RegisteredNurse06

1. why did you enter the nursing profession? nursing was always something i wanted to do. i feel it is my calling in life. 2. what do you like about being a nurse? i like being able to help people. i like people and the interaction with my patients and i love the challenges patient care often presents. it is a very rewarding profession. 3. what do you not like about being a nurse? the lack of respect for our profession. we work hard and we deserve to be respected as professionals. 4. do you think you get paid what you deserve? no 5. do you think that nurses are respected by the doctors you work with? i think most of them do. we have a few that have a really bad "god complex" but most of them aren't bad. 6. what do you wish you would have learned in school to help you in the real world? i feel like i got a very good education. granted, there was some reality shock when i hit the floor but i don't think there was anything that could've prepared me for the "real world" in that way. 7. what is the worst situation you have ever been in? oh geez...well, the worst situation i've been in was probably during orientation when my preceptor didn't show up. i was placed with another nurse who told me "i'll give you report on these patients in a little while but you can go ahead and do your assessments now". i assessed the patients, went back to her and told her that one of our patients didn't look good to me. she went and looked at the patient, said he was fine and left the floor(didn't even bother to tell me she was stepping off the floor). a few minutes later, the patient coded i felt horrible......thankfully, the patient lived. i felt horrible though and cried for days feeling like it was my fault this man coded. lesson learned:always trust your instincts. if you feel something isn't right, it probably isn't and needs to be investigated further. 8. what is the most rewarding thing about being a nurse? making a difference in the lives of my patients. i love when a patient looks at me and says "you love what you do don't you?" or "i can tell you enjoy being a nurse. it shows in how you treat your patients." it's always nice when the patients get well and go home. sometimes they don't get well though....sometimes they are too sick and there's nothing you can do except make them comfortable. it's also rewarding when you have a family who has just lost their loved one who says "thank you for caring for my loved one" 9. do you think new-grads should start in the er? no 10. are you thinking about leaving nursing? no please also include your sex, age, what department you work in, and your type of degree (asn or bsn)? 35 y/o female working telemetry. earned my asn last may currently working on my rn-bsn

I did ask about enzymes and the doc didn't feel it was necessary, which is unusual for that particular doctor. Our docs are usually good about ordering enzymes, particularly when we request an order for them. I later found out that patient ended up being transferred for intervention later that morning.

I think the hardest semester for me was the last one. It wasn't the difficulty level of the material. It was just that I was so burnt out and at our school, they put a lot more on you in that last semester so time management is more of an issue. The thing that helped me get through it was the fact that I was so close to graduation. I just kept reminding myself "This is it. This is the LAST semester. I CAN do this."

Our facility has telemetry protocol orders. Anyone admitted to our unit automatically has PRN orders for SL NTG, tylenol, O2 @2-4L/NC, EKG, and some other goofy stuff like MOM, Mylanta & a couple other things. What we don't have is orders for obtaining cardiac enzymes and for giving morphine. I HATE that. I called a doc this morning about a patient who was having CP and he gave me the order for morphine but didn't give an order for cardiac enzymes. That bothers me.

You should be fine. I graduated in May and started work on a telemetry floor just a few weeks after graduation. Passed boards in July. It can be stressful and overwhelming at times BUT I love cardiac and if I have questions, there is always a more seasoned nurse around to help out.

1. how many questions did you take on nclex? 75 questions 2. what study materials did you use? did you take a test review course? mostly kaplan. i did the kaplan classroom review(which i thought was totally useless). what i did find very valuable was the kaplan qbank and qtrainers. i used saunders some but found those questions to be too easy because they're more knowledge-based. same with the nclex insanely easy book as well as many other "nclex review books". i also did the mosby cat test online. in my opinion, the kaplan questions are more like nclex than anything out there. 3. did your son offer any testing (eri, ati, hesi)? our exit exam was by kaplan 4. how long did you wait for results of the test, or are you still waiting? tested on july 25th at 8am. my rn license # was posted on the bon website by about 3pm on july 26th. 5. what were your thoughts coming out of the test (total disbelief, certainty you had failed, confident you had passed)? i was basically numb. i wasn't sure if i should come home and celebrate or if i should come home and drag out the books to start studying for my next attempt. 6. was this your first attempt at nclex? yes, by the grace of god, i passed nclex-rn the first time.

uhhh no, not unless i'm the oddball. i was the first one in the room on the day i took it and i only had 75 questions.

I took the "complete" course including the classroom review but I found the classroom review totally useless. As long as you get something that gives you access to the qtrainers and qbank, that's the important part and THAT is the part that I felt helped me the most.

www.kaplannursing.com I think you can also buy the Kaplan book at Barnes and Noble that comes with a cd.

No, you do NOT need a different review. Stick with Kaplan. Spend as much time as you can doing the qbank and qtrainers, reviewing the rationales behind the answers and go into this test knowing you CAN and you WILL pass. Kaplan is very difficult and sets the standards very high. I honestly believe Kaplan is the reason I passed NCLEX. The questions are very similar to NCLEX. I found that the questions in the other review books were too easy and don't feel that they would've prepared me for what I saw on NCLEX. Kaplan is IT! Good luck! You will do great!

:balloons: :balloons: Congratulations!:balloons: :balloons:

I don't think you should reschedule....It just adds to the anxiety. I would go ahead and get it over with. Just keep doing the qbank and qtrainers until it's time for your test. Then go in there with the confidence that you CAN pass. I talked to a girl I graduated with the other day who never got above high 50's on Kaplan and she passed NCLEX with no problems. I think you will be fine.

:balloons: :balloons: :balloons: Congrats!!!!!!!!!!! :balloons: :balloons: :balloons:

thank you! i live in ky and yup, i'm living and breathing again!lol......

Thanks everyone!!! I'm still in shock and can't believe it's true! I keep going back to the BON website and looking it up to make sure it's real!lol