First RN job!

As indicated in my last post, I passed NCLEX, I'm now a licensed RN. Which means I can legally work as an RN. And as of January 21st, that's what I'm doing! :-)

So backstory...

I started applying for RN jobs back in late October, just kind of finding a position that I thought I would be interested in and applying - Medical floor, Telemetry floor, Labor and Delivery unit... Fast forward to early December, and I get a phone call from the nurse manager on Labor and Delivery for an interview! WOOHOO! Interview scheduled for December 21st.

Fast forward through graduation...interview time! I was pretty nervous, but I knew I could handle an interview fairly well, plus I had armed myself with some questions that would look good for me to ask as well as give me an idea of the overall feel of the unit. It was a panel interview - the nurse manager, 2 of the night shift clinical supervisors, and a night shift RN. The interview lasted maybe 20-30 minutes, but I walked out feeling like I did an good job at it. I answered their questions to the best of my ability, plus I asked 4-5 questions of my own (finding out later that the questions I asked were some kick-ass questions that impressed some people on the unit).

Now fast forward to December 27th...phone rings, it's the HR department from THE hospital! My name was sent to them after my interview and they needed to start the background check process. OMG! Now, this wasn't a formal job offer at this point, but I was thinking that the fact that I was moving on to HR, that had to be a positive sign! I consented for the process to go forward...and then just went back to studying for NCLEX.

January 3rd...phone rings, HR from THE hospital...offering me the L&D job! I accepted, and after a few minutes of formalities and further instructions, I had determined my start date of January 21st. I wanted to go ahead and get NCLEX taken and out of the way before I started my job, because I knew I'd rather not juggle job stuff with studying...so now all I had to do was study and pass NCLEX (no pressure!) and wait until January 21st.

Over the next couple of weeks, I got stuff in the mail and had forms to fill out, paperwork to turn in, accounts to activate online, etc. My main focus was NCLEX, though (see previous entry for those fun times)...but once I found out I passed, I had a few days to relax and enjoy my last days of freedom.

January 21st - so begins my 1st day as an employed RN! I won't lie...that whole 1st week was hospital orientation, patient services orientation, and then general nursing orientation. Long 8+ hour days sitting in conference rooms and classrooms, but at least I was getting my RN pay.  On Wednesday afternoon of that week, I actually spent a few hours at the hospital in L&D with the educator, going over department stuff such as a tour and checking off on some of the general orientation activities (uristix, sure step blood glucose testing, unit safety, etc.).

January 28th - my 1st day on the unit, as far as dressing in surgical scrubs, following a nurse, working with patients. I spent the whole week doing this same thing, and saw and did a variety of things: put in Foley caths (probably 4 or 5?), learning to do cervical checks as far as dilation, effacement, and station, watched the CRNA do a few epidurals, charted some vitals, hung some IV fluids and meds, assessed external fetal heart monitoring (determined baseline, variability, presence of accels or decels), saw an amnioinfusion, and was in on 2 deliveries. Can I just say that I totally *love* my job?

So that's it...my job as of 2 weeks in. Even though L&D wasn't my actual 1st choice, mainly because I was looking to get a med-surg job before going into a specialty, I am so not disappointed! OB is the reason why I went to nursing school, and the fact that I got an L&D job as a new grad with no previous experience in the unit...maybe this is where I'm supposed to be. I intend to get in there, learn as much as I can, do the best I can, and work my ass off to be a damn good nurse. Baby steps, but I will get there!

And now that my transition from student to working RN is complete, I suppose I need to change the name of the blog, here. I'm not having adventures in nursing school anymore...so I guess I need to ponder this change and get it taken care of soon!

Also worth noting...this whole thing of clocking out at the end of my shift, coming home and being able to relax without having homework or studying or reading to do...FABULOUS! :-)

EXAMS COMPLETE!

I am finished with nursing school!  No more classes, no more exams, no more assignments...it's all turned in, completed...just waiting on grades to be finalized in Blackboard.  And of course ~GRADUATION~ in 6 days.

