LaurenJulia

We're seeing a serious reduction in new admissions lately at my hospital. My floor actually has been shut down for low census and we're down to one acute adult floor and one geriatric floor. When I last worked about five days ago we had stopped allowing visitors and a security guard was positioned at the door asking everyone screening questions. More could have changed, but as of last week we were still holding group therapies and communal dinning. PPE's were being kept by the supervisor and given out as needed.

Hello everyone, I'm wondering if anyone not working in specialty areas seeing COVID19 has any ideas on how we can be helping out our nurses who are seeing these patients? I'm a psychiatric nurse and right now my population is staying out of the hospital. It's at the point where my floor is shut down and I'm being utilized to float to the other psych floors to prevent overtime or just being called off. The idea that nurses who are at an elevated risk (older, comorbid conditions, pregnant, etc...) are being asked to put themselves at risk while I (young, healthy, no kids) am not being utilized is awful. I understand that I don't have the experience necessary to be on the front lines as a nurse in the ICU or ER, but surely there's someway to help? Does anyone have any ideas?

Hi everyone! I'm a brand new psychiatric nurse trying to get better. The area I find myself having most difficulty is with running group. Don't get me wrong, I'm not horrible at it, I'm just not great. I've sat in on a few groups run by other nurses in my Practicum and have kind of come to the conclusion that no one is really that great on it and a class on it for psych nurses would be beneficial, but thats a whole other conversation... Do you consider yourself great at it and if so why? How do you engage the patients, keep it entertaining while still being useful? Do you ever utilize games or worksheets and if so where do you get them from? Are there any books or websites on the topic that were helpful? Any topics that were amazing? How do you personally decide if a particular topic is within your scope or not? Sorry for all the questions, again I just want to get amazing at this. Thanks in advance!

I'm really surprised that you're having such trouble! I'm a new grad BSN with a minor is psychology who just got hired with HCA west Florida branch. They're willing to train GN's. I did my Practicum on a psych floor on the east coast which was also a HCA facility and they were always short nurses. It's definitely not over-saturated, good nurses in psych are very much needed! Have you tried applying to the position anyway? A lot of times managers will make exceptions. The other suggestion would be to work at a facility with a psych floor and transfer over after a year. Transferring within facilities seems easier. If you're looking to add certifications, CPI has been used at every facility I've been at. I wouldn't personally recommend it, it's expensive and in my experience if a facility wants you they'll pay for you to get it. The facility I'm working for paid for me to get ACLS and CPI...and oddly enough ECCO (critical care cert) and EKG. Another one that may look good is Mental Health First Aid, a lot of places offer it for free and I had that one before being hired. If you're looking to volunteer in mental health, I would suggest some sort of crisis line. I personally volunteer at Crisis Text Line, but I have no idea if that was factored into their decision. I really got the feeling they hired me because I was passionate and a BSN. Don't give up!

I'm a little under a year away from being done with nursing school, and I want to be a psych nurse. I'm a CNA on a neuro unit, and I have no doubt for my love for those with silent problems they are stigmatized. TBIs, conversion disorders, PNES...I'm the weirdo that loves them all. The only thing holding me back from pursuing it from the start is the idea I might lose my skills. Your comment about YouTube is spot on, and I'm less worried about that now. Thank you for this post.

Congratulations to everyone who got in! It's difficult, but incredibly worth it. If anyone is interested in the apartment Sarah mentioned, you should message me here or text me 321-432-2829

Dang, they changed them. I thought I was getting a really good deal. Thank you for posting! In your experience, can we get by with just the top and plain black scrub pants? I already have plenty of those, and $50 is just crazy!

Does anyone know what the uniforms look like this year? I found a couple of white scrubs tops with the UCF logo at Goodwill and snapped them up, but I don't know if that was a mistake.

I made a group for Cocoa. Same name as Daytonas, but with Cocoa instead. https://m.facebook.com/groups/541902055942272

Sarah- I'm going to need a roommate now that I know where I'll be for the next couple of years. I'll private message you my number, just text/call when you're going to be in town and we can meet up.

I'm Cocoa bound!!! Is there anyone who lives in Brevard county already who would like to meetup? It'd be nice to start school with friends.

Thank you for calling!! Does anyone else wonder why this process takes so long? If they only go by our GPA, pre-req GPA, and TEAs score, it seems like a computer program could determine which stats were the best.

