Shinnichi

(I tried asking on reddit but I haven't gotten any replies so I figured I'd try here.) Hi all, I've got 3 1/2 years experience med-surg (and I guess it was a med/tele floor? Several pts were on tele monitored by techs), including 1 year charging nights. I also have 6 months ortho, but that was a PRN job. However, I quit working in July 2020 d/t to pregnancy and the uncertainty of COVID and I haven't worked since. I'd like to travel to help pay off debt, but I have questions. - Anyone have any experience with being out of work for awhile and then being able to be hired for contracts? - My compact license app is pending, currently I only have an Alabama license. Since I'm waiting on that, would getting my titers drawn, tb test, etc, be helpful? I'm also getting my BLS renewed. - Does anyone have experience working away from their small child? I have 2 kids, but one is 13 so that's not as much of an issue, but the other is currently 16 months and I've been his primary caregiver.

Thank you. I think my mind has been made up for awhile, but I've just been too anxious to go through with it. I think I'm going to go ahead and ask them if I can come in and speak with them today. I don't think it'd be right to do another shift using resources. (As for the health condition, my Dr does believe the extra stress caused the exacerbation. Your point about health is very good advice. Thank you.)

So update: I tried giving it some more time on the floor, and I still find myself feeling the same as a month ago. I understand I need to communicate this to my boss as soon as possible, and with that I have a question. I'm scheduled to orient tonight, so I could possibly see if they're available this morning and go in to talk and turn in my badge. Or, I could wait until tomorrow morning and talk to them when they come in (once my shift finishes). Are these poor moves? It shouldn't make a bit of difference in their staffing, but would it feel too rushed for me to come in the day of a shift and do this? One part of me says to wait and schedule to talk to them next week, but the other part of me wonders if completing another shift knowing I don't intend to keep the position would be taking resources and therefore wrong.

I’m not sure how to organize this, so bear with me if things aren’t neatly described. I have a FT night weekend position on a med-surg floor. My husband and I have been working down our debt for roughly the last 12 mos. Part of our plan to work on debt was promising to strive for overtime/new jobs/raises/etc—whatever we could to increase our income. On my part, I recently picked up a PRN night position at another hospital on a different kind of floor. The demographic is an improvement, with a good portion being elective procedures and LOS being usually no more than 2 nights. The charting system and med system are different from what I’m used to, but honestly, I haven’t had a poor experience so far. The people I’m working with have been pleasant and easy to approach, and I’ve gotten good feedback. However, I feel like I want to quit. There are a few unexpected changes that have caused this— - Originally, I was considering going PRN at my main job and doing 2 days a week at each for a change of pace, but when I discovered that PRN at my main hospital paid only 10% diff instead of 20% like the rest of the system, I realized it wasn’t worth it. - D/t a particular set of circumstances, I was offered to train and become a relief charge, which I accepted for the experience. I didn’t think I was experienced enough for such a position (and there’s talk of our charge moving to another floor in a couple months, possibly giving me the permanent position) but I’ve received praise and recommendations from nurses’ I highly respect, and so far I’ve been told I’ve done well. - There’s a unit I’ve wanted to work on in my main hospital for a while and potentially I could put in for it, as I’ve gotten on good terms with the staff there. - Recalculated, picking up some of the plentiful overtime currently available is worth more (especially if the night I pick up is a charge night) than the once a week shift at this new facility. Now, this sounds like I’ve already come to an answer and that it makes sense to drop the other hospital, especially since I’m still in training and not part of their staffing matrix. I’m holding this fear that even if I try to leave with notice, explaining that the unit is nice, there were no problems, but I’ve had other opportunities arise, etc. that somehow… it’ll still look bad. I think my worry is exacerbated by the fact that I had to ask off a shift recently d/t a new medical problem and that a few weeks earlier I asked to leave 3 hours early because I’d over scheduled and committed to a day that I had another commitment. Both those times I let the manager know as soon as I could, and the second time was something completely unplanned (I still gave about 3 days’ notice.) I sort of stumbled into this new job. They’d had a recruitment fair (which turned out to be more formal than others I’d attended elsewhere) and it was by happenstance that HR paired me with this manager. I accepted because at the time I felt like it was an easy opportunity to check out this facility. Now I think as a creature of habit, I’m not liking having to learn everything again (Drs/IV kits/pumps/procedure diffs), and my current facility is offering me advancement and opportunities that I didn’t know I’d get when this all began. Any advice...? Am I worrying too much...?

What they said. ^^^ I was living in FL and wouldn't have been able to get into any school there (well, beside some of the for-profits). At the same time my husband was looking to transfer to a different location, and so I researched nursing schools in the locations he could possibly transfer to. One school counted only the last 24 hours of credits for GPA purposes, so we chose that location and that's how I got into nursing school. Talk to the advisers, but also find out how the nursing deportment selects its applicants as sometimes there are entrance exams that are worth a heavy percent of the decision (that also helped me, as I did well on the exam). Ask the advisers if necessary about potential academic bankruptcy (a one time wipe of poor/old grades under very particular circumstances), but only as a last resort. Also, if this is something you very much want, sometimes you WILL have to work several years for it.

[Forgive me if this isn't in the right subforum. It isn't an entrance exam, and it isn't really an exit exam either, so I didn't know if should go there anyway. Please feel free to move it, moderators, if necessary!] Hello all! My classmates and I are preparing to take our Introduction to Pharmacology final soon, and we were trying to determine how to go about studying for it. We were told we would be taking the HESI, but not much else. I'm not sure if the HESI is usually one big test like the TEAS, but this test is listed as separate tests for each of our classes. (Pharmacology HESI, Fundamentals HESI, Health Assessment HESI) I looked up previous HESI threads, but I just wanted to see if it made a difference that our test would be given after taking only Introduction to Pharmacology vs an exit exam at the end of our nursing curriculum. Is it possible that we would get questions that we otherwise wouldn't know until after Med-Surg or Psych? Please, any advice on what to concentrate on would be appreciated, as well as any experiences about the types of questions (more calculations, more drug questions, etc.) we might encounter. Thank you!

Hello there! I'm finishing my first semester at Calhoun in the fulltime ADN program, and I just wanted to give advice to those of you who will enter this fall. Before school starts: -Join the Calhoun Nursing Mentors group on Facebook, if you have one. You can find right now several outgoing students selling their books for CHEAP. -It is also beneficial to create or join an existing private Facebook group for your cohort. We've all helped each other remember to bring things, answered questions, and generally given support to each other. It's nice. -The patch for the uniform is cheaper in all other locations besides the bookstore ($3-5 vs. $8). -DO NOT buy the penlight the bookstore offers. It's crap and 30-40% of the people who bought that pen (myself included) have already had it go out and eat through batteries like crazy. -You will recommended to buy the study guide” books for Fundamentals and Med-surg. Med-surg study guide won't be used until 2nd semester, and I didn't know anyone who used the fundamentals study guide book. Take that money and buy a Saunder's NCLEX book instead. -The same goes for the Davis Lab and Diagnostic tests book. I haven't used it this semester, and I likely didn't need it until 2nd semester. -Take that huge 3” student handbook binder you'll be required to buy and transfer it to a smaller 1 ½”. It's much easier to take to class when you need to. As soon as they tell you, make a copy (or two) of the Nursing Skills Checklist”. You MUST have that or you will not be allowed to validate any skills you learn. (15 of us learned that the hard way.) -If you want to get ahead” I recommend going through your fundamentals and pharm books. Don't worry about health assessment so much, it's the most simple and it's better to wait until the instructor demos things anyway. In pharm I would only worry about conversions of the metric, apothecary, and household systems. For fundamentals, infection control, mobility, skin integrity/wound care. -GET. YOUR. PERSONAL. THINGS. IN. ORDER. During school: -There are case studies” you have to do, and they have different requirements for different classes. Once the instructors register you (a week or two into the semester), I would take a day a do ALL of them. Saves you a headache later. -Attending class is the most important. I know this may seem like a duh” thing, but you'd be surprised when people don't come in and the instructor emphasizes an otherwise unimportant-looking point on their powerpoint that is then a test question or two. It has also happened that an instructor decides to take out a slide or two of info, saving you from a bit of studying. -When a test comes, DON'T BRING THAT CELLPHONE IN. I've seen people get walked straight out for the sound of a vibrating cell. One person was during test one and now has to make up a harder version of that test on makeup day, which also happens to be a day we have our last pharm test, which is also two days before the pharm final. I kid you not. -Check Blackboard every single day, even the morning of class. -Always have your badge. If you're someone who loses their stuff on occasion, pay the $5 at student services and get a second one. You CANNOT test or validate without it. … I don't remember anything else right now, but I hope this helps and things won't change too much from my semester to yours. These are things I'd wish someone would've told me, and if anyone has any questions, you can ask and I'll try to pop on and help. The next two weeks are going to be very busy though (finals), so sorry if I take a while. Good luck everyone!

I'm terribly sorry to hear this. My last clinical day is tomorrow, and I could never imagine losing any of my cohort like that. My deepest condolences to you and your classmates.

I agree with the PPs. Try to find out if it's your studying/schooling that is affecting how he feels. At his age, you might be able to explain to him about your school-- it's temporary, and does take away your time from him, but it's important-- and see if he still wants to spend more time at his dad's. If so, then I would do as vanilla bean mentioned, if possible. Remember that even after your 8 weeks of school, the time you'll be spending for NCLEX and job-procuring could also affect him. I understand that it may be hard, but in the grand scheme of things this is a fraction of your/his life, and you are only doing (I'm assuming here) what is best for him and yourself.

Ah, I see. I didn't realize that I would need to use it for that. I thought the dictionary would only be for my personal benefit if I didn't know a particular medical term. Thank you!

Thanks! I was cleaning my desk tonight and noticed it had managed to gather dust already.

Hello everyone, So, I'm about 8 weeks into my RN program, and I have yet to touch the Taber's Medical Dictionary on my desk. Anytime that I didn't know what a term meant, I Googled it. I know this may seem trivial, but I'd like to sell my dictionary and get the money back if it's unnecessary. Have you ever found a medical dictionary more useful than an Internet search?

I'll be honest... I'm 25 and I don't really know what a transistor radio is. The only Transistor I know is a videogame.

Google, as in "Google it" to search for something Vlogging YouTube Netflix Streaming (for movies/music) If I think of more I'll add in

I agree with the PPs about not worrying about the cheaters. IF they manage to make it into NS, the kinds of questions they will be faced with (and if your school is smart) the setup for testing won't allow for cheating. Even so, it wouldn't be possible to cheat once they are in clinicals-- their instructor asking them things they should already know, not being able to demonstrate necessary critical thinking and skills, etc. And if all else, the NCLEX certainly wouldn't be passable for them. It sucks to put in effort and watch others graze by, but in the end you can only ever be responsible for yourself.