Lissla

For my facility, orienting on day is beneficial only because I might be asked to come in a little early to help with staffing problems. I work nights now but I sleep so much that I never have time to do anything else now lol

Like nutella said, dont rule out nursing homes or long term care. I had too much competition from the recent graduating nurses to land a job at a hospital. I got tired of it and went for the jobs most nurses don't want.. It's not the ideal new grad position but it at least gives you nursing experience. Then in a couple months to a year, move on to something that better fits your wants.

I was in the same boat before I started the nursing program in 2013. I'm still very much an introvert and get shy too. It's something I'm always going to struggle with and yet today I'm an RN. I found that the program was the best decision I made for myself. I grew so much throughout the two years. The only difference you may experience is that you may not have the same type of program I had. I had a group of students that I was in the same class and clinicals with everyday and that's mainly what helped me gain more confidence in myself. We didn't start going to clinicals until we had a basic foundation of nursing skills. I know other Universities throw you on a hospital floor without any skills. You won't know if you're cut out for it until you go through it yourself though.

I'm very much a night owl and for the next couple of weeks I'll be orienting on day shift. The thing is I never ever feel rested when I wake up no matter how many hours I sleep. Last night I got around 7 hours of sleep and felt dead tired during work today. I could sleep 10 hours and still be tired. Something about the time being that early just doesnt sit right with my body. It was this way during nursing school too so I don't know how I'll manage to wake up at 5 am everyday to go to work. Anyone else experience this and find a solution?

Yeah I definitely thought it was weird that I was being considered for "charge nurse" but it makes sense that titles kind of mean different things in LTC. I did have a feeling they were a bit desperate for an RN though. I did take the job coz for me any experience is going to help me with my confidence and just learning how to function as a nurse on my own. Not being in any medical setting for over half a year definitely has set me back a bit.

So I got my RN license back in beginning of December and have since been looking for a nursing job. I didn't start getting interviews until this month and have been getting rejections left and right from all of the hospitals I applied to. Too much competition from the recent new grads I guess /: So I started branching out and applying for any nursing position I saw that wasn't a specialized position. I even applied to a LTC facility for a charge nurse position that I actually interviewed for today. I'm guessing that they're offering the job to me since they took a urine sample and sent me an email for references. At this point I'm just willing to take whatever I can get, especially when I've been getting rejections from all the new grad programs in my area. My grandmother doesn't support this (she was an lpn) and thinks I should hold out for a hospital position, especially when this is supposed to be a job even associate RNs don't want to do. Thing is, my uncle is a radiologist at a hospital about 30 minutes away and I asked for his help in possibly getting a job there. As much pull as he may have, Im not sure that I'll get a job there. I haven't gotten any calls for an interview for them so far. Ive been out of a job for about two weeks now and am really hurting for money so I don't know if I should hold out and see if I even get an interview or if I should go ahead and proceed with this LTC place. A prof told us never to settle but at this point do I really have a choice? Any tips or suggestions?

My partner has really good insurance through his employer but was hit with a huge medical bill since his insurance wouldn't cover it. They were saying that since his care was not standard of practice and that it was only investigation (he's having some weird allergic reaction to something we still can't figure out and it results in warm red, painful patches in various places of his body) they weren't gonna pay for his care. Not only has his condition not been solved, he's afraid to get more treatment since they might not even cover that. It's horrible what companies do to avoid paying

I took the NCLEX for the second time last Monday. I was a wreck until I got my results on Wednesday. First time through I got around 155 questions. Second time got to 89 and walked out feeling like I did okay, then psyched myself out and thought about the many different ways I failed. I walked in feeling confident. The night before, I felt confident. I don't know that anyone ever comes out feeling like they passed. After all, maybe they cut you off earlier this time around coz you did worse. Never know until you get your results (:

I worked during my last year of school, BSN degree. At first it was a regular retail job, random days of the week. But then it turned to a Monday to Friday job. Handled it pretty well until exams came up. Didn't have much of a social life but its doable. You just have to be really disciplined and actually stick to a schedule you make up for study time. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't that way but I still managed to pass and graduate with my class. Half of my classmates worked and the other half had support from family.

We only have one option for a pin and its design doesn't appeal to me. If we don't purchase a pin we just get a ribbon. I guess I'd feel more compelled to purchase it if there was an actual meaning behind the pin instead of the college just handing it out because we're graduating.

I'm at that time in the program where I have to think about graduation. And with that, comes pinning. I've heard from one of my instructors that she still has her pin since its a symbol for her. I've been debating if I should purchase a pin or not. I just think that I'll be happy I have it but in the end, it will probably end up sitting in a jewelry box. I was just wondering about anyone here that did get a pin and what meaning it might hold.

A lot of the students room with fellow students in the class. A few mass emailed the class a few months before classes started. There isn't any dedicated housing for students but there's apts in the area. Some of the locals rent out rooms too \: You could always see if any of the students live in Hagerstown and ask if you could stay with them during the week. My class has two that commute from the Baltimore area every day for class. Not ideal but it works for them. One of them usually will stay with a classmate if they have to be somewhere really early in the morning like for clinical.

I know the main campus is very competitive. But if you apply for the Hagerstown campus, you have a better chance of getting in. I'm at the Hagerstown campus and one of my fellow classmates used to be at main campus. He went for Hagerstown coz there was less competition for spots.

Having a professor late every time would frustrate me to no end. What happened to the idea of the importance of nurses being on time? Maybe she's testing you all to see who's brave enough to say something. The professor I had for assessment had a 3 hour lecture followed by a 2 and a half hour lab. It was usually just her and another person (can't remember what she was but she usually just observed the lectures and helped with lab). We didn't have 30 students though, we had 18 so it probably wasn't as bad as what it sounds like for you. We didn't have a skills check off at the end. We usually understood what to do after watching the professor demonstrate it in lecture, then 2-3 times in lab. Then if a few of us still didn't understand, we went online for videos. I guess I can't really understand your situation though coz I'm on a branch campus and there's only one of each class (like 1 adult health class, 1 peds class, 1 fundamentals class...) every semester.

I think there's always going to be those people who can't think that fast on their feet or just don't do well in front of an audience. Me and a few fellow classmates are like that, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't be nurses. It just means we probably need to find a slower-paced environment to really shine. Don't let the other students get you down. Some people seem to be born to be a nurse, but that doesn't mean you can't be a great nurse too. You may have to work a little harder than others but no one said nursing was easy, right?