k011408

Aw damn. Sorry to hear. But that just means there's a better hospital for you out there í ½í¸Š Would you mind if I ask how the interview process was like? Hoping you will find your match soon!

I just applied 2 days ago! Looking to be in ed or critical care. Have they contacted you for an interview yet? I just did the personality assessment yesterday. Also, Marian.olea, I really hope California is on top of it with your verification. I just got my Washington license (I endorsed from California too) and took me almost 3 months to get that damn verification request sent :/

I think it also depends on your school and how they run things. Are you in a 2 year or 4 year program? We normally knew where we were going a few weeks before school starts and we go by a curriculum, so depending on what year you are will determine what specialty your clinical will cover. Once you're assigned, you will have a regular clinical day every week (every friday for example) and like ThatBigGuy said, it can be day, evening or night shift. We didn't get to choose, instead we were placed based on our zip codes. But again, it's different for every school so you're best bet is to ask your nursing department or your adviser. I am married, held/holding a part time job throughout the program and was/am able to manage. I don't have kids, but there is a few moms in the program who are doing good as well. Just understand that once you start the program, certain things will starting losing your attention, as you will be focusing more attention on nursing school. It does get stressful and it can be difficult, but it is 100% possible with the right mind and right attitude. You may need to jumble your schedule around and make negotiations with hubby to help with the kids when you're super busy, but I promise, it all can work. Good luck!

Exams in nursing school are going to be different than your "traditional exams". They might start out pretty basic, but will progress to application questions, rather than knowledge questions. They want to prep you for the NCLEX, which is a totally different beast of it's own. Whereas you normally get options a, b, c, or d and there's only one right answer, nursing exams like to have more than one right answer is listed, but ONLY ONE is the BEST answer. That being said, it involves more critical thinking and you really have to read the question carefully... Some tips that helped me through the program: -figure out what the question is asking for. Teachers like to throw in questions that have WAY too much detail to confuse you. Figure out what the question is asking first and keep steady at that to not lose your place -WRITE ALL OVER THAT TEST!! Seriously! Circle, highlight, cross out anything that will help you keep in mind what you are looking for, e.g. important vital signs, weights, assessment findings, anything relevant to the question you are trying to answer. -watch out for words/phrases such as "all except, NOT true, priority, first, last", and others similar to that. This goes back to the whole "there could be more than one right answer, but only ONE is the MOST RIGHT". They LOVE these questions...them tricky, tricky teachers... -try to get you options down to 2. Cross out the ones that are really, obviously wrong. This narrows down your options and at that point you got a 50/50 chance Finally, relax, breathe, get a good night sleep and a good breakfast. Have confidence in yourself and NEVER change an answer on the scantron unless you know, 100%, that it is wrong. Your gut feeling is right a lot of the time. So long as you stay on top of your studying, you should be fine. I feel like exams are 50% knowledge, 50% just reading the question. Hope I didn't scare you! Good Luck!

I have been in your position before, and I agree with all the comments posted so far. It is very obvious that you are caring, and you want to see everyone succeed in your group. It hurts to see someone struggle. You want to help. And you feel awful if you don't and just let them continue to fail. I had someone similar in my group, who kept saying the catheter goes into the lady parts and was on the verge of failing. I volunteered 3 hours one day to help that student practice for our catheter sign off. I continued to support her and she passed that test, but ultimately failed the program. What I'm trying to say is that, you can help all you want and can, but ultimately it is up to the instructor's discretion on whether or not the person is fit for the program. All groups have that "weak student", and the best thing you can do is just try to help. On the other side of the coin, I have found it frustrating to be helping someone who is struggling and then having that person be ungrateful and turn their cheek to me, as if they never knew me. And at that point (without trying to sound too harsh), sometimes you just accept that some people aren't meant for nursing, like how some aren't meant for law/business/graphic design/etc, and unfortunately sometimes it's not til the very end that they realize this. Best thing that I think anyone can do for that student is just to either be neutral or be supportive. Never be demeaning to another student. Idk if it's because my cohort is 90% female or what, but I've seen heard some pretty demeaning and unpleasant comments made by some of my classmate towards another student, and that helps absolutely no one. We can get pretty aggressive with each other, esp being in a nursing program with all the stress and such. Be supportive, you sound like a great classmate, but don't beat yourself up or feel responsible if that person is failing. Like the others have said, it is up to the instructor to decide on their performance, not you. And of course, if you witness something that can harm the patient, let your instructor know!

