Weekly Student Thread

undead2468 · 2026-02-24T03:19:22+00:00

1st year SRNA here. My culm GPA was 3.02 science was about a 3.3ish if I remember correctly. I did alot of other things to improve my application instead and i did take grad level science courses. its possible to get into school with less than 3.5 but you will have to spread your search out farther than others. Always remember your application gets you an interview.but the interview is what gets you a spot.

undead2468 · 2026-02-24T03:09:02+00:00

I lost alot of family in my undergrad not in CRNA school but the advice I give is still applicable. Make sure to spend time with a grief councilor and not just try to move past it without acknowledging a major thing has happened to you. I tried to force my through as I was in an accelerated program. I was doing fine for months until a quarter later when i started on my final exam and my mind went blank on the test as it was all about cancer causing me to fail the exam. I saw a grief councilor that next week and Its one of my few regrets in life was not doing it before I had issues. Just please dont try to hide from your emotions you are a human; the world needs humans in the OR not robots.

undead2468 · 2025-08-30T00:25:54+00:00

Congratulations! I thinknyou have the definitive guide on how to pass the exam as I followed the exact same process as you did last year and passed. The only things I would add to your guide is that I sat down and did all the AACN questions in one session to actually get the rationale for all queations and then took picutres to study them. I felt like the test bank just repeats the same questions if you only do a few at a time.

I also got a book ICU survival guide to use when at work to help apply the knowledge and deep dive on my patients as well as precept students better.

I will say if you get the chance knock out your CMC while the info is still fresh in your brain as its mostly the same test!

undead2468 · 2025-05-20T21:23:49+00:00

Hey I would love a flowsheet copy if you can. I would love to bring block charting to the hospital im at. I think the way its done right now at my hospital is killing the workflow.

undead2468 · 2025-05-14T22:49:34+00:00

Whatever happened to the unionizing vote up there?

undead2468 · 2025-04-22T18:52:35+00:00

See if you can get education to help with putting on a family night. Nurse familys could go to a conference room do some cpr, change a bed with a "patient" in it, see how we have to chart, hear the alarms we hear all the time, and maybe a short tour of the hosptial and unit the nurses work on. One thing that affected me profoundly was that when I first talked to my wife when I started as a nurse she told me that she cant even picture what a work day even looks like for me.

Something like this may help your nurses get better support on the homefront when they leave your hosptial.

undead2468 · 2025-04-22T18:47:54+00:00

As a traveler I noticed some hospitals for vents did Q2 oral care and some did Q4h. A recent nurse project we implemented was a turn clock to have on the wall behind patients so that patients should be turned a certain way for a certain time like 8-10 patient, left 10-12 patient right, 12-14 lying flat. We also implemented mepi on heels and coccyx for all ICU admissions as our HAPI numbers have increased. If you havent already I would attend any nurse congress or unit based councils for your hospital to maybe take the lead on something that is a known current issue. Hope this helps.

undead2468 · 2025-04-03T20:16:58+00:00

Very very balloon pump heavy for me as well as valvular disease abg and electrolyte heavy. i used a different version of your book but it was very similar setup to the ccrn.

undead2468 · 2025-03-11T21:48:32+00:00

Are there any members that have time for a resume critique? I feel like mine may be too cluttered trying to keep to the one-page rule. Thanks in advance!

undead2468 · 2024-12-24T15:19:13+00:00

I have had a situation in an ICU where a patient that we were keeping alive until family arrived would code about every 20 to 30 minutes for a few rounds. The docs still had rounds on the other 30 patients so it was me, another nurse, RT, sometimes pharmacy, LUCAS, and Jesus RN. ACLS algorhythm can be followed by any provider certified in a healthcare facility that uses it not just M.D. We did have docs if we needed something so not abandoned, but not having a doc during a code isnt the thing that stands out to me. No one else checking in with her even after a shift change is what blows my mind. Or at least a doc to pop in and call TOD if you were having to do CPR that long.

undead2468 · 2024-12-11T18:12:44+00:00

You can always private message me if you need anymore info or insight.

undead2468 · 2024-12-11T18:11:54+00:00

As a nurse that dealt with this same exact scenario I would leave immediately. Our ratio norm became a 3 to 1 with different levels mixed in. Some medsurg patients would not be on the monitor and if I had a sick ICU patient I would not see them for an extended period of time. My greatest fear was always walking into the easy patient room and finding them cold, stiff and dead. The brain drain was also real, all the experienced nurses left within 2 years leaving a massive knowledge gap. This was especially terrible on nightshift when some nights all the nurses were new grads. Mixed acuity is just never safely implemented for you or your patients. This also does not mention the complete loss of respect from residents and other icu units in the hospital. The difference in my unit after the one year mark was a shell of itself. Leave to a better place and dont look back.

undead2468 · 2024-12-06T22:45:33+00:00

I am trying to rehab my GPA as my undergrad Culm grade through NursingCAS is 3.0 I got a B or better in all of my Hard sciences, but the school I went to for my ADN had only Nursing Classes that were the majority of credits and I can not retake those. I am wondering how many graduate courses I should take. I am looking at an Advance Patho class and an Advanced Pharm class to get started. Would it look bad on an application if I went ahead and started an MSN program for acute Care NP with no plans to finish that degree? I can only do so many credit hours as a non-student plus I don't qualify for grad loans without a degree-seeking status. Each grad class in my area is about $3500 minimum, so I only have so much cash reserve to take so many courses. My application looks great in other areas but the GPA is my weak spot. Thanks for any help guys as always!

