boojeboy

I've been out of clinical practice for about one year and have been working as a telecare RN in support of hospice patients. It is very low stress, the pay is great, and I have guaranteed lunch breaks that I am actually able to make, but I know it is a dead end job that will limit my career. I have always been very, very interested in wound care and in my past practice provided wound care for leg amputations, bed sores, motor vehicle accidents etc. I actually really enjoy doing wound care, as weird as that may sound to some people. I'm an RN,BSN by the way, been nursing now for three years. There is a three day class that is offered on wound care near where I live that I have contemplated taking, but I don't know if it will fulfill the requirements that would allow me to test for certification. Here is a link: Wound Care Nurse Certification Courses | Kane Educational Also, what about something like this course? Diabetic Skin & Wound Management Also, another question, the wound care nurses I have known in the past go around and visit patients, rather than work on a floor providing direct patient care and answering call lights. Is that accurate? Bedside nursing is so stressful for me. I knew a wound care nurse at the VA who only went around providing daily visits, assessments and wound care to patients, and that was all she did. That'd be my dream job Thank you so much for any help and advice. I really appreciate it.

Thank you all for the advice and the support. I'm still in the process of trying to find another healthcare job. I had to take a long hiatus as a nurse since late February (here it is June) due to work stress, relationship stress, home problems, and changing things up with new medications for my depression and anxiety. I also broke out in shingles, which was an absolutely miserable experience (I'm only 35) and it really showed me how badly I need to get my stress and life under control. While I live in a city with several hospitals, the vast majority of openings are for floor nurses. Finding some place to get experience with teaching patients about diabetes control has been difficult to say the least. Most jobs that I find that look interesting are asking for someone with graduate degrees and several years of experience. I thought having a bachelor's degree meant that I'd be able to educate patients? -Sigh- When I was working the floor I was typically doing the job of a CNA, LPN and RN, and of course my manager was all to quick to admonish me if I went over (you should practice better time management!) or tell me he "didn't want to hear about it" when he asked about my attendance. Now my savings are pretty well drained and I'm looking to get back onto the floor (not much else out there, it seems) but only part-time. Maybe I won't be so stressed out then. It just amazes me watching nurses that I worked with keep their heads down when a call light would go off, typing and charting away, rather than see what a patient may need. How many times I have caught some patient who was about to fall, or run into some other patient's room that wasn't even mine to provide meal and food set-up since we never had any CNA's. In the end I felt like I was taking care of everyone on the floor. What's worse is that people in my life who aren't nurses have no idea what it is like, how stressful it is, and they think of me like a failure as a nurse. I guess I'm just saying thanks for at least hearing me and offering some support. I really do appreciate it.

I recently graduated with my BSN back in 2014 and have worked about 14 months as an RN doing med-surg/telemetry work. I've lost two jobs due to my attendance in that time and am currently unemployed. I have a lot of issues with anxiety, PTSD and depression, and I suffer from panic attacks. I'm an Iraq war vet. Its amazing that I made it through nursing school, but somehow I did. Frankly I don't know that I should have been a nurse. All I had worked were 12 hour night shifts. This has been a pretty thankless job for me, and maybe it was stupid for me to even consider it. Most nights I never got a lunch break, rarely even was able to get away to use the bathroom, and on those days where I had to stay late to catch up on charting because we never have any aids, I get lectured by my manager for lacking time management. I'd dread going in to work most nights because I knew it would be another hellish night. Then I'd get nausea, and diarrhea, sometimes migraines from the stress and worry. Why worry? Because I'd spend another night doing everything I could to keep my patients alive and they'd do everything usually to stop me. Not wearing that oxygen, refusing breathing treatments, jumping out of bed to go to the bathroom when they shouldn't. Most nights I was a nervous wreck. I really enjoy speaking to patients and educating people on medications, their health and so on. I want to help people get better and become healthier. I'm interested in diabetic education, since so many diabetics I've come across don't know the first thing about it, but I just don't think I can work the floor in a hospital. I feel stupid for going to nursing school and I feel like a failure at life right now.