Hey another penguin! Thanks! And that is what I heard. I think my year was actually the first year that they started waitlisting, because technically I should have been graduating this May, but instead I'll be graduating in December. And for transfers, I heard it a 1-3 semester wait. The traditional students get priority in spots, so I think that might be why the wait is so long for a transfer... Belated Congratulations on graduating and getting your license!

Ah, I remember my first clinical at a LTC. My best advice for you is to keep an open mind, help as much as possible and don't shy away from talking to the residents. I'm assuming your first clinical rotation is for gerontology, hence the LTC. During this rotation, you'll be learning and doing a lot of work that the CNAs do, not so much as the RNs. When I was in this clinical last year, we did all CNA work because the RNs only pass meds (which we did too, but it depends on how comfortable your clinical instructor is about that). I kinda considered this as the semester where I learned the "dirty" work of nursing (bathing patients, wiping, dressing, etc) and this is the semester you will learn to help pts with their ADLs (activities of daily living). You may be dressing a pt, helping to bathe a pt, oral care for a pt, etc. There's a lot to do in a LTC, especially in the mornings, so be prepared to help! You will encounter great CNAs/RNs, and you may encounter ones that are not so great. They may show you a technique that you would want to use yourself later on, and they may do something that you will question. Just like the real world, there's a good and a bad. Just keep your mind open to how things are run at a LTC, because it can be different from a hospital setting, but know the difference between what's different and what's wrong. Unfortunately, during my rotation, we saw some CNAs providing horrible quality of care to the patients, which we actually reported to the manager....If you see something that you questions or are uncomfortable with, don't be afraid to talk to your clinical instructor - they are there to help you! Talk to the residents. Get to know them. My god, if people really realize just how lonely some of the residents can be. During my rotation, there were a handful of residents who never had visitors, so just imagine how much they lit up when we interacted with them. It broke my heart when I saw this, so my group tried to be extra social with them. You may be the first person they have talked to in days or even weeks. A lot of them also came from interesting backgrounds and had great stories to share :) Don't be nervous. Have fun, learn a lot, and absorb all you can! Clinical is where the real fun begins outside of the simulation lab :)

Wow, I'm sorry it has taken me this long to check in on my post. Nursing school has been back in session and everything has just been in a whirlwind... Thank you to everyone who replied. Really, it has really helped me. I have also talked to other RNs who are married to the military and they have said exactly what you all have mentioned. It's gonna be rough, but I am very optimistic about my career and looking forward to being flexible with whatever gets thrown at me. That being said, does anyone have advice on the hiring process and how much should I really talk about being a military wife (meaning, is it going to hurt or better my chances of being hired?) Thank you again everyone!

Not sure if anyone is following this thread anymore, but I figure I can answer it in case it helps anyone... I am currently a senior in the nursing program at Dominican University. I am a traditional student (which means I came straight from high school) so when i applied back in 2011, i got accepted into the school as pre-nursing and did all my prereqs with dominican. So long as I passed all my prereqs, I was guaranteed a spot in the program and started the program the next semester, immediately after i was done with the prereqs. So I didn't have to enroll in to the program because they already "saved a spot" for me once prereqs were done. For transfers, you should have already have all your prereqs done so if you got accepted as a transfer, you're in the program. But if you are talking about just being accepted into the school, I don't think you are accepted into the program. I also mentor sophomore 1s (nursing students in their first semester of the program) and they informed me that it is no longer structured like the way I had it. From what i heard, being accepted into the school, even as pre nursing, doesn't mean you will or are already accepted into the program. Because the school actually accepts more candidates than the program can hold, I heard there is a separate enrollment that you have to do for the program. So basically, one enrollment just to get into the school, and a second one to get into the program. Hope this makes sense. You can always call the admissions office at the school to clarify. Hope this helped somehow!

Hello all, being a new military spouse has me raising some questions about my career later down the line. I am currently in nursing school, got a year left to go before graduating with a BSN and taking the NCLEX for RN. My husband is active duty, and will be for a while. I have a few questions for anyone who's gone through this as a military spouse and an RN... the biggest, #1 question: how hard was it to find a job as an RN AND as a new grad? is it true that it is easier to move around with a California license than other state licenses? i keep hearing this from a lot of people, but i dont know if it's really accurate... is it true that military spouses get preference when applying for an on-base hospital or clinic? what is the process of getting another state's license when you move? any tips or advice regarding this topic is welcomed! I'm getting a little anxious about this topic... on top of the new worries and stress of having my husband in the military. All this is new to me and I feel like I dont even know where to begin. I'm also getting worried about his first deployment, and everything that comes with that, but that's kind of another talk all on its own. Any help is appreciated!