LauRN

I agree, it should have been sent immediately after the interview. But you have nothing to lose by sending it now, so I say go ahead & send it. Better late than never.

Alexander's Care of the Patient in Surgery by Jane C. Rothrock PhD RN CNOR FAAN. The latest edition out is the 14th.

Wow, I was put in the same situation & went with the OR (I start on Monday! ) It is a tough decision especially since they usually require you to sign a contract for a few years. They did mention to me that I would lose my Med/Surg skills, but after weighing the pros & cons I am comfortable wit my decision. I read some of the OR Nursing threads & did some research online to help me make my decision. You do need to follow your heart in the end. Good luck!

A bunch of my friends got jobs by calling the director of the unit. One was told that if she did not call that she would have had no idea who she was. Another said to have HR send their resume to the unit. With the job market the way it is you NEED to be aggressive. It's a fine line though. Don't be too pushy, but you have to show that you're interested. Follow up with HR as well to make sure they recieved everything they need. Also, make sure to send thank you notes after you speak with them as well. Good luck!

one thing i remember from my interview was being asked about a time when i was an advocate for my patient. they also asked about how i handle stressful situations as well as conflicts or difficult personalities with co-workers. hope this helps & good luck! :)

Try to relax...I know it's hard because I was there recently. I had to wait a few weeks to find out. But as the others have said, they do not run background checks until after the offer was made. I will say if you didn't do so already, send a thank you note with the person(s) you interviewed with. Good luck!:)

I would go with Miami, but that's just me. You would only be locked in for 1 year which is a good thing if you find out you don't like it. Plus, they offer the sign on bonus & loan forgiveness. If you don't like it you can leave after the year. You would get a lot of experience on a Med/Surg floor during the day shift. Do you have any preference over Ortho or Med/Surg?

As tempting as it may be, DON'T DO IT!!!! Nursing school is going to be very demanding and dogs require a lot of time & work (even if they are house trained). You are going to spend most of your time in class, clinic & studying. It would be unfair to the dog to be left alone during all that time. It's like having a kid except you are legally able to crate them when you leave without getting in trouble. You will also need to think of the added expense of dog food, tick & flea medication, and heartworm medication. And that's just if the dog is healthy. My dog is a rescue and we later discovered she had pancreatic issues and food allergies. Long story short, you do not need the added responsibility of a dog, trust me! Wait until you finish school.

Congrats!! I too am a new grad starting in the OR in 3 weeks. I am excited and nervous, but can't wait to get started. I have been skimming through Alexander's while I wait to start. I'm interested to know how your first week goes. Good luck on Monday! And thank you canesdukegirl for your advice! :)

Kaplan, Kaplan, Kaplan...I swear by it! I also used some of the pearson vue books as well (Exam Cram & the NCLEX comprehensive review). The key is to do as many NCLEX style questions as you can. There is no way that you will be able to know everything. The more questions you do, the more comfortable you will be. It also tells you areas that you need to focus on. Good luck!

"Pertaining to this question i thought PTT is suppose to be between 20-45 seconds and its 55 so why is the answer document and administer the heparin. maybe it has something to do with the 1.5-2 times the control? if it does have something to do with it what is the control in the question?" 20-45 is the control. to be therapeutic you need it to be 1.5-2 times the control. this had confused me too at first. so what the range would be 30-90. does this help?

i too agree with everyone, you should have toileted the pt yourself.

shoebox in my trunk...i put them on & take them off in the parking lot

I passed in 75 w/o a med calculation, hot spot or drag-drop question. And, I know this is hard b/c I've been there, but do not drive yourself crazy thinking about it. I swear there is now way to make sense out of it. You just have to wait. Enjoy the long weekend & do something fun. :)

If you want to work in the ER than take the ER position. You will get some experiences in the other departments during your clinical. Taking either position will help you get a job when you are done with school Plus, depending on the facility they may pay for your schooling.

* NCLEX Exam Cram * Prentice Hall Comprehensive Review for NCLEX-RN: Reviews & Rationale * Kaplan, Kaplan Kaplan (i'm a huge fan...can you tell ) * http://learningext.com/hives/534b38552a/summary (I have not actually used this site, but a nurse who used it & passed in 75 recommended it. its through the NCSBN & she said she had a few of the questions on her exam) Biggest thing to remember is that there is no way you can know everything. The key is learning how to answer the questions. I mostly used Kaplan & would write down the topics that I got wrong & reviewed them. Good Luck!

For our first few semesters we had 1 pt. Then they worked us up to 2 then 3. The good news is that if you have a good clinical instructor they won't make you take on 2 or 3 pts until they feel you are ready.

No! I LOVED pharm...maybe I'm just crazy. I think a lot has to do with your instructor as well. I had two very good instructors that made learning easy & fun. Good luck!

That could be part of the problem. There is NO WAY that you will be able to know everything. Heck, I had to make some educated guesses myself. Knowing how to answer NCLEX questions is key. If you decide to go ahead with Kaplan, I would suggest that you jot down the topics that you missed after you take the test & review those topics. Studying everything from books won't help.

Congratulations! :yeah:And very good advice!!

Did you do Kaplan? Everyone I know that completed the program had passed. It helps you undestand how to answer questions & areas you need more practice in.

i'm in the same boat. one thing to consider is looking into flu clinics. it will keep you up on your IM skills & give you an income for a few months. they usually employ from sept-dec. just something to consider.

I know how frustrating it can be, it happened to me as well. The first time I did not finish Kaplan's program & failed. The second time I did finish the program & passed. What helped me was not just taking the tests, but reviewing the answers I got wrong afterwards. Also, look at the tests you took with Kaplan & see the areas that you needed improvement on. Kaplan isn't for everyone. I had a friend pass that did not like the decision tree. She did practice questions from ATI & used the Prentice Hall's Review & Rationale: Comprehensive NCLEX-RN Review. Another book I would recommend is NCLEX-RN Exam Cram. I've also heard this site is good: http://learningext.com/hives/534b38552a/summary. I hope this helps...Good Luck!!:)

In my experience, Kaplan is worth every penny. 76% on Kaplan is good believe it or not. I took NCLEX the first time without doing all of Kaplan & failed in 75 questions. Everyone that had passed had completed the Kaplan course & recommended # of tests & passed. So, I spent the next 45 days completing all of Kaplan & passed in 75. The key is becoming familiar with the questions. There is know way you can know everything. Hope this helps...Good Luck!