alby_dangle

I started in 2015

Wow - I did not know about those CMS guidelines. I started an acute position as a RN new to dialysis and was put on call 3 months after my start date. It seemed fast for me but I did it. It was hard but I did it.

I will say two things: I am in agreement with everyone who is commenting on what your fiance says. I'm not saying you need to end the relationship but you may need to seriously reconsider things if the person you are marrying can't make sacrifices for you - and you for them as well. That is part of a loving relationship. Sometimes you need to live through something a little difficult so that both of you can get to somewhere new and more rewarding in your life together. End of that. I will also say that I agree with you on your feelings about nursing. I would never encourage anyone to pursue this career choice. I have now been a nurse for 6 years. I consider myself good at my job. But my life has felt like I've been in a constant "low point" since I started nursing. I try my best, I do well. I feel like those who do the most good don't get recognized for their work. The only people who get recognized are the ones who join the most committees, go to the most meetings, work their way up the ladder, drink the kool-aid. And then eventually they are our new administrators making our new policies. What about the people who don't want to do that? Those of us who just want to do a good job and go home? I know these aren't exactly the negative aspects of nursing you were talking about but its some of the problems I see with the job. You're right about not being able to find a job with "no experience". Those first few years are rough. Where you just have to put up with that first position to get the experience under your belt. How does one get experience for a position if every position says you need experience? I would say it is really hard to get into nursing. But its also hard to get OUT of nursing. If you really feel like you are truly taking the wrong path, change courses now. Before it is too late. Before you've been in it for 20 years and can't go back to school and change careers. Best of luck to you. It sounds like you are doing the right things. Work on your resume. A job will come.

Last year, I was working the day before thanksgiving....this female patient told me and the doctor she hoped that we choked on our thanksgiving dinner. I didn't take it personally.

DoeRN, what are you now trying to get into? I have been thinking the same thing myself and wondering how I can get an education for something else while still working as a RN to support myself. I'm young and nursing has already worn away at me.

If you already know you don't want to be a nurse....don't do it. There are those of us who thought we DID want to be one and went into the field, and now dislike it. A lot. And I can't imagine already not wanting to do it ahead of time and having to just deal with it even more than I already do. And I originally was very interested in the career. Don't live your life doing what other people want you to do. You will resent them and yourself. Do something that you think will make you happy and don't waste your time and money on a degree that you don't want because it will eventually be too difficult and hard if you ever wanted to change careers. Get done what you can, while you are young. That is my honest advice. Best of luck.

Here, I found it. This guy's article seemed really helpful. He took the NCLEX-RN three times, and passed on the third time after taking the Hurst review. read his comments here: https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/how-i-passed-971389.html

Hi there, I have heard a lot of great things about the Hurst review, you can google it. It is kind of expensive, but they guarantee passing, and that may be worth its weight. There are a couple of other postings on this website about people failing who have taken the hurst review. They tell you the ORDER in which to study things, instead of just giving you a great long list of topics and leaving you to fend for yourself. I have NOT done it myself, but it might be worth a shot. I will link to the other article I read on here about it if I can find it. Best of luck.

I am a new RN, but not a new nurse. Have been a LPN for over 4.5 years. I was just offered my first RN job in a inpatient dialysis unit at a local hospital. It was very enticing to me, as I have always been interested in outlier areas of nursing. Whether it be dialysis, chemo, endoscopy...etc. Would it be a good idea to take this job as a new RN? Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it.

I do not need to know where anyone has worked. If you have in the past and know the answer to my question, that's great. Or if you know someone who works in these hospitals, can you ask them? Just looking to see who uses EPIC. Thanks so much.

I'm sorry if this has already been discussed somewhere.... In Columbus area hospitals, is the EPIC computer system for charting used or do they utilize another kind of software? I am talking about OSU hospitals, Children's, Mt. Carmel, etc.... Thanks so much. If you have worked at any of these places in the past or do now, let me know.

I agree with not even having to find an excuse. I always say "personal reasons", and I'm never asked anymore details.

Loriangel14: You definitely get used to what you know, and I know that anything new can be stressful. As I said in my post, I understand that stress can be variable and it depends upon the person/situation. I was just looking for personal accounts and experiences.

