NrsNikster

When I passed my boards two years ago, I applied to every hospital in my area. Nobody was hiring, especially for new grads. I went to a Fresenius one day a month after I passed my boards and was interviewed and hired within a week. I have been working for Fresenius ever since and haven't looked back. I have even transferred to another facility out of state due to a move I had to make and still had no issues. There are definitely some challenges in dialysis and can sometimes be overwhelming. However, once you get the routine, you should have no issues with anything. Now I must admit, I sometimes do want to consider applying at a hospital to do floor nursing, but I always fall back on dialysis. I'm gaining a lot experience daily and most importantly I have a lot of fun learning and gaining the respect with my patients. Good Luck. You'll make the right decision....

Hello. As a new grad I was recently employed by FMS. And I must say I'm glad I took the position. I trained as a PCT and as a nurse with no dialysis experience and enjoyed ever bit of training that I received. Now every job has its perks. Of course they tell you one thing at your interview then once you get on the floor, its a whole different story. But I have just decided to accept that. Of course this isn't my dream job but I must say that I am continuously learning on the floor. I love the patients and the environment (well sometimes). I love the pay as a grad nurse also. Not too shabby. If I was you, I would go for it. And if its not for you, leave. Good luck. :-)

Some of your lymph nodes you are not supposed to feel such as the ones in your armpit. But if they are palpable that is a sign of infection.

If I remember correctly I scored a 58% on my qbank and ranged from a 51-69% on my question trainers and my higher question trainers were #5,6,7. You'll do fine.

Study freak.... yes I did use Kaplan to prepare for my nclex and passed on the first time. I think without kaplan I probably wouldn't have passed. I highly depended on kaplan and used every single material the online class provided. I did every single question in the q bank and did all of the question trainers on top of going over the course content review. On top of kaplan I did Hurst review too. As long as you have put every foot forward and tried the best that you could, you will do fine. I wrote a discussion on my journey on passing the nclex in detail so you can read it from there (find it in my profile). Good luck!!!

Med surg is a lot of material to remember. The way I remembered all the diseases and its process is in a specific order.... What it is... patho... clinical manifestations and s/s... treatments... complications (what happens if things go bad)... and then the nursing process. I tried to do that with every disease. And then purchasing an additional book such as a nclex book to quiz yourself on that disease will also assist you in remembering it along with reading and understanding the rationales. Pretty much what you are doing is preparing yourself for the nclex in so many words. Send me your email address. I would like to forward you something that also helped me throughout med surg. Hope this helps... NrsNikster

Questions questions questions. oh did I say questions!?!?! As a RN, preparing for test in nursing school was very difficult, I must say. But please do as many questions as you can in regards to the subject and topic you are studying. the saunders comprehensive nclex book is a great holy bible during nursing school. Do as many as you can ladies and gents. Good luck.

I agree. Always remember your ABC's (airway, breathing, and circulation) in that order and you should be able to put them in the correct order. Oh!! and don't forget Risk for Infection in relation to this situation.

Kudos to you and your actions, but I'm curious to know what happened to Rita....

Thank you all for all of your opinions. I will definitely take in consideration everything that is said!

Hello everybody!! I need somebody's help right now. So, I received a call today from a recruiter from a staffing agency who looked at my resume and was impressed with the previous experience that I had. To sum it all up, he offered me an immediate position out of my state to NC for a RN position at a correctional facility for 13 weeks . I was told at the end of those 13 weeks depending on how well I do, I could come on permanent or continue to travel to different sites and have different assignments. So basically I would be a Travel Nurse. Now according to all the incentives and everything, the offer sounded real good. I'm just iffy about the whole thing, especially with the Correctional Facility part. Honestly, it kinda scares me. He also told me that if I don't take this immediate position that everything would still be on file and if anything else came up in my immediate area, they would let me know. Should I take it? I don't know if I'm just being desperate because I want a nursing job or what. Does anybody have or know anybody that has experienced being a Correctional facility nurse or as a Travel nurse?!?!? Please give me your opinions!!! Comments greatly appreciated!!! Nikster

Saunders comprehensive review.... The best to use through nursing school in my opinion.

Don't give up! Keep studying! It'll all pay off at the end...

