chelbelle

Thanks for the support & advice everyone. Nursing is TOUGH but it's great to have a support system here. And don't worry, I still want to be a nurse... :) Realized the next day there are more tough days to come but I'll make it.

Another thing I realized once I got home... My nurse manager leaves for the night at 8 and by that point I was too busy to even think about where she was. Once she was gone the nurse in charge was busy with her own admits & transfers... It was a busy night all around but next time I know I'll be someone asking for help!

No criticism taken! I even thought when I woke up the next morning, "Wow, I could have done last night better...I should've done this first & then that & everything would've gone much smoother." Looking back I realized I should've just got my admits settled, worked on getting the blood, and done all the admission paperwork in the room with them while their blood transfused since I needed to remain in the room anyway. Although it was a very stressful experience it was also a great learning experience, thanks for the support!

My goodness I didn't realize this was so long, I just kept typing away & never really looked at how much I said. My apologies, readers!

I was lucky enough to land a job on a Medical-Tele unit in August after graduating with my BSN in May. Although I know it's not my "dream job" I was so excited to start working in a broad area that would be helpful if I wanted to advance my career/education. I've been off orientation for about 6 weeks & it's been a tough road. Working the evening shift 3p-11:30p I do A LOT of discharges, admissions & transfers from other areas of the hospital. I've slowly gotten more used to the chaos & I'm usually thankful to be pushed so hard to advance my time management skills but nothing compares to what I had last night. No LPNs were on so we had five RNs primary-ing four patients each with one unit clerk (a tech essentially). Upon getting report I found out I already had an admit assigned to me, a discharged patient that was simply waiting for a ride, another patient with plans to be discharged later in the evening & a stable patient that would be on my unit for the night (that's 4 patients total, our normal ratio). I wasn't too worried at first, until my first discharge left & my manager assigned me two additional admits at once. YES, TWO AT ONCE. Before my first one had even arrived. Thankfully I had already assessed, gotten vitals & charted on my stable patient (there's those time management skills), so he was settled until the 1800 med pass. I continued to do as much as possible to get my rooms ready for my admits & get my discharge done but I've learned quickly that sometimes no matter what you do, you cannot avoid the perfect storm. (That's what I call it when you get report on all your admits/transfers/post-ops at once all while your other patients need to get up to the commode, were incontinent in bed, need prn pain meds, etc.) So I got report on my first admit who needed a PCA (I've never set that up before, but our most senior nurse is here tonight, I'll just have to ask for her help later *sigh of relief*), and after getting her to the unit, settling her in & finishing up her admission for the most part, report was called on my second admit... Ok... bring it on I guess. His chief complaint was hemoptysis, and according to the ED nurse he still needed one more unit of blood as his Hgb was 6.6. WHAT?! That would've been nice to know when you requested a bed from my manger. How am I going to fit that into my night?! I held back a scream and instead said "Okay, send him up." And while he was en route to his room the ride arrived for my other discharge, so I attempted to go over his paperwork with them, but then he "Had to take a ****" (his words I swear, not mine) so that would have to wait. I moved on to my admit who had just arrived & went through most of his admission assessment & stepped out to grab something to find another nurse going over my discharge paperwork with my patient. He apparently got inpatient after he went to the bathroom, but I'm just thankful someone caught him before he left with nothing! I thanked the nurse & continued on with my second admission when report was called on my third. Not even a half hour between! I quickly found out that my GI bleed admit would also need another unit of blood that they did not have time to start downstairs in the ED, but she said they could get the 250 flush bag of Normal Saline going at least.... He came upstairs saline locked... With no fluids going at all :banghead: So the night continued on & I somehow got all my admission paperwork done, got consents signed, fed people that wanted food, passed their meds, made them comfortable, got the PCA pump programmed with the help of my savior senior nurse, and got one unit of blood hung & started and unfortunately left the night shift nurse with the other unit of blood, but the 250 flush bag of normal saline through the blood tubing was running & ready to go. My report went late as I explained each of the admits thoroughly to two different night shift nurses. The look of disappointment I received from the night shift nurse that received my patient that still needed the unit of blood killed what little bit of hope for the night I still had left. She had an admit coming too, and I know she'd be busy with that, but that wasn't my fault, our manager does the staffing, not me, and did she understand the night I just went through?! UGH. I tried my hardest to get everything done, I really did. Everyone else on the floor was really busy with their assignments too, they all felt bad for me, they told me they did, and they just kept saying do as much as you can, but I still felt like that wasn't enough. I got in my car after leaving the shift late & just cried cried cried the whole way home. I was sure I missed something. As I sit here typing this I'm still sure I missed something. I was spread so thin I can't imagine I got it all done. I'm so nervous to go back & see the mess I created. I actually asked myself last night why I decided to take such a hectic job? Why am I a nurse? I normally never have that attitude. I've read on posts here time & time again that it gets better, but I can't imagine a night like that ever being manageable. How do I get over this feeling that I forgot something? I not only needed some time to vent today but I just need some reassurance that it'll be okay, because at this point I'm truly feeling like it won't. I'm defeated.

I have similar feelings - plus the idea of being unemployed scares me to death - but so many places I'm trying to apply for won't accept your application if you aren't licensed yet. Did you work as a grad nurse before you were licensed or did you start after you passed the NCLEX? Thanks!

