WVVA_OR

I really just need a place to vent my frustrations and concerns. I took a job at a very large out of state before graduating. Looking back on things, I rushed into making my decision; considering I've never lived away from home before and now I'm 3 hours away. I moved in with a friend from school and another girl who happens to work at the same facility. Shortly after us all moving in, the other roommates became involved in a relationship which then imploded making the living situation hostile and awkward. Now one of the roommates is never here and stays at his new partners place and does not feel like rent needs to be paid at the original home. I have a family member back home with serious health issues that are constantly ever-changing and I feel like I need to be closer to home to deal with these. I am currently enrolled in BSN classes and have just finished orientation. This is my first FT and first hospital job and I've always heard to never start your BSN while on your first orientation. However, I did it anyways and I'm making A's and high B's so I feel like it's manageable. The area is not appealing at all to me. The people here are very hostile and different. However, the hospital and my coworkers are not bad and I have nothing bad to say about them. I have decided that I need to get out of this mess sooner rather than later. I have no contractual obligation to my employer and I am approaching 6 months of employment. Even though I go home every weekend, being home for basically a day and a half is not cutting anymore. I miss my family, my hometown, my friends, my pets, everything I know is 3 hours away. I have slipped into a depression coupled with my anxiety and it is hampering me each day. Somedays I feel like the world is completely on my shoulders and I can't think about home without getting extremely sad and tearing up. I literally plan my entire week and countdown until I'm able to go home. And the weekends I'm not able to go home due to scheduling, then my family comes down here. I have spoken with my CTL about this and they are very understanding about the entire situation, however I have not spoken to higher ups regarding the situation yet. I have applied to a job back home a few days ago, and a classmate who works in that area has responded with the manager's expression to contact me immediately once my file is sent from HR. Right now, everything is hinging on this job opportunity and once I'm contacted, interviewed, and offered; I plan to submit my month notice and begin the process. The moral of everything is, the first year of nursing is the hardest thing you'll probably ever do, not including anything related to your personal life or outside world. You have to do what is best for you and what makes you happy. No matter what.

I'm looking for advice on how to go about leaving after orientation professionally. However, I'm not leaving for a better job; I'm leaving for closer to home to be with my sick family member. I moved back in June to Virginia to work at a major hospital in the OR as a new grad. I have no ill will towards the hospital or any of the staff, it's just I need to be closer, and 3 hours away plus 5 day work weeks are not the best situation. The prospective hospital at home I am looking at is a small Level III facility. By the time I apply for the job and get licensed, etc; I will have been with my current job for approx. 7 months. Any advice is greatly appreciated such as how to get references while currently employed, etc. Thanks.

Hello AN. I will be testing for the first time on 7/15 through the VA BON. I would just like the input of fellow posters on my Kaplan, etc. scores for my preparation. My ADN program used Kaplan through the course of our 2 years, we took a 2 hour Kaplan class every Wednesday during the final semester, completed approx. 500 Kaplan QBank questions with remediation as part of the course, we had to take a mandatory 4-day Kaplan review, and also pass one of Kaplan's predictor tests with a 60+% in order to have our transcripts released to the BON of our choice. Following are my scores for Kaplan and other resources used post-graduation. Kaplan Predictors: Kaplan Nursing Assessment (73.9%) Kaplan Diagnostic #2 (62.2%) Kaplan Secure Predictor (62%) Kaplan Diagnostic (64.4%) Kaplan RN Readiness 2 (67.2%) Kaplan Sample Tests: ST1- 60% ST2-50% ST3 (Priorities)- 96.7% ST4- (Alternate Format)- N/A Kaplan Question Trainers: QT1- 61.3% QT2- 68% QT3- 59% QT4- 78% QT5- 66% QT 6/7- N/A Kaplan QBank (253 Remain): 66% Overall NCLEX RN Mastery iPhone App (448 Remain): 63% Overall I plan to go back and review mainly the missed rationales for both programs, take ST4, and QT 6/7 this week. I also personally want to review insulins, medication pre/suffixes, and endocrine. 10 more days. Thanks!

It was terrible lol. But looking back on it now, it was a lot of preparation. I sure hope so, my scores tend to fluctuate and that scares me. Personally, I've heard the NCLEX RN Mastery app is the best, because it's so hard and over prepares you, making the NCLEX not seem as bad. Best of luck!

Keep this statistic in the back of your mind, 90% of 1st time testers from a US School pass on the 1st attempt. I test on 7/15 as well for the 1st time. My program (ADN) shoved Kaplan down our throats. We have used Kaplan for 2 years straight. We would take a 30 Q Focused Review Kaplan before most unit tests, and have to remediate each question for a minute and reattempt until 100% was made. Then our final semester, we had a Kaplan Synthesis class for 2 hours on Wednesday, in which we did Question Trainers 1-3, Diagnostic 2, and Assessment; plus about 500 QBank questions on our own. We also had to remediate and cite any wrong QBank question and submit them to our instructor. Finally, the week after graduation, we had to sit for a 4-day mandatory Kaplan review, which we then took the RN Readiness 2 at the end of the week. Our program made us pass either one of the Diagnostics or the RN Readiness with a 60% to have our transcripts released to the Board of Nursing. Our Kaplan rep. told us that the 60% they strive for is just a peg for a 95% prediction you will pass NCLEX. She said there really is no one way to study for the NCLEX, it's the luck of the draw whatever test bank your questions are pulled from. Just to study each area of the test plan to be comfortable. She said if you're obviously weak in a content area, such as what insulin peaks at what time, or which disease process goes with what precaution; to study that hard to retain it. But other than that, the key is to practice, practice, practice with QBank questions, NCLEX RN Mastery, LaCharity PDA, or Saunder's. (Yes, our Kaplan rep actually encouraged other materials.) Out of my class of 27, 17 have tested so far. 14 have shut off at 75, 2 have went to 265, and one went to 100. In fact, most that have passed were only in the 50%'s on Question Trainers. Everyone has said the same thing in conversation, nothing can really prepare you 100% for the NCLEX. There will be medications, disease processes, words, etc that you've never heard of. You just have to take care of an actual problem compared to a potential problem, assess before implement (unless you have a full assessment), RN cannot administer any medication/antidote without an order, and NEVER ask Why?. The # of SATA also have no bearing on your performance. There are lower and higher level SATA, but the general consensus from my classmates have been the NCLEX SATA are on a lower difficulty than Kaplan. Take a deep breath, do not overload yourself, we still have 11 days. We will pass this. Finish out the Question Trainers and take Sample Test 4! The most important thing is to go back to look at the rationales for EVERY question.