilitator" really describes the role as definitively as it should. I would like to see a much closer relationship established between nurse residents and their facilitators, and hope that I will be in a position in the end, through my practicum, to make recommendations along those lines. Thanks again - I will be in touch!

I am an RN - MS student in a Nurse Admin Leadership Track. For my practicum, I will be helping the coordinators of a nurse residency program design and develop - hopefully - a robust facilitator curriculum based on the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) guidelines, with the intention of equipping facilitators of nurse residents to be effective overseers of nurse resident development. (To the uninformed, a facilitator is like a mentor or advisor, an experienced nurse who provides informal and/or structured guidance, counseling, and direction in various ways to the nurse resident.) My first step is assessment. I would like to find out from other members on allnurses.com who have been in a nurse residency program how the facilitator role is perceived and experienced in their program, the good, the bad and the ugly about theur experiences. I have created a brief survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PJG6P2B) which is anonymous. I don't want to know which program you are or were in AT ALL, just gathering data about facilitators to try and build a great program for them. I hope it's ok to ask for this on this forum. I have read such an abundance of great advice and tips and all sorts in allnurses, that it was the first place I thought of when I was considering the gathering if data for my practicum.

I did it first about two hours after I took the exam on 1/6, and have done it a few times since then - still the good pop-up.Don't know how long to keep trying or even if it really really works...

I know - I also got all 265 questions, left convinced I have failed, but got the good one. It just seems impossible that I could have passed. I'm thinking I'll be the first with the good pop-up who failed...

Where are you taking it? Which state?

So do I, howsoon! All the best!

Congratulations! I am sure you have a huge sense of relief - and what a great way to start the new year! Hope to have the same good news to report next week this time...

Hang in there - hope ypu hear soon! Happy 2011!

I think I will be the same, "good" popup or not, until I receive the official notification. It seems no matter how much studying I do, how many questions I answer, there is SO much I still don't know, and what if all the questions I get are based on the stuff I don't know? My nerves are shot! Thinking of you, though, and wishing you the best!

Let us know how it goes. I have a week to go and I am really nervous!

Another difference I noticed between these two books was that I understand Lippincott to say that you can't choose an option that needs a physician's order. Kaplan says to assume that there has been a physician's order for any option given. Because Kaplan is the later book, I am going to go with what they say, but that aspect could be a make-or-break on the exam. I would think that that point should be clarified by the NCLEX people in their instructions, otherwise it isn't really fair. (Who said NCLEX was fair, right?)

Why would pain be seen as a psychosocial issue, though? That doesn't make sense to me. I would think that pain is extremely physiological, and if someone is in pain, short of the abc's, the rest could wait. Depends on the situation. Just trying to think this through.

Hmmm, that makes sense! Thanks!

So Kaplan NCLEX-RN Strategies, Practice, and Review 2010-2011 says that pain is considered a psvchosocial problem in the NCLEX-RN, so you should eliminate that option in a question that has both physical and psychosocial interventions (using Maslow). Lippincott's NCLEX- RN Q&A 2008 says that relieving pain and making the client comfortable should have the highest priority. WHO IS RIGHT? and what is the point of studying if we have conflicting messages? AAARRRGGGHHH!! Any advice?

What else did you use? I borrowed the Kaplan strategies book from the local community college library and am partway through it for the second time. I also bought the Lippincott "Made Incredibly Easy" with 3500 questions which looked good in the store, but after reading the Kaplan I would NOT recommend it because the questions, I think, seem more like nursing school type questions, and, although it seems a good review for content, does not have the same question feel as the kaplan examples. I'm also going through that the second time around, but wonder if I am wasting my time on that one. It's hard just going to the bookstore and choosing from the many books there because how does one really know what will help? I am going to buy LaCharity as soon as the stores open again because so many people recommend it, but with ten days till my exam, I am feeling kinda freaked out.

No, I was actually based at Victoria Hospital in Wynberg. We went to Carinus and Groote Schuur for our blocks. Lived in Plumstead at the time, but was last from Fish Hoek where my folks and sister still live. So we just missed each other at Carinus! Those were the days!

I am also a South African trained RN, and I would love to hear your story of how you moved through the certification process here in the States...

I remember hearing about Groote Schuur's "grey lady" when I trained there. Never met her though... :)

I was there centuries ago - graduated in 1982. Yes, I found out they had closed the place down when I tried to trace my transcripts. WHAT a palaver! It took about 18 months to get all my paperwork together, not to mention that every place I needed stuff from wanted money for the privilege of passing on my qualifications. I am in a position here in the US of verifying dozens of medical residents' GME training - and there is no charge for that service! Where are you in Cape Town? Sorry, I don't qualify for private posts yet, otherwise we could carry on the conversation that way. GREAT to meet you! :)

Thanks for your response. Sorry, it was hard to explain without including the actual question. I agree that if I was unsure, I would question - in real life. However, that doesn't help with NCLEX-RN exam questions which apparently aren't based on real life as much as ideal life... Multiple choice: The practice question asked what a nurse would do about a specific medication order, giving the person's weight, the dosage ordered, and the therapeutic dosage range. One possible answer was to administer the dosage because it was within the parameters of the therapeutic dosage range. A second possible answer was to contact the doctor because it was outside the therapeutic dosage range. The amounts given for the specific person's weight would have made the dosage below the therapeutic dosage range, yet the correct answer was supposedly the first response - to administer the dosage. My question is, if the dosage ordered is below the therapeutic dosage range, and therefore limited in effectiveness, does an NCLEX nurse ask for clarification, or is it only if the dosage is above the therapeutic dosage range, and therefore unsafe? Does that make it clearer? I am a foreign trained nurse, and it would be tragic if I failed my NCLEX exam because I answered questions based on logically and mathematically correct answers rather than according to what is the practice in this country...

Hi - from a fellow South African... RN-trained at Carinus and then went to England to do midwifery. Now trying to get certified in the US... what fun!

So, did you pass, CrimsonAce?

I had included an actual practice question (Mosby) about medication dosage here but realized it could be construed as violating copyright laws, so I am going to try to ask my question without including the actual practice question: The doctor orders a medication that falls below the therapeutic dosage range for a person. The question's answer says to go ahead and administer the medication, the rationale being that the order given is within the therapeutic dosage range but the author only takes into account the "highest safe dose," ignoring the lowest amount within the therapeutic dosage range. Should that medication be administered or should the order be clarified with the doctor? What is the point of giving not enough medication to be therapeutic? Please can someone explain this rationale to me. What am I missing? I would hate to get this sort of question wrong in the NCLEX-RN because I didn't understand semantics or reasoning. Or am I correct?

bigdaddy, which books are you referring to?

how long after taking the exam do you know if you passed or not? just found the answer, so don't bother responding to that. I am a foreign-trained RN but have been out of nursing for centuries and am now at last scheduled to do my NCLEX-RN in January. Feeling freaked out because so much has changed and there is SO much to go through before I take the exam. Thanks for the suggestions people have posted - I work full time in an admin job, so don't have much time to study, but HAVE to pass this exam...