Hello everyone!!!
I get comments and emails constantly, and I truly mean constant, about this allnurses study packet for the NCLEX. Before I was just emailing it out myself but over time more and more people have been requesting it and instead of waiting around for me to email it to everyone I decided to just upload it to my website so that everyone will have instant access to it without waiting for me ^_^
Happy Studying!
Hello Friends,
My, my, my time has flown!!! So much has changed in my life. I successfully completed nursing school December of 2016 (praise Him!) and passed the NCLEX in February of 2017 (wowzers).
I could go into great detail about all of this but the truth is I already have several videos documenting this on my YouTube channel and I don’t really want to think about the past as crazy and cliché as that sounds. I’ve overcome so much that I just want to look forward to the future and see what awaits me. As of now, I’m still currently jobless 😢 which is sadly expected. I live in a large metropolitan area which is very and I mean VERY saturated with nursing schools and nurses in general. Every public bus, bench, and billboard in a 30 mile radius has advertisements for this that and the third nursing program. My nursing school alone put out over 400 nurses this past December so getting a hospital job let alone into a nurse residency program is something of an achievement and/or miracle.
The hospital that I’m salivating to work for isn’t releasing their new grad RN residency program application until June/July. As you can clearly see it’s February. So I’m figuring out what my next move is and I’m trying to be okay with knowing that I’m not quite sure what that is. I’m using all this free time to do all the things I never had time for in nursing school: Netflix binges, catching up on all the movies I wanted to see, devoting more time to my YouTube channel, reading more, updating my blog etc. Don’t worry, I’m doing some productive things too. I’ve enrolled in a nutrition class as this is my last prerequisite before I can apply to a RN-to-BSN program and I’ve seriously started looking at RN-to-BSN programs. In fact, I hope to start one this summer #allsummer2017. This is what is happening for me and it doesn’t sound terribly exciting when it’s written out. Thanks for following me along on this journey!
Anyways, until next time see ya!
Here are some videos documenting what I’ve been doing these late coupla months, enjoy!
Happy Halloween 🎃!
So if you read my last blog post, then you know I had my Med-Surg HESI yesterday afternoon and I was FREAKING OUT.
So what happened? What were my results………?
I got a 922!!!!!! Basically that means I got full points on HESI and I am elated! If you want more information about how grades work in my nursing program you can read this blog post. I honestly wasn’t expecting to score this well but I did. I can only thank God for this result. I would love to elaborate but I have my Med-Surg final tomorrow so I really should be studying. I just wanted to check in and honor my promise from yesterday. Thanks for following my journey and be sure to follow my YouTube channel 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV1dj9VeiCa_UcuF96Z6FMQ
Until next time, see ya!
Hello all,
Just checking in to let you all know that I am currently stressed out beyond reason. My Med-Surg HESI exam is tomorrow afternoon and although I have studied, I still don’t feel prepared and I don’t think I ever will. This exam covers 6 months worth of medical-surgical material crammed into 55 questions timed questions. Yay me.
So I’ve taken a brief study break to vent my anxiety. I’m nervous AF. I’m jittery. I can’t sit still. I have no desire to eat. I’ve isolated myself from the world and it’s taking a lot to not curl up into a ball and let the fear of failure consume me. I don’t think I will even be able to sleep. Please send some prayers up for me. I will update you all on my score later on in the week as soon as I can.
Until next time, see ya
this anxiety is crippling 😩
Currently how I’m feeling…..
Hello guys and gals!
Long time no speak.
I’ve been pretty busy with school. I’m in the final stretch of nursing school (73 days ahhhhh). I CANNOT believe it’s almost over. Seriously. 2016 flew by! Anyways, I passed psychiatric nursing (thank you Lord). I ended up with a B in the class. I was kinda bummed out because I ended up with a 92.1 and if you read my blog post about the basics of my nursing program, then you would know a 93 is considered an A and I was just about a point shy of an A. Either way, I’m still grateful for passing the course with a decent grade and I also did really well on the HESI. I got an 1167, this was the highest I’ve ever scored on a HESI exam. I was really proud of myself. Overall I did enjoy the course. Psychiatry is such a complex topic and learning about different mental and addictions disorders was extremely interesting. Ehhh, I’m not completely sold on the idea of becoming a psychiatric nurse, however, I’m not as opposed to it as I was before. Either way, psych patients end up in all areas of nursing so the content is very relevant to any nursing specialty. My clinical experience was pretty brief. This is mostly because the facility I was at had a lot of high-risk patients so students weren’t allowed on the floor for longer than an hour. That was psych in a nutshell!
