NurseBerter

new grad RN starting salary $21/hr, no differential for eves/noc/weekends LTC rural county outside Olympia, Washington This thread is kinda depressing because it seems EVERYBODY is making more money than me. Most of the classmates I graduated with got their first jobs in LTC; the highest pay I've heard of for them around here is $24/hr with a $3 night shift differential, but they are worked to death and hate it. A few of my classmates got residencies in the big teaching hospital in Olympia and are making $27/hr base pay. I work at an assisted living facility that's licensed as a boarding home, so it's not sub-acute care and that's probably why it pays less. But I am grateful to have landed a job with no experience right after graduation, and hey, money is money!

Thanks for the comments and the help! :)

Ruby, I appreciate so much that you said this - I think I will print it out and post it. Or possibly make it into a t-shirt. I am feeling these exact same feelings as a new nurse, losing sleep and ruminating on my days off about what I might possibly have done wrong on the last shift. It's good to know I'm normal and that I'm not alone.

I failed in 75 questions the first time I took my NCLEX, and the second time I PASSED in 75.

So I've been a nurse in my first job for just over three months. I am finding it impossible to relax on my days off. I just can't stop wondering and worrying what I might have forgotten the last time I worked, and what I'm going to find out I'm in trouble for when I go back. I've only gotten one "warning" since I started (I didn't do a thorough enough assessment, a mistake I won't repeat!), but I still stress out all the time. I wonder when I'm going to develop enough confidence that I'll be able to drive home after a shift feeling like I know without a doubt I did a good job. Is this why (I hear) a lot of new nurses cry all the way home from work? I should be enjoying my four days off, but my stomach is just in knots - arrgghhhh!

Yes cmm4ever, I took the RN. :)

Here ya go https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/passed-my-nclex-750555.html

Congrats!! I passed this morning too, on my second time as well. And I had a ton of SATA questions and math questions! Best wishes to you.. :)

I failed the NCLEX on my first attempt in August, and it took me the rest of the time from then until now to figure out what I did wrong. I went way, way too fast the first time and failed in 75 questions. I was too cocky, and I was also a little bit panicked; I tried to take it as fast as possible and get out of there. My I.D. picture taken that morning really showed the pessimistic look on my face. It was humiliating to fail when all my friends passed, and that also meant that they all moved on and I had to study all over again all by myself. I started at the beginning, I used the Mary Ann Hogan comprehensive review book, and the study sheet found here on allnurses. That's it. I went through three chapters a day, doing the tests only, and really understanding the rationales. This morning I passed in 75 questions. Got the good pop-up an hour later and my state board of nursing web site showed me as active about an hour after that. I am delirious and so relieved that it's not hanging over my head anymore! Oh....and I smiled for this morning's picture like I was smiling at my kid. Huge and bright. You've got to project positivity and optimism! The most helpful things I can think to pass on to those of you repeating this test are.... Study content, system by system, and really visualize *why* a disease process causes the symptoms that it does. I have no doubt that when I really thought some of the test situations through, that's what helped me nail the right answer. If the "respiratory situation" answer is actually a normal or expected situation, but there's another answer demonstrating an emergency hemorrhage, guess what - NCLEX wants you to know that something besides airway is taking priority. The first time around, when I saw anything to do with airway, I just picked it quickly without thinking! Understand *why* a disease process does what it does to the body. sloooooooooow down when you're taking the test. Read the question again and again. Read the answers again and again. Realize that some of the answers just don't belong, eliminate them and then don't worry about those anymore. Pray! On the drive to the testing center I kept saying, "God, You led me to this door....please let me walk through it." Realize that if the questions seem really tough, you're probably doing great. SMILE FOR THAT PICTURE - as if you're smiling at yourself on the other side. Give yourself a boost. Hope this helps....I am so happy I'm walking on air. :)

Thank you EVERYONE - I really appreciate your helpful feedback. Great suggestions here. I will let you know how it goes :)

I'm feeling discouraged and scared about taking it for the second time too. I failed in 75 questions (I went way, way too fast) and like you, was surrounded by excited classmates who ALL passed. I was absolutely shocked that I didn't. I took Kaplan, was one of the top students in the nursing class, really thought I had it. So I am getting ready to re-take this bad boy at the end of November. It's daunting to study "by myself" instead of surrounded by friends in Kaplan. I have carved out 2-3 hours almost every day, I do about 60 questions a day and really study the rationales, and I'm focusing on just the Comprehensive review Book by Mary Ann Hogan (the questions in Saunders seem too easy to me), LaCharity's PDA book, the study guide I found on this site, and memorizing my labs. I wish you the best of luck... I think maybe taking a step back, concentrating on why I failed, redoubling my efforts, giving myself lots of confidence pep talks, will result in success the second time around. :)

I also failed the first time in 75 questions - I went way, way too fast. I am currently studying up for the second attempt in four more weeks...... good luck to you, can't wait to see how it turns out!

When I was in my final weeks of school, my preceptor walked into the room of a newly admitted patient and greeted him with "Oh, your last name is [smith]? We have another [smith] right down the hall! Are you related?"

I am a new nurse of two months, graduated in June and landed my very first job in August at an assisted living facility. I love the work and the residents, but I am having some trouble finding my voice. One huge area I don't think they taught us well enough in school was how to supervise and manage other people. We did have a "Leadership & Management" component, but it was a dry course with a dry textbook. Role-playing would have been so much more helpful! Every shift, I supervise two to three nursing assistants. There are a handful in particular who are sloppy and careless. Example - they are responsible for getting vital signs and writing them on a form that I later review and then enter into the chart. They are expected to know normals, and they are supposed to report to me immediately any vitals that are out of range. One day I found on the form a BP of 80/60 that nobody had told me about. And they go way too fast and make huge errors in transcribing the vitals to this form, like leaving a "1" off of somebody's weight, or writing "158" under O2 sat. So I made a sheet of what normal vitals are (there is already one posted, but obviously they ignore it). I put it in a highly visible area and write that I will expect them to know this, and that I expect them to read it and initial it. No one does. I follow through and start quizzing them. "What's a normal blood pressure?" The answer: "115?" I ask, "What's normal respirations?" The answer: blank stare, then "what's a respirations?" So I take the time to go with them to do vitals. I answer their questions. I quiz them again. They continue to make mistakes. I take them aside and tell them that if there's one more careless mistake, or one more abnormal not reported to me immediately, I will write them up. We'll see when I go back on Sunday... I go to the nurse educator to tell her what I've already done to address this problem and ask her if there's anything else I should do. And she called me Sweetie and Dear, said, when I showed her the vitals board with all its mistakes, "I don't need to see your examples," and her final parting advice was a hurried "Did you do everything perfect when you first got here?" Ironically, we are not allowed to call the elderly residents "sweetie," "hon," etc because it is considered so disrespectful. She teaches classes about this! I couldn't believe she was doing it to me and I was too stunned to say anything. I know I need to earn respect to get respect, but I don't know how to do it. I don't want to become a raging B-word .... that is not my style. I feel dismissed and not listened to from above and below, and it's starting to get me down.