Am0819

Hello fellow nurses! I am a recent RN graduate with an associates degree working in Ohio. I am considering joining a professional nursing organization in hopes of landing a better job--I'm aiming for something in a hospital although it's very competitive around here and BSN is always preferred. Joining something like ONA is pretty expensive and my question is do you think it will help me in my job search? Does it look good on a resume or in an interview? Do recruiters even pay attention to this? I am willing to spend the money if it will help me in my career! I have been working in a LTC facility for a few weeks now and I am completely miserable! I have up to 30 patients and I am spending so much time passing meds that I do not feel fulfilled in my job. This is not what I pictured graduating from nursing school. I am completely stressed out at all times and really unhappy. I am trying to be positive and get my experience but it has been a really hard couple of weeks. Please give me your opinion on these professional nursing organizations. Thank you!

Tomorrow I am taking my NCLEX-RN and I am EXTREMELY nervous. At my school we were required to take a Kaplan review course and an additional review course of our choice was required if we did not score high enough on Kaplan predictor tests. I did very well on Kaplan while in school and met the standard so I didn't have to take another review course. After graduation and Kaplan review in August I took time off from studying and found it very hard to get back into the swing of things. I have done all but 80 questions in the Qbank and I have averaged a 60%. Kaplan said the standard is to consistently get a 65% to know you are ready to take NCLEX. Well here I am the night before, and since August I have only achieved above a 65% twice! (Not exactly consistent.) I know I am supposed to relax and not do any questions, but I did one last Qbank test and scored my lowest score...a 52%! I am hoping for some positive thoughts or stories to make me feel better right now. For those who have used Kaplan, I have heard rumors that Kaplan is harder than the NCLEX. Please tell me this is true! How did Kaplan scores correlate with the outcome of the NCLEX? I feel like I suddenly have this nasty habit of second guessing myself when I wish I felt confident and ready to test.