futuresctRN

When the charge nurse literally comes up to you and says "It's a sh*t show, sorry."

Yeah, That's exactly why I'm so disappointed. :/ I don't want to sound entitled, but I can't help but feel like I'm being jipped. It's ohio. I was under the impression that it's the going rate for a new RN but I feel so poor for the work that I do!

Hey all. A little background about me. I am a new RN with my BSN. I was fortunate enough to land a position as a new grad in an academic medical center. I am on a surgical floor. I received a place in a new nurse residency program an 6 weeks of orientation. Everything seemed great. Then I got on my own. I have been out of orientation for about 3 weeks now. I passed my boards 3 months ago. On a typical day, I have 5 patients. These patients have PCA pumps, Epidurals, Trachs, foleys, peg tubes, JP drains, NGs, NJs, strict I&Os, severe pain needs, some of them are incontinent. Most are falls risks. Most have an entitled attitude. I am working day shift as a new RN (Not my choice). I feel myself drowning on every shift, terrified of making a mistake or a medication and hurting myself or a patient. Every time I give medications to a patient (IV meds, changing out pcas, epidural bags, crushing meds down tubes, which is all very time consuming) i have 2 or 3 other patients calling out to me for something. I feel like i'm being pulled in a million different directions. I have labs to get, patients going down to surgery,a med pass to keep up with, new orders, patient's calling out for prn pain meds that they don't have ordered, and me trying to keep my sanity.No matter how organized i feel some days, it seems like crap hits the fan at some point and everything is crazy. I am being paid 40k a year BEFORE taxes. With a bit of overtime i could have made my net salary with my PCA job. I can't help but feel like i've received the short end of the stick and nursing is not what i thought it would be. I always feel stressed, overwhelmed, and scared. My patients are so complicated. I don't make as much as i thought i would. My job is a thousand times more stressful. Experienced nurses find themselves in tears with the load I'm given as a new grad. I have already started looking at grad school because i know i definitely can't do this for the rest of my life. I KNOW I'm a new grad and i shouldn't expect much. I know this is the bottom. Please please don't call me entitled. I'm THANKFUL for my job... i'm just...disappointed... Let me just say that I am so ridiculously thankful for the opportunity to work there. It is a great experience for me and my nursing career, However, that doesn't negate how I feel. Maybe I didn't get an accurate picture of nursing in school. Everyone says stick it out for a year and I plan to, but in the back of my mind, there's so much disappointment and dissatisfaction in my heart. What do you think of my situation? is it normal? should i stick it out? I work in Central Ohio, dayton area. Thanks in advance for your replies.

BSN at 22 :) I turned 22 two months before graduation!

I just passed my nclex rn on the 2nd. I used u world, Kaplan live review, and Mark klimek live review. I would HIGHLY recommend u world. It is sooo much better than Kaplan. The Rationales are so detailed and you really learn! Plus I was comfortable taking my test... I knew the medications and I passed with 83 questions! A lot of the concepts on my exam I had encountered on u world :)

I just received my ATT today. I am TERRIFIED! I book marked this post so I can come back and read your inspirational story and quotes :) Thanks so much! Congratulations! God is GOOD! :)

Honestly, you have NO idea how much I appreciate this post. I graduate in may with my BSN. I already work in a (very nice) psych hospital as a PCA. I absolutely LOVE it there. I love psych. I believe I would love psych nursing. However, evvveerrryyonnneee tells me I need to start in med surg. So, I gave up on my true honest desires of my HEART of psych to try to get a med surg job after graduation. Do i want to? No, I really don't. Actually, I'm dreading it. I love the psych atmosphere and I hate the med surg one. Medical experience helps, but I think you can get that in psych. I have always been interested in psych and I absolutely love my job. Do you think that there are as many job opportunities for psych nurses? Just curious. And again, THANK YOU. I *really* feel like you wrote this just for me. It describes my situation and my thought process SO well.

