newstudentrn

Here's the way to get people to not want to quit: stop overloading them with work. No nurse should ever have 7 patients, ever. No nurse should ever get more than 1 patient back from the cath lab at a time. No nurse should have to discharge 4 patients in a day, only to get 4 new admits in the same day. No charge nurse should be assigned patients as well as take charge, they should be available to help and to resolve issues. No nurse should ever refuse to help another nurse when they are available to provide that help simply because "no one helps me". Those are some situations that have come up in my little over 1 month on my own that have made me hate my job. I recently (3 shifts ago) swapped to night shift and I couldn't be happier. The charge nurse does not take patients so she is available to help out, the other nurses on the floor help out with anything when you ask, cath lab patients are typically on the floor by the time we come in, doctors do not round at night and change all of the orders and meds so you have to go and give another list of meds, and most people are not discharged in the middle of the night. It's amazing what a little team work can do to help alleviate a new nurse's nerves.

WAIT A MINUTE.........Do we work at the exact same place? Haha! Your day sounds just like mine! I especially love the sundae part, because ya know waitressing is what we became nurses to do, right?

I did 90 days of preceptorship/orientation. Actually, the first 30 days was a lot of classroom work so basically 60 full days of preceptorship on the floor. I feel that no matter how long you are under the supervision of a preceptor, you will always feel that you need more time. I'm still constantly asking questions and searching policies/procedures to be sure I am doing the right thing. All in all, I feel that I was given a decent orientation. As for classes or additional training, I can't think of anything specific. Mainly time management is the most essential part of being a successful floor nurse. Being able to decide what's most important and what needs to be addressed immediately is at the core of most of my day.

Our hospital requires ACLS for all telemetry floors, we also have a mandatory EKG course at orientation that I found helpful for review. My particular school program had a very extensive EKG interpretation program, so I felt pretty comfortable with that aspect before hand but a review is always a good idea and definitely was helpful. You are very welcome! If you have any other questions you think of, let me know. I know it helps to have perspective of someone who is in the position you will be upon graduation.

I agree with Silverlight. I work on a cardiac floor and we deal with a lot of pts who come in with chest pain and are likely already having ROMI panels completed along with at least 2 good EKG readings before admittance to the floor. If this is the case and the pt has a cardiac consult ordered, we just have protocol orders for morphine, oxygen, nitro, and aspirin. Now, if this is a different type of pain or persistant, we go ahead and get another EKG. It never hurts the pt and a doctor will never chew you out for ordering one without their say so. I would like to also say that you need to check with your facility/floor policy and be sure you are following it. It never hurts to ask your charge nurse for an opinion either.

I've been working on a telemetry cardiac surgical floor since February. Been on my own for a little over a month now. I have been working day shift up until this past Friday, will begin night shift Wednesday (by my own choice). Day shift seemed to be a tad bit overwhelming most days. We take 4-5 pts but typically 4. This is due to the fact that we are the CV surgery floor in the hospital, so we take all of the CABG pts after they leave the unit. Day to day it was a struggle to get everything done, and I honestly did fine until I would have times that I felt I needed to be in 2 or 3 places at one time due to actual medical issues (not just people hitting call lights for sprites or ice). The most stressful situations are definitely the days that they bring me 2 patients back from the cath lab at the same time. I have had 1 pt arterial site break loose and bleed and it scared the crap out of me, especially knowing that while I was elbow deep in this lady's groin, I had another patient across the hall who could be doing the same thing but I couldn't get to them so that was the worst moment for me. I can say that the best preparation I had for time management as a tele floor nurse was the several waitressing jobs over the years I held. I know that doesn't really paint a pretty picture, but it's the honest truth from my perspective. I recommend all new grads start out on nights for a while, you have a few more precious moments to think about what you are doing and why you are doing it. Most day shift days, I barely had time to look at lab results or review new orders. We are a very busy hospital and a very busy floor, so it's nothing for me to discharge 4 patients in a day and get them all back which is extremely stressful as well. With all that being said, I can say that it is a good place to start out as a new grad to get some experience and then move on. I could never see myself doing this long term. I think I would end up hating nursing and either be a horrible nurse or find some other profession.

The hold was never lifted. It actually kept showing the same thing until around 50 hours after I finished the exam, then it said results available.

I understand the logic behind the trick, but I feel that I need to reiterate what I was told by the TN state BON. They have had several incidences where a person tried the trick, got the CC page and paid the money to re-register only to find out when the unofficial results were available that they had actually passed. Guess what? They do not get that $200 back. So they call the BON to see if there is anything they can do to help and of course they can't do anything about it. Just some food for thought, technology is not fool proof and sometimes computers make mistakes. I would say $7.95 is a very small amount to pay for peace of mind.

I guess I may not have connected the agitation and pain, but that shows my inexperience. I am thinking that I would've tried the ativan and if that didn't help, then move to the tylenol. I feel like ultimately as long as you are being safe, those sorts of decisions are legally within your scope to handle. Your decision making is what you get paid for. They should allow you to do what they hired you to do and use your clinical decision making skills. If they had a specific way they wanted those types of situations handled, then they should have written protocols that you are trained to follow. Otherwise, it is your decision which prn meds to give.

I wish I had managed to relax a little more and enjoy the company of my classmates a little more. Don't get me wrong, a lot of us that graduated in December are still keeping in very close contact and have become life long friends. I mean, I wish we would have made more opportunities to be together and enjoy our time. It really went be so fast, and now we are all going our own separate ways. I also wish I didn't have the delusion that when I graduated I would be able to just pick the job I wanted with no competition or trouble getting it. I have a job, but I thought I could pick ICU and immediately get it. Not so.

