RW23RN

I'm in the AGAC/FNP dual program, started Fall 2020. If you don't get any bites here, there are some active FB groups you can search for by the school name. Good luck!

I emailed the help desk yesterday to see if they could give me my jagmail and they said there was no info on my account yet like it hadn’t been set up. ?

Yay-hopefully that means the rest of us will get them soon!

I had one through work, but you can go to any of the Request a Test or direct to consumer labs and order one. That’s what I did with varicella titer.

You might be right about that, and maybe I’m just a random outlier..but kudos to y’all for getting your apps in early and having great GPAs. I was worried about mine not being good enough but that was well over a decade ago for nursing and two decades for my other degree and it’s not changing ? Oh and I think I got my app in 2 weeks before the deadline. I was surprised to see a response so soon...I figured so much got shut down they had some free time to go thru apps! But I’m thrilled to have an answer and start making plans!!

OP- I’m so sorry you are in this boat. You are entering nursing at a very strange time! Today I’m starting a new job at a new hospital (like my 10th new nursing job in my career!) and interestingly, what I see is everyone is anxious, confused, frustrated, tired...but we are all in this boat together. Don’t let anyone tell you your feelings are invalid-it’s OK to feel all those things. But don’t stay there, OK? I promise, it will be OK. Like everyone else said, find a good hospital with solid orientation or even a graduate nurse residency program-you will find that most of the training you need will be over the weeks/months in new grad orientation. When you get there, find a mentor, someone you can ask about clinical things you may have missed or not covered as well as you would have liked. Watch videos about procedures. You’re missing out a little bit, it’s nice to get exposure to different areas during clinicals, but also, you are missing out on getting yourself exposed to C19 during this time. you’re not alone in your frustration-climb on in the boat, we’ll all make it thru together!

I missed the email last Thursday because I wasn’t expecting it this soon! Saw it Friday-I applied for the Dual Role FNP/AGAC for Fall. I know several that are in or have gone thru the dual or adult programs. I keep hearing if you follow the directions, keep up with assignments/readings you’ll be fine. I’ve already kind of started to network from hospital connections (this is where agency/traveling comes in handy!!) and asking classmates that have already done their programs who they have worked with for possible preceptors down the road.

Depends on the hospital you are working in-if it is a large or small ICU. Don't be scared-just absorb what you can and ask lots of questions. The nice thing about ICU is that you have 2-3 patients usually so you know much more about the history and current situation of your patients than you would on a med surg floor. Likely you will encounter sepsis, acute respiratory failure, exacerbations of chronic illnesses (copd, chf, renal..) DKA and a host of others. It's overwhelming at first but just try to take it in and learn what you can.

Interesting-I'm thinking of leaving bedside (ICU) and agency work (ICU, MS, LTC) and getting into Case Management but I have been worried that I wouldn't be qualified. (5 years as RN, with BSN). Maybe I need to move where you are!

I don't know that its a right or not. But I can get used to the concept. I think done correctly it would lower hospital admissions for chronic diseases. However, I'm not sure we've gone about it correctly. We probably should have spent a few years building up PCP practices, community clinics and preventative care before we dove right in. I'm concerned about the number of PCPs that are leaving the practice, the fact that we are still fighting over the role of NPs in primary level care, and the fact that hospitals are tightening their belts, increasing nurse/patient ratios and workloads. All of the money that hospitals "wrote off" with uninsured patients, where does that go? Now they will be compensated at lower rates without the tax write offs? I don't think we can yet see the full scope of implications that ACA will produce. I hope things will settle, I hope we figure out how to do it right. But I'm still skeptical.

Just be aware, before facilities go improving ratios in favor of long term cost savings, they will pass the buck to the nursing staff. Hopefully none of us lose our jobs when patients don't get turned/groomed/walked and have negative consequences. Document, document, document! And perhaps we start encouraging family members to get involved with grooming, meals, etc... when applicable and safe to do so. Anyone have any good ideas how to document that things weren't done because you were busy?????

That happens too. My point is, it doesn't matter if you're a good worker or not, still an employee or not. Bad references happen to good nurses and you just have to have some back ups and roll with it. If you have reason to believe an employer has given you a bad reference, ask about it. Address the issues they brought up. Sometimes you can get a job in spite of a bad reference, especially if you can explain the negative points.

I did the same thing, on a telemetry unit. The only thing I would add is to take advantage of their extern program. I externed in the ER there and an ICU, very helpful in choosing what I wanted to do out of school. Float when they ask you to float, learn new areas if you can and just be observant and you'll do great.

This happened to me today actually! I have been awaiting reference checks for a new job, I got a call today saying they needed another professional reference because I had a negative one from a previous manager. What was so terrible that I'd gotten a negative reference? I got into a car wreck during my final 2 weeks and had to call in. This translated to "scheduling issues" and a "would not rehire." Never mind being a good employee before then. I've been working agency for awhile and finding it hard to track down professional references. Its frustrating.

Oh, also you can thank the computerized EHR for that. On my initial patient screen all your info pops up-regligion, allergies, insurance-and sometimes a nice scanned photo of your insurance card. Its not that everyone on medicaid gets a free ride, its that a lot of people use the ER as their PCP because they know they pay nothing upfront. Kudos to your for paying your copays though! Its nice to hear there are responsible people out there