Registered Nurse (RN)-Former Nursing Student & Current Nurse Blog My Journey of Becoming & Working as a Registered Nurse

Hey Everyone,

So it has been a while since I made a post last. Almost a month…yikes…bad Sarah. I’ve missed blogging. I think getting NCLEX over with took the best out of me lol. I want to THANK EVERYONE who has commented on the blog and congratulated me….you all are so sweet and I had no idea how many people read my blog. I’m so grateful and honored hehe.

First of all, I can’t believe I’m a RN….even at work I sometimes still feel like a student nurse. It will take some time to get into my brain that I am not a student nurse because for the pass 4 years I have been one. I’m still in my orientation period where I have a preceptor who I work side by side with. I actually start being on my own around August 10th YIKES!

I’m still learning everyday and I’m finally getting comfortable with calling doctors and asking them questions. I don’t know if you all have/had the same problem but at first I was so scared to do it, especially since I have had some not so friendly encounters with some doctors. I’m getting good with documentation and prioritizing my time but I so need to work on medication administration.

Here is the reason: Since I have graduated I haven’t been able to give any medications because I wasn’t licensed as a RN to do so until I passed NCLEX. Well I passed NCLEX and every thing but I still wasn’t allowed to do it until I got my nursing licensed (received it Monday in the mail….finally lol I took NCLEX June 11 and it took that long to get it…I’m impatient) and I passed my hospital’s pharmacy exam. I took it on Tuesday and passed it. It was a drug calculation test and I made a 100….woohoo. So tomorrow hopefully I will be good to go with giving medications. Giving medications is a huge part of a nurse’s job and it takes time so I need to learn how to incorpate that into my routine.

Work has been going good. I’ve been so tired though! The reason is: I have to work my regular 12 hours shifts weekly and attend classes provided by the hospital. For instance, this week I have around 50 hours when you add in my education hours. I’m taking this cardiac dysrhythmia class where they teach you 25 rhythms. It is a 4 week class and next week is my last week. We have an exam and I have to pass it in order to get my education hours. I’m a little nervous about the rhythm interpretation part because 2 people on my unit failed it and had to repeat the test. I’ve been studying but when all the rhythms are put together they get really confusing. For instances, I get Sinus rhythm with PACs or PJCs confused all the time lol. Wish me luck on it! It’s next Tuesday!

So overall the past month I have been working and have had little time for social activities. However, I have had time to go to Dollywood (went last Sunday…it was so fun…Mystery Mine was AWESOME) and go out to eat with Meira before she left for Nashville. I hope all is going well in the Big Ville, Meira. You will start work next week hehe. Meira and I went out to eat and here are some very silly pictures from our outing. Meira had a wonderful time making fun of my squinting eyes even though the sun wasn’t out. In my defense I couldn’t see and the sun was hurting my eyes (sun or no sun).

Me and my squinting….Meira got a kick out of it!

I was trying to improvise LOL but it didn’t work…..

Sunglasses did the cure!! 

I had a great time Meira. I hope every one has a great night. I work tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday. I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July.

Until next time,

Sarah

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Posted under Daily Ramblings, Life as a RN

Hey Everyone,

I hope everyone is having totally terrific Tuesday and your Memorial Day weekend was great. My weekend was absolutely AWESOME. Ben and I took our nephew and his girlfriend to Dollywood on Monday. We had such a great time. We were worried about the weather because it was calling for scattered Thunderstorms with 60% chance of rain. We were actually not going to go but it was the only time we could go because our nephew would not have been able to go next weekend and my work schedule only allows us to go on the weekends. Ben and I were like what the heck we are going. So we went to the Dollar Tree and bought ponchos for the so-called rain LOL. The weather was perfect. It sprinkled rain for literally 2 minutes and the rest of the day it was sunny/partly cloudy with highs in upper 70s to low 80s. I was glad because when the sun came out it felt really hot….like it was frying my skin.

We rode all the fun rides such as Dare Devil falls, Blazing Furry, Slidewinder (awesome ride but very long walk to the ride), Dizzy Disks (my favorite), Tennessee Tornado (LOVED IT LOVED IT) and a bunch of other rides. I’m sad to say I didn’t get to ride the new Mystery Mine or Thunderhead because the lines were too long but those will be the first coasters I ride when I go back…..hopefully soon!

My husband’s hives didn’t even bother him that much (he has Cholinergic Urticaria), so that was a relief. He usually breaks out into hives (urticaria) anytime he gets hot.

Me on the Tennessee Tornado (somewhere in the middle)….Ben is taking the picture from the viewing area….he doesn’t ride roller coasters….he just watches me do it. He thinks I’m crazy for riding them!

I FINALLY received my ATT in my email and I’m scheduled to take NCLEX-RN officially June 11th at 8:00am. I’M SO NERVOUS!! Some of my friends are taking it as early as June 3rd which is next week. I couldn’t chance it….plus I felt like it was to soon because I have to prepare myself mentally for it. Seriously I am scared. I’m studying for it by practicing questions. I just can’t wait for it to be over and FINALLY I can put R.N. after my name.

I will soon have to be changing the title of my blog but at least RNlife.com will now make sense lol. Every one be praying for me!

Tomorrow and rest of the week I’m still in classroom orientation. Then next week I’m working the floor….woohoo! I hope every one has a great week!

Until next time,

Sarah

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Posted under Daily Ramblings, Graduate Nurse Life