chorkle

Sam-- Insert evil laugh. I'll deal with it when I have the experience or knowledge to do so.

My take on this is likely different than most. I'll be happy to work anywhere I can be useful, and feel I'm doing smth. worthwhile.

Anywhere I can be useful, and feel I'm doing something worthwhile. I've been hither and thither, and almost got to yon, once.

There's no difference in the test itself. The only differences are in how schools use the results. All schools, s'far as I've ever heard, require some minimum score; and often, a fairly higher score is needed to get admitted. It's common for an LPN program to require a given minimum score, and for an RN program (same school) to require a certain higher score. One doesn't "pass" or "fail" the TEAS; one only earns the score needed, or doesn't. And what that score is, may vary among the schools one might be interested in applying to. HTH

Nikki-- Can't address the McGraw, as I haven't seen it or used it. ATI's own Study Guide is an excellent base for the exam--provided, this isn't one's first exposure to A&P, Microbiology, & what's called College Algebra. Use everything in the ATI Study Guide; read ALL of it--everything. HTH Check Barnes & Noble, if aval. in your area; likely to be cheaper than ATI.

Seems to me, to be an available warm breathing body (OK--RN, if you like), to float to a unit in need, does not equate to qualification as a permanent member of such a unit. Or, maybe it's just me.

Strife-- Agree with wish_me_luck (and elkpark's advice, suggestions, should never be overlooked) . . . Organic chemistry on-line? No classroom interaction with instructor & other students? No office hours available? No lab? Likely to be unproductive, I'm thinking. Well, you might get "credit" for the "course." I'd seriously question how much understanding of the subject you'd acquire. (Of course, if that's not your objective, well, then . . .) College "credit" for smth one doesn't really understand--can explain any aspect of it, to someone who knows nothing about it--seems to me an abomination of the first rank, akin to the ever-present problem of grade inflation. But perhaps this may not apply to your situation.

Rather a long time ago, as a clerk in the Nursing Dept. Office (when such things existed) (largish university hospital); single, unattached to anything or anyone, no pets, etc.; I always volunteered to work holidays. It was wonderful. Volunteering got me points, in itself; & a comp day of my choosing later. Low census, zero walk-ins, not all that much to "do." Eager to do anything useful, I was often called to go do this, that, the other thing, whatever. More experience. A well-remembered high point of my early healthcare experience.

Lachell-- In my experience, faced with the choice you pose, I'd say--It hardly matters, at all. Either choice is likely to turn out much the same. But for the substance of things--A&P, properly approached & prepared for, does not really involve all that much memorization--UNLESS A&P is one's first exposure in life to its subject matter, AND unless, once exposed to a topic, one retains practically nothing of it. I have long felt (even if few seem to care) that a thorough grounding in "Medical Terminology" will carry one almosty effortlessly through a lot of A, and a fair amount of P. Perhaps MT is no longer thought of as necessary preparation for much of anything. If that were true, then yes, one could be in for a lot of memorization (without understanding). HTH. Best of luck.

IMHO-- BLS/CPR continues to be watered down by AHA. Perhaps simplification is a good thing, for the general public. For nursing students, EMTs of all stripes, YMCA lifeguards . . wouldn't you want to know what they could teach you, in a day? Oh--you don't have a day. Oh, well, in that case, just how much did you wish to know? Just what they could expose you to, on-line, in 30 minutes or so? And you get your cert., & you're "good to go"? Did you merely want the cert? or did you actually want to know smth about the subject? OK, get what you can, in the time you have "available". Sure hope you don't need it, for real, And, I especially hope, your patient doesn't actually need it, when you are presented with the absolute need, for smth you may not really know all that much about.

Gen Psych--piece of cake, espec. b/c they made me take Developmental Psych. FIRST. (Who can explain this? Not the school. Quien sabe?) A&P, not so much. Still, not bad at all. (But I'd had some exposure, 10 years before, to A&P.)

pg80-- College algebra could be helpful, but it depends on where you are coming from--i.e., where you've been. Algebra will expose you to several modes of conceptual abstract thinking, which could be broadly, but not necessarily specifically, useful. As someone here has said, Will I need to know the quadratic equation for dosage calculations? Um, no. Disclaimer--I have not yet been exposed to NS dosage calculations. But I do have some familiarity with dosage calculations, in one's head, on the ambulance. (No time to look at the protocols, and you're supposed to know this, off the top of your head, anyway.) As Shorty said, ratio & proportions, 1- or 2-term algebraic equations, and dimensional analysis. DA is a fancy term for (originally) chemical equations; its essence is that if you account for all of the units (pints, quarts, liters, grams, mL, etc., & etc.) (yeah, pints & quarts was just to get into the subject--unlikely your pt. will be prescribed a pint of Old Pale Lager) . . OK--if you account for all of these units, canceling out where appropr., you cannot but help to come out with the correct answer. But, it is a subject requiring most of your attn. to understand (for some of us, of course, ALL of ourt attn.). HTH

