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Risky posted:What were your sources for practice questions? I used the Kaplan book and mosby's comprehensive review of nursing book plus the questions on a CD it came with. I also used a smaller novel sized question book that I got for a dollar at a used bookstore that I can't remember the name of at the moment. Never took the Kaplan course, seemed like a massive waste of money for how I studied.
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May 8, 2016 09:07
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It's over it's over it's over it's over! Patiently just awaiting my ATT now so I can start pulling down some stacks.
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May 9, 2016 20:37
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To those of you who are in the same boat as me, nearly finished or actually done with school: Congratulations. We made it.  Onto passing the NCLEX now. I am taking the Kaplan course because I'm a sucker and a rep offered my class a good discount. Do any of you new grads have jobs lined up? I'm coming out of an ADN program and have a couple of offers waiting for me.
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May 25, 2016 05:15
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I start on a tele floor in less than a month. After ~6months, or earlier if I'm doing well, I'll start to crosstrain for IMC.
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May 25, 2016 05:17
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Jamais Vu Again posted:I start on a tele floor in less than a month. After ~6months, or earlier if I'm doing well, I'll start to crosstrain for IMC. Nice. I'm sitting on a couple of acute care med/surg offers, without tele, as well as one from the OR. I was shooting for an ICU position but that's looking like a bit of a far reach at this point. I think it will be good to build a foundation of skills before transitioning to the ICU. I'm still deciding between the two acute care floors. One is a bit more specialized but I think it will be good experience. One is an orthopedics/overflow floor. Either way I think they'll both be good places to start out.
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May 25, 2016 05:40
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I am probably staying on my current unit, a general PCU/ICU overflow unit. Eventually I want true ICU, but I am unsure if my employer wants a new grad at this time :P
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May 25, 2016 05:46
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djfooboo posted:I am probably staying on my current unit, a general PCU/ICU overflow unit. Eventually I want true ICU, but I am unsure if my employer wants a new grad at this time :P It seems to be fairly uncommon for people to go straight into the ICU. We have a few nursing residencies geared toward that in my area. They're super competitive.
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May 25, 2016 06:26
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somnolence posted:It seems to be fairly uncommon for people to go straight into the ICU. Plenty of new grad ICU positions here, just not in the network I like. 
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May 25, 2016 06:30
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djfooboo posted:Plenty of new grad ICU positions here, just not in the network I like. Where are you?
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May 25, 2016 07:21
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Indianapolis
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May 25, 2016 08:07
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I see. The job market looks way different here in Western Washington than it did when I started my ADN program. Most hospitals were only looking for BSN graduates at the time and getting into an ICU with an ADN was just not happening. One of my classmates and a few other people I know have gotten offers from ICUs in the area. I haven't looked at the numbers lately, but I'm guessing there must be a shortage of qualified candidates if hospitals across the country are taking new grads into critical care willingly. That or they want to train people from the ground up.
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May 25, 2016 08:48
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Ground up. Medsurg teaches you habits that are counter productive in ICU.
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May 25, 2016 09:28
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djfooboo posted:Indianapolis How friendly is the state in general regarding nurses? It's at the top of the country insofar as physicians are concerned, but I'm assuming that doesn't necessarily translate across care levels.
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May 25, 2016 12:07
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No it does not. Get to the West coast as fast as you can.
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May 25, 2016 13:39
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So I should move to L.A. as fast as possible after school, thats your advice Roki? It's there or Chicago. My wife just started at a new job, and they're looking to expand to LA soon so it may work out just fine. Long Beach looks mighty fine to me. About to head to psych clinicals in about an hour, psych is killing me slowly (good thing its so quick). Just gotta get through to complex care in a few months.
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May 25, 2016 13:55
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Roki B posted:Ground up. Medsurg teaches you habits that are counter productive in ICU. Which habits are those?
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May 25, 2016 17:02
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Ratatozsk posted:How friendly is the state in general regarding nurses? It's at the top of the country insofar as physicians are concerned, but I'm assuming that doesn't necessarily translate across care levels. I have nothing to compare it to so I am not sure. The only unfriendly thing I know of is lack of CRNA programs. Indiana University is a leading med school/anesthesia program so there are plenty of MD anesthesiologists. We get paid well considering how cheap cost of living is. A new grad makes ~$26/hr base and a 3br/2ba home in a decent area goes for 100-140k.
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May 25, 2016 20:30
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djfooboo posted:We get paid well considering how cheap cost of living is. A new grad makes ~$26/hr base and a 3br/2ba home in a decent area goes for 100-140k. I really need to move.
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May 26, 2016 01:35
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somnolence posted:Which habits are those? Not thinking.
