yoga pants

Interviewed the Monday before my graduation, got a job offer 2 days later and it was my "dream job". Took NCLEX over a month later. Most people in my class (probably about 90%) had jobs before graduation. I only know of a couple who were still looking 4 or 5 months out. BSN, Texas

I could not agree more! Everyone deserves your respect, but not everybody deserves your trust. To the OP, this sounds like an assertiveness problem. If it's time to go on your break, you better speak up! While she probably knew you were taking your break next, don't assume that she did and that she was just being nasty. She was probably waiting for you to come talk to her. Either way, if you need something, say something - even if its from an older, scarier nurse (I'm only a 5 month old new RN as well so I definitely know how this feels). No ones going to help you if you don't ask for help first. With the admission - If I had time, I probably would have gone ahead and finished it for her as a courteous gesture (like a previous poster said). But if my other pt suddenly became unstable or something, I would have let the other nurse know the situation and that I wouldn't be able to help out with the admission. Either way, I would have made sure she knew that it was HER pt (and not mine), but I would definitely help get the pt settled if I was able to.

1) DFW 2) $25 during internship, $27 after + shift diffs - $2.50 evening / $3 nights / $6 weekends 3) New grad BSN 4) ICU

I don't really have any advice to give you, but I just want you to know that you are not alone and I think that is completely normal. I was always SO prepared for check offs, and no matter how much I practiced I would ALWAYS freak out a little bit. My hands and voice were shaky and my instructors would always comment about how nervous I was. I would also get nervous when we'd do sim labs. Every single semester of nursing school I would feel just as nervous and anxious. To this day as an RN I STILL get nervous when we have skills check offs for work or my preceptor is watching me do my assessment or give meds. I HATE having people watch me! I think it's just performance anxiety - you and me and most people in nursing school probably have pretty type A personalities and we want everything we do to be perfect (or at least as close to perfect as possible). I realized I put a lot of pressure on myself to do everything perfect, and I think that is what increases my anxiety in those type of situations. I also take an SSRI for general anxiety problems, and I've found that it doesn't really have much effect on situations like that. I might feel generally less anxious about the situation, but my hands still shake and my preceptors say that I look nervous. It definitely sucks and I wish I were more relaxed, but as a new RN I know I have to get over it and just jump into situations that I know will probably make me a little anxious or I'll never learn anything. And that's what I do. Don't get me wrong - I still feel SUPER anxious - but I try to fake some kind of confidence, trust that I know more than I think I know, and go with the flow. You'll probably always feel the way you do during check offs during nursing school, but try not to let it hold you back from learning opportunities in clinical.

"If Britney Spears can make it through 2007, I can make it through this day"

Uhh I didn't realize that the purpose of nurse-to-nurse handoff was to make the oncoming nurse an expert on the pt. I don't know about you, but even if I receive what I consider to be a "good" report, I still don't know a lot about the pt, and I'm probably not able to answer a bunch of random questions from the doc. I've had the provider stop by and ask questions right after receiving report, and none of them have berated me for saying, "I just received report and have not had a chance to look over the chart or assess the pt, but if you give me a minute I'll look in the chart and see if I can find out for you," if I wasn't able to answer one of their questions. Our docs are pretty gracious about it. You definitely didn't do anything wrong! His behavior was inappropriate. The only thing you can do about his lack of professionalism is to maintain YOUR OWN professionalism. The way people treat you is a reflection of them and not you. I wouldn't have felt belittled, I would have been p'd off! Don't let things like that get to you. You aren't stupid, he's a d-bag.

I would rather work a 12 than an 8 any day! That 4 extra hours goes a long way - you have a lot more time to get stuff done. I'm not sure where you're from, but I have to drive through a big city to get to work and I rarely have any traffic problems when working 7a-7p or even 7p-7a. I seem to miss rush hour (or at least the bulk of it) since I have to be at work by 0630 and I leave closer to 2000.

I was told by some people to start in med surg, and others to start in ICU. I was offered a position on a med surg floor and in an ICU, and I took the ICU job without a second thought. If you're offered a job in the ICU and that's what you want to do, TAKE IT! I was honestly terrified to start in the ICU as a new grad because I didn't think I was competent enough as a new grad to take care of such critically ill pts. It's definitely a challenge, but I have no regrets. The worst that could happen is that you realize it's not for you and you go to a med surg floor.

Learning spanish will definitely benefit you in your future practice, but I wouldn't take any non-nursing classes while you're in nursing school if you can help it. Nursing school is very different than the pre-req classes. Not only does it require a crap ton of studying, homework, naps, etc. outside of classes and clinicals, but you're learning a new way of thinking. I think the first semester is especially difficult in terms of getting adjusted to the workload and trying to absorb the immense amount of information being thrown at you. I had to completely change the way I studied when I started nursing school because it wasn't about memorization and regurgitation of information anymore like in the pre-req classes. That itself requires a lot of study time, but adding comprehension and really understanding what you're learning doubles the amount you have to study. I would just focus on your nursing classes. But I don't see a problem with taking spanish in the summer though! Good luck!

