cara1017

I agree with the previous poster in that heme/onc is NOT easy nursing!! I work on a heme/onc floor, and in general, our pts are sicker than the med/surg units, but we are not staffed as a higher acuity unit. In my hospital, no one likes to float to our unit because of the acuity of the patients and the other staff says "they always end up running around like crazy." Thats what we do around here every day!! "When I have voiced my concerns to my educator and fellow nurses I am told in a nutshell, that Heme/Onc is the easiest place for newer nurses because you get a little bit of med surg and the rest is mostly chemo, blood, and nuetropenia complications. When things get too hairy, we send em to the ICU." -I don't understand this comment at all, because adding chemo, blood and neutropenia to med/surg, makes it significantly more difficult than med/surg! Chemo very time sensitive, and not to mention dangerous... it is not something to take lightly!! The process of checking chemo is time-consuming and definitely requires some time management. So does giving blood products and antibiotics to the F/N pts. Pts with neutropenia can go septic fast, so being on top of that is a must for a heme/onc nurse. I may be bias since I have only worked in heme/onc, but I would definitely say that it is not easy nursing and is one of the most difficult nursing specialties to go into aside from an ICU.

I may be in the minority here, but I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. I am a new grad (just hit my 1 year mark!) rotating between day/nights... 3 weeks days/3 weeks nights. I have to say, that I would rather be rotating than doing all nights. As a person who is a "day" person, and I find that the days shifts keep me sane, and help me to get more done during my days off. I am much more of a zombie when I am on night shift. Also, if I was on all nights I would be "rotating" anyway on my days off. At least with 3 weeks of days, I can be normal. However, I will say that many nurses on my unit have a lot of trouble rotating, and the night shift to day shift transition is quite brutal. Also, to mirror many other responses, I think getting experience on both shifts is a great opportunity because they can both be very different!

I agree with most of the posters. I just finished nursing school and I rarely, if ever utilized a study group. I get too distracted and found that I studied better on my own. I will say this... when you are studying for the boards, it is really nice to get together with a classmate or two to study. I only did it twice with one other highly motivated friend, but I think it was a great way to blow off some steam, and realize that you are not alone in getting 60-70% on the review questions! Make sure it is productive and not a waste of your time.

How about trying to shadow, or do a clinical/practicum rotation in the neonatal ICU? It might give you more experience with IVs, so you will feel more comfortable with them and you might like it since you liked the newborn nursery.

Thanks!! I feel very blessed :)

2126, It must depend on your area or region and the preference of the hospital because I do not yet have my ATT but I got the job offer around Thanksgiving. I graduated December 10th.

I am nervous too! I am currently studying for the boards and have developed a little eye twich that I haven't had since taking A&P! I also have a job lined up so I really want to pass the boards the first time! I did my practicum in peds ICU and now I am starting in peds heme/onc and I am scared that I won't be used to juggling more than 1-2 patients! Thanks goodness the hospital has a great orientation. :) Good luck to everyone!!

I agree with most of the posters... find out who the nurse recruiter is and ask her what the process is for hiring new grads. Start early!! At least 2 months before you graduate. And make contacts with anyone you can who works at the institution where you want to work. Sometimes people who already work at an institution can give you a recommendation, or at least push your resume through to the right person. Many institutions in my area are mostly only hiring through internal recommendation. Plus, they may know how to find the name of the nurse recruiter who is in charge of hiring new grads. Calling HR to ask if there is a nurse recruiter is another way to get in touch with him/her. Also, emailing a cover letter an resume to the nurse recruiter once you find out who it is may be a good idea. Nurse recruiters are very busy so emailing is sometimes the best way for them to answer you quickly. Good Luck!

How interesting that you posted this. I just started my senior practicum experience in PICU after debating between NICU and PICU. On my very first day, I overheard a nurse, during report, say that that NICU's successes were often the PICU failures. Just thought it was interesting

Hey guys, Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to everyone. We were finishing up finals and then I went on a short vacation before we start back next week. Hopefully your orientation went well! I think for the med terms test all I did was print out the lists of terms and just looked over them a little and then took the test. It is a lot of matching if I remember correctly and I was able to look up any that I did not know since it was online. I just kept the lists next to me so I could double check as I took the test. Really, those tests were pretty easy and not anything to stress over! I can't really think of any good do's and don'ts but, I would say to enjoy the breaks you have and remember to take some time for yourself. Also, the fall is really fun/new/overwhelming all at the same time, but before you know it you will be close with your classmates and then it will be almost done! Also, you really should invest in a good calender because there is a lot to keep up with, and make sure you write in pencil because there will definitely be some schedule changes! The spring was the semester that I think we studied the most and had the most difficult course work (with your first med-surg class and pharm), but the summer was crazy, busy, fun and annoying all at the same time. But, there was less going to the library to study, although there are probably people in my class who would disagree with that. By the time you get to this point next year you will really be ready for to be almost done. As far as advice goes, I think the best thing I heard was just to remember that you always have tomorrow to work on stuff, so take it one day at a time, and to give yourself a break once in a while. You can definitely get yourself bogged-down with all the work you have (especially if you look at your calender), but you will get it done and sometimes just going to bed is better than trying to stay up and cram all night long. Also, it helps to figure out how you learn best. Some people study by re-watching the lectures and some read/do the study guide. I am a fan of going over the notes and book while I fill out a study guide and then just study those. However, some teachers make questions that are more similar to the study guides than others so that can be a little annoying. Just try to do your best and not get overwhelmed. Hopefully some of this helps! It really is a good program and I feel sure that I will be well prepared to become a nurse in a few months time!

Hi Everybody! I was just reading some of this to procrastinate from studying for finals! I am in the current CNL class, graduating in Dec. and I wanted to let yall know not to stress out too much about the med terms and drug calc tests. They are pretty easy and I think we got 2 or 3 tries on them, plus they are open book (pretty easy for med term). Also, if you didn't already find out the drug calc software is not compatible with macs... just something to think about. Anyway, feel free to ask me any other questions you may have. Good luck when you start in Aug! I'm sure I will see many of you around.