BrigidG

It actually took me over a year after passing NCLEX to get a job. To be fair, I was in school full time for my BSN too, but it was frustrating being a new nurse and not working. Make connections. Make people remember you. If you get an interview, even if you don't get the job, make them remember, do something that makes you stand out. I interviewed at a hospital in September and didn't get the position, but in December, out of the blue, she called be because she remembered me and called me in for an interview for a residency program. The nurse managers who hired me were not looking for cookie cutter answers. They were looking for individuals who showed that they genuinely cared about people. I got asked "where do you see yourself in five years?", and I literally had no clue. I have no five year plan. I answered with "in five years, I want to be working, and caring for people (this is where I kissed the hospital's butt), because I've learned that life will inevitably not turn out the way you plan, and as long as I can wake up every day and do something great, I will be happy." I have one story about connecting with this one patient from school that saves my butt in interviews. If you're asked a question about a situation and how you would handle it, it is always better to answer "when this happened to me, I handled it this way", instead of "well, I would probably..." For the interview, did you send a follow-up thank you letter? Sometimes even something as little as that will make a manager remember you.

The biggest thing you can do is be there. There's probably a lot of stuff he can only talk to his classmates about, and to be completely honest, theres not too much you can do to help him with school itself but even if you don't talk a lot, just knowing that you're there to listen and support him 100% means the world to him. But please don't ever feel like you're not doing enough, or like you're being ignored for school. Make the time you do get to spend with him awesome. And sometimes awesome is just sitting on the couch and watching tv together. If he's anything like me he's always stressed out of his mind lol. bake him cookies or something if that's up your alley. The guys in my class always bring in cookies from their girlfriends lol. Or stick post-it's with "ily" on his textbooks. Little things that remind him youre thinking about him mean a lot. So just be his rock and his support. And it doesn't hurt to every once and a while remind him how proud you are of him and what he's doing. :)I hope that helps, or at least encourages you a little :)

Freedictionary.com is really good, but I STILL can't say anticholinergic.

A few weeks ago, I had the most rewarding clinical experience I have had in nursing school so far. I shared this with my instructor and my class, so I thought I'd post it here. Its really a pick-me-up when you feel like your presence during clinicals isn't really doing anything. In report I was told about my client, who was "angry", "uncooperative", and "difficult". She had complained all night and seemed to be a bother to the staff. I assessed my other client and sort of procrastinated entering her room, nervous of what would happen. I walked in with a smile, introduced myself, and was greeted with "I don't know why I'm here", "the doctors are just making me sicker", I have things to take care of; I can't be here", "my cats are going to starve", "I'm a terrible patient", "Why would you want to be a nurse? You have to deal with people like me". I kept smiling and responded with "I want to be a nurse to help people, and today I'm here to help you. Even if I can't make you feel better, but I'll do what I can, even if it means just listening to you", and my response seemed to shock her. As I was asking her questions about her medical history, she told me that she quit smoking the day before Easter this year. I asked her what caused her to quit, and she responded with "I don't want to say, you won't believe me; you'll just think I'm crazy". I said "I will believe what you tell me". She told me she prayed, and God told her to quit, then she began ranting again about things she needed to do at home, and errands she had to do, but eventually started saying things like "people don't just get sick like this", "How could God let this happen?" I asked "you believe God made you sick?", and she said "No! no, he doesn't. He doesn't punish us like that. He loves us." I talked to her for a few more minutes about her beliefs and faith in God. I could see she was still anxious, scared and almost tearful, so I asked if she wanted me to pray with her. She said yes, and we did. Almost immediately after that, she was more cooperative, appeared less anxious, smiled, laughed, got out of bed, sat by the window, and expressed gratitude to me and other staff members. This is the greatest example I've seen in my clinical experience of the effects of therapeutic communication. A client everyone saw as problematic just needed the right person to listen and be genuinely interested in her, her well-being and her beliefs. When we accept a client's beliefs, support them, and communicate effectively, it is greatly beneficial to their self esteem and recovery, and our own sense of self.

I've had clinicals that were between 15 and 45 minutes away from my house. I've had to pay a $10 parking fee once, but my group and I carpooled :)

probaby about 10 pounds since last may. My scrubs from last year didn't even fit... I have no time to exercise and no time to cook good food. Honestly, the only time I eat properly is at clincials!

I'm in the exact same boat right now. I just try not to cram it all in at one time. I study for about a half hour, then take 5 minutes to watch a music video on youtube or run around with my dog. Its a lot of information, but most of it is the nursing process. If there's a question about a specific disease, it will most likely be something like "An olive-shaped mass in the right upperquadrant is the HALLMARK sign of what disease?" Pyloric Stenosis. And I know my school is big on fluid and electrolytes. So I'm memorizing the hallmark signs, causes and the interventions.

I have two lecture days and one clinical day. On lecture days, I get up at 0630 and class is from 0800 - 0945. After that I usually go see my boyfriend until about 2, eat lunch then go home and study until dinner. After dinner I relax, study some more and sleep. On clinical days, I get up at 0430, and either eat breakfast at home or during the 45 minute drive to the hospital. Clinical is from 0630 - 1530. Then I go home, write a care plan that night and the next day. On days with no class or clinical, I usually sleep in, study and MAYBE work out. That's kind of taken a back seat.

During my second semester, during my pediatric rotation at a larger hospital. (Cooper Hospital in Camden NJ). Everyone in my class got to spend a week in the OR.

Birth is always an awesome thing to see. During one day of my OB clinical, I was standing next to a newborn's grandmother when he was born and we were both tearing up! :) Last year I was privileged enough to witness an open heart surgery. It was AMAZING.

I'm in OB right now, and the first week in, I was partnered with a male student and we spent the day watching two cesarean sections! He was not happy at the beginning of the day, and he DID NOT want to be in OB. But at the end of the day, he told me "OB is pretty badass." He and the other two guys in my group love it! And so far, all the nurses and patients seem pretty receptive. Let your instructor know about the nurse, and maybe she can make sure you don't have to work with her again. Because I know your instructor will want you doing more than just general assessments.

He lives 5 minutes from me, so I usually go to his house in the morning after lecture and vent! lol

Rewrite EVERYTHING!! Pharm is one of my biggest problems too, but my OB clinical teacher gave us a list of 50 meds. We had to write out a chart of their class, action, side effects and interventions and hand them back to her, and it helped me so much!

That's a LOT for you to go through. Its amazing that a tragedy like that can bring an opportunity like this. You must be an incredibly strong person to get through something like that. I've been trying to get into my community college's program since I graduated high school in 2008, and I kept falling short, until I got in in fall 2009, but then failed. But I got back last fall and I'm almost halfway done! I've had so many second chances, and I know just like you that this is what I was meant to do, so there's no way I'm going to give up either!!

I'm about to start my second semester on Thursday, and it starts off with a clinical, not even a class! This is my second time in second semester, I failed last year, but I'm ready. Hopefully all the stress won't get to me this time!