first job (another late post)

(this is another post, typed up in September, that I didn't 'publish' either, so a couple months later, here it is!)

Praise the Lord!  I received my first job offer, and accepted :)  It all happened so fast!  From the time I had reconnected via email with the HR recruiter until the time of my interview and job offer, only 10 days had passed.

The interview with the nurse manager almost seemed more like a personality test to me.  Questions such as:

What 3 words would you want people to describe you as?
Has there been one event/moment in your life that has defined you?
What's the most common misperception people have about you?
Why do you want to be a nurse?
Do you follow your head or heart?
Do you want a summary or details?
What makes you really angry?
etc.

Overall, it went pretty well, and I'm looking forward to starting on this unit at the end of the month :) Everyone seems very friendly and helpful.  Time to enjoy what free time I have left, and get ready to move!

Grace, R.N., B.S.N. (late post)

(this is a post I typed up in July but never hit "publish"-- so here it is, 5 months later! haha)

So, I'm pretty sure NCLEX is designed to make every person who walks out of that exam room feel like they failed.  Four years of college, 2 years of actual nursing school, plus X hours and 2,000+ practice questions later... you'd think that once you're graduated the actual licensing part wouldn't be that bad.  Nope.  Take the pressure of all the exams of nursing  school and combine it into ONE test.

All I can say is that I'm so relieved and grateful to be done with NCLEX :)

Sunday (the day before NCLEX) I went to church, hung out a little bit afterwards, then came home and relaxed.  I refused to do anymore practice questions.  Thankfully, my test was scheduled for 1pm, so I had plenty of time to sleep in, and at least get a decent night's sleep.  I had a slight moment of panic when I started thinking too much about it and got that feeling of anxiousness that I experienced during my first week of nursing school (chest tightening, a little short of breath).

It was pretty nerve wracking, though I thought I stayed as calm as possible for the situation.  I'm pretty sure my blood pressure and pulse were elevated for most of the day.

It seemed like I had alot of traction questions (material that I was NOT good at at all...)
And these drugs I've never heard of before.  Tolcapone? Never heard of that.
I gotta say, it was as difficult a test as our profs described in school, mainly because of the fact that anything and everything is fair game.  Critical thinking skills are an absolute must.
Thank the Lord I really didn't have many OB/peds questions.
I felt like it was a lot of teaching, prioritizing assessments, delegation, and PHARM.  Sheesh, alot of meds.
and the Select All That Apply questions.... I felt like there were so many!

To conclude my post, a picture from tumblr just for fun:

16 hours until NCLEX

D-day is tomorrow.  *whew* Can't believe it's already here. Today I just went to church and spent the afternoon/evening relaxing.  Whether I pass tomorrow or not, I will have tried my best, and to God be the glory.

Nclex status... postponed

Haha so contradicting my previous post, I did postpone NCLEX...lol

So, originally I was supposed to take NCLEX June 17th, but the thursday before the exam, I was internally freaking out and totally did not feel confident about passing whatsoever.  This is pretty normal feeling, but I really felt that I didn't prepare adequately, as I spent most of my time after graduation at home (where let's face it-- I usually am very unproductive when it comes to schoolwork-related things).  So I postponed it to July 1st, and will use the next 2 weeks to study hardcore, and feel more confident about passing when I enter the testing center :)  We're suppose to have completed 3,000 practice questions before NCLEX, and I am definitely nowhere close to that.  A bunch of classmates took the nclex in the past two days, and I've been hearing lots of positive results, so I'm super happy for them (and it's a good sign for the rest of our class too!).

As far a job searching goes, I haven't heard much yet, which make me a little bit anxious.  Lord willing, I hope to get some calls here soon!  Otherwise, I may be a jobless nursing grad :(  

In the meantime....

12 days until NCLEX

How I feel right now...AGHHHHHHHH. JUNE 17th.  Pray it goes well :)

It's official: I'm a BSN grad

Graduation day has come and gone.  I feel as if I've hardly had any time to process that any of this is happening.  I don't think it'll really hit me until a few weeks from now, when I have no class or homework or studying to do (other than for NCLEX), or until I have my first job interview.  It's been a journey, and I'm sad to see this chapter of my life come to an end, but I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord has planned for the future.

Til next time,
Grace, BSN
:)

Pinning. Check. Graduation, 3 days!

