chicagoing

Another fan of Pentel Energel 0.5 mm in black! I label my pens with my name :)

My sister-in-law is a Philippines-born RN who worked in Pharma for 10+ years before coming to IL nearly 7 years ago. She never worked as an RN and signed up for a review class in the city, passed the NCLEX on her first attempt, and landed a job in the ICU at Christ in Oak Lawn because one of her good friends worked there. It's all about who you know.

Dontlookback, the beauty of nursing is that if one area doesn't suit my fancy, I could always try something else. I am just trying to find the best way to work through this problem without thinking "I want to quit." I have been in the working world long enough to know that obstacles will be encountered at any job, that quitting isn't always the answer. I enjoy nursing. I want to help people. I thought long and hard about entering this field and I believe nursing is a good fit for me.

Lady Free, I do enjoy my job very much, just as long as I am not on that one unit. I can't stress enough how much I LOVE working with the elderly, and I know that if it shows. It would not work for me financially to work there PT or FT because the pay is the lowest I have seen in LTC in my area. The night shift crew for the most part is excellent. We all help each other to have a good night when we are there. The migraines are usually triggered by stress, poorly-ventilated areas and strong perfumes (I can't even walk through a dept. store without feeling ill when I pass cosmetics). But yes, I definitely would like to look into what triggers these (other than what I have mentioned) and how I can reduce the likelihood of developing one on the job.

I really do believe there is poor ventilation on that unit. My sister-in-law who is a supervisor elsewhere said that I should have called in so my supervisor could have found a replacement. In my defense, I have worked with a headache in the past, but the poor air quality coupled with all the scented hand lotions and perfumes put me over the edge. One thing I could mention to the higher ups is that per facility policy, staff is not to be wearing perfumes & scented lotions...for me, they are more likely to trigger migraines than the people who reek of smoke. I really want to work things out, so I will try to keep my chin up and work this out.

That was one of my concerns. I don't want to be the nurse who comes across as not being flexible or unable to adapt to situations. But when I see that another employee is allowed to not work with 60% of our population, it makes me wonder if they would work with me as well.

Long story short: I have been at my first job (LTC, includes subacute floor) & "like" it most of the time except for when I work the subacute floor. I signed on to float, and work 2-3 nights/week. I enjoy the LTC side, but when I am sent to subacute, I want to cry. I don't enjoy learning 15 new pts. every time I am there (which was infrequently until recently) & the air makes me feel ill. I developed a migraine while at work the other night and chose to go home. I struggle when I am there, partially because I am so disinterested. I know that subacute at my facility is considered "easier", but being there is making me physically ill. I would love to somehow not work this floor and instead remind the higher ups that I enjoy the LTC side so much I would rather be placed there, but since I am a float, I am not sure that would fly. But I do know someone who claims she has a bad back and she doesn't work the LTC side at all (she was literally crying about it).

OP, I feel your pain. I am interested to see if your DON ends up granting your request. I am in a similar situation (except subacute is not my forte...have only worked there 2 times in the first 4 months...then twice in 3 days) and love the LTC side. Most of my coworkers love having 8-15 patients in subacute, but I find LTC to be more fulfilling in many ways. I hope they are able to work with you on this, especially since it is so hard to find nurses who want to work with this population.

I work night shift and my coworkers do not do this. I hear the most complaining from the oncoming day shift because they are quite often short a few nurses. I really do feel badly for people, but when I have to listen to the complaining, that cuts into my time. Even though we are paid OT, I would rather just go home.

Oops sorry I was a little tired writing this after I got home from work this AM. No, I do not have benefits and do pay for my own health insurance. I also do not live as close to the facility as others, so gas & tolls add up. I am single with no children, so I am only paying an insurance premium for myself. Now, if I had a spouse and children, I would definitely take advantage of the benefits at this facility by working PT or FT. The main

I was hired at a nursing home in the Chicago suburbs in November 2013 and my starting pay was $33/hr. I am a new RN with an ADN. I am a registry float, so there is a $10/hr differential. LPNs who are registry floats start at $28/hr. PT and FT LPNs start at $18/hr, while RNs start at $23/hr. We have registry float CNAs who are making $18/hr, believe it or not. We can at the most work half-time. The benefits are excellent for those who are PT or FT. But it is not worth my while to work PT or FT, not for that pay.

I recently started using cherokee4less dot com. We were required to wear Cherokee tops, pants, and jacket while in nursing school; however, the tops and jacket were required to be embroidered by the local scrubs store This website also carries Dickies. Free shipping on orders of $25 and up. There is usually a promo code that can be used for 20% off a minimum $50 order (excluding Cherokee Workwear). Occasionally, there is a promo code that will give you 20% off everything including Workwear. Shipping via UPS usually takes 3 or 4 business days (not bad!) Their prices are unbeatable!

