mmm_016RN

As a brand new floor nurse...I find myself getting really frustrated on my shifts because I know it's such a rich learning environment but I just don't. have. time! I want to understand all the small details of what is happening with each patient, their particular pathophysiology, an in-depth assessment of interventions and rationales. I agree with what an above poster said that floor nurses are task oriented but in my limited experience, that's what I have to be to get through a shift. When I'm at work I make a mental note of something I don't understand or want to look up and I research it on my days off. I feel like I'm missing a lot of learning but it's simply because I NEED to stay on task.

"A Nurses Story" by Tilda Shalof...her experiences working in a Toronto ICU. I couldn't put it down.

I recommend reading "Death by Air: How Much is Too Much?" by Broadhurst. It's posted on the CVAA website for members online, but i'm sure you can find it elsewhere online. Great concrete information.

If you want something to take a break from the textbooks...try "A Nurses Story" by Tilda Shalof. I couldn't put it down! Non-fiction about an RN working in a Toronto ICU.

I have never heard the rule that IVs must point "down" ie away from the heart...I don't think I have ever seen one inserted that way. I have only seen the catheter pointing toward the heart, up the arm for example. What at about midline catheters that start in the basilic vein and end just below the axilla? Do you know the rationale? Maybe this is one of those sacred cows of nursing...

Thanks for your reply. How come we couldn't just set the infusion pump at a high rate instead of using a bag?

Saw compressions bags wrapped around blood products when I was doing a clinical rotation in ICU as a student...what's the reason? Can't find anything online or in my old texts.

I liked how the book really solidified the roles of the RN, LPN, and health care assistant/care aid. I found it also. Reinforced the pathophysiology and ABC stuff...ie what is emergent, what is urgent, what can wait in a complex way that really was similar to the exam. It helped me to start thinking in the "NCLEX Land" kind of way.

Same as above poster...Kaplan Q bank (I got the 1 months access for $50) and LaCharity helped me the most the month before the exam

I've been a long time lurker on the site and thought I would pass on my strategies when I passed... I graduated in April in Canada and basically started studying the day after. At first my studying was really unfocused and I didn't know how to start. I did the NCLEX Mastery app which I liked as well as the Lippincott app, and just random reading. I probably wouldn't call that month intense "studying". In May I made myself a study plan divided into topics (i.e. peds, maternity, cardiac, etc.). 1-2 week per topic. Then for those weeks I accessed any resource I could find about that topic...I used Khan academy, the apps I mentioned, Saunder's textbook, youtube videos, and NCSBN, and anything else I could find. I did basically an overall content review. For the month before the exam, I primarily reviewed meds (my weak point), and used the Kaplan Q Bank, for which I got a 1 month membership. I also have the LaCharity book which I found VERY helpful. I did about 75 questions a day, sometimes more. Out of all the resources I sampled, what worked best for me was the Kaplan Q bank and the LaCharity book. That being said, I think you need to understand the basics of content before the questions can do anything for you. If I didn't do the content review, I wouldn't have gotten as much out of the questions. To those studying, my suggestion is based on my own experience...do a content review (especially if you haven't taken some of those core classes for a while), then focus on questions and understand why you got a questions wrong AND why you got a question right. I like Kaplan questions better than Saunders text or the apps that I used. If you are debating what resources to get, I recommend Kaplan and LaCharity. I wrote the exam yesterday and passed in 75 questions which took me 45 minutes (I've always been a fast test taker). When I left I wasn't sure how I felt but the questions were very similar to Kaplan.