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I was in a similar position, wanting to move back to Colorado, and also to be in oncology. I found it was really easy to move and find a job in my particular area once I had experience in that area. If you have a specialty that you're passionate about, get experience in it and then you'll have all kinds of options.

I've been a year and a half in oncology. I had a couple years experience when I started, and I think that helps. That first year of nursing is just so hard, and so scary, and you need to be very, very gentle with yourself. Hopefully the people you work with will be supportive and gentle as well, but if they aren't, you need to remember that you're doing your best, and you're doing good things and that it's ok to be a beginner. As for the grief, I try to actively let it go. For me, this happens on a bicycle a lot, and sometimes running, but there are all kinds of ways that work. Meditation, if that's your thing. Prayer, if that's more comfortable. Talking to people who can listen, and that's probably not your husband, unfortunately. I really think about letting it loose, sending out out away from me.

Really? I was SO nervous. I'm in oncology, so I don't use this stuff much, but it does still come up. I would not have passed without practice, that's for sure. I put Vfib on the weirdest one (it was multiple choice), what else could it have been? Torsades? It wasn't big enough, I thought, but obviously I thought wrong. If they'd rescinded their offer, I'd be so screwed. I moved here from Idaho in a snowstorm, got caught in Wyoming for 2 nights -- the whole thing has been a mess.

Just a final update on this. I used a couple sites to study, including skillstat.com, and practicalclinicalskills.com, both of which have great EKG strips and quizzing software that makes it easy to practice. I practiced pretty much every day, though sometimes only for 5 or so minutes. I got really good, and was sure I'd pass the test with 95-100%, because that's the kind of results I was getting on the sites. I did pass (YAY), but it really was a weird test. Some of the strips were just odd-looking and I don't know what the right answer was. I know I got it wrong, because they'll show you what you got wrong, but not the right answer. I ended up with an 86%, and needed a 77 to pass, so it's all good. It's weird to me that I got so confident in my EKG skills, and feel like I can recognize even some less common things like AV reentry nodal supraventricular tachycardia, but missed several on the test. I start hospital orientation on Monday!

I'm wondering about this, because everyone on my floor will just take down the secondary and leave the line, esp if it has continuous fluid going. I do the same thing, because that's how I learned it, but I agree, the whole system is exposed to the chemo and that does not seem like a good thing.

I had always thought that too, about LPs, and just yesterday I had a patient go straight from an LP to a bone marrow biopsy. I questioned it because they are supposed to lie flat, and the guy down where they do the LP told me they don't recommend that anymore. What the heck happened?

I'm surprised you were able to receive certification without paid experience. I thought you had to be working 6 months in some area of nursing first -- not necessarily oncology, though. I precepted in Oncology, too, and learned a ton, but it's just nothing like working o your own.

We hired a nurse who had gotten her chemo certification, even though she didn't have oncology experience. Oncology experience is hard to find, and her certification showed a lot of commitment to the field, which we liked. She still had to learn the ropes about how we did it on our floor, our particular system of double checks,etc. If they really want experience, it won't help. But if they're looking for an experienced nurse who cares about oncology, they'll see that as a positive.

Well, duh. Any suggestions about the best ways to study? I suppose it's too much to hope that someone who has taken the test knows what's so tricky about it. Is it just that nurses don't know EKG rhythms very well, or is it something about this test that is difficult?

Hi all -- I have a contingent offer for a job at University of Colorado Hospital, and have to pass an EKG test and a pharmacology test before it's completely official. Has anyone done the EKG test and know anything about it? I worked on a tele floor for two years, but it's been over a year since I was there. Would this be like the EKG test I had to take for that floor? They tell me that people have failed it, so I'm pretty nervous. I'm moving across the country for the job, and would hate to go belly up.

I got my acceptance to CU-Denver last Wednesday. :-)

Where all did you apply for NP school? Just to University of Colorado - Denver Which school is your first choice and why? CU-Denver, but if I don't get in, I can apply to University of Northern Colorado in July for January entrance. What speciality? (FNP, PMHNP, ACNP, AGNP, etc)? AGNP What was your GPA, GRE, and how much/what type of experience did you have? 4.0 GPA, I think my first Bachelors was 3.3, if they consider that. GRE 168V, 160A, 4.5A. 3.5 years of experience, 2 years on tele, 1.5 on oncology. Have you heard back from any school(s) yet? I have an interview, along with everyone else, at the end of March. What semester are you looking to start? Fall 2014 Online or on campus? On campus

We always do vesicants to gravity, rather then the pump. The idea is that it's safer than having something that will continue to push something into the vein.

I have not tested the waters myself, but two nurses from my floor just got jobs in Denver fairly quickly and moved there last week. I work on a med/surg/tele floor and both of the nurses were experienced -- one has 2-3 years, the other 1+.

I'm not keen on the idea of moving, but here I go. I'm in Colorado, and I love it here, but I'm moving to Boise, ID. I'm excited about my new job, in a magnet facility, so I think it will be good. I think I could eventually get a non-hospital job here -- either in LTC or dialysis or something like that. But I like that I'm starting off as a floor nurse and getting acute care experience.