I would wait to take patho until after you've taken A&P 2 and micro. IMO, you need to have a pretty good understanding of the human body to really be successful in that class.

I would definitely continue! Since it's only you're first semester you still have the rest of nursing school to get your GPA up. I think at this point you should just focus on getting your GPA above a 3.0, which you will probably be able to do if you bust your butt the next few semesters. There were many people in my class who graduated with a GPA below 3.5 and they all got jobs. I was never asked for my transcripts for interviews, and employers are not able to access your academic records, so I wouldn't worry about them seeing your grade or finding out about this incident. Don't give up! Learn from your mistake and move on.

I mean, while it's not an ideally worded order and not an order I've necessarily seen written before, it makes sense to me, especially considering the pt's history. I'm assuming if this is PRN the pt is already on a scheduled antihypertensive? Especially if they want SBP

I would do what the previous poster said - grab another bag of maintenance fluid, squeeze the chamber, and back prime. And I would probably set VTBI to like 30-40 so I have time to grab another bag.

Why isn't the nurse worried about it? That is a lot of lasix, but maybe she knows something you don't know (like the pt's K+ level) or like a previous poster said, has orders for prn lyte replacement or a sliding scale lyte replacement protocol.

Unless they change things up before the july residency, ER and all the ICUs are together for the residency classes, so I'm sure ya'll will see quite a bit of each other!

I would have hung the antibiotic at 0530 (at my facility we can give meds 30 min before/after due time) so it can infuse while I'm working on getting the platelets from the blood bank and checking it off w/ another RN. I can understand that you want to try to limit waking up the pt in the middle of the night, but at the same time I'm not going to delay treatment because my pt doesn't want to be woken up. Unfortunately, the hospital is not the place to get sleep. However, I am a critical care nurse so my priorities are probably a little different. If I was in your situation and hung the med late because I didn't want to wake up my pt I would be laughed at by my managers, and would probably get corrective action for a med error. But even when I've had a pt who has been in the ICU for months I still don't think twice about waking up my pt to give meds, etc, because IMO, they're in the hospital to be treated and my job is to give them the treatment ordered. Also, only having one IV makes me extremely uncomfortable…but thats the just ICU nurse in me.

I take Adderall for ADHD and I've had to take drug tests for nursing school and work before. It only showed up on one of my drug tests, and I was called by the company who did the drug test. All I had to do was provide proof that I had a prescription from my doctors office. However, when I did my drug test for work I asked about it in advance because I didn't want it to be an issue, and I was told that it may not be screened for. It depends on how extensive the drug test is.

Depending on the facility, some residency programs accept experienced nurses who are moving from one specialty to another (i.e., med surg to ED or ICU, etc.). But if you have more than 1 year experience in NICU then you wouldn't be eligible for the residency/internship because you already have experience in that area and probably don't need the training that residency provides.

I think you need to be more worried about accuracy vs. speed of answering questions. You will be more likely to get the right answer if you take your time and focus on really thinking through the question and what it is asking you.

CNA would be excellent experience, however, I don't feel like that is necessarily the best way to prepare for NCLEX. NCLEX is not based on real world nursing, so if you answer questions based on your experience versus best practice it might mess you up. But if you have the opportunity to work as a CNA during nursing school, do it! I was a PCT in nursing school, and while I didn't rely on that experience for NCLEX, I feel like it helped me tremendously in clinicals and as a new grad.

How frustrating! I also worked as a CNA during nursing school, and the same situation happened to me a couple of times. It was definitely frustrating, and it gave me a lot of anxiety because I also wanted to continue working there as an RN when I graduated, and I didn't want anything to mess up the good reputation I had built for myself. It always turned out fine though! And I ended up getting a job there after I graduated too :) I would just explain what happened to your manager/etc., utilize your witnesses if necessary, and it should be resolved fairly quickly. Especially since you normally work a certain shift because you are in school during the rest of the week....it obviously wouldn't make sense for you to schedule yourself for a shift during class. I think this kind of thing happens to everyone at some point. It's annoying, but it's not a big deal, and definitely not something that would adversely affect your future employment opportunities.

Parkland tends to leave positions posted on the HR website loooooong after they have been filled. From what I've heard, they've already hired for the med surg residency.

It depends on how much you want that job! I would definitely say bring an extra change of clothes - even if they understand you'll be coming straight from work (which they probably won't) - I think it's a simple gesture that shows them how serious you are about the position.

Briterz - BSN, tech experience at Parkland

Sorry Briterz!! That must be very disappointing! Don't give up though. Did you have an interview for one of the med surg floors?