trutuyu

Hello, and that is such a great question. Everything is different for everyone but for me the two hardest classes in the program were statistics and research. After being a nurse for five years a lot of the classes can be managed easily due to the information you have already learned or gained from being a nurse. But, research and statistics are two classes you don't use on a regular basis as a nurse on the unit. Although we as nurses do research all the time about our patients, diseases, medications, etc it is not academic research that is graded and critiqued on a scholarly level. So yes, research was for me at least the hardest class of the program. I would plan on doing at least double the amount of time for homework for this class compared to other classes in the program. The hardest part about this class is simply finding the scholarly information you need in order to do your work. You will spend many hours searching through scholarly databases looking for very specific evidenced based information that meets the needs of the assignments you are working on. It's not "hard" per say, it's just very time consuming. But, it will be worth it. And the instructors and aids in the program do a really good job of helping you if you get stuck or have any questions. Congratulations on almost finishing. Keep up the good work. The end is in sight.

Hello, I am one week away from finishing my online BSN from the University of Texas at Arlington. I remember when I was looking for a school to attend I combed through these boards looking for information before I decided on this school. So, I am returning the favor and if anyone is interested I will answer questions about this program. It took me approximately two years to complete without attending summer sessions. Part of the time I was working as a full time travel nurse on a busy medical floor in Hawaii and part of the time I was working as an observation nurse at an even busier trauma center in Las Vegas. I am married and have four small children. But, overall I am excited to finally be done and will in the next couple of weeks be looking into attending the same university to get my masters and become an FNP online. If no one has any questions then great, but if there are any questions I will look back at this board every couple of days for the next couple of weeks and do my best to answer what ever questions I can. Take care.

Thank you :)

Thank you.

Hello all. Thanks for any replies. Is there aids in australia or is it total care. Do Australian nurses work 8 hour shifts or 12 hour shifts. Is there ratios and if not how many patients per nurse. Etc... I'm an Rn with 5 years of hospital experience and am going to finish my bachelors degree in one semester then start applying to Australia. Thanks for any help.

Thanks for replying

Hello All, Thanks in advance for any advice. I am an RN with 5 years of acute care experience and thinking about going back to school to become an FNP or Acute care NP. It seems that all the schools I look at have you do your clinicals during the program. I plan to move to Costa Rica over the next couple of years while going to school online. Is that possible? and is there any FNP schools that let you complete your clinical hours after school so I don't have to come back to the states until it's time to do clinicals? Thanks for any advice.

I just transitioned from Med/Surg to ER nursing and started at a new ER and it's a lot busier than I thought it would be. I "thought" that most ER nurses saw around 8-10ish patients per night. But where I just started working 10 patients a night is slow. I'v been told we get between 160-200 patients a day. I work in a major city so I new it would be busy, but I am kind of overwhelmed. I know I'll get faster but its a huge change and I was just curious what other ER's average patient load per night is. Thanks for any info.

It's a great hospital with good staff. I have known people who have had children their and they all had nothing but good things to say. The staff is very friendly and family oriented as well. The area is absolutely beautiful. But you have to go north to have fun in Arcata CA. I would also probably say look for a place to stay their as well. It (arcata) is a great little university town with lots to do. Send me a PM and I'll give you all the info I can.

Hello, I work in a maximum security prison at the moment. And I was just thinking the other day as I walked to a call about how it did not bother me that I was surrounded by metal bars and concrete. It is something that bothers you or it doesn't. But I love where I work. The background fades away after a while just like if you live in the city you get used to hearing traffic. Hope this helps.

Hello, I am a corrections nurse. You can pm me if you like. But just so you know it does get better with time. Keep your head up. Before you know it you will have a year under your belt and you will look back and laugh.

First thank you for any responses. I have been doing my research and it looks like a nurse with an Associates Degree in Nursing can't become a nurse in NZ because you need 1100 hours of clinical in school. An ADN program only provides 800-900 hours of clinical. Do I need to go back to school to get my BSN or will the ADN suffice.

Hello, I was a new grad with an associates degree and found a job at a critical access care hospital. Those are very small 20 or less bed hospitals. They are truly "rural nurse jobs" and serve populations that would be without medical care if it wasn't for you and a couple of other medical staff. If you interested pm me and I'll give the run down on how to find out about getting jobs at facilities like this.