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May 26, 2016 01:47
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somnolence posted:Which habits are those? Whether it's better starting on a general floor versus going straight to ICU will be debated until the end of time. I started in med/surg float pool before going to ICU, and I'm glad I did. It taught me how to do all the piddly stuff that should be second-nature, like how to chart, draw and send labs, which doctor to call and when, and lets you get a hang of passing meds and developing your own routine for efficient physical assessments. These are things you really should be comfortable with before going to ICU, so you can devote more time and energy focusing on ICU-specific skills and learning how to take care of a critically ill person. It would be a lot more difficult to be learning how to be an ICU nurse when you don't know the very basics. The major downside of starting on a floor is that time management is completely different than on a critical care unit, and that can be a hard habit to change. Working on a floor is basically just giving meds and doing one assessment a shift, there's no critical thinking going on because your patients are all stable. The minute they become unstable, you're calling the doc or a rapid response or transferring them to a different unit, and that's as far as it goes. You don't have much room to intervene on your own besides doing things like administering oxygen or giving a low-risk PRN med. In the ICU you are far more independent and are managing patients basically on your own, especially on night shifts. Some people feel going straight from new grad to ICU nurse is better because you never learn the routine of being a floor nurse so it's not something you need to work on to change. Etrips posted:I really need to move. Minnesota is another great place to move if you're specifically looking for higher wage and lower cost of living and don't care about things like weather or lack of cultural diversity. My starting wage was $30 and some cents for day shifts and $33 for nights. My apartment right in the center of town was $750/mo for a 2.5 bedroom duplex, and we bought our house for $55k (to be fair it was a fixer-upper, but you can find a decent house in town for less than $100k). Obviously varies by city but in general, cost of living is pretty decent.
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May 26, 2016 03:11
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Koivunen posted:Minnesota is another great place to move if you're specifically looking for higher wage and lower cost of living and don't care about things like weather or lack of cultural diversity. My starting wage was $30 and some cents for day shifts and $33 for nights. My apartment right in the center of town was $750/mo for a 2.5 bedroom duplex, and we bought our house for $55k (to be fair it was a fixer-upper, but you can find a decent house in town for less than $100k). Obviously varies by city but in general, cost of living is pretty decent. I am really debating on moving on from neuro ICU to get into something more involved where I am working with pressors more like MICU or something. A majority of the time it feels like I am babysitting since most of our patient population are surgical cases. Plus working in DC I'm not getting paid all that much apparently compared to other places and cost of living is sky high. Only issue I have with moving over to MICU is neuro is the only thing I really know well so I am a little hesitant. Etrips fucked around with this message at 03:44 on May 26, 2016 |
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May 26, 2016 03:40
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Etrips posted:I really need to move. Wait until we evict our idiot governor who is preoccupied with what women do with their vaginas.
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May 26, 2016 05:48
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Etrips posted:I am really debating on moving on from neuro ICU to get into something more involved where I am working with pressors more like MICU or something. A majority of the time it feels like I am babysitting since most of our patient population are surgical cases. Plus working in DC I'm not getting paid all that much apparently compared to other places and cost of living is sky high. Only issue I have with moving over to MICU is neuro is the only thing I really know well so I am a little hesitant. Do it. Change is a good thing.
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May 27, 2016 14:53
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This is kind of a weird RN question but hopefully some of you might know the answer to my quandary. Roughly twice a year I have a bout of esophageal spasms related to my GERD, usually if I forget to take my drat Omeprazole like I did last night. Something about how the muscles interact mean that I have really intense head, neck, and chest pain if I'm either a. standing or b. lying down. Sitting seems fine. Obviously this is an issue because I can't just stay in a sitting position for 2-5 days at a time. Unfortunately OTC pain meds don't do a lot for the pain. So my first question is this, if I take some Oxycodone I have that is like way hella expired (like 5 years since it was prescribed) and the medication itself was prescribed for post-wisdom tooth surgery pain, is that legal? The bottle just says 1 tab q4/6 hr for pain PRN. I only ever take like 1/4 a tab at a time so in a year would take maybe 2 whole 5/325s. If that's legal, then when in relation to my shifts am I allowed to take it? I have no idea how long that poo poo stays in your urine either so don't even know when it would show up on a drug test. Obviously I can't take it at work and not right before a shift but if I take it the night before is it okay or am I putting my license in jeopardy? Should I try and see if I can be prescribed a muscle relaxant instead or would I run into the same issues? Any legal advice y'all have related to this would be great.
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Jun 2, 2016 17:43
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My legal advice: don't take legal advice from nurses on the Internet.