I never took Chem and managed just fine to understand what I needed to know to thrive in the nursing program.

To be honest, I really didn't. There were some that I just knew because I had come in contact with them (no pun intended) throughout my clinical and work experience. Such as CDiff which is contact precautions. For the most part if it wasn't something I had come across in real life, I reviewed some notes and then took my best guess when actually taking the exam. There are just way too many diseases that require isolation/precautions and no way to remember ever single one of them. I just tried to break it down by the actual illness and how it was spread and go from there. Hopefully that will be helpful for others as well.

I don't think there are any LPN to BSN tracks in my state. I actually had never heard of that. LPN is actually not a college degree, it's more of a diploma program because you don't graduate with an Associates (the lowest actual college degree). You can do LPN to ADN in a bridge program that would cut out 1 semester (foundations) of the Nursing Classes, but you will still have to take the Gen Ed pre-reqs as well. Since admission to nursing programs has become so competitive, many colleges are requiring completion of the pre-reqs before admission to the program. When in doubt, I would call your state BON. I am sure they would be able to provide you with accurate information on accredited schools. Good luck!!!

I think it just depends upon your personality whether you will like it or not. I remember basically spending a lot of time talking to patients. The unit that we went to was more of a crisis stabilization unit, so we were dealing mainly with patients who are just normal people that have issues with depression or anxiety and things had just gotten a little hard to take. We did not do meds or any physical assessments. It was all focused on observation and communication. I really think that most people you will encounter in a short term inpatient area will just be normal people with some sad situations. Keep an open mind. You never know what you could learn.

I believe the last poster said it best. I know the other poster said don't think about water with salt in it, but that's how it works for me. If you cook something like chicken in a sautee pan: at first while you are cooking you add a little water to it, then with the heat up the water starts to evaporate and the drippings thicken, if you were to taste the sauce when you first added the water it wouldn't be very salty. If you taste it after letting the sauce "reduce" down, it will be alot more salty. I guess that's how it makes sense to me. Hope I didn't confuse you further.

You're very welcome. His name is Tim Bristol. If you google him you will find a link to his website and also check out rnnextsteps.com. That's an NCLEX prep program as well, not sure how much it costs though. Good Luck!!!! You will ace it!

I only had a few peds questions but I have had people tell me in the past that they felt like their whole exam was mother baby. Honestly, I think that everyone gets a different exam so there's no real way to know what areas will be covered. I do think that your jumping around is a good thing though. All of the information you were taught is "fair game" so it's good to be prepared for anything they throw at you.

I did mostly review questions from a disc that came with The Illustrated Study Guide that was given to my class during a 3 day prep course provided by the school. Tim Bristol was the presenter and he has a website rnnextsteps.com that we were given access to that had some helpful tools. Also, I used "Nclex made incredibly easy Q&A" book and did so many questions I lost count. I didn't sign up for any expensive online review courses like The Hurst Review or anything for the first try. I figured if I had a large deficit and did not pass the first time, then I would go in that direction. Good luck!!! You will do fine, I'm sure!

I think that is a fantastic idea!! This will keep you fresh in her mind and show interest without being as pushy as making phone calls or in person visits.

I just graduated in December, took boards Wednesday (and Passed!). We began our 2 year ADN program with around 98 and graduated with 56. My school has a 98% 1st time NCLEX pass rate. We lost more than 42 but we gained several retakers throughout the 2 years. I couldn't be prouder of myself to have made it through while working full time and taking 3 prereq's with my Nursing courses that first year. I thought I wouldn't survive, but guess what.... I DID! And finished with a 3.4 GPA! IN YO FACE, Nursing School!!!!

Well thank you!!! I just basically did alot of ATI practice exams, NCLEX made Incredibly Easy Q&A Questions, and CD that came with a Study Guide from Tim Bristol (Nurse Tim). I would review isolation standards, pharm (no particular meds, just learn how to break down the generic names and try to figure out what type of drug it is because there will be drugs you've never heard of), and freshen up on techniques to answer SATA's. I think one of the most important peices of advice I got from Nurse Tim was to remember that they are focused on determining if you will be SAFE to practice, so when in doubt choose the option that emphasizes safety. I don't know how I have always managed to finish exams so quickly, I just know if I take a long time on an exam I probably failed. I took our Comprehensive Predictor Exam with 265 questions in about 1hr 10min. It was really freaky!! Good luck to everyone still to test, you can do it!!!!:cheers:

I took it Wednesday afternoon and found out Friday afternoon. I have a friend as well that took it Thursday and found out Saturday, so it's possible. Also, the pearson vue trick is mostly accurate but not 100% fool proof. I spoke with the TN BON Thursday and they said that there had been several people call in because they got the credit card page and paid the $200 to re-register and then later found out they passed. All that trying the Pearson Vue trick did for me is increase my anxiety because it kept telling me I was on hold so I thought that my results would be in review purgatory for several more days, but I got them right on time at about 50 hours after testing

I passed with 75! Thought I failed and felt like I guessed my way through it, but I didn't! I passed!!! (Still new, so I can't get enough of saying that I PASSED)

I just took the NCLEX Wednesday and found out yesterday that I PASSED! Please, don't overwhelm yourself with too much studying. It is very hard to be fully prepared for this exam, and you will likely leave the testing center feeling like you failed and guessed your way through it. Take some time to do things that make you happy and will take your mind off of it for a while. Just review some pharm and always remember safety first! Good luck and keep us updated. You can do it!

Thanks everyone! I can't even begin to explain how happy I am to know that I am DONE! Been a looooooong journey, and now that it's over I am not sure what to do with myself :thankya: