wkate

Hello everyone, I've been an RN on a telemetry-based unit for over a year but have been looking for a new position. I have an interview in an ICU scheduled in the coming days at a different hospital. During this interview, I'm sure the question of why I'm choosing to leave my current position and hospital will arise. There are two major reasons: I want to get into critical care (which I will have no issues talking about with my interviewer) but my current unit is also going through a horrible staffing crisis. Due to management issues, almost half of the nursing staff on my unit has left in the past 2-3 months. I feel unsafe practicing with my license right now which is a major reason why I'm sending out job applications at this current time. Obviously I'm going to lead with my love of/desire to work in a critical care setting, but do I mention the other issues on my unit as a reason why I'm leaving? I in no way want to bad mouth my current hospital or give the interviewer the impression that I'm a gossiper or caught up in unit drama which is why I'm cautious about mentioning it. Any input would be greatly appreciated. All the best, Kate

Hello everyone, I took the NCLEX today and while I definitely did not think it was easy, I felt very prepared for the types of questions that they were asking (there were one or two that completely stumped me, but everything else I either knew or was able to narrow it down to two answers). I had 85 questions which contained 20 SATA and 1 drag and drop question. It took me close to an hour an 15 minutes to complete. There were some instances where I even got 2 or 3 SATAs in a row (I've heard that the SATAs are usually the harder questions, so its good that you get a lot of them?). I'm also 100% positive that I got the last question correct (not because it was an "easy" question, just because I had an extremely similar question while studying). The only problem is that my testing center has been without internet since the end of last week (the woman at the desk said that they still have test results from Friday that they have yet to send out). So, when I do the PVT, I get the pop up that says that they haven't sent out my test yet ("The candidate currently has an open registration for this exam. A new registration cannot be created at this time."), not the "good" pop-up. I called the testing center and they told me that someone should be there to take a look at things, and "hopefully" their internet will be fixed by tomorrow, but until it is repaired, Pearson will not be able to process my results. Everyone seems to be telling me that if I only got 85 questions, that is a good sign (I know that there is no way to prove this, as I'm sure some people also fail at 85 question). They also tell me that since I got so many SATAs (over 20% of my test!), that's another positive sign. I'm also trying to tell myself "Why would they turn the test off and fail me at 85 questions if I'm positive I got the last question right?" Because if I was doing that poorly, there 180 more chances for me to redeem myself. Does anyone have any words of encouragement? I've gotten myself so upset over this, and its torture to know that I need to wait until at least tomorrow morning to even attempt the PVT (and that's if they have internet in the morning!). I was extremely confident when I left the testing center (not because I thought all of the questions were easy, but because I have been studying daily for over a month and felt prepared for most of the questions they threw at me), but now I'm not so sure. All the best, Kate P.S.-Before I even got to the actual NCLEX questions, my computer froze up for around 10 minutes. I just cant win!!

Thank you for all of the responses!! I'm just a little worried because I've had at least 3 other PPDs done in years prior, and I've never reacted like this before. Hopefully it'll clear up by tomorrow. Thank you again :)

Hello, I have a question about reactions to the PPD test. I received mine yesterday, and this morning when I looked at it, there is 12-13mm area of redness around the injection site which is very slightly raised. Around that area, there is a smaller, lighter 3-4mm boarder. Is this considered a positive reaction? I go on Monday to have the area read.