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I started in NICU as a new grad and I don't think I'll ever go back to adults. In addition to working with micro-preemies (we've had about 6 22 and 23 weekers in the past 6 months, plus many 24 weeks and up), we go to high risk deliveries when bringing up the babies, go on transport (helicopter and ambulance) to transfer babies to our unit, have surgeries at the bedside, and other things I never imagined before I started my job. A lot of my friends claimed NICU was "easy" because they're just babies but there is a lot of critical thinking and assessment skills needed. It is still an ICU environment. Another reason why I love NICU is that some of our babies are with us for months, we get to know the babies and their families. The level III unit I work at is nice because of the variety of patients. Taking care of sick babies with high vent settings is good for my critical care nursing skills, however it's always nice to have a break with some of our feeder-growers helping them bottle feed and get ready to transition home with their families.

I've used it on adults during my clinicals and now my NICU just got it too and the nurses said they loved it!

I am not in your shoes yet, but I will be in a few short months and just the thought is giving me anxiety. My first day in the nicu was this past week and one thing that I noticed right away is the teamwork. Everyone was always there for each other and helping out because even if they don't get along well with the nurse, they would never wish anything bad upon their patients. We're a level III, so sometimes we get some uncommon conditions and even the experienced nurses don't feel confident in their work. My orientation is on days for now and I will later move on to nights but I was told the day shift was very catty and unwelcoming to new staff. However, when I first walked everyone was so nice and introduced themselves right away and then gave me a quick basic tour before my preceptor arrived. In my experience when people say the unit has catty and nasty staff, they are really referring to only a couple of people. Unfortunately negativity has more of an influence that positivity.

I don't think I'll be that much help, but I just got hired as a new grad in the NICU and some of the people that I met on the first day did an internal transfer from somewhere else in the hospital. I was an internal transfer as well, except I was a registry PCT. My plan was, if I didn't get into NICU right away, I was going to accept any nurse position within that hospital and then try to transfer in after I've had some experience. For me, the internal transfer process was so easy and since the managers all know each other my PCT manager put in a good word for me to the NICU manager. I was always very honest and told them my dream was to end up in the NICU so my manager knew that from the very start. Good luck!

Hi. I don't have experience in this, but a friend of mine did their preceptorship in the NICU and then accepted a full time position in the ED. They love the ED, and learn so much. Think about it, everything is fair game in the ED. You'll work with numerous different people of all different ages and with all sorts of co-morbidities. It's very fast paced and you will definitely gain a nursing backbone. She stated she may move back to NICU later on in her career but loves the ED for now. I was a float PCT that worked for a hospital with a level 1 trauma and now I'm starting in the NICU in a few weeks.

Ahh congrats! I am too a new grad starting in a NICU soon. It was my dream job and now that its approaching I'm getting nervous. I'm also looking for advice, books that can help, and infant stethoscope recommendations? Thanks! Good luck on NCLEX!

My PVT worked I checked it many many times, the first time being about an hour after I left the facility. I used an inactive credit card or I would change the date of my expiration date or a card with insufficient funds. Once I used my actual credit card numbers to see if it would make a difference and it did not. Got the good pop up every time. Just remember, you do have to fill out cc information and hit submit.

Hi. I'll post my scores for you. A little background- I graduated from nursing school in Dec '14. After that, I just relaxed and had fun after a stressful 4.5 years. I took about 4 vacations and worked and had fun. It took a while for me to get my ATT and actually sign up for NCLEX because of a few issues, but I absolutely did not use that time to study - maybe a little bit here and there. When I finally got my ATT, I signed up to take NCLEX on 4/23. I only studied for maybe 10-14 days before then and thats when I started Kaplan and I did a few questions on NCLEX mastery on my phone. QT1 - 41.3 QT2 - 49.3 QT3 - 50 QT4 - 52.7 QT5 - 58.7 QT6 - 57 (Didn't have time to take Q7) Readiness - 58.9 Qbank average - 57 (approx) Soooo.. as you can see my scores were not high at all. In fact, they are awful. But I did pass with 265 questions. In conclusion, I think you'll be just fine. Just keep studying and don't focus on the scores you are getting, but on the actual content and rationales. In my opinion, the rationales that Kaplan offers were not up to par, so I had to do a little bit of my own research to help me out. Good Luck! You can do this!