Oh yeah I forgot a lot of programs take a different hesi as entrance exams for nursing programs. I was referring about the comprehensive hesi that you take as a graduate exit exam that some nursing programs require to pass to graduate from the program.

Well in my opinion the book is "ok"... It's just a big review book. But ALSO in my opinion the HESI is harder than the freaking NCLEX. I took the HESI several times (yes I said several) then eventually passed. Then I took the NCLEX ONCE and passed!!! Like I tell everybody else, don't let that test define how smart you really are... Good Luck!

Don't give up!!! God works miracles! Continue to pray about it and ask Him to show you the direction He wants you to go in. You WILL become that nurse you want to be!!! Many blessings to you!!!

Iamblessed.... What's next?... JOB SEARCH!!! LOL I'm trying to get back in the hospital where I did my externship so hopefully I can get back in there. SN: I thought about you today. I know you were saying that you take your NCLEX today and your best friend was yesterday (I hope I got that right). How did it go?!?! I hope well! Don't you worry bout a thang!!!

Iamblessed... You got this. lol I felt it was ironic that you are calm because a few days before I took my test I was extremely calm that it was scaring me! But then as time came closer, the anxiety grew! Stay confident and it will be done. Pray for continued faith and peace over yourself because God already knows what you want, which is become a RN. SN: God forbid that you don't pass, but yes you have to complete QT 6 and 7 in order to satisfy the money back guarantee with Kaplan. I would STRONGLY suggest that you do at least one because those type of questions that are in those QT's are your NCLEX type questions. If I remember correctly, QT 6 has 200 questions and QT 7 has 265. I know time is winding down, but I promise it won't do nothing to harm you, but benefit you. Message me if I can help you with anything else.... :redbeathe

thank you all! surprisingly i haven't had too much time to study, i'm back at work now! lol but i get to celebrate for the rest of my life... fmatoz&backagain.... i had 113 questions, approximately 8-10 sata, i also had one where i had to put something in the correct order (forgot the name of those type of questions), and also one where they gave me a picture and i had to identify what type of contact to put that person in with that disease. iamblessed... don't worry, you got this! i'll definitely be praying for you. don't give up and continue to pray!

Hey!! I took Kaplan in preparation for my NCLEX and passed. My scores were some what like yours. Do not let Kaplan define who you are. Don't panic. I like Kaplan and would recommend it. I would continue to do the questions and make sure you know the content before doing your QT's because once I was completing the course content reviews, my scores began to go up surprisingly! You can do it. Don't give up. Read my thread I just wrote on passing the NCLEX and you might get some inspiration from it... I promise you will feel much better.

