tenjuna

Here I am 3 years from my last post as promised lol. I did finish my MSN in Nursing Informatics online last year with a 4.0 GPA from University of Mary (umary.edu). Good school but pricey. I would still recommend Western Governor's if they have a program you are interested in! I just enrolled this week for my DNP in Nursing Informatics after taking a year off. 7 years of nursing school is draining to say the least I needed a break. This program should be 22 months and then I am all done, just a little over 10 years from the day I started my journey. What I learned from the difficulties of the ADN program have been carried with me throughout this entire journey. Do not underestimate it, make a plan to get through it, and make sure everyone around you understands that this is more important than going out or playing video games or whatever. I do have to laugh a bit at how crazy those initials years were, I spent most of it entirely lost. I now understand that this is normal, so if you are feeling like the world is going to end, trust me it isn't. You will get through it too, just keep your eyes on the prize. ❤️

I went to WGU for RN to BSN, very highly recommend it for many reasons. However, I did my Informatics MSN at University of Mary (umary.edu) before WGU opened their program. Good program overall but pricey.

Before I became a nurse my dating options were practically nil. Since I became a nurse they have been practically nil with the option of dating from the workplace, and that option comes with an enormously high risk profile. I finally found someone (another nurse) but we have agreed to completely separate work and personal lives. We do not have any interactions at work other than the few necessary times that come up (I am an Informatics Nurse, she works on Med/Surg). This has been a very good compromise but I am definitely lucky. I would not generally recommend dating someone at work.

Hello all, I am coming up to a crossroads in my relatively young nursing career, and I really could use some advice. Graduated with my ADN and received my license in 2014. I moved to North Dakota to work in Ortho as a new grad, but after 9 months had to return to Iowa because my daughter was having a lot of problems in school. I felt at the time that being a good father was more important than my new career. When I went back to Iowa, I worked on an Ortho unit there as well, but it was an incredibly toxic environment, and we parted ways after 3 months. Since I had already started working on my BSN, I went ahead and concentrated on finishing that before moving on. I also worked a few PRN positions during this time, but I got some really bad assignments that honestly almost got me out of nursing entirely. Got some good advice to use my 25+ years of IT experience and get into Informatics Nursing, and I was lucky enough to find a position back in North Dakota, and I have been working on my MSN in Informatics at the same time. Which leads us to today. I am a few months away from finishing the MSN and I already have my Informatics Certification. I am completely lost as to what to do next. Where I am working now there is no upward mobility and they don't really care about the Master's degree or cert. While I am grateful for the opportunity they provided, I do still want to learn and grow and do more than I am doing now. This leads me to believe it is time to move on, but my question is WHERE? I feel like the events that occurred early on are a problem as most places seem to want 3-5 years of clinical experience anymore, even with the Masters and Informatics Certification. I also don't have enough experience overall to be considered for a leadership position, even though I have lots of leadership experience in IT. I am also considering another Masters in IT and maybe a DNP in Informatics as well, but I am holding off until I figure out what I am doing. All in all I feel like I am underbaked, but I also feel like my IT experience should mitigate a lot of that. Anyway, that's the circle my brain is spinning in right now, hence the need for advice. Anyone have any thoughts of what I should do next?

Sanford in Fargo is a great facility and the OR unit is pretty tight. I think you'll like it. It's expensive to live in Fargo as far as rent, but there's lots to do and Minneapolis is 3 hours away if you get bored.

You could look and see if Clinical Informatics interests you. I was in Ortho for a year and a half and it almost completely killed my desire to be a nurse. I switched to CI and couldn't be happier.

I was a new grad 2 years ago and after 2 months of nationwide searching I had to move to North Dakota to get that coveted first job. The jobs are out there but usually the requirements are more than a new grad can handle. The job I took I was in over my head from the start, the nursing program I went to simply did not adequately prepare me. It took some soul searching to even decide to stay in nursing and even then I switched to nursing informatics and am pursuing a DNP just to leverage the money I've already spent getting here. The jobs are out there, but that doesn't mean that it'll be a good job for you. Do your research and stay in school as long as you can, you can thank me later.

I am in Informatics as well, mainly because I worked in IT for 25 years before I became a nurse. I am doing my Masters in Informatics now, and will be doing a DNP in FNP at Grand Canyon University in 2018. I would say if you are interested in both go for it! It will definitely help in your job search, though I wouldn't expect to be doing both or a mixture, as an ADN or BSN is perfectly suitable to work in Informatics. I am focusing on becoming a Director of IT or Informatics (or both), and I figured since I wanted to go for a DNP anyway, I may as well do an advanced practice focus. Good luck!

I very highly recommend WGU. It was cheap, it was fast, it was easy. I waited almost a whole year before starting though in hindsight I have no idea why I waited, it was very easy in comparison to the ADN.