There seems to be some sort of new ad system. Every time I try to read a post a movie preview starts up in the new post down at the bottom. Is this just me or is it happening to other guest as well. Just curious.

Thank you for all of your replies. Ill do as you all suggest and just try to relax and help out where available. Thanks for all your help.

Hello and thank you for any replies. I have three months of training on a med-surg floor and two months of working on a very busy tele floor. Today my charge called and asked if I wanted to float to the ICU for a couple of days (which happens to be my dream job). My question is what should I study over the next two days to prepare myself (as much as possible) for the upcoming experience. I was thinking drips and ventilators would be a good start. Any other advice will be much appreciated.

I honestly didn't know what to do. Other than a high BP and a low HR the patient wasn't showing any other symptoms. So I called my charge nurse. We waited five minutes then retook the VS. the BP dropped after the patient was settled into bed for the night. But thank you medic0681. I won't forget that in the future.

I am a new grade just off of orientation on a telemetry floor. I had a patient come in with a SBP in the 190's with a HR in the mid 40's. What's the intervention?

Even after wearing a $600 dollar suite and being told that "I did really well" by nurse manager I still didn't get the job. I lost out to someone with more experience. Oh well. I have two more interviews in the next two weeks. God is good and I'll get the job that right for me. Just gotta keep the faith.

I'm a new grad who just had an interview today for a hospital position. I was debating about whether to wear a $600 suit from Macy's or a pair of khakis and polo shirt. Then I read the advice on this post. I wore the suit. And it's a good thing I did. The two managers who interviewed me were dressed just as nice if not better and it set the tone for my professionalism through out the rest of the interview. Before I left one of the managers told me I did a great job and should be hearing from them soon. If I hadn't read this post I would have walked into the interview in the khakis and polo shirt. Who knows what would have happened. I'm glad I didn't find out. Good luck know matter what you choose.

I don't know where you are at or if the economy is any better where you are but I live in California and it's pretty hard to get a job for new grads unless you have an in. So with that said, hit the ground running. Don't just apply online, that will get you nowhere. Walk into hospitals and be as sweet as you can to the receptionist in the HR department. Open your area of interest. Maybe if you have a 4.0 and and BSRN you might get into your favorite specialty, but more than likely not. Be willing to move out of the area for a year to gain that "golden" one year of experience. And don't get discouraged. No matter how many apps you turn in or how many hospitals you walk into. I even brought Starbucks coffee and doughnuts into the hospitals that I thought I had the best chance at. In the end I did land a hospital job on a med-surg unit far away from where I went to school. It turned out to not be a good fit and in the end I left the position for personal reasons (with a letter of recommendation). So now I am looking for another position. After two more months of searching and using the same techniques I outlined above I have had two interviews in the last week and been contacted by two recruiters in distant lands that said they are keeping me on their "hot-list" just in case a job opens up that fits my skills. It really is all about your outlook. You have to convince recruiters and nurse managers that you are worth them taking a chance. You have to convince them that you are more than just a new grad who needs training. You are a mother, father, brother, sister (what ever) that works hard, learns from your mistakes and always helps out where ever you can. You have to convince managers that you are a person worth taking a chance on. I hope this helps. Good luck. With graduation comes a whole new journey.

Hello All, I am an RN and I just received a letter from the CDCR requesting more information. It said they would only contact me in the future if I was selected for an interview, but what is the process? If they do select me then do I go in for an interview or do I take tests first. And what test do I take, etc. Any help would be appreciated.

I recently graduated nursing school. I have an entire family (father, father in law, aunts, uncles, etc.) that works as prison guards. I still can't get a job in the prison system. Your best bet is to get a job as a CNA. But that is true for any job you want as a nurse. You can sit and challenge the CNA state test once you complete your 1st semester of nursing school. And you can actually sit and challenge the state test to become an LVN after your second semester of nursing school (most people don't tell you that one). Good luck.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I currently live in California. Just a different part of California. So I know how bad it is here. The input will definatly help.

Sounds like things are the way they where I live. However, my move will happen. So if it's between California and Arizona, which is better.