kitty-g-- It depends entirely upon your (Nursing) school. The logical school, for where I once worked, had as its only prereqs, certain required courses & GPA. They said they looked at nothing more, nothing else. And, from my observations about who was admitted, this must certainly have been true. (Qualities of an ideal nurse?--not important.) At another school I know of, the criteria are smth. like, certain prereqs., 40% GPA, 40% TEAS score, 10% being a CNA in that state, 10% being a resident of that state. Therefore, it varies all over the place. Any generalizations are likely to be false, or at best, inadequate. HTH

x_f-- My impression, from readings on AN, is that the transmission of Biomedical Ethics varies all over the lot. It was a prereq, where I was doing prereqs, so I took it. Doesn't seem to be a prereq where NS starts next month. Where, and when, I took the course, it seemed the assigned instructor might vary from one year to the next (just my impression). Took the course in (what some schools call) intermester--4-hour class, 4 afternoons a week, for 3 weeks. Intense, heavy course participation. Participation seemed to be the key--jump in, grab hold of the subject, be involved & outgoing--i.e., ALL of your conscious attn. & knowledge, up & out on the surface. (For me, this would be a great leap; I was excited about the course, I did it.) One assigned reading, by individual choice--several hundred pages--& what could be called a book report--EXCEPT that if you excelled, you were absolutely fully engaged in that book, and conveyed this effortlessly to the class, in great, organized, depth. Wonderful course.

Koko-- Have only skimmed your post, but have some add'l. comments about EMT. I worked for an EMS agency (all ALS), where there were 12-hr. shifts, & 24-hour shifts. (It was a bid process, based on seniority.) Pay rate was expressed as an annual amount, altho based on a verbal hourly rate. Therefore, the hourly rate for 24-hr. shifts was less than that for 12-hour shifts. OK, you can say you have more paid hours, but the pay rate is less per hour. This came into play for overtime. Even if you picked up an extra 12-hour shift, you were paid at your 24-hour rate--i.e., less than someone who was a 12-hour shift person. Such a scheme discourages picking up extra shifts. So, things can vary a lot. (And, some 24-hour trucks slept all night, while others ran all night--like, 17 calls in 24 hours, some of them major, getting off late, & then staying 2 hours longer to finish the paperwork from your shift. And between calls, you were posted somewhere--never in quarters.) For some folks, the advantage of 24's was the 24-on, 48-off, schedule. classicdame is absolutely correct about major differences between EMT and nursing. Yes, out on scene, you may work a lot more independently--and you have to be able to--than you would in hospital. This seems to "go to the heads" of many young EMTs--or, perhaps such folks gravitate toward EMS. Also, with a nursing license, even from a non-compact state, you can work in other states, after license endorsement. (classicdame can correct me here if my understanding isn't quite complete.) In EMS, you work under the license of your system's medical director, and the protocols s/he has established. (This may be in the process of changing, with the increasing influence and importance of National Registry), but This does NOT transfer easily to another EMS system, and certainly is not likely to transfer easily to a system in another state. Sure, you can move, and find a position with another agency, but expect a process, which can become long, of testing; being precepted, perhaps extensively; and passing a protocol test; before being allowed to work independently. And all your experience from before gets you a spot at the bottom of the rotation schedule. If it's a really large agency, with a shift bid process, you can remain at the bottom for several years.

What will take up all your time, is what is important to you. Whatever is important to you (& NS doesn't seem to be it), the time spent on it will not even be noticed. If (NS) seems a problem to you, you may have a problem.

Any tips? On Dec. 16, for a TEAS sitting on Dec. 18? Kinda late, I'm thinking. Could have given you LOTSA "tips", a whole heckuva lot earlier, had you asked. (Perhaps you did, but it looked like much of the fluff one sees here. Ain't got no sympathy for fluff.) But as to that pencil ID thing--here is an example of of a large organization (ATI), whose instructions are bogged down in a long-surpassed method of operation (paper & pencil tests)--when all tests are now given/taken on computer system terminals. One might think that ATI would have cleaned up these itsy-bitsy (now false) instructions, but obviously they're making too much money to care. You WILL need your ATI userid and password, to log on to the terminal you're using. Hope this isn't too late, for you. (Of course, this reply will be delayed by AN Admin, to ensure I'm not quoting actual test questions & answers.)