Hello all! :) Before I begin, I know there's a lot of threads about this topic, and I have read all of them. I still am unsure. :) Long story short, I am a new grad as of may 2015 with my BSN. I have a good chance at getting hired into a hospital that I love on a cardiac stepdown/telemetry unit. I am precepting there and my preceptor talked to the nurse manager about me and she said that when I pass boards to let her know and she will pull my application. I am seriously considering getting my ACLS before then as a way of really impressing the nurse manager when she looks at my resume. Do you think that it would? Will it help me get in there if there is already a good word put in for me? I'm not sure how it all works. I am willing to pay for it ($150-185 even though money is really tight) and work for it if it will help me get that job. I'm just wondering if it actually WILL. Please give me your pearls of wisdom, nurses!

Hey everyone :) I currently work as a PCA at a psych & chemical dependency hospital (spring stone). I have heard that when looking at new grad RNs, they look for hospital experience as a CNA/PCA. Will mine count? I ask because it's not technically an acute care hospital, but it's a "hospital" none the less (and is listed as such on my resume) I am graduating with my BSN in May, btw. What has your experience with this been? Do employers see psych hospitals as valid hospital experience?

Thanks for the input! I think what everyone said was very valid. My clinical professor for psych told me with her MSN, that she can't get a staff RN job in a typical m/s unit because she doesn't have any recent experience. She told me to absolutely get acute care first. So, it has really made me think! Dallasmiss, that's AWESOME. I'm so glad you told me that! I might just have to pm you :) it's so nice to meet people on here that are so similar. I love working there, it's not your typical "psych" facility...I feel like its of a much higher quality? I Have a lot of friends there and the nurses are awesome. I love it. Maybe I can get a job there part time/prn...and shoot for acute care too. Question: Could I take a job there and get a med surg residency within that year or after? Have people done that?

Hey all. I am about to graduate in May with my BSN. I am currently working as a pca/pct at a psychiatric/addictions hospital (spring stone is the company, if you know of them). I love working there, and I am pretty confident that they will offer me a job when I pass boards. However, I am very nervous to take a position as a psych nurse, because everyone tells me that if I don't get some med surg experience under my belt, I will be stuck in psych, as prospective employers will see me as a "psych nurse" without the skills I need to work in say, med surg or ED. I already only have my current job and about 9 months as a cna/STNA at a LTC facility as new grad experience. I have worked so hard on my degree and the last thing I want is to make myself less hireable. What is your perspective on this? I love my job, I would love to be a nurse there, but I am scared and very reluctant. I don't want to confine myself to psych because I don't want to be there forever and I'm pretty certain that I will want to try med surg and icu in the future. Any input in appreciated :)

An RN pulled me aside today and told me that a resident that I was taking care of last night complained to her family who then called the facility about me. Apparently I was "short" and "mean" to her roommate, but when her roommate was asked if she had a problem with me she said no. This resident complains often, but I am SO discouraged right now and I just wanted to cry when she told me that! It took everything in me to hold back the tears. That night I was very stressed out because I was working with a brand new CNA who didn't know how everything was done, so I was trying to be nice and help her with all of her duties as best as I could since I know how it feels and do my own residents at the same time. As a result I may have not said "Hi sweetie" and been as sweet and friendly as I usually am but I was not intentionally mean or rude... I just went in there, did my job and left because I was so busy I was about to cry! Have you ever been complained about? How did you handle it? Any advice for me? I have never experienced this from anyone before and I tend to take this kind of thing personally because apparently a few of the aids heard about it. I really do try my best but this job is so overwhelming sometimes! I just think it would encourage me to hear your stories and any advice you have to give. I have only been a CNA for a few months.

