It's NCLEX Time!

I am officially a nursing school graduate! It's been one hell of a ride, but there are more challenges up ahead: NCLEX and getting that first RN job! I already know that once I receive my ATT, I am going to probably take the exam late September or early October because scheduling any later would mean procrastination and complacency. Many, if not most, of the jobs I am applying for also require me to already have the license to even be considered for an interview. Where do I want to work? Near home of course since the thought of sitting an hour plus in NYC travel makes me want to bang my head on a wall but that is limiting and I need to cast a w ide enough net so I have decided  to expand my search to all of the 5 boroughs (still on the fence about Staten Island), as well as Nassau and Suffolk County Long Island (not deep Suffolk though). I have also recently included nights into my search. Yeah I said it, I am willing to work nights since I realize that looking for day only positions as a "wet behind the ears" new grad is nigh impossible. Besides roughly 70% or more of available RN positions are indeed at night or seem to be. It would be difficult for me especially with hubby's weird and sometimes unpredictable schedule but like everything else thus far, I can make things work for my family, with some flexibility of course and nursing seems like it may be flexible enough. I have never worked nights before, ever, so if I do acquire a night position, I am pretty sure I will be in for a culture shock, at least initially. What areas am I looking to work in? I am open to almost anything (again I am a new grad so I probably have to be) but my "dream" position, if there were such a thing, would probably be in critical care. Why critical care? Well it's completely bad-ass for one. Secondly I think I would actually like the challenge despite how difficult and scary it might be. Unfortunately fresh green RN grads are completely clueless and sorely inexperienced to work in critical care without entry into some sort of critical care residency program. Right now I have my eyes on Northwell Health but it might be a long shot since every other RN or RN wannabe with their mama has their eyes on Northwell Health. I have to at least try though, right? Now let me go and attempt to study something NCLEX-related at some point today.

One More Month and I'm Out!

It's been awhile. Where do I begin? Well for starters, I am finished in a month. Yeah that right, ONE MONTH! The program was only 15 months but I have been on this journey for over 5 years and it's still a lot more to come! I am still proud of myself though because I wasn't sure if I had the guts to make the switch. I hope I like being a registered nurse because there will be no more career switching for me; I'm gonna be a nurse until forever! As for my last semester I had expected it to be kind of chilled but like everything else in my life, it's not that simple. Can I just say I'm frustrated? I guess everybody needs a job but let just say some take it way more serious than others and unnecessarily so but I digress...Plans after I graduate? That's easy enough, to get a JOB. Yeah I am already working technically but I meant full-time and as a RN. Do I feel prepared? No, but it seems that most people are not prepared for the real world of nursing since school is not like being in the field and emotionally I am all over the place! On the one hand I am excited to soon work in the field that I took years preparing for; on the other hand, I hate that I will be a newbie in my 30s making new grad mistakes (I am starting over basically) and could be potentially taking orders from cocky young bucks who could be my almost kids; or nurses who have been working at their jobs 30 years too long (and I am not referring to those brilliant and helpful experienced nurses who are the best teachers but those nurses who show no growth despite tenure and do everything half-ass). I am also trying to prepare for NCLEX, although this is proving more difficult than I anticipated since I spend the majority of my free time either studying, working, or living life. Worst case I will just wait until I am officially done to focus exclusively on NCLEX since it will probably be a couple of months after I am done to take the exam anyway.

Accelerated Nursing Programs and Nursing Externships Don't Mix!

One of the major benefits of an accelerated nursing program is that students who have already "been there, done that" can get a nursing degree faster, right? The degree is obtained faster not because there is less work in the curriculum but everything is condensed so students attend school year round, including summer, while traditional students are off. Fair trade off? Maybe, maybe not. The thing is, most summer externship programs for nursing students during the summer are full-time programs. This is fine for traditional students who are off during summer but for accelerated students, this is a big problem since 10 times out of 10 accelerated students are not only taking classes, but are probably doing so on a full-time basis. Why am I bringing this up then? Well as you know I am doing any and everything possible to gain as much health care experience as I can before I graduate because I don't want to be "caught out there" when I graduate (sorry just not trying to be one of those new grads spending  6 months to a year plus looking for my first nursing gig; I'm too damn old for that). Now the good thing is I do work in a hospital and my job is useful experience, but I would actually like to touch a patient, not to mention I didn't leave my desk job of over a decade to pursue a nursing career only to work another desk job but I digress. There were two summer externship programs that I felt could have been perfect for me, only to find out I will not qualify for either position since I cannot commit to a full-time work schedule (I actually had a phone interview with one of the organizations and the recruiter specifically told me this). Honestly it hurts and it's a little frustrating but I almost never give up so I will keep pushing until I find something that will give me good hands on experience and align with my interest until I am actually a RN.