(Also posted in the Health/stress management 101 forum): I apologize if this has been discussed before: I am inquiring as to what my fellow nurses on here believe to be the least stressful nursing job/specialty. I know the answers to this question can vary for a multitude of factors, (age of the nurse, education, location etc.) but really just looking for people to talk about their experience and the jobs where they have felt the least stressed. Please discuss how you may have felt in some of your jobs. Thank you all in advance :)

I agree with RubyVee. If you set your foot down, what's the worst that could happen? Yes, they may fire you, but then you have an opportunity to find something better and more fulfilling to you. Plus, I'm not sure they really would have any grounds to fire you for not working overtime. I am also a LPN, work 8 hour shifts, and I know exactly how you feel. I just recently applied for a few jobs that would be one step back a level in my career, but would get me into a hospital. I am in school for my RN and I just need a little less stress in my life, plus the opportunity of getting my foot in the door. Don't let your job make you feel like they should be the most important place in your life. I know that pretty much every facility seems to make their employees think that now, including mine (and they shouldn't). My boss will call me about issues when I am not at work on my day off. I'm not getting paid for that time and neither are you. Go to your supervisor and be firm, but not angry. Tell them how its affecting you personally and how you don't feel like you're giving the best care possible. I don't think they would want you working like that and caring for their people if they knew. At least, if they actually care about their residents then they should feel that way.

I apologize if this has been discussed before: I am inquiring as to what my fellow nurses on here believe to be the least stressful nursing job/specialty. I know the answers to this question can vary for a multitude of factors, (age of the nurse, education, location etc.) but really just looking for people to talk about their experience and the jobs where they have felt the least stressed. Please discuss how you may have felt in some of your jobs. Thank you all in advance :)

I agree, some new nurses aren't worth much. But I will say, at the places I've worked I have not seen NEARLY enough training to get us new people to realize what we are SUPPOSED to be responsible for. My first job gave me three shifts under someone, then asked me to do it myself. I'm sure people were upset with me because I wasn't completing all tasks, but I had not been told how to complete them, or wasn't even told about them at all when I was trained. We need to improve training programs as well.

Great response. Like I was saying in my last post, sometimes we need a fresh outlook and those of us who are (good) new nurses can bring this to the table. No, were not gonna be able to fix everything, and we dont want to break yuor established norms, unless we feel they put us at risk and are unfair. But it is silly to stop trying. nothing will ever get done then. Maybe we will fail, but its ok to learn that fact.

I respectfully disagree with you. I work in LTC, and yes, sometimes it can be horrible (especially if you dont have a good scheduling dept.) But that does not mean we should just lie down and take it. I think going over the DONs head can be a bad choice too, but we can at least try and make progress in this area. We can suggest new ideas. If your place of employment has an open-door policy then go! Make suggestions. State that you are not complaining about anything, just trying to make the work environment a little more tolerable. And if nothing happens right then, then nothing happens. But we can at least try. Its horrible to think that nursing is just always gonna stay the same because of people who have been in the field for awhile who just accept and tolerate bad change. Sometimes you need a fresh outlook.

Like everyone else is saying, a lot of schools that use the HESI have adopted the policy of you have to pass it to graduate. It sounds like your school is just now figuring out they wanna do that in the middle of the semester, which shouldnt happen. They should have to wait between quarters where they can change all their paperwork to state their different requirements now. That way future students would know, and those in between quarters would know whats coming. But thats not right for those of you that are just now learning this in the middle of your last quarter. I'm not sure what you can do about it besides going to ask the Director of the program, or going higher up than that to find out reasons why. In addition, my school that I went to...we were the second class to graduate from that campus. We went through a lot of the same BS. My advice is to just figure out how to pass it and get the hell out of there.

I volunteer at a free clinic myself. I got the position before I ever found a job. A group of us (people I had graduated with) walked in one day, handed them our resumes, and told them we wanted to volunteer. We made sure we dressed nice and told them we were very interested in just getting some experience (which is not your situation, I know.) They seemed a little overwhelmed with the fact that there were four of us wanting to help out, and I think there was a little hesitation d/t the fact that we were all LPNs but they talked to us for over an hour, and told us we would be put on the schedule. I think the hesitation was there because they said at the time that they had a lot of nurse volunteers, but a year later, now I am getting calls about once a week to come in and help out. I dont always go. Maybe get someone else who is interested (from your job possibly) to go with you? Go again. Power in numbers, I dont know. Bring a resume, tell them you are really interested in spending your free time there to help out when they need you. Dress Nice. Business casual. Its a great thing you're trying to do.

OP may be an LPN, and in her state, not able to work in a med/surg position. LTC is not impossible, as I stated before. At least it shouldnt be.

I agree with this. LTC can be a great first job, provided that everything around you is being done correctly. You need a good support team, supervisors included.

The biggest problem it seems with your story is the fact that there have been multiple DONs within the last year. Thats never a good sign. Like someone said, 1:20 is a pretty average ratio for LTC. My first job as an LPN was that. But the place was pretty nice and we had a GREAT DON who had our back on everything. People should not being showing up that late for their shifts. And if there are no consequences being given for their actions then they are just going to keep doing it. That is not your problem. My advice would be to get out of there as soon as you can, but never without lining something else up first. That does not sound like a good "first nursing job" experience. You want something where you can learn at a pace you feel comfortable with.