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Jun 2, 2016 18:25
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JibbaJabberwocky posted:This is kind of a weird RN question but hopefully some of you might know the answer to my quandary. Roughly twice a year I have a bout of esophageal spasms related to my GERD, usually if I forget to take my drat Omeprazole like I did last night. Something about how the muscles interact mean that I have really intense head, neck, and chest pain if I'm either a. standing or b. lying down. Sitting seems fine. Obviously this is an issue because I can't just stay in a sitting position for 2-5 days at a time. Unfortunately OTC pain meds don't do a lot for the pain. So my first question is this, if I take some Oxycodone I have that is like way hella expired (like 5 years since it was prescribed) and the medication itself was prescribed for post-wisdom tooth surgery pain, is that legal? The bottle just says 1 tab q4/6 hr for pain PRN. I only ever take like 1/4 a tab at a time so in a year would take maybe 2 whole 5/325s. If that's legal, then when in relation to my shifts am I allowed to take it? I have no idea how long that poo poo stays in your urine either so don't even know when it would show up on a drug test. Obviously I can't take it at work and not right before a shift but if I take it the night before is it okay or am I putting my license in jeopardy? Should I try and see if I can be prescribed a muscle relaxant instead or would I run into the same issues? Edit for clarification: After that expiration date they should still be legal for you to own but now if you take one you're no longer taking it as prescribed by a doctor since your prescription is expired. Therefor you'd be hosed if you failed a drug test as you were no longer taking it under a doctor's supervision. Basically if it said take 1 a day for 10 days you'd be hosed after those 10 days. If it just says take as needed you're hosed after the expiration date written on the bottle. Bum the Sad fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Jun 2, 2016 |
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Jun 2, 2016 18:30
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Bum the Sad posted:From what I've been told your right to take a prescription narcotic lasts until the expiration date on the bottle which is generally one year after it was dispensed. Duly noted. That's basically what I thought the answer would be. I can't afford to go to the doc for a "problem visit" because my insurance doesn't cover it 100% unless it's for preventative care so I guess I'm stuck taking way more Ibuprofen than I should just to function.
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Jun 2, 2016 19:00
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Taking ibuprofen for GERD pain probably isn't the best choice. Have you ever had a GI cocktail?
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Jun 2, 2016 19:21
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JibbaJabberwocky posted:Duly noted. That's basically what I thought the answer would be. I can't afford to go to the doc for a "problem visit" because my insurance doesn't cover it 100% unless it's for preventative care so I guess I'm stuck taking way more Ibuprofen than I should just to function. I'm pretty sure this falls under preventative care. Or at least you can have the doctor bill for preventative care or just pay the doc cash.
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Jun 2, 2016 19:58
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Scheduled my NCLEX! For 8am the day of our first anniversary. Going to crush this test, then go to the water park with my husband and get trashed at the swim up bar.
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Jun 3, 2016 12:31
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My tenure for Southern NM is up in about 2 months. The resume has now infiltrated the pacific northwest and Colorado.... Now we wait...
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Jun 11, 2016 02:24
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Had my first day of clinicals on friday for CNA school. plan is to be a CNA to get my hours for PA school. Unfortunately this CNA program feeds directly into a nursing home and my first day was 12 hours in the dementia wing. I was wiping rear end 10 seconds in. It was surprisingly not bad. the people were great, the people were mostly under control, and the CNAs I was shadowing were fantastic. Worst part was me having to hold down a resident while they took her blood pressure while she screamed, cried, and begged me to let her go. I really don't want to leave the dementia ward to be honest. My group is supposedly going to rotate around the nursing home and some of the other halls look like something out of a kubrick film.
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Jun 11, 2016 21:29
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MurderBot posted:My tenure for Southern NM is up in about 2 months. Moved to Denver about 5 months ago. Come on up, this place is booming.
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Jun 11, 2016 22:39
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Hughmoris posted:Moved to Denver about 5 months ago. Come on up, this place is booming. Denver would be cool but my wife is from Alaska and wants to move back, our compromise is the pacific northwest. I did apply for a job up in Boulder, but they'd have to offer me 6 figures and some sexy benefits to move up there. Even living in Longmont looks expensive as poo poo, and there's no way I could even think about living in Boulder.
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Jun 11, 2016 23:23
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MurderBot posted:Denver would be cool but my wife is from Alaska and wants to move back, our compromise is the pacific northwest. If you're not already sitting pretty, big cities in the PNW are as bad and worse for cost of living. Our compensation is good but not buy a house on one income good. Will you be moving here soon or are you already here? Pm for advice if you need.
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Jun 12, 2016 06:10
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Roki B posted:If you're not already sitting pretty, big cities in the PNW are as bad and worse for cost of living. Our compensation is good but not buy a house on one income good. It's just me and the wife, so dual income with no kids makes cost of living a bit more tolerable. I have no real desire to live within the "big city" up there, most likely if we get situated up in Vancouver one of the smaller suburbs around the area would be where we relocate to. Denver just seems ridiculous at housing costs, similar to that of you guys up in the PNW. Shot you a PM though!
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Jun 12, 2016 15:25
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Confirming thread title. Done with 75 questions, about half were SATA. Feel very confident that I am a minimally competent and safe nurse now.
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Jun 13, 2016 14:55
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Jamais Vu Again posted:Confirming thread title. Done with 75 questions, about half were SATA. Feel very confident that I am a minimally competent and safe nurse now. Congrats! It's a great feeling to be done with that exam. Any job prospects lined up?
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Jun 13, 2016 17:26
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Yeah, orientation starts next Monday. Tele/IMC with the ability to move to ICU after a year or so when then third unit opens up.
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Jun 13, 2016 17:58
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Just accepted a travel position in Denver which has pretty much the same cost of living as where I'm currently at, but I'll be getting paid over 50% more than what I'm making now. gently caress being a staff nurse, seriously.
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Jun 13, 2016 18:45
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