mevsmom

I work in sub-acute rehab in a LTC facility and I struggle with this as well. Hoping to follow for some good responses.

Memorize lab values, normal vital signs for adult and peds patients, and dust off your math skills. If you are feeling really ambitious try to tackle your dosage book.

Brush up on your math skills, memorize lab values , and normal vital signs.

Piggy backing off this question. If you have a diabetic with crust build up between the toes of dead skin or whatever substance from what appears to be lack of care how do you get it out? I used a wash cloth to gently floss it out and then dry between each toe after cleansing. I know you aren't supposed to get the toes wet like that but I couldn't possibly leave it there.

I've cried when I failed my competency. I cried when I've felt overwhelmed with school. I'm a great student and I care a lot. I don't view crying as a weakness. I've never cried at clinical just at school with all the crazy stress.

Has anyone gone right into a float pool job after graduation? A local hospital will consider new grads for the float pool jobs. I think it would be cool to experience all the different floors. However will the lack of consistency be too difficult to promote learning for a new nurse?

I'm graduating in May, this May. However, I'm having an issue with the logistics of getting a job. If I got an RN job at a local hospital it would require a minimum of 6 weeks of full time days for orientation. But I think that six weeks of days will be hard for us to figure out. I have 2 children a preschooler and a grade schooler. My preschooler would have to go to a daycare center. My grade schooler has special needs, I'm not sure where I would be able to send her to summer camp let alone afford such a camp. So, I was thinking I could apply for a part time tech/nursing assistant job during the evenings. It wouldn't have a long orientation so I wouldn't have to worry about that. However I would only be able to commit to it for a few months as come fall I would be looking for an RN job. But having the summer off will allow me to properly dedicate my time to studying and preparing for the NCLEX. Would it be better just to not work this summer or try to fill the gap with a nursing assistant job? Thanks in advance.

I completely agree. I need to get an outfit for a job fair and I was thinking of buying a pair of slacks and a oxford style button up. Hoping that I could also use those pieces in a formal interview. What do you think?

I wouldn't go. In my opinion it's irresponsible to go when you know you are sick because you risk getting your patients sick, nurses, and fellow students. Also, I wouldn't want to risk having an accident because that would be mortifying.

Do you know what your anxiety is related to? I know I had a lot of anxiety in the beginning of school related to talking to patients. So I made up some scripts and used them when talking to patients. It helped relieve some stress because I always had something to say to my patients. I do find it a little alarming that you and half your fellow peers are on anti anxiety medications while in clinicals and actively taking care of patients.

She needs to get a burner phone (TracFone) like they did on the show Burn Notice. ;-)

I thought it showed leadership... I was voted on by my peers and had specific tasks of making up cheers, dances, and making specific decisions... I know that all sounds trivial now that I'm older and have almost survived nursing school.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Some homonyms get me every time! ;-) I'm going to put my preceptorship under education, and not in its own category. I also agree about the professional profile part, I just feel like taking all this out makes my resume appear rather empty ideally I wanted a full page. :-/ I like your ideas about the parenting group. My job in our group is similar to one of the C suite titles probably most like COO with a lot of other tasks intertwined. I will PM you thanks! :-)

I listed it as clinical experience, because that is what we call it in school, Clinicals. I assumed if I had relevant nursing experience I would list it as Work Experience. I'm not trying to give the nurse recruiter the wrong impression which is why I labeled it a Preceptorship. At my hospital in the computer I'm labeled Student RN, but on my resume I will probably change it to Student Nurse Preceptee. I guess I will move it under education, and not in its own category. Will getting a PCA job help me this late? I have 8 weeks till my final and 10 till graduation... I hear hiring takes 4-6 weeks at my particular hospital, I will barely be off of orientation by graduation. They would be investing good time and money in training me to become a PCA, so I wouldn't want to feel like they were wasting that on me... Or feel like I was deceiving them.

Thank you for looking at my resume and the suggestions. I will apply all those corrections. I agree to a that wearable infant carriers makes more sense. The rewording suggestions are great too. Patient assignemnt sounds perfect, I wanted to say patient load but I knew that wasn't right... So census was the next word that came to mind. I agree that my bakery position needs to be reworked... I want to emphasize skills and tasks that I did that would help strengthen my customer service skills as it was a demanding job with some very intense customers partially due to the inner city location. I have BLS/CPR and I will add that. I didn't add it because I felt it wasn't note worthy since we all had to be certified before we could begin clinicals.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my resume. I agree that there is alot of "filler," without it, my resume seems very empty and nonspecific. I have no certifications other than bls/cpr but I felt it wasn't worth putting since we HAD to be certified to participate in school clinicals, so I assume that everyone applying is certified. What do you mean by individual skills? I have skills such as assessment, VS, pt education... But all nurses have that. I'm very friendly and personable, most of my PTs thank me for being very gentle and kind as they have painful devices... But thats not really resume worthy ya know?

Create scripts of what to say to each patient and use it on every patient until conversations become more fluid. When I come into my patients room in the morning I ask them how they slept, how was breakfast, ask about pain, and if you can get them anything. Mean while I'm cleaning up any clutter and taking out their breakfast tray. I do this with each patient so I get a baseline of info on them and I know that I covered everything. Create different scripts for each interaction such as med passes, evening shift, ect. It helps remove some tension eventually it will become more fluent.

Learn to cook with a crock pot and freeze meals so you won't eat junk food all the time. ;-)

Hi Nurses, I'm struggling with writing my resume, I feel that it all seems very generic and nonspecific. I'm really trying to personalize it, and optimize it to decrease the chances of it being thrown away within 3 seconds. I'm struggling with putting my work experience into eloquent wording, that relates to my strengths of nursing. I know that I don't have any direct patient care jobs so I am trying to make sure my resume is extra beefy and attractive. I'm not currently working but I am very involved in running and managing our volunteer babywearing group, but its hard to put into words exactly what we do and how to make it sound professional. I also read through four pages of previous posts while writing my resume. I showed it to my instructor and she thought I should take out the clinical experience. Also, I attached an image of how the formating looks, because many of the previous posts the formating is all wonky. I blocked out all personal info with the colored blocks and lines. But, when submitting my resume it will be black, white, and professional. Thanks in advance, Mevsmom

How did you get quotes from your clinical instructors and teachers? My mind is so filled with the minutiae of senior year I can't even think about what teachers have complimented me on.

I phrased that wrong, he was a risk for fall... Almost all ortho PTs are a risk for fall, the only ones that aren't a risk are the overflow med surg patients. He wasn't on a 1 to 1 assist for ambulation on he was up and out of bed ambulating well without assistance all day.

I'm in my final semester of school doing my preceptorship/capstone. I'm on an ortho floor and really enjoying it. I received report on a PT who was not a risk for fall... Later in my shift I went in to check on him and he was getting up. He got up slowly and stumbled to the side and fell. I couldn't do much it all happened so fast, I got to his head and protected it as best as I could. I couldn't stop the fall though my hand was crushed into the wall forcefully. I went to the ED they splinted it, met with an ortho 2 days later and it wasn't broken just a bad crushing injury. Tonight will be my first day back and I'm paralyzed with fear. I'd do anything before going to my floor tonight... I feel hopeless and extremely fearful. Both my instructor and preceptor think that I did the right thing, and that it wasn't my fault but I just can't get beyond this. I almost feel like I have PTSD I keep reliving it in my head. How do I get beyond this?