HoosierJumper

I have worked for the same health care facility for over 3 years now. x something months as a patient sitter, 2 years as a nursing aide on an oncology unit and an ICU, and currently I've worked 7months as an RN floating between a medical and surgical ICU. Recently my feelings about working for the facility have changed. With a mass quitting of nurses on our unit,we are dangerously understaffed (though I believe we have hired 8 more nurses). Also with the hospital's inability to flow patients through the ED, the ICU has become a holding ground of tele overflows. Currently I am dissatisfied with my work situation. I want to take care of true ICU patients, not overflows all the time. I have only been a nurse for 7 months now, so I've been hesitant to attempt to quit. However, this all changed. I recently received a text from a friend who's manager wants my resume ASAP. It would be on a Nero ICU in a downtown hospital. Even though I am not a fan of Nero, the opportunity would be a foot in the door to a wonderful working environment and an amazing opportunity. My question is, would it be too soon to leave my current job with only 7months as an RN? The new hospital knows my current experience. p.s. I apologize if my grammar is sub-par

I am a nursing student - graduating this spring. I have applied for a couple graduate nurse residency programs but I want to know when I should start applying for actual hospital jobs. I have heard everything from: Not until you've graduate, to not until you get your licenses to "are you serious? You haven't started applying yet?!" I am moving states from Indiana to Texas - So I cannot just walk into a hospital and talk to HR :)

I'm coming up on graduation and I plan on taking my NCLEX for the state of Texas - however I live in Indiana. I was wanting some advice from state residence or anyone willing to lend some. 1. When did you start applying for jobs? Before graduation? After graduation? After passing the NCLEX? 2. Being so far away what is the best way to go about finding a job in another state? 3. What is the average length of time it has been taking new grads with prior experience (3 years of working in ICU as CNA/Secretary) Thanks bunches~

The biggest advice as a senior nursing student that I could give someone is: Clinical is what you make out of it. Meaning, don't just stand around and expect people to hand you things to do. Follow nurses, CNA's and even doctors into patients rooms (though ask them first). I once had a nurse tell me "youre a nursing student, i expect you to make mistakes, that's why i'm here." - so don't be nervous about trying new things (within your given limits) For your first clinical, everything will be new and exciting. I suggest following CNA first - these girls will teach you tons of patient care techniques and really help get you comfortable around people. I know that sounds odd, but if you were like me, at 19 / 20 years old you are not use to telling adults what to do....or cleaning private parts. The last point I will make is, it will not be what you expect. Nurses are sometimes mean, patients can be awful/rude/demanding, and doctors are a different story. But remember, you will have good days and bad days. Everyone has a story in the hospital- a reason why they act the way they do- and we dont' know that story. So treat everyone with kindness and respect. Think about your patient; you are meeting them at time of sickness, hardship and when they are in great stress, don't take things personally.

I have never had a situation like this. Other clinical groups have had and we just take it. One nurse yelled to the whole unit that she "had to work with a bunch of idiot students today." Our clinical instructor tells us we have to deal with these people in the job and tells us how to handle it if we were a nurse. Honestly, hospitals around here are dropping nursing programs and we have to keep a good relationship with them. I have talk to other students who go to school south of me and they can't even do a pediatric rotation alone because all of the major hospitals with those units dropped them. Now they have OB and Pediatric together and get less experience with both. She goes to a big university too. So I do not think it's the school not backing you but trying to save the experiences for other students. And lets be honest, its college. I'm on my last year of nursing and they've already started calling and asking for money. Money makes the program better, pays the bills, ect. College is all about taking every dime from you to make them better!

As a student, I actually like care plans. They make you think of the client in a holistic view rather than he's on a ventilator what can I do for that. The care plans make you think of spiritual disturbances or at risk for things like if you have a patient who is unstable, altered mental status, urinary incontinence, along with IV lines, anyone can think of fixing the mental status alteration and the urinary incontinence, but the care plans make you think further into it. Like the patient is at risk for falling. To a seasoned nurse this may seem like a "no-Duh" type of thing, but to a baby nursling who has yet to step foot into a hospital, its a new discovery. I see the point the OP makes, because some nursing professor make it too complicated. However, I see the true value in them and how they will help nurslings like myself grasp a better holistic view on the patients! :)