It's been 3 years since I originally posted this, and wanted to give some updates to my journey and maybe some more helpful advice. A few weeks ago I finished my BSN, which I took online with Western Governors University (wgu.edu). I finished it in 9 months, and I followed my own previous advice with finding a balance between studying and life outside of school. I still spent 40-60 hours a week studying and doing class work, but I found by doing this time in restaurants, bars, and such outside of home I could still feel like I had a life while getting work accomplished. Not the ideal solution for everyone I know, but I didn't want to repeat sitting at the kitchen table for countless hours. I was also very lucky that the state of Iowa paid me a training stipend so that I didn't have to work during this 9 month period. In any event, I highly recommend getting your BSN as soon as you are able. 65% of nurses do not get their BSN or higher degrees, and frankly this is going to be a mandatory thing eventually. Just do it and get it over with. The BSN portion wasn't nearly as hard as the first 2 years was, at least for me. I have since changed course away from Orthopedics and OR nursing work and instead recently became an Informatics Nurse (deals with data analytics and electronic health record training). To that end I am starting a Masters in Informatics later this year, and then finally a Doctorate of Nursing Practice next year. It's somewhat amusing looking back and remembering how difficult the nursing program was 3 years ago, as now it's trivial...but I do still remember the horror of that first bad exam...I learned to not underestimate anything in nursing, and that memory has helped me many time in the last 3 years. The Critical Thinking book I linked previously is still hugely valuable to me in my daily practice. I have actually read that book many times over the years. I very highly recommend it. Otherwise there is some great advice in the comments, I encourage you to read through them all. I wish you all the best of luck in your nursing journey, and hopefully I will be updating this post again in 3 years as Dr. Cross.

Speaking as a straight male nurse, I can honestly say it's not even easy to meet a woman, so I imagine it's not any easier for anyone else. All of the long hours and stress are not great aphrodisiacs. Just like anywhere else it's about meeting the right person at the right time.

Sanford Ortho in Fargo

Thank you for this post as I have just been offered positions at St. A's and at Sanford, so this helps a lot. Probably be seeing you in a few weeks :-)

That's precisely what I was thinking lol...I just don't want to get trapped in a bad choice so I figured if someone knew something this would be the place to ask.

A little late answering this, but just noticed it so here it is...I decided in February (while I was still in school) to utilize NCLEX review tactics as a study method for exams in class. For whatever reason this worked very well for me, as my grades went up 10% easily after doing so. I was a bit unique in my class in that I quit my full time job in order to focus on school, so I studied practically every day for 6-12 hours. I carried this over to my NCLEX review over the summer, but I DO NOT recommend you do this. Looking back it was really way too much studying for the exam, almost to the point of being overprepared and burning out. I think 4-6 hours a day for 4-6 weeks is a realistic amount of time to spend studying for the NCLEX. In fact, if you go to the NCSBN review program, they have example timelines for studying you could follow and I believe they say about the same thing. Obviously for some people even this would be too much, and for others not enough. The main point is know yourself and how you do things, and make a plan accordingly. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to this, but hopefully some of this information will be of help.

Out of the blue today I received multiple job offers at Sanford Health in Fargo and St. A's in Bismarck. I currently live in Iowa and was looking to relocate anyway, so I don't think I can make a bad choice here. The problem is, I know nothing about North Dakota, so could anyone familiar with these employers and/or areas give me some feedback? What is life like in ND, are these good employers, etc... Thanks for any and all advice. Cain

I can understand why it might sound contradictory, but as I said me doing 4 reviews was pointless in hindsight. There is a difference between "studying" and "reviewing". The main point I was driving at was that some people seem to make the mistake that they need to "study" for the NCLEX, as in the same kind of studying and cramming like you would do for an exam in school. The NCLEX is testing your ability to think like a nurse, which after years of nursing school I think it's safe to say most of us have developed. I do think it's important to "review" for the exam, and my point was to pick a single source to review from, and to use the same study habits that you used in school while you are doing so. You may be getting hung up on semantics, I am using review and study interchangeably here lol. And yes, it is possible that the NCLEX was not hard for me BECAUSE I did so much reviewing, but what I was trying to say was I don't think that is the case. I felt pretty comfortable with the content, and I can see where multiple reviews could confuse people. It's basically like buying 4 different GPS apps in order to find directions to the same place. You are going to end up getting to your destination, but you might get 4 different ways to get there, and it's overkill and a waste of time and money. Best analogy I can give there. And if I gave the impression that I felt the NCLEX is a "breeze" I certainly did not intend to do so. However it's definitely not excruciatingly difficult though (and that's assuming you went through nursing school and had a reasonably complete program to learn from). I clearly remember the Cardiac exam in Concepts II being MUCH harder than the NCLEX heh. Feel free to PM me if I can be of further help. Cain

