Nic88

Yes I actually have! Obviously every job has it's stressful days but he has sooo much less stress than I do. And loves his job.

Hi fellow nurses, I hope some of you can help me with some advice. I have been a nurse for over 8 years now and have worked in Ireland, England and currently working in California. In this time I have gained experience in trauma, ortho, medical, surgical, oncology, haematology and telemetry. I've done chemo and also got student preceptor qualifications in England (but these don't count in America). I just don't enjoy nursing at all any more but I am not entirely sure if it's just because I am sick of floor nursing or if it's nursing in general. I did taste outpatient life while doing chemo as I sometimes worked in the infusion Center. I didn't really enjoy that either. I have only worked in America for a year, so I'm not sure what other options I may have. Nursing is pretty different here. I have asked my boss if I could do the wound care certification and they said it wouldn't be funded but I can't afford to do it myself. I like wound care so I thought maybe a wound care nurse would be a nice job? I've considered masters (already have bsn) but again I don't really have the funds and I don't know if it's worth my time and effort if I end up going back to Europe and it potentially won't be transferable. Or if I do leave nursing should I putting my effort in to a career change now. Is there any niche RN jobs here that I haven't thought of that would get me away from floor nursing. My perfect job would allow me to have flexibility in my schedule (I hate the daily grind of worrying about being one min late clocking in or out!), work from home if I felt like it, still have the option to go to an office, suit an introvert and not be as stressful as floor nursing! I think I have just described my husband's job! (He is an ecommerce project manager) any advice would be greatly appreciated! I am normally extremely hard working and willing to try anything but right now I am totally lacking motivation. I crave some excitement about going to a job I actually enjoy every day. Does that even exist?

Thank you for the advice! I will look into those. Good luck for December!

Hi Everyone! I am very excited to have just received my ATT after waiting almost two years! I moved here from the UK in November 2014 and the board of nursing made me retake psych and OB before I was eligible to take the test. Long story and I won't bore you with the details but by some miracle I got in to the classes and managed to finally get to this point! I was wondering if anyone had some advice on the timeline that I should give myself to study for the nclex. I have been doing practice questions here and there along with reading some of the kaplan book, but in all honesty I didn't actually believe this day would come so my heart was never in it until now! I have had five years of RN experience in England and my degree is a BSN, which I think will help me, but I have been out of practice as an RN for two years since moving here. I do think the two classes have probably helped a little too as they did most of the class tests in the format of nclex type questions. I was thinking maybe six weeks might be enough study time if i fit in a few hours after work every evening and do about 6-8 hours on weekend days. Or is this too ambitious? I also looked in to a Kaplan review course but the next one near me is in a month. It is costing $499. Would it be worth it? Is it better to allow more time after doing the course to study or would I be ok to take the test about two weeks later? There is also a self paced online option for $399. Has anyone found this good or is the classroom based course better?

Hi! My questions may seem silly but I am totally clueless as I have just moved here (California) from the UK (I'm originally from Ireland) and everything is soooo different! So I moved here in November '14. I applied to the BRN to get approval to take the NCLEX RN the end of that month. In APRIL I got a letter saying I have to go back to college and take psych and obstetrics as my Irish degree was found to be deficient in this. Fair enough.. I proceed to looking for a place to do the courses.. Four places out of about fifty colleges (not exaggerating!) said I could be put on a waiting list but no guarantee I will ever get a place. The list is long apparently! Best case scenario, I finish next summer then take the NCLEX. Meanwhile I decided to apply for Nursing assistant/ medical assistant / unit secretary jobs and everything remotely similar. I think I have counted that I've done 80 or more applications now and have had a grand total of ZERO interviews! I called the HR department of one of the hospitals after giving it some time. They were very sweet and looked at my profile and applications. They said they could not see any reason why I haven't been considered for any roles. She said she thought it may be that they skimmed my profile and saw that I was a nurse not a cna etc and i was being overlooked. She said leave it with her and she will make sure I'm on the radar. Still nothing a week later however. I have also emailed the other places I have applied to as unable to talk to them via the phone, but no response. Do I need to do a CNA course or something to be able to do this job? Surely my experience and degree will make me more than qualified for it? I have 5 years of experience as an RN. The lady I spoke to said she didn't think I needed to do anything aside from AHA BLS (which I have done). I am also looking in to applying to take the NCLEX PN. I have asked the BRN and they said I can keep my RN application open and have copies of my documents sent over to the LVN board. Does anybody know if I can qualify for this with my BSN alone or will I have to get proof of my experience also. I can do this but I would rather not as I know it will make the process much longer. My past managers were very over stretched and I know it will take ages for them to find time to do the paperwork for me. Plus the mailing times between US and UK can take a while. I am sorry for such a long post but I am so desperate for advice on any of these issues! I could have only ever dreamt of living and working in California and now I am so close but yet so far! By the way I know this post sounds kinda negative but i do still think California is awesome! X

Hi, I wonder if anyone can advise me. I am an Irish RN with a BSN and five years experience working in England. I recently moved to California and when I applied to the BRN to get my rn license they said I have to do more psych and obstetrics. Getting a place in a college is near impossible but I am determined to do it! It is looking like the earliest I can have these classes done by is next summer. In the meantime I was thinking of trying to get an LVN license. The board have said I should qualify but I don't think the person I spoke to seemed to know very much so I don't want to trust her word and spend more money if I will be rejected. I was wondering if I might qualify on my degree alone or will I have to go by my experience. The issue I have is that if it depends on experience I will not have enough maternity or peads or psych hours as you cannot work in those areas as an RN in Ireland / England. It is a separate qualification / speciality. The other issue I have with this is that I would rather not have to get my past managers to have to fill in the forms as i know they are never going to find the time (really understaffed, stressful departments) and it will drag out the process. Does it have to me my managers or could HR fill out the forms? Sorry for so many questions!