kikimango209

Hi all, I'm a nursing student in my last year in Australia. I am waiting for my grad interview result and I am really concerned if I don't make it as I only had one interview. I am looking all different options now, in case I'm not successful to secure a graduate position. I know it's really difficult to get into a hospital without a graduate year. I wouldn't mind trying aged care/clinics/community whatsoever to get a job and keep my registration. My question is, can a non-acute nurse transfer into acute setting later? I have a passion in perioperative nursing which I excelled during my elective placement. I wouldn't mind starting my first job off with a non-acute nursing job but can you transfer into acute setting later? I love nursing in any fields but I just don't want to give up my passion and dream. I know few girls doing agency work after being unsuccessful getting a grad position last year, but I'm too scared to think of it myself without adequate experience and knowledge. Can you experienced nurses give me suggestions and advice about this? Your experience will be very appreciated. Thanks.

Hi all, I had a grad interview today at a hospital that I really wanted to work. I believe I answered the other questions quite good but there was one clinical question I think I mucked up.. I showed my enthusiasm in learning and I showed how much I like and know about the hospital, I talked about my qualities as a nurse and etc. I believe I also had really good examples to come up with. But about the clinical one, they asked me to talk about an experience when I had a patient with chest pain. Surprisingly, I knew the actions required for chest pain situation well and I even clarified with a nurse as well. However, when they asked me to talk about MY EXPERIENCE, I think my mind was wiped out and I believe my answer wasn't very good. I talked about a patient who was admitted with CCF and exacerbation of his ongoing chest pain. I said "When he complaint of chest pain, I asked and listened closely about his pain and severity and I got my nurse and we could give some fentanyl for his pain and GTN. I also did ECGs regularly. He had type 1 diabetes as well and the plan of care was to alleviate his pain. I also monitored for his BGL for his diabetes regularly and could give insulin on time. I also provided education to him about elevating his legs to promote venous return (due to his CCF). He was later transferred to palliative care because his pain and symptoms didn't get better, but I'm sure I provided the best care that I can for him and listened to him closely and made him comfortable." And after all of this, now I feel really dumb. I feel like I should have talked more about how I assessed him and focus on the chest pain issue.. I can't believe that I answered that confidently hahaa Can you give me some feedback about my answer? I feel so frustrated. How significant clinical questions are in the interview when they hire people?

Hi Ashley thank you for your advises and tips. They are heaps helpful! Haha I didn't know that 'clumsiness' only means poor motor skills. I'm a foreigner from non-English background and clumsiness had similar meanings to novice or sloppy or lame on the dictionary. haha Anyways, I still try hard to manage things. I have to admit that I get distracted so easily and I often forget my priority. And I'm still worried that my thinking is not critical enough at times. For example, a patient complained about pain in his chest and I was totally unaware that it could be dangerous! And I didn't realise that until my nurse noticed that I wrote 'patient complains of chest pain' on the progress note! It turned out that he (patient) meant muscle aches in his back and chest (and not a sign of other serious problems like cardio infarction) but I blamed myself that I should have been more cautious at things! The irony thing is that I keep telling my mum at home to go to hospital or notify me if she experiences chest pain (my mum has a long history of hypertension that she got from her family) and I was totally unaware of that in my shift! I'm so scared that I make big mistakes when I become a grad year because I become so not critical at my thinking and less cautious. It will need a lot of practices to keep my thoughts in track and be critical at things to find out what is going on. Anyway, I thank you a lot for your time and long post for me :) I printed out to read whenever I feel like I need help. I really appreciate your help. Thank you.

Hi I finally decided to post a question after reading thousands of threads from this site. I'm a Bechelor of nursing student who is in her final year. My concerns and problem is that I am quite clumsy at skills and techniques. I make stupid mistakes and I feel like my brain is not working smart enough. I haven't made any big mistakes but small and stupid ones.. Like, I started to give a bed wash from the lower limbs instead starting from the face. And today I put dirty towels (has stains of faeces on it) on patient's table and I don't even know why I did it. I feel like sometimes my common sense wouldn't work. Also I'm quite slow doing things.. I struggle a lot to finish tasks in time in the morning, especially I have patients who need a bit of care like washing and stuff and I often fall behind and make my buddy nurse complain that I'm too slow and need a lot of efforts on time management. I will have to admit that I didn't have much experiences especially when it comes to care of complex patients. My main point is.. I'm very clumsy at doing things. It made me so worried about doing well when I get a new grad job next year and I started to lose confidence a lot and even some of my buddy nurses noticed that. I really want to work in hospitals and furthermore, I aim to go to theatre in the future. But I'm so worried about my clumsiness and stupid mistakes I make. I'm usually ok with theories and stuffs even though I don't know everything and I try hard. I once won a bursary and included in top 15% of the faculty. I try hard to learn as much as I can but when it comes to really practices, I just mess them up.. Do you have any advises and experiences to share with me? I'm in half way through of my placement and I try really hard but still I make mistakes and not brilliant.. Sorry for the long thread.