chicagoing ADN, RN

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 th...

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 suba...

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 ...

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 pa...

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, ...

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 wo...

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....

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 in...

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 ...

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 st...

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 Dicki...

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...

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...

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...

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 wi...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

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 str...

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 :)