mnurse2016

Yep! I was enlisted in the Navy from 2009-2013.

I will be. I'm prior enlisted (worked in aviation for 4.5 years before I got out and went to nursing school) and and looking to continue in my current specialty as a labor and delivery nurse. Hoping that the FY2020 openings coming out in the next few weeks.

I agree with Flnolegirl. I used ATI (which was required by my school) and Uworld after and I found that Uworld was extremely helpful in studying for the NCLEX. It has a large question bank and really detailed rationales that can be used pretty much as a review while you are practicing testing. Use it to gauge the subjects you are weakest in and take extra time to study those subjects. Practice, practice, practice! I took tons of practice tests before I took the NCLEX and it really helped. Also, I recommend on knowing realistic testing habits for you. For example... I learned that around 50-75 questions in is where I start to fatigue and need a quick break to grab a drink of water or light snack. If I try to push past that I found that I made silly mistakes by misreading or rushing. Every person is different, but knowing your own personal testing stamina can help you strategize while taking long stressful tests. Best of luck to you!

Being a dual-military couple can be extremely challenging. If you have your heart set on it just know that it is not promised that both spouses will be stationed at the same duty station. That depends on how many billets (aka job openings) there are for that specific duty station. They will try to, but I've personally know couples that haven't been. Also, you run the risk of being on different deployment schedules (deployments are not optional). It's tough but not impossible, just know that there may be long periods of time spent away from your spouse. Corpsman or "HM's" are the equivalent to a CNA in the civilian world. This does not require a degree. You could always do that route and use the GI bill to pay for nursing school after. You can also sign a contract with the Navy while you are in nursing school to become commissioned upon graduation ( Undergraduate Opportunities in the Navy : Navy.com). If you choose to finish your bachelors degree first you can join and go to Officer Development School which is essentially boot camp for officers. One option that I'd encourage you to think about is becoming a nurse and applying for a civilian job at a military hospital or veterans hospital in the area your spouse is stationed. Check out USAjobs.gov to see potential jobs in whatever area you are looking for. You will have a lot more freedom to relocate with your spouse wherever he may get stationed.

I love this! In the last eight years I've made nutrition and fitness a priority in life and in turn lost around 40 lbs all together. I worked as a fitness instructor while I was going through nursing school and am now in the process of figuring out how to incorporate that same healthy lifestyle into my new nursing schedule. It's all about priorities. If eating healthy and working out is a priority, you can and will find time to make it work. There are always varying levels of being healthy and "fit", so you don't have to be a fitness competitor to make those changes. It's never easy and even those people who look really fit still have to force themselves to go to the gym sometimes, but I think a lot of people would find that they will have more energy and feel better after making those changes.

I just got my first nursing job as a new grad in the Spinal Cord Injury Unit. I'm the first new grad who got hired directly to the unit with no experience (and didn't have to complete the year long new grad program they have), so it's been a little intimidating at some points. A lot of wound care, ventilators, bowel care, ostomy's, and foley's. Everyone on my unit has been very nice and helpful though, so I'm looking forward to a lot of learning and growing as a nurse.

I remember the first day that I started nursing school. I had butterflies in my stomach and so much excitement I could have burst at the seams right there in fundamentals lab. I went through an accelerated BSN program and it was a roller coaster full of ups, downs and loops that throw you sideways. There were times that I questioned myself but I persevered no matter how hard it got. I received my diploma and then passed the NCLEX a month later and got my license. Woo hoo! I'm officially a Registered Nurse... Now what? Just like many new graduates out there, I had a vision of how my life would go after graduation. I'd apply to the local NICU's, L&D's, ER's and about 1-2 months and a few interviews later land the job of my dreams. Little did I know that things would not go as planned. Now don't get me wrong, there are always the exceptions that land their dream job right out of nursing school, but I want to address the other population that may feel lost or disappointed when things veer off from the carefully mapped out route. I received my nursing license in September of 2016. Almost instantaneously, I applied to every hospital within a 30 mile radius in all of the units that I absolutely adored. I live in an urban area that has many great hospitals, so I felt that I would have a good shot at landing one of them. The problem was that not many hospitals seemed to be taking on new graduates during the holiday season, and the ones that did were very few and far between. I even went to a career fair at a hospital that was open to new grads, but was not offering any positions to new grads at that time. That was not very encouraging. The new graduate programs at the major hospitals that opened in the fall and spring were extremely competitive. A lot of them seemed to only take individuals who were already employed by the company in support roles. Although I've had over one hundred hours of volunteer work in the NICU, I do not have experience working in a clinical setting. A few of my friends from nursing school and I applied to the same programs. Two of them got call backs for interviews, but I did not. I was devastated. I have every certification I could get (BLS, PALS, ACLS, NRP... etc), and yet I was still slipping through the cracks and not getting noticed. After a couple months with no luck I was very disheartened and decided that I needed to broaden my search to areas that I hadn't considered before. I started applying to different units and ended up getting an interview for the Spinal Cord Injury Unit at a VA hospital that was a little further than I originally wanted to travel for work. I had never done a rotation in a SCI unit and we didn't cover much about that in nursing school, so I did some research on the internet to find out more about it. Turns out there still isn't that much information on the internet because there seems to be few dedicated units to spinal cord injuries. This would be a position that I would go in not knowing exactly what it would be like. I decided to give it a shot, because the worst case scenario I didn't get the job and it would be good practice for interviewing. It was a panel interview with four nurse managers along with a written section that had several scenario based questions. Luckily I felt very prepared for the written section and I got along really well with all of the nurse managers. I would even go as far to say that it was probably the best interview I have been on because I felt comfortable enough to be myself and have real conversations with the members of the panel. I was told at the end if I didn't get a call back within two weeks to just keep applying. I was very unsure of what that meant. Did that mean they already knew I wasn't going to be selected? Did that mean they really liked me but the ultimate decision was out of their hands? Luckily a little over two weeks later I received a tentative job offer and invitation to start the pre-employment process. Finally! I had to go in for a physical, drug test, fingerprint scan, submit another application online (even though I already had previously), put together a package to submit to a board of nurses (who use the information I submit to determine my salary), complete the online VetPro portion (which is a credential verification process) and have three references submit letters of recommendation directly to HR (even though I had the original signed copies of my letters of recommendation). This whole process took about a month and a half. I had to learn patience, which is not easy for an eager new grad nurse. I finally got a call near the end of December with my salary offer and start date. Although it's not glamorous, this job comes with many great benefits which includes great pay (especially for a new grad), differentials (extra pay) for nights, weekends and even more for working nights on weekends, 10 paid federal holidays, 5 weeks vacation time a year that starts accruing from day one, sick pay, possible student loan repayment, and full time hours. Although money isn't everything, if you've been in nursing school for the last three years a stable source of good pay is something to celebrate. Sometimes you will have to make sacrifices which might include lower pay for a more desirable unit, good pay but with a unit that isn't your favorite or even traveling a little further than what you would like. This is not all inclusive, so this does not mean everyone will necessarily fall into these categories, it just means that there is a possibility of these decisions coming up at any point in your career. Which decision you make is entirely up to you and the available opportunities out there. I will be starting my nursing career in a completely different direction than I anticipated. I was willing to go outside of my comfort zone in order to get experience in the clinical setting. For some people, this will be easy and others it might seem completely out of the question. I will never know why other people get those exciting dream jobs with seemingly little effort and it took me months of full time job searching, tears and frustration to even get a job at all. What I do know is that I am still extremely excited about getting the opportunity to be a nurse and will make the most out of what I am given. After all, I'm still at the beginning of my journey and there is still so much time to attain different goals and make changes later on down the road if I so choose. So if you are, or have been, in my shoes before try to think of it this way: If you hit dead stop traffic on one freeway it might cause a delay, but keep in mind there are still alternate routes to get to your destination!

