jchristine89

Yes!! People in my part (conservative West Michigan) get married in their early twenties and are having babies by my age (or younger). In fact, I'm an odd ball in that I haven't married or had kids yet. So, this is likely the reason why I feel the way I do.

No way! Patients are in hospital because they are sick. Their bodies aren't functioning "normally" in one way or another. I don't envy that one bit. We take our healthy, normal bodies for granted. Rather, I have much sympathy and empathy for my patients and of course I want them to feel good during their stay! They're not in a hospital by choice... At least most of the time, they're not...

Ha... I know I probably sound pathetic to people who are maybe twice my age, but it's still a legitimate question if you look at the fact that I'm getting closer to the end of child-bearing age...

I'm about to turn 28 years old, I'm very single, and I have a huge passion for travel. I've been feeling so antsy with my life and feel as though I've been a bit stagnant. I've been a med/surg/GI nurse for about a year and three months and, though I still don't have much experience, I think I have just enough to be more comfortable with different placements. On the other hand, I still want to find a life partner and have kids at some point... I'm just afraid that 28 is getting a bit too old (for a woman) for travel nursing because I also want to pursue those things I mentioned above. Any thoughts? Thank you so much in advance for your help!

So, basically, you believe that new nurses nowadays don't have the same level of a beginner's competency due to making the exam 'easier' to pass? Or, maybe not nowadays, but in years since the NCLEX was made to be computerized? Do you think NCLEX may now have gone to its previous level of difficulty and this is why students are having trouble passing?

I recently graduated and my professors said that the NCLEX has changed in recent years. They said the NCLEX people made it tougher as well. That may have something to do with it! How they knew these things, I'm not sure.

Thank you for your response and advice. I don't mean to sound whiny... I guess it just felt better to express my concerns rather than hold them in. My sister, who is also a nurse, worked on a unit where she was given a large patient load and she told me she would sit on the couch and cry before work and cry coming back home. She stayed as long as she did on that unit because of her supportive coworkers. I really hope that's the case for me as well, that I'll have a good team of people to work with! It would make a difference for sure.

I am a new nurse and I haven't even started my job yet, which is on a GI/GU unit. I will be getting a lot of med/surg experience. Well, I'm honestly terrified. I mean, I'm excited to finally start in my nursing career, but I'm so terrified of having a high patient load and becoming so stressed that I start to make really. Stupid. Mistakes. I'm terrified of hurting someone. I'm scared that I don't have enough confidence and of possibly dreading going to work because it all seems too much. What kind of a life is that, where you dread going to work? (Not that I will and I sure hope it won't ever be that way, but it's a possibility...) I have two and a half years of LTC CNA experience, so this will definitely come to my aid. However, it doesn't lessen my fear of being an incompetent nurse who will make really stupid mistakes. How can I talk myself up to feel better about everything? Why do I have periods where I freak out and others where I'm okay again? It's so frustrating and I hate that I'm having this emotional rollercoaster even before work has begun!

Hi there! I have actually taken up a position on the GI/GU unit. I think I will get great med/surg experience there, which is precisely what I'm looking for. The progressive unit is quite a bit more acute in its own way and I have a feeling I may benefit more from some solid med/surg stuff before heading in that direction. But thank you so much, once again, for your advice. With that said, I hope I will still learn a lot after going against your advice haha :)

Congrats!! Woo!!

Thank you for your input! I think I'm going to go with progressive care. :)

I'm a brand new nurse with no experience and I've been offered a position both for a progressive care unit and a digestive diseases unit. I would be working night shift for both. As a new nurse, which one would be best to start off with? Thank you so much for your advice!

Have you checked your BON site for licensure? My name popped up on there not even 15 hours after I took the exam.

@cptforge.gil : I had absolutely no drag and drop questions or diagrams but I did have one easy computation problem. I also had a question where I thought all four answers were incorrect, but I suppose that in this case, it was up to me to choose the least incorrect answer. NCLEX is extremely unpredictable. It just goes to show that you cannot rely on what others tell you about it because it's a very unique experience for each individual. By the way, congrats on passing!! So exciting, isn't it?? í ½í¸Š

(@optimism08) Thank you very much! I used Hurst Review, but I watched all the videos first while I filled out the booklet that comes with the review. It gave me a strong foundation of all the need-to-know basics of everything med-surg. After that, I made my own notes of the booklet to commit them to memory. I also used a bit of Saunders and purchased the NCLEX Mastery app. I highly recommend that app. I truly believe it helped me to pass! Good luck to you! :-)