Just got my RN license today, took NCLEX yesterday...so happy to be done. Since I lurked in here for months, I figured I would pay it forward with my 2 cents of advice. Your mileage may vary of course. - The main point I want to get across is that you can't really "study" for the NCLEX, there is simply too much to remember. Please don't make the mistake of studying for weeks and months on end, you are not going to remember it all, and you are just making it harder on yourself. Definitely review for the exam, but don't make this about trying to learn EVERYTHING, it's not going to happen. - Whatever review you choose, stick with THAT review. I started studying for the NCLEX back in February (while I was still in school), and in hindsight, there wasn't really any point to it. In all, I did 4 separate reviews, including ATI, Kaplan, NCSBN, and Saunder's. It doesn't really matter which one you pick, just pick the one that works for you. In my case, I found Kaplan and NCSBN to be too "outliney". ATI and Saunder's both had a lot of meat in the review, but they also took longer. Again, what works for me may not work for you. In other words, find one that works, and stick with it. - FOCUS. Whatever study routine you used while in school, USE THAT HERE. Don't make the mistake I saw many of my classmates make where they would go back to "real life" and then complain about how they never had time. You paid a LOT in money, time, and resources to get this far, don't squander it now. - BREATHE. The NCLEX isn't nearly as hard as you think it is. If you have done practice questions in ATI, Kaplan, Hurst, Saunder's, etc, you have done NCLEX questions. Don't psych yourself out, it's just another test after all. You've done hundreds of them. Yes, the test will stretch your brain, but only because it's dipping into the entire pool of nursing knowledge, not because it's going to ask you about nuclear physics or something. - BREATHE AGAIN. I say this again because I know most of you ignored everything I said after it the last time. So I will say it again: It's not as bad as you think it is. - SMILE. You're almost there...I've had perma-grin since I left the testing center yesterday, and you will too! I finished with 75 questions in 45 minutes. Questions in myasthenia gravis, OB, cardiac, prioritization and delegation, and infection control mainly. About half were select all that apply. The Saunder's review was in my opinion the best at making me feel prepared for content. The LaCharity book on prioritization and delegation is a MUST HAVE for everyone. The reviews floating around allnurses were nice to have, but in the end useless to me since I never read them. Hope that helps somebody. Good luck, you nursey type person you! :-)

I just graduated today, and I still remember the excitement of getting my acceptance letter. It's a hard road, but you can do it!

Just graduated today, and I am 43. The only other guy in the program was 45, and a lot of the males I saw working during clinicals were older as well. You will be in good company sir.

So I'm about to finish nursing school, and in the last year the number of times I have been asked for medical advice has gone up exponentially. I forgot about this thread until running across it just now, and I am sitting here shaking my head with all the stories I have already, and I'm not even working as a nurse yet. I had a family member come to my house in the middle of the night a few months back banging on my door like I was a 911 operator screaming at the top of her lungs for me to wake up. I open the door and she is standing there with a hand on her eye screaming that she can't see. So instead of calling 911 or going to the ED she instead decided to come to my house to ask me to shine a flashlight in her eye and see if I can fix it. What? Seriously? GO TO THE FREAKING HOSPITAL! She had a detached retina. You can't make this stuff up. She turned out ok after surgery, but I am never ever going to let her live this down..scared the heebie geebies out of me.

Hah! I had the exact same thing happen to me...I thought I would be the nice guy and help out the poor-old 19 year old with 3 kids who was always too busy to keep up. Until I heard about all of the partying and whatnot she was actually doing. I stopped enabling her, and she failed miserably. Not to mention my grades went up since I was concentrating on me again. Lesson learned.

Just to follow up on this I took the earlier given advice to utilize the time to learn whatever I could. As it turned out,on subsequent clinical weekends I got a different set of staff, and the nurse I was assigned to was simply amazing. Not only did I get to see and do much more than I really thought I wanted to, I ended up enjoying it and got to learn more than I thought I would. Ended up with a B in the class, yay me :-) I love this site, amazing how an anonymous post can change your outlook on things...

@ChristineN it simply hadn't occurred to me about how GYN/pregnancy issues might come up even in different areas...thanks for that it actually gave me something to center on for this weekend. @Delgadido Lol retarded with patients no...obviously not wanting to be there, definitely. I just have to pull my head out and be a better student this weekend. And grats on final semester!

So I have been dreading having to do OB ever since I started school...now it is here and after a weekend of clinicals I am just totally over it. It doesn't really help that I was pretty much the only male on the entire floor, and there was one nurse in particular who made it very clear that I was wholly unwelcome. I have another clinical set this weekend, and I just read the notes from the clinical instructor that she was very unhappy with my performance. I know I need to pull up my big boy pants and pick it up a notch or 2 this weekend, but I feel like I am totally wasting my time with this. I guess this is just a rant post...but anyone else out there feel my pain?