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 received another “ask me a question” and it comes from Marie and here is what she asked:

“Does it matter what hospitals you do your clinicals at? I am starting a nursing program at a University that has 2 Nursing campuses in different cities. They are the same programs, but one is older and has affiliations with more Hospitals, but is smaller and harder to enroll in classes I need. The other is newer, has a larger campus and therefore easier to enroll in the classes I need but because their nursing program is newer they are not affiliated with very many Hospitals.”

Marie thanks for you question. I understand your concern on if you should enroll in the clinicals/classes that are more affiliated with the local hospitals because getting hired will be easier. However, the school I went to was affiliated with the local hospital in my area and many of the students from my school got jobs from the hospital but so did other students who did not attend affiliated schools.

I really don’t think it will affect you but if you are worried about it I would ask you admission office to make sure. When you start looking for a job I would be really aggressive and start early so you can get a position. If you are worried about the opportunities you may get I wouldn’t worry about it because you will probably have access to better equipment and resources than the older school.

I hope I answered you question and good luck Marie!

Sarah

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Posted under Ask A Question