Job front: I've applied for 4 jobs, 1 went to one of my classmates (she's a CNA on that unit...understandable), the other 3 have made it through HR and have gone on to the respective unit managers.  So...I wait until I get a phone calls for an interviews.

BUT...I don't have any more work to do while I wait.  I can sit and watch TV!  I can read a non-textbook!  I can get my crate full of textbooks and binders and folder and notebooks put away somewhere else!  I'M FREE!!

:-)

Practicum hours completed!

All 210 required hours are now logged!

I did my last night shift last Saturday night.  It was definitely bittersweet...I wanted to be done with my hours because it significantly frees up my weekly schedule, but at the same time, I am going to miss my experience on the floor.  I really do enjoy direct patient care and cannot wait to get back to it in a few months.  But then, I'll be getting paid for it!  Always a bonus.

So now what am I going to do with all this free time?  Well, we've got our community project that we're presenting next Thursday...and I have my 3rd critical care exam on Halloween...and a huge research paper due November 2nd....plus random busy work items.  So much for "free" time.  But I have to do this for only 55 more days.  I can swing that.

So on the job front...we were told to go ahead and start applying this month.  I haven't yet because there aren't any jobs at The Hospital that I am interested in.  But I keep watching the job postings and hoping for something that sparks my interest.  The only listing on there right now that I would consider is an L&D job...night shift, 2 shifts a week.  I was hoping for 3 shifts a week, and while I have an interest in L&D, that's not the highest on my list.  But a job is a job...so I may go ahead and apply and at least get my name out there.

Other news...we ordered our nursing pins a couple weeks ago and they came in this week.  Squee!  And we got our pictures taken this week as well...but no Florence Nightingale dress and cap look for us  :-(  We actually looked like sorority girls...hair did, makeup on, and a black velvet off-the-shoulder drape.  Not that there's anything wrong with sorority girls...but darn it, I wanted to look like an old skool nurse for just once!  Oh well.

And now I get to enjoy my first non-clinical weekend since before Labor Day!  I'm actually awake and getting things done today instead of sleeping...will be home tonight relaxing (well, probably working on my paper...but still) instead of at the hospital...will get to see my kiddos' soccer games instead of sleeping.  I might as well enjoy this while I can because soon enough I'll be back on a similar schedule...but with a paycheck  ;-)

Happy Friday, Happy Weekend!

Practicum update

...and I've managed to get 63 hours done already.  I'm just under 1/3 of the way through!

It's been interesting so far.  My preceptor is great, she and I get along well (which is always a good thing, makes it much easier), and she can see that I take this role very seriously and am not just going to be a hot-shot know-it-all type.  I definitely do not know everything, far from it, but I apparently know enough of what I'm doing that she's letting me do some of the patient care activities on my own. Nothing major or invasive...she's front and center for anything like that, I don't even try to go it alone on certain tasks...but she'll have me do admissions, plus assessments, PO med passes, any comfort measures, and I do most of the required charting myself.  Knowing Epic has really helped...thank you again, Externship Hospital!

Other classes are going OK.  Didn't do as well as I had wanted on my cardiac exam, but it was my fault, really.  She told us what to study, and I focused on EKG/dysrhythmias too much and not enough on the drugs and treatments.  The questions I missed were drug questions and if I had paid more attention to that section when studying, I would have gotten a lot higher score.  I'm bummed, but I'm not going to let it ruin my semester.  I know what to do for the next exam, so I hope my score will be better!

Other than that, not much going on. I'm definitely keeping plenty busy with school!  So ready for this semester to be done.  It's really hard to believe that with the end of this semester comes the end of nursing school.  Seriously.  I mean, I start applying for nursing jobs NEXT MONTH.  How insane is that?  I would *love* to have a job lined up by graduation...that would be so awesome.  I would be able to work as an RN-A (A for applicant)...getting RN pay (!!!), doing RN work, just with a preceptor until I get my license.  I've got my fingers crossed that the ideal job opens up!

Before I sign off, I wanted to answer a couple of questions from my last post (and I will admit I am really bad about this...I do read all comments on my posts and I'm thankful for the words of support and encouragement...I just really suck at verbalizing that appreciation in subsequent posts!)

