psidood

I am basically fresh outta school with 4 months experience on spinal cord injury and med/surg in a very respectable hospital. But due to the stress of being on a flex schedule being bounced around from day shifts to nights multiple times in one week, week after week has finally taken its toll on me. I'v given my 2 weeks and plan to move to another facility. At the moment i have two options. Option 1: I can either work for a per diem staffing agency that will guarantee me in writing at leat 32 hours per week for 13 week contracts at an exceptionally high rate. This agency only staffs LTC facilities. The great thing about this is... I choose the days and hours i want to work which is great! Also.. at the end of a 13 week contract i can take a vacation and come back with another 13 week contract guaranteed. My concerns are that by working per diem at only 4 months experience i might get overwhelmed. The staffing agency assures me i will be fine as they even hire new grads right out school with no experience. Their reasoning is that the facilities they work with actually prefers new grads so they can teach them their ways. Let me get one thing straight.. THIS IS MY DREAM OPPURTUNITY because i am able to take a vacation at the end of every contract (3 months) and see the world (go to japan, china, korea, europe). THIS IS MY DREAM to be able to do this. My fear is because i do not have much experience, i may be putting my license at risk here. If I am able to, I WANT to try this out so i can be in complete control of my schedule and be able to vacation at the end of every 3 month contract. Will I be way over my head if i choose to work with this agency on their 13 contracts per diem to LTC facilities? Is it a ridiculous notion to be working at a staffing agency for a couple years? Maybe 2 years or 3 max. Option 2: I already got accepted at a great long term care facility on a TOTALLY CHILL unit. All the patients are ambulatory, alert, no wounds or treatments, and are completely independent in most respects. The hours are great and most importantly... stable. 7am in the morning to 330pm 4 days on 2 days off but is still considered full time. No random over time or unpredictable schedules that fluctuate from night to day. The turnover rate here is very very very very low. The work environment is great for the most part and almost all nurses who get hired here stay coz of the low stress great environment. When i toured the place, the environent is very family like, its awesome! The chill of chill jobs. During the interview i was told that they want nurses who will stay as well, so i would feel bad if i spent a few months there, and than left. I spent the last 8 years of my previous career in the computer field completely stressed out of my mind (almost had a nervous breakdown a few times). This would be a great place to heal the old wounds left over from my old career. Quite honestly, my heart lays in option 1 though because if i grow old and never see the world i am gonna filled with regret for the duration of my life. That and being able to control the days and hours i work. This is one of my lifelong dreams... But my fear is.. if i go per diem with option 1 i may not be experienced enough to handle the job and may be putting my patients and license at risk. Please give me some advice! I am stuck at a crossroads and need to choose a path very soon.

I am a newly graduated and soon to be licensed LVN. I am working in a hospital on the acute spinal cord injury unit. Right now I want to expand my range of knowledge with as many certifications as i can, and my ultimate goal is to work in an Emergency Room type setting. I am thinking of getting my ACLS and PALS certification. Should I bother with these? Will it get me a pay raise as well? Even if it doesnt get me a pay raise I am still going to take these because I want skills :) I do know of a few hospitals (including the one i am working at right now) that employ LVNs in their ER department. Maybe if I get myself certified in ACLS and PALS and apply to the ER my chances of getting hired will be much better when I do apply there in the future. Oh and yes.. I know I should get my RN (and I will!), but in the meantime if there are certifications available to me that will increase my worth on the market and broaden my skills, I want to take advantage of them :) That and heck.. if i can make it into the ER, the sooner the better any thoughts? I am a new grad so I dont know! psi

I feel so nervous! The questions did get harder and harder and i kept getting different questions, except one question which got repeated twice, thats got me worried... dah! One thing i know though is i did know quite a few questions with 100% accuracy so i dont think i bombed it though. Whats got me worried is i didnt get any "check all that apply" or "click on the picture where you would.." or "med calculations" type questions, is this a bad sign? :/ waiting games :/

85 questions. I feel so nervous about it passing! Cutting off at 85 questions, this is good right? I dont feel that i totally bombed the test though... any input?

Wow thanks GracieSVN! I feel alot better now. With my current plan on studying the saunders nclex-pn examination cd and the kaplan PN question databse, between these two i think I will be fine. We shall see! Today subscribe to the kaplan PN question database and start chipping away at those nclex questions. phhhewww! Thanks again! Jason

Wow thanks for all the great advice and encouragement :) At the moment i am torn between taking the NCSBN's Review for the NCLEX-pn online course or the Kaplan NCLEX-PN question database. Which one in your guys opinion will better prepare someone for the nclex-pn course?

I dont feel to confident about passing the nclex-pn exam right now All i have studied so far is basically the entire NCLEX-PN Saunders test prep CD. Got the entire dang thing memorized almost. I read all the rationales and try to understand but feel like I am just memorizing. In school i was the top of my class with high honors, but i average about 55-65% on the Saunders NCLEX-PN prep test cd on my first attempts on the exams there. Now I am thinking of getting the Kaplan online NCLEX-PN prep course and mastering that. Anyone got any advice for me? Is this normal and what are my chances of passing based on what I have said? I feel so scared!!! Also... does anyone know of any actual NCLEX-PN test prep classroom courses in san diego? I learn much better when learning from a teacher in person than just staring at my computer monitor all day taking questions. Help help! ~jason

Anyone know how I can go about this? I am graduating this September and I would like to somehow work in Japan via civilian LVN/LPN for any military branch located in Japan. Would this be possible? Please advise thanks :) ~Psi

Hello everyone I am starting LVN school July 18 and I am so excited! My old career was in a very unrewarding field in the computer/corporate world (no offense to anyone as this is based on my personal experience). Luckily I was laid off and now I am finally going to do something that makes me feel good as a person for a change :) This has been something I have been wanting to do for a very long time. My mom is a nurse and I have been witnessing first hand how she takes care of people all my life. So I guess its my turn now. Ya I know this sounds cheesey but hey Although I am going to be an LVN, my goal is to become a full fledged RN via the LVN to RN bridge program. Ya I know I should go straight for my ADN but I already made my decision :sofahider (Personal reasons etc etc). I have heard recently about a 30 unit option available in California. What is the difference between the LVN to RN bridge and the 30 unit option? How long does it take to complete the LVN to RN bridge as opposed to the 30 unit option? What are the differnences in requirements between these two paths? I must admit I am a bit nervous and a little scared being a guy in a mostly female dominated field. :bowingpur Nice to meet everyone and hope to hear from you all soon! PsidoodLVN :smiley_ab