Admission to the traditional & accelerated BSN programs is competitive. Admission to the online RN to BSN program is NOT competitive.

I am also a new grad...passed the NCLEX in June and didn't even start applying to jobs until October. I applied for exactly three: one hospital position and two in LTC (one in my city, the other 20 miles away). I received one rejection (hospital) and one call for an interview (LTC). I chose to work for the LTC facility (the one farther away) am now in my second week of training at the LTC facility and so far, it is enjoyable. We receive 8 weeks training and the pay is nice ($33/hour). As much as I would love a hospital job, I would rather be getting experience as an employed RN than work a non-nursing job (or no job at all) when the time comes to interview at a hospital. An employer will question why you're working a non-nursing job when there were opportunities to work as a nurse (even if the position was in LTC).

I am a new grad and was require to wear scrubs during nursing school for clinical days only. I am not a germaphobe but always thought that once the scrubs left the house, they were "dirty". Even though I had two sets of tops/bottoms, I washed the one set as soon as I got home from the first clinical, so I could wear them the next day. I wouldn't want a student RN or RN to have intentionally come to work with scrubs that had not been washed since the last wearing.

I recently graduated from an ADN program. Many of my classmates chose Purdue University - Calumet due to its great reputation and lower cost (around $12K). Popular options for Illinois schools include UIC & Loyola. These two may run about $19-20K. If you meet requirements & can afford these two, you will be accepted. Admission is competitive for both the traditional & accelerated BSNs. All 3 schools offer online RN to BSN completion programs. You could also look into Chamberlin, NIU, and Benedictine Universities.

I took my exam on a Tuesday and did the PVT a few hours after I finished. I couldn't find my information on the testing service site even after my license was posted.

Walmart Danskin Now white shoes with velcro. $12. Got me through two years of nursing school :)

I am so sorry for the loss of your nephew...it is never easy to lose someone you love and it seems to hurt so much more when the person is young. I wanted to share with you my story from this past year. Nearly one year ago, my father was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer (this is one you do NOT want to get). I had just started what was considered the "hardest" course of my ADN program and this diagnosis last September knocked the wind out of me. I knew that this cancer was essentially a death sentence (a positive attitude helps, but it alone will not save someone). Since I lived at home with both parents, I had the opportunity to spend time with and care for him for many months, which was a blessing. My father died this past March, exactly 50 days before my pinning ceremony. I was there to hold his hand and tell him I loved him and I would NOT quit nursing school no matter what. That being said, your loss was so sudden....and I don't wish to compare experiences because loss and grieving is so individual. Being in the program this past year probably saved me from having a breakdown of sorts. ASK for HELP if you need it, both from nursing school friends and instructor. They are the ones who are going to be your family away from home and there's no better group of caring individuals than those in a nursing program :) But if you do feel as if you need time off to grieve now, there's no shame in doing so. (((hugs))) My story ended decently. I graduated with honors in May and passed the NCLEX June 18th. I took the summer off to decompress and will hopefully start job-hunting soon. Please message me if you need anything...

I tried doing the above, and my information was not in the system. I got the "good" pop-up an hour after I finished the NCLEX and paid the $8 two days later (PASS). I had heard of this other method from a classmate, but it did not work for me.

My program's pinning ceremony was May 11. My RN license # posted to the IDFPR (Illinois) website July 16. I have read at LEAST 10 books in the past 65+ days!! :) (And I'm talking fluffy James Patterson and Danielle Steel books!)

I purchased a Littmann Master Classic II when I started nursing school last year. I read many reviews on various websites and chose this one over the Classic II S.E. (which was a popular choice among my classmates) because my hearing could be better :) It has served me well for the past 19 months and I don't plan on purchasing a new one anytime soon.

Hello! My first semester of an ADN program was Fall of 2011. We were required to take Med Surg I (16 weeks) and Physical Assessment (8 weeks). MS I required 4 hours of lecture, 2 hours of lab, and 7 hours of clinical each week. The skills we learned and had "returns" on were passing oral medications, injections (sub-cutaneous and intra-muscular), IVs (hanging meds + tubing change only), IV piggyback, head to toe assessment, and Foley caths. Class time for physical assessment consisted of 2 hours each week. We learned basic head to toe and that's about it. :)

That's a very good score! To answer your question, it depends on the scores of the rest of the applicant pool, as well as how much the score is weighted in the admission's process. I know that at my school, an applicant with a lower PAX score but straight A's in all the pre- and co-req courses (8 of them?) will be stronger during admissions than a student with a high PAX score and a C in one completed course.

Why does chemistry worry you? If you are concerned about teaching yourself the material at home, I would sign up for the in-class section. It's always easier to have someone else who is knowledgable teach you the material :)