Azmomo2 -- yes, this is the only clinical component we have this semester.  Once we get our 210 hours done - at least 155 have to be direct patient care, the remainder can be direct patient care, observational hours, professional hours (attending unit meetings, conferences, classes, etc. with our preceptors) or other miscellaneous hours - we are finished.  Being WEO and getting 36 hours almost every week, I will probably be one of the first of my class to be finished...right now I'm looking at being done in mid-October.  I'll miss patient care, but it will be nice to be able to really focus on my other classes.  I requested night shift hours, and cardiac was one of my preferences.  Looking at the units my class got placed on, telemetry is definitely my first choice!

Heather -- I would have loved being on NICU, but it wasn't an option.  We do have the option of taking up to 12 shadow/observation hours with a different unit (if it can be worked out), and I requested an observation day with my hospital's Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.  My future career goal is NICU (well, as of right now)...but I know it's tough to get in there, there isn't much of a turnaround, and I want to get some general skills and knowledge built up before I go into a specialty.

Curlygirl -- Welcome!  Glad you've found my journey through nursing school interesting.  :-)

On that note...I have some busywork to get done - have to stay up late tonight, sleep tomorrow, because I have clinical tomorrow night.  I hope it's an interesting night!

Laters  :-)

Catching up

I'm still alive...just still in very insane-busy mode.  I had to make a list of all the things that need to be completed between now and the end of the semester and am just marking them off as I get them done.  I focus on things a week at a time...whatever has the nearest deadline is what gets the attention, then I move on.  No sense in freaking about my last TNI exam on April 25th when I have my portfolio that's due in a few days.

Recent stuff...past 2 weeks of TNI clinical were awesome.  In addition to getting more confident doing assessments and prepping/passing meds, I had 2 pretty good (as in interesting cases) patients -- last week was my first C. diff. patient (I've heard "once you have a C. diff. patient, you won't ever forget it"...yeah, that's a statement of truth!) with a bunch of other chronic medical issues, requiring a lot of meds, a glucose test, and an insulin injection, all of which I got to administer.  And this week was my first A. fib. patient...and wow, was she ever in A. fib.!  I had to really focus when counting her pulse and getting her BP because the sounds were all over the place.  She also had lots of meds that I got to administer...plus her nurse took me in there when it was time to pull her Foley...and I got to do it!  I had the same nurse the past 3 weeks of clinical, and I really loved working with her.  She was a great mentoring nurse, let me follow her and ask questions, was super patient when I didn't know something, and let me get in there and do things as much as my skills check off would allow.  In talking to some of my other classmates and finding out that the nurses they worked with weren't like that at all, I consider myself very fortunate.

Another high point...we put on a mini health fair for a group of retired nuns at their...nuns' home.  Our Community class was split into 4 groups, each with a specific topic -- Hypertension, Nutrition, Diabetes, and Breast Cancer.  We had to set up a presentation and educate the nuns about our assigned topic.  It ended up being a great day!  The nuns were really sweet, they asked some great questions and shared their personal experiences, and seemed to really enjoy having a group of young people to talk with.  We even got a mention on their website!  (edited to add:  Yes, my real self made it into a picture.  Actually I'm in 3 of the 4...but one is a closer view than the others)  Our Community instructor said that we were the best group she's taken out there, that we were very professional and well-prepared.  It was a lot of fun and I think we all really enjoyed the opportunity to get away from the hospital and work with a great group of people.

I can't believe I'm a little over 2 weeks away from being finished with my first semester of nursing school!  The time has passed slowly, but at the same time, has flown by.  I've learned a lot since January...and according to local hospital policies, I'm now eligible for any of their Nursing Assistant jobs.  I am seriously considering trying to get a couple overnight shifts a week this summer...just to get my foot in the door, get my name known in the hospital system, and make at least a little bit of money.  Currently there are some openings in general medical...might have to look into that.  My clinicals were on one of the med floors and I wouldn't mind working there.

Alrighty...time for me to quit yappin' and get back to work.  There are things beckoning -- portfolio, care plan, involved community paper/presentation...  No rest for the wicked!

Later(s) gators  :-)