I'm a new BSN-RN grad who is 34 and came to nursing as a second career after the military. Currently I work on an incredibly busy med-surg/oncology unit that basically functions as a TCU in actual acuity. We get a lot of stroke patients, recent strokes. I typically have 6, sometimes 7 patients and work 12 hour shifts at night. It isn't for me. In fact some nights I absolutely dread going in and while there I'm a nervous wreck all night. I have issues with anxiety from my service in Iraq and worrying about dementia patients falling, pulling out lines, hurting themselves etc., or I worry about someone coding on me and screwing up in the process, or whatever. Anyways, I'm very interested in becoming a certified diabetic educator, but I wonder if it is something that I would only be on call for, say in addition to working the floor, or if education would be most, if not all, of what I do? I really enjoy teaching people, I always have, and it amazes me how little so many diabetics know about the disease, their medications, symptoms and so forth. Plus most nights on med-surg I just fill like a pill-pusher; just keeping patients safe and making sure they get their medications is most of all I can handle most of the time with the acuity and work load. I noticed that, in my area at least, there aren't that many diabetic educators and many of them are nutritionists/dieticians, though a few are BSNs or MSNs.

So I've been studying for my second attempt on the NCLEX-RN, and came across a practice question that I missed: The nurse prepares oxytocin for the client. Which supplies will the nurse need to prepare the prescribed oxytocin solution? This was a select all that apply question. However I missed it because the one item I missed was a "19gauge 1 1/2 filter needle." Based on the question, how was I supposed to know that this was in an ampule? If I had known it came in an ampule, I would have obviously selected the filter needle. A quick google search brought up oxytocin in vials, not ampules, though apparently it comes in both. Any advice on questions like this? More and more I'm realizing to read the questions very, very, very closely.

I received my CPR report and I was "near the passing standard" on everything. All I can think to do is just do more Kaplan practice tests and try to use that "decision tree" thing. Thoughts? Advice? Thank you.

So what and/or how am I supposed to study for this thing? I still haven't gotten my detailed report in the mail yet (I took the exam on 7/24) but from reading one of the Kaplan books I have the fact that I answered so many questions shows that I know the content but that I need help with critical thinking/problem solving. What do I need to do to pass this thing? More of the Qbank questions? When I studied last time I did tons of practice tests/reviews in a Med-Surg review workbook I had, plus practice exams on Kaplan's website (such as Renal, Pediatric etc.). I did some of the NCLEX type exams in my last semester of nursing school and I did "okay" on them. These "select all that apply" questions kill me! Right now I have a job interview to be a home health aid for $8.25 an hour because I desperately need money and am not certified in anything, which seems to mean that I can't do anything beyond health aid stuff despite having a BSN. I need the money though. Please someone give me some advice on what I need to study to pass this thing, get on with my life, make some money and feel good about myself again. Thanks.

I studied so hard for this exam and about 90% of it wasn't on the test. Didn't have a single math question. Nothing about much of anything that you would think a nurse should know, like when to administer nitro, dig toxicity, anything along those lines. I just don't know how I'm going to get the money to do this all over again. And even then who is to say that I'll pass it?

I recently took the NCLEX-RN exam for the first time and just paid the $8.00 to Pearson to find out my unofficial results. Looks like I failed. I'm honestly pretty devastated. I studied my butt off for this exam, doing the stupid Kaplan on-line practice tests, tons of practice med-surg questions, and just general studying. I got asked something around 175 questions on the exam. This really was supposed to be a good day for me. Today is my birthday (I just turned 34) and things have been very, very difficult for me in life lately. It was all I could do to scrape together enough money after graduating nursing school to pay for all the background checks and licensing fees, and I've basically been living in poverty for the past few months. I can't even really pay my rent. I've had to call around and beg for money from churches for rental assistance. I finally got approved for food stamps but have yet to get my card. I left a good career in the military to get my bachelor's degree in nursing and have honestly experienced nothing but tough times since leaving. I kept telling myself that it'll be worth it, even after I had to re-take Critical Care because I didn't pass with a high enough grade, which held me back from graduating for a year. Now I've failed after my family helped me out with some of the fees. I'm such a loser, I'm so tired of being a loser. I just don't have the money to do this all over again. I can't get any nursing jobs because I don't have a license. I can't afford to pay for more certification fees just so I can be an aid and go wipe butts. What kills me is that I'm a good nurse! My patients have all loved me, I did fantastic during clinicals, I even got a highly competitive internship where I did great. I'm supposed to be successful. Instead I'm a 34 year old loser.