NurseNayin07

honestly it depends on where you live. I know where I live in NC... I get paid about only 62 cents more an hour for having my BSN.

Med surg is STRESSFUL! To be honest, my 8 months on med surg, the only thing I got out of it was time management skills, which I guess is a lot, but I feel like I never really learned how to properly "critically" think. I recently started my 2nd RN job on a stepdown tele floor and I absolutely love it. I've learned so much in the past month I've been there than I ever did on med surg. 6 patients on days and running around like a wild woman was not my ideal nursing job. Maybe it was my unit... maybe I'm just not cut out for med surg.. I don't know! I don't believe its necessary to start out on med surg. Just make sure if you start specialty as a new grad they are willing to give you a good long orientation!

I know that most ERs split their shifts. I've heard of 3p-3a, 11a-11p, 1p-1a, which my friend works in the ER, and 9a-9p. From where I've been though and interviewed, most floor nursing jobs are 7-7.

Took the boards July 13th and passed... started my job July 23rd on a Med-Surg floor.... quit mid March (about 8 months in)... and I just started my new job last week on a progressive cardiac unit!

I left my job this past week after only 8 months being an RN. It was a med-surg floor, day position...extremely short staffed, nurses and aides. I'm thankful for the experience I had on the unit... I learned time management and organizational skills, but I was tired of a lot of things, especially dealing with the same kind of patient population day after day. I wanted some cardiac experience too so I took a job on PCCU at another hospital (I start at the end of the month!). I put in a 2 week notice, everyone was nice about it, and I didn't feel guilty or have any regrets. Don't be nervous about quitting if you find another job. Change is a good thing and nursing is great like that because there are so many areas of opportunity. Don't stay in one place and be miserable, life is too short! If you get the job definitely take it.. no regrets!

Thanks for posting. The tips were good, but unfortunately, my days don't go that smoothly... and we hardly get discharges and admissions at exactly 1000! I've gotten admits as late as 1830 on my shift! I almost always chart as I go (I have a computer on wheels AKA COW... and I chart my assessments as I go from room to room in the morning) but it is still so easy to get behind and not get out at 1900. It seems that something ALWAYS goes wrong at change of shift to put me behind.

That's not too bad at all. I work on a busy med surg unit and my latest was 8:20PM (7-7 day shift) with 6 patients. Our norm on days is 5/6.

Even if it is a compatible solution, I flush each and every time. I don't believe you made a huge error though. It happens. That kind of bothers me though what happened with your preceptor.. her taking over. Had you been off your orientation, you would have had to deal with that patient for the rest of the day. It doesn't seem realistic.. IMHO, she should have stood up for ya (and like the previous poster said, perhaps she did the best she could).

My friend got a job in the NICU right out of school. She expressed interest and got a spot there for her preceptorship while still in school. I'd say its a good idea to try and get a spot in your "specialty" area of choice when you do your senior yr. nursing school preceptorship (if your school has one.. some programs dont offer preceptorships). Also its not a bad idea to work in a NICU/nursery as a CNA. If you can't go straight into the NICU, perhaps applying for jobs in the nursery may help as well. Good luck to you!

Although it is not necessary, I think its an awesome idea to work as a CNA before you become an RN. I know that in my city/county, it was almost impossible to find a job in a specialty area unless you had "connections" or you were a CNA on that floor. Tons of girls I graduated with ended up working on their floor (or same hospital) that they were a CNA on. I worked as a CNA II in L & D, and although I decided not to be an L & D nurse and start out on a Surgical floor, I feel like I had made the right decision by working as a CNA in school. I think it allows you to adjust to the hours, especially 12s. As a CNA, you build time management stills just as you would as a new grad RN! I heard that summer nursing externships are beneficial as well. But its entirely up to you!

I've been in orientation since the beginning of August and I'm going on my own in November. ahhhh!! scary! Giving report has been a big challenge for me as well. I'm starting to get much better at it through (or at least I'd like to think so, haha!). Even though I'm with a preceptor still, I'm pretty much taking all the patients and reporting on all of them. Sometimes I really do feel like a mumbling idiot! I mean, I've been with the patients 12 + hours.. you'd think I'd know a thing or two about them! Anyway, I find what works for me is using my "brain sheet" that I used to get report from the beginning of shift. I make changes on that same sheet of what "new" has come up during my shift, cross things out so i dont get confused, etc.... I like to keep copies of my orders throughout the day on each patient. Here is a list of stuff I usually tell: Name, Age, DX, Dr., Allergies, History (at some point during my shift i regroup and look at H & P, *IF* I have time, if not then i usually report on the history that i got about the patient at the beginning of my shift), IV site/fluids, Blood sugars/coverage during my shift, activity status, voiding or foley, dressing changes, drains, oxygen, important VS changes, crucial labs, pain level/last time medicated for pain, and any other crucial patient needs or changes, as well as family concerns. Is the patient oriented? Diet? how are they eating and drinking? how is their output? I think its important to point out the abnormals than the normals. Its so easy for a nurse to go and look at the normals... ya know. Hope this helps a little bit... :) Oh yeah and I can relate to the whole dreaming thing! I usually dream the night before I go into work... usually my dreams are about getting fired and losing my license for killing a patient. Crazines

I would definitely tell you to keep looking. 8-9 patients/shift, ESPECIALLY if its on days, is crazy. I just started a job in August on a Surgical unit and our ratio is 5-6. I'm up to about 5 on my own now and I still feel overwhelmed. I can't imagine having 8-9...overwhelming, stressful, and unsafe. I would definitely look elsewhere. There is so much more opportunity out there and if you have to go to another hospital and look, I certainly would! Driving further out and having less patients should be worth it I hope i helped!

Hey! I was just like you... very scared of giving someone an air embolism through an IV! Actually I didn't really feel comfortable messing with IV fluids until my last semester of nursing school in my preceptorship. Just make sure to always prime your tubing (and when you are priming it, you can always see the air bubbles coming out). Before you start running the fluids, make sure to back prime the fluids through the pump (should be a setting to do this on the IV pump) just to make sure the line is 100% clear. This works when hanging secondary bags also. But just remember as long as you prime your tubing before even running the fluids you should be fine!

i think the main issue here is that the patient was complaining that the morphine was not relieving his pain. the only way to change those orders would be for the anesthesiologist to take the time to reassess the patient and see what else could be done. a nurse pushing a pca button, where i come from, is completely against policy and grounds for termination. this was the rule for every hospital i did clinicals at as a student. i believe the student who originally posted this did the right thing. there is only so much you can do as a student!

I guess I can do my best to give you words of wisdom! Studying the day before the test is entirely up to you. Some people prefer to have a break, some don't. Personally I didn't need a break and kept on studying. I paced myself though, so if you are going to study, take plenty of breaks to clear your mind. Keep telling yourself "85% of people who take this the first time pass!" and always remember, this is only minimum competency! Make sure you review pharm content the night before to keep it fresh in your head. If you took Kaplan, make sure you go through the pharm section in the course book and study side effects! If you didn't take Kaplan, go over old Pharm notes. I was so thankful that I went over pharm before the test because at least 1/3 of it was pharm questions. Take the time to take a couple of deep breaths before you start. Whatever you gotta do before you tackle the test. And if you go past 75, don't freak out! Remember, you can pass NCLEX at any number. I wish you the best of luck.. as long as you studied hard and did plenty of practice questions, you should do fine! I hope I helped a little bit! Renee, RN BSN