I'm sure they're used to it by now. I know people call every year. My personal guess is we won't hear this week. If the past few years are any indication, we'll be lucky if we hear back by October 10th.

We're so close to decision date! Tomorrow is the first day we could feasibly get an answer (first buisness day after the six weeks from application cutoff). I'm going crazy!!

If you are actually out of work at 3, in some long term care and assisted living facilities second shift runs from 3-11. You could also work weekends, easy. They always need weekends. I think home health care is more flexible as well.

Hi future nurse! I don't know if you'd even want my advice, for disclaimers sake I'm just now applying to nursing school. I did, however, come from a similar place as you. I decided to go for psych NP as opposed to Psy.D my junior year of college. Two more semesters and I would have had my bachelors in psychology. You have two options: either a basic BSN or an accelerated BSN. This part has to be at a brick and mortar school, sorry. The accelerated is for people who already have a degree like you, and it cuts the program of study back by a semester. In my area it's also harder to get into, so id apply to both. Do you have your pre-reqs done? If you haven't started, you may have a good two semesters ahead of you just taking those because some pre-reqs have pre-reqs. From talking with people in the medical field it seems like the consensus is that you'll want to work as a RN for about five years before applying to NP school. Some schools don't require this, but I've been told it makes for a better practitioner and schools that don't require it are pumping professionals out too fast. After this you can apply to an online school (and employers have no stigma about this) for your masters or doctorate. I dont know how far you've gone with your research and I hope this doesn't sound patronizing, but going this route I think you've got to fall in love with nursing as a whole. Psych is my favorite, but I'm also finding myself reading med-surg books, or neonatal. I earned my CNA and have been working as one for a few months now, so I'm finding love in the "dirty" parts of nursing we'll be exposed to. I don't think I can personally get through nursing school without a love for nursing outside of psych, but that's just me. Good luck, I hope you find a nice home in the nursing community! :)

I second kaylalala's question. Also, how long are clinical days? Do we stay for that nurses full shift, and if so do they tend to be 12 hours or 8 hours?

Hi mindofmidwifery! I work first shift mostly, and I enjoy it because it goes by super fast and I'm done with work by 2. I started out as a new CNA at this time and managed it, but honestly second shift is easiest for new CNAs. You only have one meal and getting residents ready for bed is much easier than getting them up for the day. The few times I've worked second shift it was pretty chill, and my coworkers all agree that first shift is the craziest. Do you know what your resident ratio is going to be? Your best bet for scrubs is probably Goodwill. For the most part you can get some pretty nice scrubs for $5. As far as shoes, I wear old running shoes . Just make sure they're non-slip and comfortable. I like to switch up my shoelaces in neon because my uniform is always the same and it gets boring. Whether you learn a stethoscope depends on what state you live in, I believe. Blood pressure isn't on the skills test in Florida, so I never learned to use one. My favorite part of this job is the real potential to make a difference. I've had so many residents thank me for treating them with dignity because it was the first time in a long time they'd been treated with dignity. Since I'm going for my BSN, i also love being able to see procedures and learn. At a nursing home you don't get to see much, but there's always the potential for watching feeding tube administration or the occasional IV. Good luck! You'll be a pro in no time. :)

You're right, that doesn't sound too horrible. Thank you for sharing!

I think they say the typical is something like six times the applicants for the spots they have. Try calling them, though. Let us know what they say! :)

Congrats! Don't worry about your lack of experience. They already know about it, if it were a problem you wouldn't have the interview. I've never interviewed at a hospital, but I landed my first CNA job by emphasizing my passion for the medical field. You can always teach skills, but never passion. Emphasize a quality of yours like that. If you're not passionate, maybe you're compassionate or friendly. My advice as a new CNA is to focus on the traits you have that they can't teach.

They said we'd hear back in six to eight weeks from the application deadline. Six weeks would start on September 27th. It does seem like historically no one hears until mid-October at the earliest, though.

ANHH, last year someone got in with an 80% TEAs and a 3.2 Overall GPA. Their prereq was a 4.0, but the stats are pretty close to yours. I wouldn't give up hope yet.

Does anyone know why the application asks for your employer? Does having medical experience add anything?

I'm applying to the Cocoa campus. I keep filling out my application and chickening out on pressing send.... My stats are: Prereq: 3.8 (science is 4.0) Overall: 3.47 TEAS: 86 Fingers crossed for everyone!