Just an update for those researching these boards for different reasons (like i sometimes do when i'm stumped!). I got the surgery in December and I immediately felt relief! I was in a cast for about 2 weeks and it was only that long cause of the winter holidays. I was able to full bend my wrist in each direction within 48 hours of the cast removal. Today, 5 months later, I can't put all my weight on my hand yet but I make a fist when I need to support myself and that has worked just fine. I see a little weakness in my hand when I'm doing various things for my PCT job (like when I was putting on compression stockings on my patient) but otherwise I don't notice. My left hand has been increasingly bad so I've been thinking of getting the surgery again in August, which is the next time I'll have a two week break from nursing school (the next long "break" will be after graduation :)) Good luck to other nurses/students with CTS!

See her for office hours and really pay attention to what she wants you to know. As someone above stated, you do know what her tests are like. Sometimes, as I'm reading I try to think of questions that my professor would ask in an exam. Every pharm class is different, but our questions are all application and how to talk to the patient. Sometimes we need to remember to.. for lack of a better term, "dumb down" our reasonings and explanations for drugs so that a patient, can easily understand without any confusion. Also, does it seem like your teacher picks questions from her lectures or from the book? That way you can prioritize how to study. For example I focus on lecture first and then if I have time, I read because our exams are basically made from lecture material. But, if I'm stuck or if I'm not exactly sure of what is being said in my lecture notes, I refer to my book to get a better understanding. Another thing that helped me is really focusing on the mechanisms of action and patho for each drug that way I can see how it works systemically. Like Beta Blockers block the beta receptors in various parts of the body. I make a chart of what it's blocking or doing and how that affects heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels, etc and then figure out side effects, contraindications and nursing implications from there. But you really do need to stop blaming the teacher, because your right, there's nothing you can do about it. Trust me, I've been there, done that, I know what its like to have a teacher that I don't really like or agree with in their teaching style. The only thing you can do is talk to her! Don't be afraid to talk to her one on one and try and see what she wants her students to know. Also, get a tutor to help you go through the topics.

In response to 2bRNatasha85, I failed Pharm last semester, but now I'm getting like a B+. My teacher kept saying don't memorize, think through the drug. I didn't understand what she meant by that last year, but I do understand now. Every pharm class is different, but it definitely helped me to learn the mechanisms of action very well and see what systemic effects the drug has on the body and compare that to therapeutic and adverse effects. From there I can figure out possible side effects and from the side effects I figure out the nursing implications. Study hard until the final and see your teacher for office hours or get a tutor! I know you can do it!

Thanks you guys. I was more so worried about how my wrist will do if I were to get a PCT/CNA job in Jan or Feb 2014 after having the surgery in Dec.

I agree completely, but it's also important to remember that everyone learns differently and that every nursing school is a little bit different. I did have a very difficult instructor that was teaching a very difficult class. Roughly 1/4 of my classmates failed that class and my school decided to bring in more pharmacology professors for that reason. I agree teaching is difficult, but a student's negative or positive attitude has to come from somewhere? Also, the other class I failed, the instructor was fired. And lub dub, I did say "among other reasons why I had a terrible semester". Haha, if my argument was "I didn't get her teaching style" the board probably would've laughed in my face. Either way, my background story won't matter. What does matter is that I'm here now and I'm doing my best I possibly can and that I have learned many many things while going through this tough time.

I'm a current Loyola Nursing Student for undergrad. It's tough but I personally feel that Loyola has the best doctors and nurses. The new Maywood campus is great. I'm sure you'll love it. Best of luck.

Hi everyone, I'm still a student but I have a painful case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Symptoms for me started when I was 18 and a senior in high school. Now I'm 21 and a junior in nursing school and my symptoms haven't gotten any better despite trying everything in the book. (Splints for day and night, a cortisone shot, and physical therapy). I was just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with CTS and how that can potentially affect me while I'm working as an RN or even a CNA/PCT, because I'm hoping to find an assistant job after this semester. I'm about 90% sure I'm going to get the surgery this December because my hands are basically useless because simple things like brushing my hair and teeth and eating my cereal make my hand go numb. Not to mention the pain, difficulty, and numbness of drawing up injections. What about any difficulties working as a CNA, PCT, or RN after carpal tunnel release? For me, this December would be the best time to get the surgery, because not only will I have a full month to recover, but I'll only have 1 clinical next semester and it's my mental health rotation - a lot more "CTS friendly" than med/surg or peds! Thoughts, comments, suggestions?