I was always told the class if your class is 1 hour long you should be studying 2 hours a day for it. This was a study tip given to us by evolve (ATI). But IMO it's not how long you study, but how you study. Finding out how you study is important and don't make the mistake of trying to change it. Also make sure you have time for yourself and get adequate enough sleep. I found that these factors made my grades 10xs better than when I studied 24/7 and got little sleep. :)

I would encourage any experience in the hospital like CNA :) nursing is a mental game. You can spend 20+ hours studying for an exam - but that doesn't mean you will pass it. I use to be the same way, until I started doing Yoga. I found that the more I stressed out, the more if forgot, and the more I made mistakes. When I took a deep breath, told myself "you got this" and smiled, I did 10xs better. I made myself constantly ask questions - I wouldn't let myself get embarrassed - and I made a point to get involved with anything I could at clinical and learn from others. Yoga might not be for you - but before you wake up and go to clinical close your eyes, take a deep breath and think of only positive things (IE like you doing something good in clinical). Trust me it really works, no matter how cheesey it sounds :)

FYI the internships were due last Thursday :) So they are done! They are already starting the interviews. I was told by my professor in clinical that being a Nursing aide (even if a month before graduation) in a place you want to go is the right thing to do. If you can do a nursing assistant even in another area of the hospital, you are in the hospital and have your foot in the door. If you want to transfer out to the PICU/NICU or pedis unit they already know what kind of employee you are and its easier to transfer than it is to apply to a new hospital (IMO). That same clinical professor questioned the value of being a intern with your nursing degree lol quote on quote "why in the hell would you do that?" but that is one professor opinion :)

I too am a little bit confused on how you received the wrong medication. Even if she were to be able to get her own medications, how did she know what med to pull? Regardless, the 6 rights of medications ( Right documentation, time, dose, route, patient, and medication) was not used! Like the others said before, appealing and explaining what you learned from the situation would be a good idea. Also writing a letter to the unit wouldn't be a bad idea either . I hope everything turns out good for you though. I heard about only one other med error happen. it was not in my college. The instructor and nurse both verified the med. Turns out the nurse the shift before wrote it in the wrong spot (this was awhile back when computers were not widely used) and blood pressure medication was given at 0600 and 0800. The student did not get in trouble, but it was a big deal. Lesson learned that its better to check yourself than to trust someone else. Let us know what the turn out it!

This semester I took: Psychology 390 Lifespan Development, Microbiology, Nutrition, Pharmacology (Therapeutic Nursing Interventions) and Intro to Community based Nursing. On top of that my "Pharm" class also had a clinical one time a week. I would never suggest a workload that I have this semester unless you don't want a life, however depending on how many nursing class you take I would do what CNorman said and try to get all of your core classes out of the way because they are super annoying once you get to harder classes.

I am from the same area as you (I would suspect since I am a commuter at VU) and I completely disagree. I know many CNO's, nursing directors and a CEO of a hospital and they find most IVY tech students under qualified compared to students who received their degree at a University. However, going to the issue of whether ASN programs should be cut, I think it should. If we want to be looked at as professionals in our field higher level of education is needed. With the advancement in technology and the roles of nurses changing there is a need for a nurse who has a higher critical thinking and strives to be a life long learner. Whether we like to admit it or not, society often views nurses as people who were not smart enough to go through and be a physician. If you don't believe me on this, watch Gray's Anatomy (One Dr. tried dating a nurse and was constantly made fun of because she was dating a "nurse"). I often times even find myself defending my career choice on why I choice being a RN over a Dr. While I disagree with this, it is an imagine that has been on our field for years. Making this a BSN program is going to not only promote the fact that being a nurse requires highly educated professionals in our field but also weed out those who truly don't want to be nurses. If someone is doing it for the money a 2 year degree is easy to obtain compared to a 4 year degree.

I was actually in the same boat you were my 1st semester of sophomore year (since I was automatically accepted into the nursing program basically my first year of nursing school). I would study till 3am some nights, read all the chapters, and all that. What I did to help me was buy every Nclex book there was at barns n nobles (well buy one then return it get my money back and buy another one) and I would take the practice test with my friends and me. Even if the information didn't pertain to me I took it and it helped my scores out GREATLY.