Hey all. I need some advice. There is a coworker that I work with that is 17 years old and has been a CNA for about 6 months or so (I have been one for 4, so we're both relatively new.) I keep my thoughts about other CNA's to myself unless there's a serious problem and then I confront them personally about it, HOWEVER. This girl thinks it's her job to tell EVERYONE how to do theirs. She thinks she is the best CNA in the facility. She is always and I mean ALWAYS putting down other CNA's, almost every time I talk to her. She has names for them like "stupid stephanie" and I even heard her telling at RN "Oh he should NOT be working here!" She even had the nerve to say in front of me that "I am one of the best workers here!" Every time I see her she's either talking about another aide or doing her thing while making sure the supervisors look at her and notice what a wonderful job she's doing, all while doing everything in her power to make all of the other aides look stupid, useless, and incompetent (even the ones that have been aides for over 20 years!) To say the least it is discouraging, aggravating and makes my job so much worse that it could be. It stresses me out because I am so conscious that she's talking to someone about me. Often she will walk down my hall just to "check" on my residents, like I'm incompetent or something. Sometimes she acts like she's helping but in reality I know she's going to go off to someone else and say something bad about me. I've heard her complain about almost every single CNA she has came across. She honestly thinks she's so much better at her job than us all! Thing is, she has the same hall and the same residents, day after day, so obviously she's going to have an easier time after a while because she knows them all so well. It's just really stressing me out because she's always on my back and other cna's that she deems as incompetent, telling us we're doing this wrong and that wrong and how we should be here at this time and we should have that DONE by now. Help? Advice? Please? What makes it worse is that a lot of nurses praise her and encourage her to gossip about the other aides. This is so frustrating to me and I don't know what to do about it anymore!

Ruby Vee, I am a second semester Junior in a BSN program. 3 semesters to go including this one. :)

That's a good point. Didn't think about it like that. I could have the $$$ if i saved but it would hurt me financially so I was trying to weigh up whether it's really worth it. I don't have much to put on my resume besides clinicals and some CNA experience, so I'm looking to help myself any way I can. If it would drastically change my prospects of getting hired, even as a tech at a hospital, I'd take it. I just don't know if it's worth it!

Title says it all. I have the option to take it as an elective in nursing school, but it'll cost me around $400. Would it be worth that kind of money? Does it look good on resumes? Why would you take it/why not?

I have taken 3 HESI's so far... Fundamentals, Mid Curricular... and then Med-Surg. For the first two, my scores were 696 & 675. Then, for my med surg... you won't believe this but my conversion score was a 57%! & I felt more confident about that one! I need help, I am SO discouraged. I feel like a failure at nursing and am not TERRIFIED that I won't pass the NCLEX! Let me just say that, even though this is bad, I DID NOT study for either of them, because everyone says that you're not supposed to, right? I just went in there and kind of guessed so I guess that's my problem. So I know that next time, I need to study, but I don't know how, and mostly, I don't know If I am normal or not I just need assurance and advice, please. Have any of you failed your Hesi's and then went on to pass your exit exam & then your nclex? *What* was your game plan? I'm registered for an NCLEX Review my school offers next semester... I bought the HESI book... Might take hurst review or another one if anyone can suggest any... I am willing to do anything. I am SCARED. I need advice. I need to know what it takes. I do not want to go through a 4 year BSN degree (I'm a Junior Right now) and not be able to pass the Nclex! Help...

Thank you Drewroarkcprw!

I have taken 3 HESI's so far... Fundamentals, Mid Curricular... and then Med-Surg. For the first two, my scores were 696 & 675. Then, for my med surg... you won't believe this but my conversion score was a 57%! & I felt more confident about that one! I need help, I am SO discouraged. I feel like a failure at nursing and am not TERRIFIED that I won't pass the NCLEX! Let me just say that, even though this is bad, I DID NOT study for either of them, because everyone says that you're not supposed to, right? I just went in there and kind of guessed so I guess that's my problem. So I know that next time, I need to study, but I don't know how, and mostly, I don't know If I am normal or not I just need assurance and advice, please. Have any of you failed your Hesi's and then went on to pass your exit exam & then your nclex? *What* was your game plan? I'm registered for an NCLEX Review my school offers next semester... I bought the HESI book... Might take hurst review or another one if anyone can suggest any... I am willing to do anything. I am SCARED. I need advice. I need to know what it takes. I do not want to go through a 4 year BSN degree (I'm a Junior Right now) and not be able to pass the Nclex! Help...