I'd hardly consider a couple of months real experience in the clinical setting. If you have no interest in being a nurse why are you on a website called "All Nurses"... better yet, why are you wasting your time in nursing school? With that attitude you wouldn't make a good nurse let alone a nurse practitioner or doctor. If you enrolled in nursing school and realized that it's not the profession that you anticipated then you can still find another career field to go into. There are hundreds of other degrees out there. No need to be so arrogant and bitter to other people.

Lightning90 is a nursing student in his or her second term of nursing... from the previous posts he or she has made. It's interesting that you have such negative opinions of nurses while you are in school to become a nurse yourself (and have limited time in a clinical setting). Are there aspects of nursing that aren't glamorous? Absolutely! There is also a lot more that goes into nursing that makes it a rewarding career. I recommend that you spend a little more time on the floor before you form an opinion. If it's still extremely negative you should probably re-think your career choice.

Nursing school IS hard. If you are contemplating on whether or not to do it based on that then you might want to reconsider. I started nursing school when I was 24 and it was the best decision I have made for myself. I graduated in August, passed the NCLEX in September and start my first job next week. A nursing degree is a degree in science, so you will have to get comfortable learning and being tested in science. Pre-req's include anatomy, biology, chemistry, physiology, and pathophysiology. The content of the entrance exam depends on your school. The class difficulty level will depend on your strengths and weaknesses as well as your instructor. For me pharmacology and pediatrics were the hardest classes. With all that being said, even though it is very challenging it is doable. I know women who started in their 40's, women with children, women with families, and people who worked full time (though I don't recommend that). You will just have to prioritize and make sacrifices to get through it. Go in with a good support system and find people to do study groups with. Best of luck!

I used both ATI (books and website) and uWorld. I learned a lot through ATI during school, but I definitely recommend uWorld. The questions are great, review content is great and the colors/website structure is very similar to how the NCLEX looks. I took it in September, 2016 and passed with 75 questions. Best of luck!

It depends on the employer. I asked during the interview if I could reach out if I hadn't hear back within the two weeks they told me to wait. They were very open to it. Once I got my job offer I was given a point of contact within HR. I always called with any questions I had if I hadn't heard back within a reasonable time. I was very anxious to start as well, but it took me one and a half months to get through the preemployment process. (Mind you it is a federal job so I had to undergo background checks, drug tests, fingerprints, and credential verification). Patience is worth if it if it's a good job. Hope this helps a little! Best of luck to you.

I don't think it's possible to know if its below or above passing level based on that information. I will say that I know people that have both passed and failed with 265 questions, so waiting for the results is the only way you will know. I passed with 75 questions and still felt super unsure of my answers. Good indicators of passing are select all that apply questions, specialty questions (OB, mental health.. etc). If you get a lot of anatomy questions and really fundamental questions it might indicate that you may need to study more. I found uWorld.com to be extremely helpful to study. Best of luck!

Location: Southern California Experience: New Grad- BSN, RN Specialty: Spinal Cord Injury Facility: Large Urban Hospital Pay: approx. 77-78K +10% night differential, 25% weekend differential and 35% for weekend nights.