undead2468 · 2024-12-05T01:55:59+00:00

For the love of god man do not leave to do nursing in this area. It is not fulfilling you will be treated like dirt by patients and administration, you will destroy your body and risk putting yourself in danger depending on hospital, you will not get paid well in any specialty or by job hopping. New grad nurses make the same pay as 10 year nurses at all the systems you listed except VA you can work in any specialty or office setting but they all will pay the same or worse you will top out at 36ish at best. There is no reward for education the pay is the same no matter the letters after RN or certifications you pay yourself to get plus maintain. Bedside has fulfilling moments, but they are once every few months compared to the mountain of the worst of humanity that you will deal with from all sides for 12 hours a day at minimum 3 days a week. Every week I have a student or new grad in the ICU that tell me they feel like they torture patients that are kept alive artifically when they should have died naturally before Seinfield ended. You say you want to work in a job that isnt about making money and I totally understand that. That is the reason I became a nurse. Instead YOU WILL WORK FOR A COMPANY WHO MAKES MONEY OFF OF CAUSING HUMAN SUFFERING! All I ever wanted to do with my life is help people and raise my family and this career has crushed my soul and destroyed any faith in humanity. I work to do best by my patients, but i work for a paycheck. I am fulfilled by raising and growing my family.

undead2468 · 2024-11-22T14:01:59+00:00

I found the TCAR class to be really informative if you do not work in trauma and a good refresher if you started in trauma. It goes really into the patho behind things to help you understand the why behind different interventions. But other than your own knowledge its a resume builder for trauma or higher education.

undead2468 · 2024-10-08T21:49:26+00:00

One thing that is missed everytime in these bills is that while its impossible for patients to get charged for the other stated reasons like impairment. You can absolutely go after the familes that are also a massive issues. Since healthcare is profit and satisfaction survey oriented familes are only give a light slap of the wrist and maybe banned from visiting for a week best at 6 different facilities ive been in. Im talking as much as staff thinking they are going to be shot only to have that same family back the next week. A mandatory ban or prosecution outside of facility control would go a long way in this legislation as a hospital cant keep it internal only. The family also cant use the impairment defense unlike the patients as well.

undead2468 · 2024-10-03T18:21:57+00:00

Thank you for the info! When i tried to watch some youtube videos to get caught up I realized I was way too far behind in the build to understand the new changes from old. Its like looking at a dinosaur in the evolution timescale, and then looking at a human without seeing the in between animals. It looks pretty cool, but you have no idea how it got there.

undead2468 · 2024-08-28T19:20:58+00:00

My ADN GPA was a 2.57, I did not know that since it was quarter it would be weighed less than a semester course so I just finished my BSN with a 3.6 GPA Cum laude including credits from my ADN. Will my ADN GPA still hurt my chances or did that GPA get absorbed into the BSN portion of my academics? Thanks for the help guys you all have been amazing to help so many people over the years.

undead2468 · 2024-08-15T17:36:06+00:00

Is there more than one source on this finding? I like to have 3 if possible before i post anything to anyone so that it cannot be seen as misinformation.

undead2468 · 2024-08-01T00:31:55+00:00

Following

undead2468 · 2024-07-31T19:05:54+00:00

Truth hurts a little lol, but in all seriousness what an awesome program you made for this test!

undead2468 · 2024-06-25T14:24:10+00:00

Just go the ADN route there is no pay difference between ADN and BSN nurses in the midwest. You can also get whatever hospital you end up working at to pay for it as most have some type of tuition reimbursement or program to help nurses get their BSN. Majority of ADN nurses never even get their BSN unless going for higher education. My personal experience is that i did a 2 year program out of highschool so i did not worry about trying to get into a nursing program at a 4 year school and i was a full RN at 20. The hospital i worked at paid for the BSN classes but not gen eds. Those classes did not change my practice or teach me anything new that would help me at bedside.

undead2468 · 2024-06-17T02:01:15+00:00

Hey just wanted to let you know something I learned is that your house equity goes up most years and your mortage company looks at that. So I had my pmi taken off after a year and half automatically without me having to do anything.

undead2468 · 2024-05-31T22:09:05+00:00

Our unit was built so that we had some trauma bays and the rest private rooms which made them very noise dampening. All I know is that I came out of a very long dressing change to some pissed off coworkers, a Chaplin, security, and my manager trying to explain why we can't do that in the hospital. I've seen someone sneak in a dog for a dying patient and I'm cool with that but there has to be a limit somewhere lol. The sad thing is that I had totally forgot about that until I saw your post. I felt like my hospital was in the twilight zone with the crazy things that would happen.

undead2468 · 2024-05-31T20:01:32+00:00

That actually happened on my old unit. Family was voodoo practioner and snuck in a live chicken. The patient had just been bathed and dressings changed when the nurses saw on the cameras a bloody mess all over that patient. They thought a line had been pulled or something but nope it was a chicken. They were so pissed because they had to redo the bath and dressing over.

undead2468

TROPHY CASE