On to the next one! So advanced Medical-Surgical nursing or Medical-Surgical nursing 2 started. This class is 6 weeks and I’m already two weeks in. Next week with be the beginning of the 3rd week. Up to now there has been one exam on the endocrine system that was this past Friday. So far I like the content. The endocrine system is pretty damn important and now I find myself looking at strangers who look like they may have an endocrine disorder and trying to diagnose them. I studied so much for this exam and I felt very prepared. After taking the test I knew I had passed but there were a couple of questions I was unsure of. And of course most of those questions were select-all-that-apply. Those are always the questions I struggle with the most. In this class there will be 2 Tests (25% each), a final (35%), and the HESI (15%). I’m trying to start this course off strong and seeing as this first test was worth 25% of my grade I don’t have much wiggle room to not do well. Anyways that’s my update with school. I’m still chugging along. Hello to all my new subscribers/followers! Thanks for following my journey ^_^
Until next time…..see ya!
Graduation is less than 4 months away…..and if everything goes as planned in six months I’ll be a registered nurse on the way to starting a new life.
The logical part of my brain is telling me, “hey you need to gear up for life after graduation, maybe check out some jobs” while the insecure part of my brain is saying “what if you don’t pass Advanced Med-Surg and your other courses, all this work will be in vain and you’ll be crushed.”
So that’s where I am.
I’ve started looking at new graduate nurse residency programs in my state and out-of-state. I’m hoping to start a program between March and April, the latest July. I know I’ll be a great nurse and I want to start out in an ICU position but it’s not going to be easy so I feel like I should be preparing now because I know it will be competitive.
So in this post I’ll give 4 short and sweet tips to prepare for RN-hood as graduation is on the horizon.
1. If you interested in a new grad RN program, start looking 4 to 6 months before your expected graduation date.
This is especially important if you are thinking about leaving the state because things can get very complicated if you want to endorse your new license in a different state or maybe you just want to go ahead and take the N-CLEX in the state you plan to practice in. It’s also a good idea to see when the applications open for these programs. I looked at about 10 different programs nationally and all of them have fairly short applications window periods, between one week to a month. Some are even first come first serve so it’s better to get an idea of when the applications open so you are not scrambling to apply or miss a deadline.
Speaking of scrambling to apply, another reason why this is important to do is that some of these applications ask for a lot of paper work. Letters of recommendation from clinical instructors and essays, etc. These are not the kind of things you can request at the last minute.
2. Revamp your resume.
If your like me with zero experience in the hospital outside of nursing school you will pretty much have to create a brand new resume. Nursing resumes are different from your average resume. For example, in my old resume I listed all my certifications at the bottom as an added bonus to highlight the skills I have. In a nursing resume your certifications and licenses need to be front and center on your resume. An employer NEEDS to know if you are already licensed or when you expect to be licensed and if you have the other required certifications like BLS for healthcare provides, CPR/AED, ACLS, etc. for that specific job. A great tip would be to fix your resume and have a professor look at it while your still in school.
3. If your haven’t already, start networking!
Now that my clinical experiences are limited, I need to make the most of the opportunities I have left. So you best believe when I am at clinicals I’ll be introducing myself to the nurse managers and carrying copies of my new resume. Hopefully this can lead my to my dream job.
4. Don’t forget about school!
Although thinking about my new career is exciting, I can’t let those dreams stop me from maintaining my academic performance. All of this will be in vain if I fail any courses or my boards. You’re always a student first.
That is all the tips I have for you, please comment below if you have any tips to prepare for life after graduation! Until next time, see ya!
The Black Nurse 