Thanks for the replies! That's kind of what I was thinking - that if I don't have a license they won't even take my application seriously so I was leaning more towards waiting until I at least have my ATT or test date. Some places in my area hire Graduate Nurses to work without all the duties of an RN until they pass the NCLEX, so I was hoping for that but now I'm just hoping for a job sometime this summer at least. How is the job hunt going for the rest of you?

Hello everyone! I am graduating with my BSN in a little over three weeks! SO excited but I can't get over this nervous feeling I also have about getting a job... I live in small town in MI and the one large hospital in my town was recently bought out by a large corporation (Duke LifePoint). This has been tough for many people in the community as they are letting go of ALL care aides, most LPNs & most unit clerks. While doing this, they have also put a hiring freeze on nursing positions... I'm currently doing my final transitional internship in the NICU there (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE) & my preceptor hopes for me to get hired but it's looking grim - in all areas of the hospital. I have handed my resume to a few NMs with similar responses from each - "I'm sorry, but I just don't know whats going on right now" etc. So my dreams of having a job lined up after graduation have dwindled significantly. But I'm still looking up! There are a few LTC/Assisted Living Facilities & home health agencies in the area that I plan to apply at because I am willing to work absolutely anywhere (as long as I don't have to relocate - long-time boyfriend has a wonderful job with GREAT benefits and room for tons of expansion here)! I have loved all of my rotations throughout school (which I am thankful for now). SO my question is - now that getting a job lined up as a graduate nurse right after graduation is almost out of the question - should I just discontinue my job hunt until after I pass the NCLEX or keep trying w/ LTC in hopes that I'll get in somewhere contingent on me passing??? Any advice would be appreciated! Love this forum

I graduate on May 3rd! So excited to be done but I better not be the only one that's also super nervous! Reading forums about waiting 6 months or more to get an RN job on here scares me to the core! Don't want it to overshadow my great accomplishment though! Way to go everyone!!!

I am in the same position as the OP and this advice really helped! Graduating in May 2014 with four years of experience in an office & teaching dance at a local dance studio. Can't change it now!

Hi all! I'm in a BSN program in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and I graduate in May! :woot: So excited but also so very nervous. If any people reading don't know, the UP is a very rural area with only one large regional hospital. I LOVE kids and would love to work in a PICU/Peds unit but the Pediatric Unit in the mentioned hospital is very limited and sometimes doesn't have any patients at all. I'm planning to apply there, but they don't often hire since it's so small. I have been trying (without much luck) to find Internships in the Midwest area (MI, WI, MN, IL) for Pediatric Units. So far I've only found one in Wisconsin in which the application was due in early December and one at the Children's Hospital of Michigan which is located in Detroit - somewhere I unfortunately wouldn't exactly want to relocate to. I have looked at the Helen Devos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids as well but haven't had much luck with any openings. I guess my question is has anyone had any luck finding Peds Internships - or any Internships in general in the Midwest?? Any tips on Peds employment opportunities? I'm willing to relocate (to a point) and will take any job I can get - but this is what I'm really hoping for! Thanks in advance! :)

I'm about to start my last year of school. WOO! The second half of my winter semester is 90 hours (ONLY) of an internship. So far, I haven't really disliked a clinic so I'm having a hard time deciding where I want to do this internship. I LOVE the NICU but also really enjoyed the ICU and really didn't mind being on the medical floor, either! The only areas I really can't see myself are in the ER & OR. After browsing the forums I have found that it's common advice to follow your heart and do your preceptorship in an area that you like. But my question is; wouldn't Med/Surg or ICU look better on a resume? Thinking about the job market now, I feel like if I were in an interview for a job on a medical floor (which I would enjoy having!) they might not hire me because it would look as though I'm just taking this job to take it, since I did a preceptorship in a specialty area. What would I say in an interview if they asked why I did my preceptorship in the NICU? I'll be happy with my preceptorship if my preceptor is good no matter where it is, but I'm just thinking about what will help me in the long run! Any advice would be helpful!

Our teachers always go into the room before we get to clinic and ask the patients if they mind having a student. More often than not, all of them are more than happy to have a student in the room! Most of them realize this means more attention! As stated before, the patients that don't like students usually aren't very nice to the staff either. The only time I've ever seen issues with patients having student nurses was in OB. Many of the husbands/boyfriends/dads didn't want the male students in my class being the nurse, which is interesting because often the mother was okay with it.

I leave all of my books in my car! Sounds crazy but a friend of mine did it simply because she was too lazy to always carry them back and forth from class to her car into her apartment but I thought it was a great idea. I'll throw them in my car in the morning (I never take them into lecture) and if I have time to study between classes or after clinical I just have to run to my car to get the book I need! They are always with me but I don't have to carry them in my backpack all day if I don't need them. Keep your doors locked! :)

truckinusa - I'm in a BSN program at Northern Michigan University. Thanks for your input, I've heard that clinics for Mental Health can be boring but the patients can be interesting at times. We'll see when I get there I guess! danielle11 - I also enjoy being in the hospital so I feel like I'll feel the same way you did, enjoying psych a little bit more than Community. I've heard this semester is a bit easier than others so that's a relief. I'll probably also spend more time studying for psych as I can picture myself working on a psych unit before being a public health nurse. Thank you!