Let me start off by saying, never lose hope in God!!! I took my NCLEX on Friday, walked out confident, then as the day progressed, I felt worse and worse... I just knew that passing was not in my history. Once I got home and woke up from taking a nap, I felt DOOMED! My friends kept encouraging me to do the PVT trick, but I decided not to. Whatever the result may have been, I would have just rathered spared my life and waited the 48 hours out. And I did. I woke up this morning and got my quick results and there it read I had PASSED!!! :yeah:Thank you God. I encourage you all to never give up!!! This website really helped me get through my experience so I feel like I should put my own up in hopes to help another person. This is my story... Let me start off with my background: I was never the brightest in nursing school, neither was I the dumbest. I ended up taking the HESI test several (yes I said several) times in order to achieve the passing score in order to get my degree. There was a point in life where I just knew I was a failure. All my friends were moving on with their lives, and here I was still trying to pass the HESI. I was very embarrassed, but I didn't let that test define who I was. I had a great nursing externship so I had a lot of experience under my belt, but still couldn't pass that HESI. Eventually when I passed, I had lost my externship and finally received my degree! After graduation: Another graduation had came and went for my school and finally it was time to prepare for another challenge (the NCLEX). Between the time of the end of school until the beginning of the Kaplan course I used this time to pretty much relax, honestly. June 2011: The first of June finally came and the Kaplan course began. My school paid for the course so I had no reason not to attend. It was a two week course and this was my second go around for the course anyways so I knew what to expect (yes, I did Kaplan twice). Of course I was more focused this time because I was preparing for the NCLEX. Once the course was over, the studying began. By the time the Kaplan class course was over, I had already did the Diagnostic test, Readiness test, and question trainers 1, 2, and 3. I was working a PT job and I still had the opportunity to study at work, so that wasn't too bad. I studied something EVERYDAY!!! Whether it was answering 10 questions or 50 questions, I was doing something. Now at this point, my NCLEX wasn't even scheduled. My funds wasn't right at the time so I was unable to pay for it. But, nevertheless, I was still studying. Now I admit, throughout this month, I did a little slacking!! I went out of town over 4 times, hung out with my friends, played with my dog, etc. I had a life, and I wasn't giving it all up yet!!! July 2011: Money finally became right in order to schedule my test. I decided to give myself a month in between to give myself a full opportunity to study. There were no excuses for me at this point. So I cracked down and began a routine study session, by myself, in my home, and just did it. I was studying no less than 5 to 6 hours a day and maybe taking a day off, particularly on Sundays. I was doing the online course reviews and questions from Kaplan QBank everyday and I made sure to do a Question trainer once a week. I did the 7th QT the last week of July. By the end of July, I had completed all of my question trainers on top of all of questions in the QBank. Scores were as followed: Diagnostic:61 QT1:56 QT2:53 QT3:51 QT4:58 QT5:62 QT6:64 QT7:58 Readiness:64 Overall QBank: 59 As you can see I wasn't the smartest of the bunch.... August 2011: Time was winding down! At this point, I had finished EVERYTHING in kaplan. For a minute, I was stuck cause the big day was around the corner and I felt like I had completed every single resource I had!! So I pulled out my hurst review resources that I had and went over some of her videos. I had also went over a lot of questions and looked over the rationales and made sure I understood them. August 11, 2011 (night before the test): My best friend had came in town the day before and I realized I didn't do too much studying and did too much hanging out and began to PANIC!! I did a dry run to the testing site with my boyfriend and cried all the way there. I did a little bit of studying that day and finally put it to a rest around 11:00 that night. I ate two tuna sandwiches, got on my knees and prayed, and went to bed. August 12, 2011: 5:50 am. I woke up and prayed, and got in the shower. I made sure to eat this morning (a bowl of oatmeal) and drink my protein drink on my way out. I was so calm that it made no sense. I thanked and praised God all the way to the testing site for even giving me the opportunity regardless of what the outcome may be. 113 questions later, jumping in the pool with my clothes on, more prayer, and 48 hours later, I was a Registered Nurse!!! I wouldn't change nothing of how I prepared for this test. I know if I can do it, so can you! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't give up on yourself and don't lose yourself. Stay focused and your dreams WILL come true. God is definitely good to ALL of his children, and if you believe in him, everything will be done... For YOU can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!!!! Good luck to all future test takers! :redbeathe

Thank you all for all our your comments! I really enjoyed reading them. For the most part i am relaxing thus far, still going over somethings because its so hard not to stop studying! I look forward to giving you all the good news!

Coolbean12 I appreciate your suggestions/experience very much. My situation, as far as before the test and nursing school, sounds just as familiar as my own. I can't wait to get back with you with the good news that I DID PASS!!! Continous positive thinking!!! Thanks again!!!!

Hello All!!! The time has finally came!!! My test is Friday morning. I have had my crying moments and also my calm moments. But no matter what, I am still continuing to pray and praise God and I am going to suck it up and go in there on Friday and take this exam. Anybody have any suggestions on "the day before the exam"? What to do? Still study? Relax? For those that have already taken it.... what did you do? Nikster:yawn:

Hey all!!! It's 2 in the morning (don't be alarmed, I study best at the time), and I figure I can take a break from studying to say a few words. My test is next Friday (8/12) and even though I'm a little nervous because I know my life depends on this test, I'm also very calm. Oh, please believe, I'm def not the smartest out the bunch. I am taking this test very seriously and I'm not doubting that this test will be as easy as pie, but sometimes I feel like I've never been this calm ever in my life. Am I the only one feeling this way? I really believe I have prayed and put this all in God's hands. Only He can and will determine my future. I Pray over all the future test takers calmness and peace like myself!!! Thank you God!!!! Nikster