ICU_UcMe

Nursing school is like daycare, and being a new grad is like college. In nursing school, everyone watches out for you and makes sure you aren't messing anything up. People will answer your questions, and generally expect you not to really know anything. As a new grad, most others know you don't know a lot of things, but still expect you to learn most of it on your own. They may answer a question for you, but they're more likely to get annoyed by it. If you have to ask the same question more than once? Forget about it! Your patients are your problem once your orientation is over, and you better be ready to hit the ground running. You'll feel like a fish out of water for the majority of the first year, but you'll start to get the hang of it. Hopefully you have helpful coworkers like I did, and not the nightmares some of my friends had.

I stumbled upon this thread, and just wanted to tell you that I work with a bedside APRN. Like you, she didn't want to practice anymore so she doesn't. The hospital couldn't care less about her being licensed as a NP. She's still a nurse, and that's all they cared about. Mind you, she's only getting a RN's wages though. I'm not sure how much more you all make yearly, but if you're okay with our pay then I say go for it.

I agree with you for the most part. However, of the preceptor hasn't first told her what she's doing wrong and attempted to help her correct said behavior then she is also failing Alice herself. She's a student. Students are used to hand holding and are scared of doing anything without being told to because they've been conditioned that way. Unless OP has talked to Alice about the behavior and still hasn't seen a change, then I think it's wrong to expect any improvements to miraculously be made.

I love being a nurse. I do feel overwhelmed sometimes though because I'm a new nurse, and I'm in critical care. I know it takes a bit to get your footing, but it can be a little disheartening when people treat you like you should've had it after only a few shifts.

I work with some of my friends from nursing school. I'm not going to stop hanging out with them simply because we work together now.

Isn't that the overpriced, one-size-fits-all leggings? I have a friend who tried to talk me into trying them. No thanks. My $5 ones from Walmart are just as comfy and have lasted me for years. Lol

Sometimes I donate to GFM accounts, and other times I don't. It depends on the circumstances and on my mood. For instance, I donated to one that someone had made a crappy comment on about how they'd just spent a week at Disney and "should've used that money for their bills instead." Well that week at Disney was c/o Kidd's kids and the person who made the comment looked like a moron when a friend linked him to the pics from their site. I saw it on Twitter and contributed, and I've always keep that particular one in the back of my mind because it shows you never really know someone's situation. However, I usually don't donate to "help me go on this mission trip," or "help me get this elective surgery," blah blah. I am more apt to donate when it's a true medical issue beyond someone's control, a loss of possessions or dwelling r/t a catastrophe, or just someone I know who works their bottom off and can't catch a break. Different strokes for different folks. If giving isn't your thing then don't do it; we all still give back in our own way anyway, right?

Thanks for this. Googling and finding this thread just saved me from spending $50 on a book on amazon. I'm having trouble understanding as much as I feel (or it seems I should according to some others) I need to after a few weeks in the ICU under a preceptor. I encounter something new every day that I've never even heard of, less yet know how to use. Example: Ekos machines. I had no idea what that was or how to operate it. *sigh*

At will means neither of you have to give a reason for termination of your employment. That said, if you don't give the proper notification for them to find someone else to fill your position then I'd expect that to get around and bite you in the long run. How you left your last job says a lot to your future employer, and trust that word does get around. If I were you, I'd give notice and be honest. Tell them that you feel the job is bigger than you were prepared for, and that you don't feel adequately equipped to deal with this many pts at this stage. Maybe it's something they can work with you on, and maybe it's something they wont. Either way, it's the professional thing to do.

If you add to this calling pharmacy repeatedly because they refuse to send the proper drips from the list they were faxed by the unit secretary, you have my life. í ½í¸©

I wish my lunch break ever truly lasted my thirty minutes. I'm lucky if I get 15 mins uninterrupted. Lol

I am sorry this happened to you, OP, but I agree with this. They probably figured that if you have enough personal conflict to keep you from orienting properly then you're going to have too much to keep you from retainment. Further, since you've been a nurse for years now, they probably expected you to know better than to be gone that long without notification. Regardless, I wouldn't let this deter you from finding a hospital job if that's what you long for. Chalk this up to a learning experience and move on to a better fit.