I have taken 3 HESI's so far... Fundamentals, Mid Curricular... and then Med-Surg. For the first two, my scores were 696 & 675. Then, for my med surg... you won't believe this but my conversion score was a 57%! & I felt more confident about that one! I need help, I am SO discouraged. I feel like a failure at nursing and am not TERRIFIED that I won't pass the NCLEX! Let me just say that, even though this is bad, I DID NOT study for either of them, because everyone says that you're not supposed to, right? I just went in there and kind of guessed so I guess that's my problem. So I know that next time, I need to study, but I don't know how, and mostly, I don't know If I am normal or not I just need assurance and advice, please. Have any of you failed your Hesi's and then went on to pass your exit exam & then your nclex? *What* was your game plan? I'm registered for an NCLEX Review my school offers next semester... I bought the HESI book... Might take hurst review or another one if anyone can suggest any... I am willing to do anything. I am SCARED. I need advice. I need to know what it takes. I do not want to go through a 4 year BSN degree (I'm a Junior Right now) and not be able to pass the Nclex! Help...

wow, thank you :) I feel so much better now after having had read that! I'm glad I'm not the only one and someone understands! It's not that I was clueless, I just wasn't sure about some things since it's been so long. Thanks for helping another fellow nursing student out, I appreciate it. She had a bad attitude, it was almost like she was laughing at me. Of course if I was being evaluated on it that day like she was I would have had it down perfectly! But the fact is that I was evaluated on it a year ago and was signed off on it by my instructor. It just made me feel like I total idiot. I'm exactly like you. I was practicing IV's that day and got blood return first time around, but that's because I learned that skill this semester. It just made me feel insecure about my abilities as a student nurse. Thank you, though :)

lol that's what everyone says! makes me feel better, thank you :)

Yes! Finally someone said it! I always think this when I read "client" in my textbooks!

I'm a Jr in a BSN program. I was in open lab today and was trying to help students a year below me insert a foley catheter. I have not done this skill since fundamentals, which was over a year ago, and so I was a bit rusty, and couldn't remember everything 100%. No, this isn't good but I've been so busy just trying to keep up with my Jr Level classes (Med surg etc) to keep up with every single skill I've learned so far. I haven't gotten to insert one in clinicals yet, either. :/ I know this isn't an excuse but I was in there for the purpose of practicing, so it's not like I wasn't trying to amend the fact that I haven't done it in so long. Anyways... when I went to set up my sterile field I was a bit awkward with it & one of the students looked at me like I was a complete idiot and was like... so how long has it been since you've done this? I was like, it's been a while. I'm humble enoguh to admit that & would never try to pretend to anyone that I'm not perfect- that's why I'm not a NURSE yet. It made me feel horrified and very stupid. I said later that I was tired and she was like, why are you tired? And I was like... umm maybe because I was up most of the night writing papers? She just looked at me like "You're an idiot why are you here?" When I know for a fact that a lot of the people in my class would have been the same way if they had been put in that situation. We have IV skills etc to learn and can't be constantly practicing every skill we learned in fundamentals. Here, these students are a year below me and are making me look like I don't know jack crap. I feel really horrible about myself now. Yes, I need to work on my skills. That's what I was THERE for. Do people really expect nursing students to remember skills 100% that you learned over a year ago? I just need some reassurance. It just really bothered me, and I guess it hurt my pride. I don't like how people think that because you're not perfect, you obviously don't know what you're doing, and she acted like I shouldn't be in nursing school. Has it ever happened to you? Nursing students can be so brutal.

I hope you're right! I might wait for a few months, I just started the LTC job in september... if i try to stick it out for a few months it'll help me, won't it?