donnasaur

Hi everyone! I'm a second career but new grad RN, and my first position is in the ED at one of the smaller hospitals in our system. I'm done with orientation and hit the floor for precepting on Monday. We have a Level I trauma center and Peds hospital a mile away, plus a hospital 5 miles away with the maternity center and cardiovascular institute. That leaves for my ED: a lot of psych patients awaiting a bed at our inpatient facility, some chest pain, some GI/flu-like stuff, lots of urgent-care referrals, etc. Regardless, I'm terrified. The department is in major transition (new NM and CNS, both ANM positions open, short-staffed on RNs) and I already feel like I'm going to be in the way. I wanted this opportunity because there were no openings in my first choice (ICU) and I felt like this could be a good boot camp for learning how to intervene quickly and perform my skills under pressure. But now I feel like I'm starting nursing school all over again, except now the stakes include patient outcomes and my license. Is this normal? Were y'all scared too? What should my self-talk be as I walk through the door on Monday? What should I keep reminding myself of as my preceptorship unfolds?

I got my letter today -- just wondering if anyone else has heard! I'm so excited!

Sending best wishes over as you wait!!! I have applied to Mercy for Spring 2011 and am also impatiently awaiting my letter and wondering if I'm good enough. The counselor has been dropping a few encouraging hints to me that "comparable students" are "usually in consideration." I have a 4.0 in pre-reqs, in past (unrelated) college courses, and in high school. I have a 32 on the ACT (36 reading, 36 writing, 30 science, 24 math). I have a 1340 on the SAT. (Although it was more than 10 years ago.) I have a 92 overall on the TEAS. It was like 99 reading, 99 writing, 96 math, and like 67 science! (( I got topic spreads similar to yours, so I am also hoping for both our sakes that they dig deeper. I have since heard that the TEAS is 60% of the evaluation criteria, but the counselor told me that the one bad score, even though it's in science, will not be a make-or-break thing. She did tell my girlfriend, who had bad grades in high school like 20 years ago, that all previous grades are lumped together to determine the number of points awarded for GPA. So your good grades have a chance to cancel out your bad grades, and vice versa.

You're welcome, and the best of luck to you as well!!! Sounds like you have done your homework, and you'll be fine. (If you do end up taking the TEAS, don't stress! Most of it is incredibly easy compared to the SAT or ACT -- none of the reserving a date months in advance, studying obscure facts and mechanisms, etc.; it's just a really streamlined, basic test. You'll blow it away!)

Hello, I am also applying to a hospital's diploma program, and they gave us very little info about the admission criteria as well. They did tell me that 60% of the evaluation is the entrance exam score (they use TEAS), and they told my girlfriend that they do average ALL grades, no matter the age, for the GPa portion of the points system. She is over 40, and they took into account her high school and previous (unrelated) college grades. This pretty much pushed her out of contention even though she has very good grades this time around, in her pre-reqs. I hope this does not discourage you, because your program could very well be different; it's just a possibility.