Nature_walker

Pretty sure she had to do it before she could apply for her ATT. She had one of the teachers at school helping her with all her paperwork. She told me about it afterwards, so I'm only able to tell you what I heard from her after the fact. Hope this helps.

I'm a float for outpatient clinics and I love it. I'm never at one site long enough to be part of the office drama, but I love going to new places everyday. I enjoy working with every one and it is always nice to catch up with people when I float to their clinics. I think it's pretty fun and I'm happy being a nomad.

I am in NY and I had a friend who graduate with me with the same thing. If I remember right, this friend needed to have two or three letters written on their behalf that they had upstanding character and that people in the program had not seen anything that would stop them from recommending them to be a nurse. I think they had to write a letter to the BON as well stating that they had changed and were of upstanding character and that it had happened when they were young and dumb. They were told that their ATT might be delayed while the board reviewed their case. They got their ATT the same time as the rest of my cohort and they were among the first to pass their NCLEX. I still hear from them as we have remained close friends and they are an excellent nurse! Good luck!

Sounds like you are a very disciplined person already, so being organized will be key. Also note cards are your best friend. Mine went everywhere with me, so any downtime I used to flip through a few of them. If you work with a partner, talk them through the nursing process as it will help cement it in your brain. I find that talking through what I'm learning really helps as the person you are talking to might have questions that force you to really stop and think about your learning. This will be hard and it is no joke, but it sounds like you are trying to prepare yourself the best you can before jumping in. Best of luck!

Sometimes the path to get what you want is very twisty and takes a few turns you might have been expecting, but it's the lessons and experience you gain from those that help you get to where you want to go. I really wanted to be a vet when I was a kid. I dreamed of working with animals and living on a huge old farm where my life was surrounded by all kinds of creatures. Turns out my anaphylaxis level allergies to dogs *might* have ended that path for me. I was sad, but threw myself into a new path, being a teacher. I worked hard at that and enjoyed it a lot. For a while it was pretty good, but the draw to work in medical came back. While I'm not a vet, or a teacher anymore, I do help people now and I wouldn't be the nurse I am today without that side jaunt into teaching. I find that my background in teaching has helped my nursing career. The nursing jobs I have had each add a new layer to my nursing career. My point is we can learn from each experience and that will help us on our path of where we want to go. So you might not get into L&D right away, but the experiences you gain on your path will help you nail that interview when you do get there. Be open to all the experiences you can get as they will only help you as you move forward. Focus your energies on your NCLEX and then find a nursing job, any nursing job even if it's not L&D, learn as much as you can, and then go full force towards your dream. Good luck in your journey!

Are you engaged in the learning? Are you open to learning? Do advocate for yourself to get the most out of your learning? That's really all I care about. I don't care how old you are, as long as you are willing to learn and put in the work, I'll work with you.

Psych is a whole different world from typical nursing. It is more about the least restrictive therapies and de-escalation than anything else because your pts are more "walkie-talkie" than typical bedside nursing. Typical nursing is more task based, and psych is more about being able to read the situation, so things don't always happen at a scheduled time. Keeping conversations therapeutic and being mindful of how pts are responding is the biggest thing to be aware of. I hope this helps a little bit. Psych can be really tricky. Good luck!

Be honest with your preceptor about where you are and how you are feeling. An open conversation can go a long ways. When I was precepting, I had my students follow along for a shift or two and then slowly start having them take over small things and then we worked up to bigger things. I had a weekly check in to see how they were feeling about everything and if there was something they wanted more work/experience on. We didn't have a set case load as I was in the psych ED at the time, so we just let everyone know that if X,Y, or Z happened to let us know so my preceptee could get more experience. I loved teaching the students and I do miss that at my current job. Good luck and have fun. You'll learn a ton and just be open to everything even if it's not something you love you can always learn from it.

I am a clinic float nurse. I love it. I worked in the psych ED for years and then an ambulatory clinic before I took this job so I had knowledge of what ambulatory life was like before jumping into this. It's a great gig, but like it was stated, you do need to be autonomous pretty much right out of the gate. I have a basic scheduled of where I am, but if there are call outs or emergencies, then my schedule changes pretty quickly. As I was walking out the door on Wednesday I got a call that I was being sent to a different clinic. It happens. What I suggest if you do take this, take lots of notes during orientation!!! I have a binder that goes with me will all my info for each clinic. You'll need them when you haven't been to a clinic in a while and suddenly you are the only nurse there because of call outs. It's happened to me a lot as several of the clinics I cover are staffed by only one nurse. You need to be flexible and ready to deal with whatever is thrown at you. Like a PP stated when you walk in you better be ready to go at that site as you are there to fill those holes. I love my job and I like changing clinics all the time as I am never in one place long enough to get sucked into office dramas. But, that being said, you need to be really good being organized and flexible. Just my 2 cents.

I just wanted to say congratulations on your transition and I wish you all the best in nursing school!!

I agree with Pixierose on the book. I used that and a course that was offered at my hospital. It is a do-able test.

No hazard pay here either.

I had to work for my hospital for a year full time before I qualified for the tuition benefits. I did that so that I wouldn't have to pay so much for school and then I could avoid loans.

Check community colleges. I know there in one in upstate NY that offers it that way.

I did. I was in emergency psych department for 2.5 years and left for a pain treatment center. It is a meg/surg floor and I had a lot to learn but my coworkers were very supportive when I started. I had no iv skills, zero knowledge of sedation or how to use the iv pumps. My coworkers took a chance on me as I was willing to learn and really wanted to do well in this environment. I've been there for almost 2 years now. I found that my psych skills are very helpful and that I'm able to talk people through the procedures. However, I am thinking that someday I'd like to go back to psych because I really enjoyed that aspect of nursing. For now, I content to keep learning where I am. I've mastered most iv's. I'm good with sedation and recovery now. IV pumps are still a bit of a mystery as we only use them for infusions and we don't see them that much. If it wasn't for coworkers with the patience of all the saints I would have run back to psych shortly after starting. Learning something so foreign has been good for me.