noelly10

...whaaa??

I wish our staffing was like this. Sometimes we have 6 nurses and 2 techs to 32 patients. Sometimes we only have 1 tech. Sometimes no tech at all and we have to *gasp* do total care for 5-6 patients...

Realize that you're only one person. Do all that you can. If you can't get to something, don't let it eat you up. You will have days you don't get to something. All you can do is your best

Don't get lazy. Our er techs are lazy and send up patients that are all in a mess just for us to clean up on top of getting them settled. Then they're all disgruntled because they had been sitting in poo for hours in the ED

I did Kaplan and hurst

The Pearson vue trick is still a thing? Just wait 48 hours. It won't change the outcome to wait.

Not nervous about it? I feel like you should have some level of nervousness to light a fire under you. Also, choose two methods. I did Kaplan qbank and Hurst. Worked for me.

Not all the time, but sometimes I do.

I don't understand how wearing your work attire would seem informal.

I wore both. Depended on how I felt. But if they say you could do either or, why would wearing scrubs be frowned upon? That is your work attire, is it not? Also, why care what others are wearing? As long as you stay within their guidelines on what you can wear, then you're fine.

Real life is definitely absolutely nothing like TV whatsoever lol.

Well you are still a patient advocate. There are polite ways to say things and something should have been said. If she didn't want to listen to your advice, go up the chain of command.

You could have said politely, "what if we tried leaving the catheter in the lady parts, that way we can tell the difference between the lady parts and the urethra because the lady parts will already have a catheter in it". Or you could have offered to do it yourself.

How did I miss this?? Sorry, OP for the derailment. You'll soon learn that it happens often round these parts.

Uhm. Please tell me why I haven't seen you for a couple weeks.

Well then use those words instead of "study every day" That's horrible advice compared to "don't wait till the last minute to study"

Gotcha. Brain fart, my bad.

I disagree on the study everyday thing. I think if you study every single day, you will wear yourself down. If one day you are at that point where you feel anything you study won't stick and you feel like breaking down, DONT study. It's a waste of time to study when you don't feel you'll retain anything anyway. It is okay to take one day if you need it to collect yourself and your thoughts. Also, don't just "study for the test". Because one day you'll be out of school and taking care of people on your own. Study for both the test, and your general knowledge. It will help you in the clinical setting if you get out of the mindset of just studying for your next test. If a teacher says "you don't need to know this for the test, its just for your general knowledge", don't focus hard on it, but familiarize yourself with it because they wouldn't present information to you if they didn't think you wouldn't use it in your career at some point. Also, when you are both in the clinical setting and classroom setting, don't take anything anyone says personally. Patients will say things that may hurt your feelings, but don't let it. They are in the hospital and stressed and may not really mean what they say. Also, your classmates will be equally as stressed from school and may say and do rude things. Let it roll off your back though. Don't feed into the drama, it isn't worth it. Don't study all hours of the night. Get some good sleep, you'll need it. If you deprive your body of sleep, you'll run down your immune system and you won't be able to think clearly. Even if someone says "I stayed up until 3am studying"... Don't let that make you feel you have to do it too. Good luck!

I had a patient who asked for a comb. I went out of my way to hunt him down one because I felt that this was the one thing that would raise his spirits. I came back with a comb in hand and he took my hand and squeezed it and smiled really big and thanked me. He told me he was going to bring the comb home with him and remember me by it for all I did for him. It was actually during my first few months as a nurse and I'll never forget that look in his eyes when I did something as simple as bring him a comb. The smallest things make the biggest impact on people.

In my area, we had ADN students get hired in the ICU setting. It just depends on the area and who you know really. And I agree that your "experience" isn't really experience. If you want real experience in the healthcare field that may set you apart from other potential hires, try being a nurse aid first. It will give you direct patient contact instead of creeping over someone's shoulder that is doing the patient contact. Also agree that CRNA school isn't just a measly 4 years. You have extra schooling after your BSN to be able to do that. Also, most areas want you to have a couple years of experience at the bedside first (not all areas, but you have to look into that yourself). Just trying to get your gears turning a little. And if you don't feel like you're fit for a lot of schooling and call yourself somewhat lazy, be sure to re evaluate if you can handle how demanding and stressful nursing school can be. Just because getting your BSN is only 4 years doesn't mean it isn't really hard work. My ADN felt like it took forever. Your mom is almost right that there is job security in medicine. Again, depends on the area. But, there is way more job security than some other jobs. We will always need nurses. That won't change. But some jobs in medicine (which is why I said almost right) don't have that job security. For example, they are phasing out LPNs in my area and there have been rumors of phasing out RTs (which I so disagree with). Back to my point though, there is job security in nursing because if you don't work out at one hospital, no worries because there's hundreds of others for you to work at. If you don't want to do that, there's doctors offices, school nursing, clinics...so many opportunities. And who said your life is a crap shoot? Try to be more positive.

Which I'm sure has to do with the fact that LPNs are not really trained to assess because it isn't in their scope of practice. I suggest you get familiar with everyone's scope of practice before you begin to assume that they are not competent with a certain task. Anyway, to the OP, med-surg nurse here. If there's a procedure, disease process, medication you don't know about, look it up. Because I guarantee there will be plenty going on on a med-surg floor that you don't know about, simply because there is a wide range and variety of diseases you will encounter. Don't be afraid to ask your nurses questions. We like questions and we like teaching (most of us anyway). So don't be intimidated! Nurses are there to help. Don't take anything anyone says personally. Let it roll off your back. Especially patients. They are in the hospital, they are stressed. So sometimes they may come off as mean and nasty, but if you are understanding with them, they will come around. But if you take it personally, that will set you up for a terrible day, and your patient will notice it. Good luck!

Good luck to you!

I was the rare case in that I was more than happy to get away from my "nursing school family". I agree that study groups are beneficial, but I studied better alone and I did just fine on my own. I'm saying this to tell you not to stress if you can't find a group that vibes with you. I couldn't, but I was okay with that. If you can find a study group, go for it! It definitely does help to bang heads together. But make sure the study group you choose is beneficial to you. If you feel like your bff in your study group isn't a benefit to you, then respectfully cut ties study group wise, but let them know its nothing personal. After all, you have to do what's best for you.

No, I'm not. But I have lived here most of my life.

Thank you for your support