katfuter

I've been working on an ortho floor for about 8 months now. It was my first job as a new nurse. When I first started I was extremely nervous, felt overwhelmed, felt like I couldn't handle working on such a busy unit. During my first few months, I would feel very stressed when I saw something new and my time management would go out the window. So today I had to give blood for the first time ever. And I was very calm and collected during the whole thing. Yeah I still had to ask for help and grab another nurse to walk me through setting up the line etc, but I was calm and much more organized than if I had to do this just a few months ago. Sorry this post is long but my point is that you are going to see and do alot of stuff you've never seen or done. And it's completely fine & encouraged to ask someone for help. And what's mostly going to help you feel comfortable is time. Give it at least 6 months and things will start to become second nature. My time management has improved sooo much. Learn to cluster your care, ask TONS of questions even if you think you know the answer. Even just a simple "Hey my patient is feeling/looking/doing this and I was thinking of trying this, do you have any other suggestions?" can validate your critical thinking. I know it's hard now but it will get better.

I think an appropriate answer when you are caught off guard would be, "Because I've worked in ___ specialty for a while, I'm not too familiar with ABG analysis. However this is a learning opportunity for both of us and lets look up the answer tomorrow/tonight and get back to each other." For post conference ideas, maybe you can choose a topic or ask a student to choose a topic every day (depending on the unit you're on) such as heart failure, post op complications, cardiac meds, communicating with the nurses, etc and ask the students to say what they know about these topics. You could pose questions like What are symptoms we would assess in heart failure? What are ways we can prevent pneumonia after surgery? What difficulties have you found when communicating with the nurses? If something specific happened on the unit, for example a family member was angry/yelled at a student, you could address this further and pose questions to the other students like what should they do when this happens, did the student handle it well or what could they have done differently next time? What did they learn about this experience? When I was a student I enjoyed post conferences where it was OK we went a little off topic from the care plans/patients and were able to talk about what was on our mind.

The more questions you do, the better you will get a hang of it. I studied through uworld and most med topics would get repeated over and over so you eventually memorize it. Also, I wrote down any pharm facts I knew I had trouble memorizing/knowing on a notepad, which tends to help it stick. I only studied uworld the last 3 weeks before my exam and I passed. Pharm was my worst subject too and the one I was most nervous about.

These are the applying/removing orders I remembered for nclex and I got every nclex practice question right. Applying ppe With your hands in the air, go from bottom to top. Gown Mask Goggles Gloves Removing ppe Go in alphabetical order Gloves Goggles Gown Mask

Go for a hike nearby, go to the gym, take a book to the park, join a class about something you've never learned, e.g. dancing, cooking, painting. Try and get out as much as possible. Go to the library. Also try to make a date night once a week with your bf if you're having trouble spending quality time. If you don't want to go out for dinner, try cooking something together then go for a walk afterwards. Squeezing in quality time is important for your relationship

I love the dress. Definitely pair it with a cardigan and maybe flat shoes, no big heels. I would say stop stressing, I'm kinda jealous I don't have the same outfit

I just wrote recently and I felt the exact same way, that nothing I studied was on the exam and felt like I failed miserably! Well I passed in 75 questions. When nclex realizes you know the core content, its gonna give you things you've NEVER heard of or even thought about. You definitely passed, don't doubt yourself!

If I were you I would schedule my nclex in 4 weeks. I just wrote it and found out I passed. I highly suggest Uworld, its an In expensive question bank that gives all the content you need in the rationales. I did all of their questions only supplementing with textbooks when I didn't understand something and I passed in 75 questions! If you study everyday and you understand the core content you will pass!!

I hate getting blood drawn as well, but feel completely fine drawing a patient's blood. I used to feel light headed and have fainted once, but ever since a couple years into nursing school I don't get that anymore. I do still generally feel anxious before getting a stick which I know will never go away. I'd say your chances of getting comfortable with drawing blood are very good, but you may still always feel uncomfortable getting your own blood drawn. Remember, health care workers are not invincible, we have fears/phobias just like the average person.