A "holiday" bonus? You're kidding, right? If not, any "holiday" bonus here is no more than one more add-on to the already crushing workload.

You "finally" graduated? This took you, what?--17 years? Well, congratulations. Perhaps, at the end of your BSN, you will finally graduate again.

First disclaimer--I am not a seasoned nurse. Second disclaimer--my only experience in this area is discharge from active duty at Ft. Lewis, WA on a 35-degree day in December, a day-long process, in steady rain. (Yes, I remember very much of this, all these many years later.) Hmm, a rural area. Seems so close to SEA; perhaps that's the 1.5 hr. commute. Of c, I'm an oddity; but if I had a 1.5 hr. commute, OW, (& worked 12's (I wouldn't do this, for 8's) ), I would find a layover of some sort--I'd guess there may be many options, in the SEA area--for overnights. Where would be the best place for a new grad? Perhaps, in this context, you will hear from some number of SEA-area nurses.

Overland-- Your post reminds me of a story about a fellow looking for work, in the 1930's. (Before my time, altho, not all that much.) Fellow spent several weeks looking at the local market, analyzing possibilities. Apparently, slackers were plentiful even then. He applied at a particular store. When asked his salary expectations, he replied, Nothing at all, for 30 days. After that, you tell me what I'm worth. He was hired, right then, & after 30 days, offered a significant salary. Disclaimer: this was a story from a motivational speaker, and like all such stories, across all genres, could have been invented--i.e., has no substance in fact.

A few disassociated comments-- OP says it is nice sometimes to have a guy around to do the heavy lifting. One might wish that OP found more use for guys than that. And many guys could tell OP, from experience, that being a guy has nothing to do, necessarily, with ability for heavy lifting. Yet this assumption is quite often made, resulting in partial disability to the guy, but not to the non-guy. rubato seems to suggest (not in these words) that since men are less sensitive than women, men don't get involved in "the stupid crap" that women do. Some men could, from experience, enlighten rubato about how much they hide their sensitivity, exactly because of this stereotype--e.g., if your (male) charge nurse boasts this particular attitude, one must be careful about exposing one's sensitivity. "Can't we all just get along?" rubato asks. If we all could do that, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. QL88 says (women) "just happen to be more social by nature, that's the way the female brain is." One might like to suggest, if QL were open to listening and analyzing, that s/he consider more carefully, nurture and acculturation. If it were true that (women) "are" a certain way, by nature, that would be true across all cultures, would it not? Is QL88 prepared to suggest that it is, and to back this up with more than reported attitudes?

TerryN-- Somewhere on here (AN) there is a comment by a male RN who works in L&D--perhaps the only one in the U.S. Yeah, it's all "professional", but . . . In my (long) life experience, female RNs routinely insert Foley catheters (e.g.) in male patients; male RNs, for female patients--well, maybe not so much. Practical translation--female patients have MUCH more "rights" than male patients do. Or, male patients have NO rights;female patients have MANY. Press-Ganey regardless, I'd guess a male patient has no effective "right" to request a male nurse insert the M.D.-ordered Foley catheter. And, I'd guess that all the female RNs assume, by natural order of right, ordained by the Deity, that this is the way it is. May your experience be different.

Klmazza-- Your Q. seems to be, what exactly will be on the TEAS, when (I) sit down to take it? Just tell me that, so I can get 100%. Sorry, I have no sympathy for you. Nor will the TEAS, nor ATI. The TEAS, you will (or may) discover, will have the questions it will have; trying to predict them in advance is likely to be less than fruitful. If you wish (as you ask) to know ALL that will be on the exam, i suggest that you take the exam, several times, perhaps many times. You could become expert about just what is on the exam (or, actually, what was on the exam, each time you took it). I would suggest you have a look at the ATI Study Guide. Actually, I would suggest you INTERNALIZE everything in it, cover to cover. Or, alternatively, study (really STUDY) everything you ever were exposed to in A&P, Microbiology, and college Algebra--as a start. Another alternative could be 40 or 50 years of life experience, plus the above-mentioned college courses. You're anxious about a test you may take some time in the next 3 months, about which you seem to know nothing? Ease your anxiety. Plan to take it sometime in the next 12 months, and you can be serene for 9 months or so.

OP-- Since you asked for (our) opinion, here is mine. Your post is unclear, thus it is impossible to respond appropriately, despite the above 5 responses. "Your" patient was discharged at 9 a.m. (your example) but is still "there . . for hours." Was the patient discharged, or not? Or, what exactly did you mean (but not explain) by "discharged"?