Aedana

I'm taking my NCLEX January 30th (less than 1 week from now)! I'm feeling both so ready to get 'er done and also kind of worried because I started my internship and they have been making me work full time + some overtime as well, which has really cut into my study time and kind of got me worried. I am glad that at least I'm immersed in med surg and having to make a lot of decisions about prioritizing and meds and lab values on the job that can be similar to Kaplan questions. :) Those of you who took the Kaplan course and passed NCLEX, what scores were you making on the Question trainer tests? Thanks!

I just hung 3 bags of LR and Ancef today alone and I graduated from an ADN RN program, so I would say no. :) I believe that depending on the state's practice act, LVN/LPNs may have restrictions on what they can do with IVs like what you are talking about. However, I also believe that they can administer IV medications if they take special certification classes from their hospital. (Maybe a friendly LVN out there can clarify). Hope this helps!

I didn't really feel ripped off when I took the ADN program. The reason why is that 1 semester of nursing school in my ADN program was 250 dollars (including fees) per semester for full time study (if even that much), while the cheapest BSN program I could find was easily 4 times that much (the local public university cost about 2500 dollars/semester + fees). Some of the private school BSN programs were even more expensive (12k-16k per semester!!!). I had NO assistance whatsoever with college tuition (I didn't qualify for federal aid during any of my time in school for various reasons) so I really had to scrimp financially just to gather together the 250 bucks. However, I graduated with no debt under my belt (unlike many of the BSN grads I know). Now that I am employed full time, I can get the hospital to pay for my ADN-BSN bridge year with no out of pocket costs, so I can still remain debt-free. :) So, like I mentioned, there are a lot of factors that can weigh in on whether you choose the ADN/BSN route. I am very glad for my ADN program because without it, there would have been no way for me to be a nurse. Aedana

My hair is shoulder length and I always put it in a ponytail or put it back up whenever I'm working in the hospital. The reason why is that you may have to bend over a patient to do a procedure such as a dressing change in an awkward spot and your hair can accidentally fall forward into the wound/questionable substance/sterile field etc. Gross for both you and the patient. I have been at two different hospitals and haven't seen any rules specific for hair (except in the OR) at either one, but that's just what has been working best for me. :)

Wow, they don't let you work as GNs in IL??? What was their rationale for making that sort of change? I would personally go to my state rep and :trout: And your testing place would get a double :trout: :trout: :) There is so much stuff to be done during the GN period, like get oriented, that doesn't involve direct patient care. From what I've seen in the Pearson site, there are lots of dates available, including weekends, so hopefully that will be the same with Continental. Your mileage may vary, because it just depends on the testing centers near you. I do know that when you get your ATT, schedule ASAP, because the centers do fill up fast. I'm lucky because I think I'll get to test close to me, rather than having to drive 111 miles out to Waco (nearest testing center outside the 2 in the DFW area).

YAY!!! I finally got mine today! Our school overnighted our graduation paperwork to the state a couple of days back and I finally got that blessed letter in my inbox today! When I opened it, I thought I heard angels sing! :-)

As an updated, I called the board today and they said they received our affidavits today! :) However, it will be 1-10 business days before they approve us. Just FYI.

Yeah, that was what I heard when I spoke with the nursing secretary early yesterday morning (1/2). I've been pretty lucky because the hospital I am interning at is letting me attend orientation since that does not involve direct patient care, so that buys me some time. But after that, I don't know what they are going to do with me. I wonder what happened that the ball dropped on our paperwork... Did someone in our nursing department go on vacation? Anyways, I definitely share your frustration there and I hope everything turns out ok for all of us grads.

Don't get too discouraged! :) NS is stressful and I haven't met anyone who has gone through it themselves and said otherwise. Like boot camp, it's kind of one of those experiences that makes it so nurses of all levels of experience and education can relate to each other. :) I outlined one of my strategies for surviving in the post above yours (being sure to take care of yourself). Another thing we were taught was to make friends in our nursing class because we needed each other. Nobody can really understand what you are going through like another nursing student, which is why this forum is so awesome! You might search for NS stress relief tips, as I wouldn't be too surprised if someone has already covered the topic before. Good luck and I hope an acceptance packet finds its way into your mailbox next summer! :)

I personally did not "like" nursing school while I was in it. Now, I found it interesting learning about pathophysiology and interventions and I enjoyed the time I spent working with my patients, but fun...uh, no. :) For me, it was pretty much as you said, complete and utter exhaustion alternating with brief moments of panic and a lot of moments of feeling like you know absolutely nothing. And I remember feeling that way especially during my second semester (adult med-surg I), mostly because the excitement and happiness of making it into nursing school started to fade and my knowledge base was growing enough where I could really understand how little I knew. :) The first semester of med-surg is also just plain hard because there is so much to learn with absorbing all the stuff for cardiac, diabetes, etc. I will tell you this. After second semester, things got a lot better for me. By the time you get to the last semester (adult med-surg 2), you are so good at being a student, you usually have a system in place that clinicals are much less grueling and a lot of times, the instructors will go easier on you and treat you more as a peer (which you soon will be!) Then when you graduate, the knowledge you reached your goals and getting that first big fat paycheck makes it all worth it. :) It sounds like you need to take five and give yourself some TLC. At my school, we were taught to pamper and reward ourselves frequently (especially after doing great on a test), because if you don't care for yourself, you can't care well for others and you burn out. Everyone pampered themselves differently, from going on a nice walk outside, to buying a new pair of shoes, taking a bubble bath or sending the kids to grandma and getting an extra nap in. Hang in there! The look of pride when your family watches you cross the stage is worth it!

Well, I got an update on my license situation. I graduated Dec 13, and supposedly my school was going to send out our affidavits of graduation to the Texas BON the next day, according to our little graduation checklist. Well, I called the state and they said everything was ok over there, they just needed my affidavit. However, when I called my school of nursing, they are mailing out the affidavits only just today! So, while I feel better knowing that's what the hold up is, it's also irritating to know my school has been so slow about this stuff, especially when other Texas grads already have GN in hand and are scheduled for the NCLEX. For those of you who are still working on the application process, my board told me that you want to pay Pearson first and then any applicable state board fees to speed up the process. They said something about how Pearson can be slow and doesn't always check everyday to see who has been approved by the state while the state checks as soon as they get the money to see if you paid Pearson. Our nursing school told us to do the opposite in our graduation checklist. :)

Whew!!! Glad to hear the letters are starting to come in. :balloons: Some of y'all are lucky to have such fast BoN's! :) I paid Pearson back in November, graduated in the state of Texas December 14, and no letter yet. :continues thumb twiddling:

Has anyone received their ATT letter yet who graduated this fall?

In my state (Texas), the big difference between BSN and ADN programs is 3 courses in nursing school. BSNs take Management, Research, and Community Health courses, other than that, the curriculum is the same. If your interest lies in one of those 3 areas of nursing, definitely go for your BSN. Otherwise, you just need to weigh the other factors other posters have already discussed as to the best choice for you. I am a new grad from an ADN program that has a reputation for turning out fine nurses. Our school has new grads in the ER, OR, ICU/CCU, NICU, L&D, and PICUs, so we held our own quite nicely competing this fall against the grads in the multiple BSN programs in the area.

I think it's funny how even as some things change, others stay the same. Even back then, nursing shortages and man/woman power issues were a problem. :-)