Fact. I got screamed at my first semester of nursing school because I refused to take an order from a doctor. Umm, let's see, I had been in nursing school for a matter of weeks, and I was specifically told it was out of my scope of practice so why would I do that again? If I had done it, my clinical instructor wouldn't have been in trouble-- I would. I am the one who knew I wasn't supposed to. On another note, I told my nurse about it after the fact, and she went and yelled right back at him. In her words, "you go apologize to that young lady right now because YOU KNOW BETTER!" He came and apologized too. It was the funniest thing I had ever seen.

I'd say go FNP if that many things interest you. I wouldn't limit myself to a specific area if you don't think you want to spend your entire career in it. That's just my opinion though. I'm currently in the ICU and PRN in MH so I clearly can't make up my mind either. ha ha.

I never came back to say that my license was up before my unofficial results were even available. I found out I passed, applied for jobs, and got hired at one all within 24 hours. Woohoo! Now the fun part begins. Lol

This is true. I'm fairly certain that six weeks would've killed me though. Lol

Oh, honey, lol. Nursing wasn't my first career. In fact, I just graduated with my BSN last year, and I'm in my 30s. Trust me, you'll be fine.

I never even knew it was an option until now. I DEFINITELY didn't feel competent enough to be a LPN after two semesters of nursing school. Hell, I still feel lost half of the time now. 😂

I got into the nursing school at my university the first time I applied so don't freak out over wait lists unless you aren't a good student. I also had to apply in like April or May to get in for the following January so no way you could get into one right now unless it's a scam school. If it's for-profit, stay away. That's my advice, and you can take it or leave it. FYI, a BSN at my school didn't even cost that much.

So I took the NCLEX today, and when the test closed out at 75 questions, I was 100% sure that I had failed. I decided to just try the PVT and got what they say is "the good pop up." I know that you can get the bad one and still pass, but has anyone ever gotten the good one and still failed? I'm just having a hard time believing I passed that painful thing.

Well, I am a concealed-carry permit holding, handgun owning, democrat so I'd probably really make your co-worker's head spin.

So do you feel like uworld was worth it? I have the Saunders book, and I need to read it again because I haven't looked over it since this summer, but I didn't do many of their resource questions online because they give entirely too much information. Everyone has told me that the NCLEX will not give that much info. I made over 1,000 on every HESI we took this semester except for Fundamentals, but I have been doing the NCSBN questions and am not even getting 75% on the first try. I feel like they are much different than the HESI questions are. They are very generic, don't give you much info at all, and you're expected to just think "in a perfect world." I can get used to it with enough practice, but it's different than what I spent two years testing with. I also have the NCLEX-RN app and am wondering if that'll be good enough without me needing to purchase uworld too. I don't want to spend any more money than I have to. I've been watching the Hurst videos, and am surprised at how much content they're reminding me of that I had forgotten. I mean, I literally just graduated and they're still explaining things to me that I didn't realize I didn't know. I had always heard the Hurst was a waste, but from what I have watched on fluid and electrolytes, I feel it has helped me. Now, will it help me with the test? Meh, that remains to be seen.

We graduate in December; I've already had 3 job offers, and two have offered sign-on bonuses. One of the offers is in mental health (which is my current field). I don't know about your area, but it is my understanding that mental health nurses are always in high demand because it's so stressful, and the pay oftentimes is terrible. Are you in a BSN program? If so, I honestly would not worry about being able to find a job. If it's an ADN, I know some hospitals will only hire those with experience, but I highly doubt that is the standard. There is an initiative for 80% of nurses to have a BSN by 2020 so that may be why some are starting to lean that way.

I wasn't insinuating that it was chump change. I just know people who pay less. Granted, we live in a rural area so I am sure there is probably some type of forgiveness going on there. I don't know because I've honestly never asked.

It depends on the type of debt. Personally, they paid my student loans off for me (from a previous degree).