So what can accelerated students do? My advice would be to obtain any per diem or part-time job in a hospital or healthcare organization, even if it isn't hands on. I would even go as far as to suggest getting a non-paid or volunteer position if it healthcare related (but that would be a last resort since I feel that broke adult students should be getting some sort of paycheck but again I digress). Why? because you have to do something to market yourself and you don't want to be "caught out there." Sure there is the whole option to relocate to where the jobs might be, blah, blah, blah, but if you are like me (and many accelerated and traditional nursing students are), uprooting your life is not even an option. Does all this guarantee a job within 3 months of graduation? No, but why not do what you can to increase your prospects? Now I am off to study and get back on my grind.

7 More Months until I Graduate Nursing School!

I can hardly believe that I am through the halfway mark of my accelerated nursing program and I will graduate in only 7 months! I am so excited but am definitely feeling that I am not prepared but that seems to be the theme with most nursing students I guess. Work so far has been good (still only working on weekends) but I am currently interested in getting into some sort of nursing externship this summer. There are some I will probably not even apply for like the NYU summer student nurse extern program, which requires a 3.5 GPA. The distance would also be a hinderance since it would require travel by train AND bus which I am not trying to do. The hospital I work at has an 8 week student nurse extern program as well and it only requires a 3.0 GPA (my current GPA is around 3.3). I already applied (the deadline is next week) but there are several complications that may knock me out of the running: the position is full-time (I am in an accelerated program and take classes in the summer) and the program is geared to students graduating in either December 2018 or May 2019. The program also requires nurse externs to follow their preceptors' schedule which means I may have to miss class on occasion, not to mention working nights which for me is a no go. My oldest child will be 14 this year and I am not sure if and how she will be able to help me with her younger siblings as she will have her own things to deal with. I also considered transferring into a more hands on position (i.e. PCT) but not sure how practical that would be since I will only have the job for a few months. Then there are nurse resident programs which allow you to orient right into a specialty unit like critical care, ER, or pediatrics. Sure they don't always pay as well as the regular RN positions but the experience would be invaluable. So many decisions and so little time! To think this time last year I had only been accepted into Downstate's accelerated program for a month and was questioning whether or not I even made the right choice. Time really flies.

Working Girl

As promised I obtained a per-diem job in a hospital. I currently work as a per-diem unit clerk in a hospital and although it doesn't give me the hands on patient care experience that I was looking for like a PCT, it has allowed me to get an in depth look at how a nursing unit functions as well as entry into healthcare (not to mention the daily drama nurses deal with). Right now I only work a couple of days a week which is doable for me this semester (in the summer there was no way in hell I could even work 1 day a week) and I hope that when the time comes to start applying for my first RN job I will get first "crack" at jobs in the hospital or even elsewhere. The pay, while a lot less than my previous job (and certainly less than that of an RN) is actually not that bad and it allows me to not put all of our expenses on hubby.

So what is a unit clerk anyway? A unit clerk or unit secretary is a person that deals with the "administrative" aspect of a nursing unit, such as answering phones, contacting physicians or other health care personnel (respiratory, pharmacy, etc.), organizing patient records as well patient tracking. Depending on the unit or hospital there may be additional functions; in smaller facilities some clerks are crossed-trained as PCT's. Is the unit clerk position difficult? In my opinion it isn't but you do need to have decent communication skills, some knowledge of medical terminology and equipment and be able to follow directions relatively well. You should also be able to work in a fast-paced environment. In essence your job is to make the nurses' job easier by doing mundane tasks so that they can actually have time to care for their patients and be nurses. Do some nurses take advantage of clerks? Sure but I don't care as long as I am doing tasks that are in my job description. My goal is to be the best unit clerk I can be so that when my time comes, I have lots of people who can vouch for my work ethics and be a reference for me.