RNam

Sounds intimidating for a student, but you can do it! You've already gotten several really good suggestions like a good "brain" report sheet, prioritizing. A couple other small ideas that might help....... See if there is a way for you to come the day before your rotation to get familiarized with the place, and if that's possible, try to have some of your more important questions ready, and if not, have them ready for the day of & get there as early as you can! Have a game plan before the day you start, and eat a good breakfast. Also, leave room on your report sheets for a "To Do" list or write them on the back of each sheet, so as your getting report & throughout your day, you can quickly jot down things you need to do, such as education, change an INT, supplies they need, dressing change, etc. and mark them off as you complete them. Best of luck!

Well for starters, it's obvious your not helping your self esteem by posting on here. I stopped reading the comments about half way through. Some people are just plain mean. The things you mentioned are not stupid mistakes, they're lack of experience mistakes. I won't bother repeating what some have already said about improving your skills, working through it, the whole piggy back thing,etc. But I will mention this... It's not impossible to change people's mind about you. I have seen more than a few people accomplish this at my job. They had a rough start, kind of clashed with a few of the more difficult personalities, but they kept a good attitude, and went out of their way to show people their true colors, and that they were really trying, and over the coorifice of several months, I saw the same people who had been bad mouthing them, completely turn around. One thing that ends up happening a lot of times is that other people that may have heard a negative report about you, start to decide that they don't hold the same opinion, or they just plain forget about it over time. Ofcourse, all of that requires some persistence & positive attitude on your part, but it can be done. And there will always be a few folks that are determined to be cruel and unmerciful, no matter what you do. For them, you have to learn to avoid them when you can, and develop a thick skin for the times you can't. And you have to learn to be a little kinder to yourself too. Best of luck!

The way I understood it, the schools in my area changed from waiting lists to a competitive process several years back to improve their scores & make them more competitive with other schools (as in which one is supposedly better) in the state. Making it a competitive process basically weeds out those that can't make high enough scores.

I graduated as an LPN 7.5 yrs ago & now completing the RN program. I feel like they are both vey hard & a lot of work. I have only seen a few things so far that seemed "more in depth" compared to my LPN program. I actually feel like the LPN program was harder b/c we had more class & clinical time with the same amount of book work all crammed into a shorter program. Both require some real determination & a lot of work. And in both programs, we lost over half of the people who started, so definately NOT easy.

I work on a cardiac floor (GA). Days is usually 4 or 5:1 and nights 5 or 6:1. ICU & CCU are usually 2:1 unless they have a balloon pump 1:1 or something crazy. With 4 & 5 patients I rarely get to go home on time and run all day. I could not imagine having 7-12 pt's as the NY nurse stated earlier. That is so unsafe & scary!

I live in GA. I started excelsior several years ago and stopped when GA stopped accepting them, but you really should talk to some people who have successfully completed the program b/c it's hard and designed to be a money maker. I work with a lady who did it, but she said it was a rip off in a lot of ways. The 2 day clinical for example; She said they fail most people. At that time it was $275 a pop, and she along with people from all over the US had to take it 2 and 3 times (some never passed it). She said they find ridiculous, inconsequential things to fail you. She was at the end of the program, waiting on clearance to take her boards, and b/c of changes in what the state would accept, she ended up having to find hospitals that would allow her to do clinicals with them (which was hard since she was like an independant student). She had to do somewhere around 500 hrs I think, before they would allow her to take boards. She successfully did it, but it ended up being very costly in time and money. So my advice...... Find someone who's not selling it, that has actually succeeded at it and let them tell you, so you know what your really getting into. And ofcourse, as the last person said, check with your state boards to see what they will accept.

What kind of requirements are there for working outside of the US as an RN?

I went to LPN school several years after obtaining my GED, and with no tech/hospital experience. It doesn't affect anything. What does matter is your grades/scores on whatever your school uses for their competetive process. Ours used a combination of your core class grades, and an entrance exam score for getting into the program. And I am now back in school for RN. Same thing. GED didn't matter, but your competitive process scores and this time an interview also. Good luck!

Definately a HIPAA violation, and a violation of her duties as a nurse. I know of 2 people, a tech and a nurse who both took a picture of a pt at the hospital. One wanted a pic of a "serious" code, and the other a pic of a very sick pt. Both were fired, as they should be. This nurse probably thinks it's a harmless joke, but I'm sure she would think differently if it was her own child, or if she actually cared about her patients. The fact that an adult, much less a nurse, would make fun of a child, is infuriating to me!