The countdown to pinning is finished.  It came and went rather quickly, almost too quickly to take in really, despite the fact the ceremony was almost 2 1/2 hours long.  Even afterwards, it still really didn't hit me that I'm done.  Like, done, done with school.  No late nights studying for an exam, no clinical journals, care plans, case studies.  No study sessions at Boston Coffee.  No more hanging out at room 602 in the CON. No more discussions comparing answers to questions in the hallway post-exam. No more refreshing webcourses to see if exam grades are up. No more snacking during class, or laughing at Dr. D's jokes. Is it weird that I will miss a lot of what I mentioned, when I complained about it so often before? Haha. Really, these 2 years flew by.  It never seems like it while you're in it, until you look back from day 1 until now.  I still remember that first day of orientation, when they overwhelmed us with so much information :)  That first week of sort through 6 or 7 syllabuses and feeling so anxious I had chest pain.  The late nights preparing med cards and care plans for all our different clinical rotations, and feeling so anxious when being quizzed by our clinical instructor-- to beginning practicum and feeling more like a nurse. It's kind of intimidating knowing that we no longer have the safety net of the school and our instructors.  Once we get that "RN" behind our name, we're responsible for ourselves and our patients. Well, I will oddly enough miss school, or perhaps the familiarity that comes with it, since I've known nothing else.  3 more days until graduation!

~all glory be to Christ

8 days until pinning. 11 days until graduation. Oh my goodness.

Wow, I think it's finally hitting me that I'm really... really... almost done with nursing school.   That is so crazy.  All the hard work and studying is coming to a close, and a new chapter of a different kind of learning (practical experience) lies ahead.  Feeling a little bit emotional :)  Nursing school really is no joke.  It's definitely the toughest thing I've done in my 22 years of life, for sure.  I'm sure it will only get more difficult from here, but in a different way.

Last week, I finished my practicum in the Emergency Department.  It was a really good learning experience, and I was blessed with great preceptors who were really encouraging and willing to teach, and didn't treat me as if I was inferior because I was a student, but really tried to help me grow as a future nurse, in both my practical skills (IV insertions, catheters, assessments, etc.) and communication skills.  Jobwise, hopefully I will have a chance to talk to the nurse manager of the ED in order to at least get my name and resume out there.  Starting a a grad nurse in the ED is still a bit of an intimidating thought to me, but I've talked to several nurses who started as a brand new nurse in the ED and said it was the way to go.  Wherever the Lord will have me go, whether it's the ED, or med-surg, or wherever, I will still learn and be content :)

Tomorrow is my last written exam (multiple choice style) in critical care.  After that, I have 2 essay finals, a ATI leadership exam, and THATS IT.  Whew.  It's pretty awesome to look back and see how far we've all come.  I fell a little bit short of cum laude, which is kind of a bummer, a couple more A's and I probably would have gotten it :)  In the end graduating and passing NCLEX is all that really matters :)

~Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

65 days...1560 hours...93,600 minutes...or 5,616,000 seconds (approximately)

65 days until our pinning ceremony! It's getting closer!  Can't believe the end of February is almost here.  Seems like it just started?  I guess that it one good thing about being so busy this semester-- it is going by fast. Two months left.  I was just looking at my previous post, and I don't even remember what I felt so melancholy about haha.

I'm almost halfway done with practicum in the ER.  It's been going fairly well.  It's very quick and fast paced... so we're always busy.  I've gotten alot of practice with IVs and catheters, that's for sure.  Having a slow day in the ER is like a breath of fresh air :)  

Thankfully, today is a nice lazy saturday... I can just sit outside in the porch, plug my computer in, play some music, and get schoolwork done.

5 more days until Spring break! woohoo.

Til next time~

Today...

...I feel bleh. Melancholy. Tired. Just wanna eat some ice cream and have a good cry.  Ready for this semester to be over. Is it possible to be tired of nursing before I've even began?  Usually I'm not like this.  Maybe I just have a major case of senioritis.

=(

Well, I've managed not to cry throughout all of nursing school... might as well not start now.

99 days until graduation

Wow, the graduation countdown is now in the double digits...  Crazy.  I start my first practicum clinical day tomorrow in the Emergency Department.  Needless to say, I'm feeling a little nervous about it... hopefully I will just be orienting the first day instead of being overwhelmed.  I'm excited for the chance to practice more skills, though.

Eek... well it's gonna be an early start to tomorrow (5am), so I better head to bed.  Praying all goes well tomorrow!!!