Hi Barb,
First and foremost, welcome to critical care nursing!
My advice is that you find yourself a mentor (or
mentors). Look for someone who is where you want to
be professionally in 3-5 years, and ask that person to
mentor you. The person you ask will most likely be
flattered that you asked. Watch what that person does
during his/her shift. It will probably feel like your
mentor breezes through the shift without breaking a
sweat, while you wonder how any human can work as hard
as you are and be pulled in as many directions, and
still not be done at the end of the shift. But, if
you step back a little bit, you will usually find that
your mentor has rough days too. Don't be too hard on
yourself when you are new. You can't learn everything
in the first months. Ask your mentor how long it took
him/her to feel comfortable doing critical care
nursing. You may be suprised at the answer. Also,
join a professional organization like AACN and your
local chapter of AACN. This is a great way to meet
other critical care nurses and to learn what is on the
horizon in critical care. And if you ever get the
chance, go to AACN's National Teaching Institute
(annual convention). I went last year and had a great
time, met a lot of people and learned many things I
was able to take back to my hospital.

As far as the NCLEX goes... Take some deep breaths
and relax. I found that the process of checking in
for the test, and the security involved in taking the
test was more intimidating than the test itself. It
is easy to get yourself so worked up that you forget
to use common sense. The scoring for the test is not
like the tests you took in school 90-100%A, 80-89%B.
etc. You are just trying to get over 50%, over 50% of
the time (huh????). At least that's the way it works
in California. So, don't freak if you don't know the
answer to a few. The NCLEX doesn't test knowledge per
se. It tests the way you think and use your basic
nursing knowledge (nursing process, etc.)
Remember that very few people fail the NCLEX on the
first try(11% in California). I'm sure you'll do
fine. After all, you ARE a critical care nurse.

Good luck,
Paul Ladwig

--- "Barbara S." <lady424@...> wrote:
> Hi, my name is Barb. I'm a new grad from December
> 2002 and my first
> job as an RN is in the MICU of a hospital in Rock
> Island, Illinois.
> I am so glad I found this group. The postings have
> helped a bunch
> already. If anyone has any advise for me just
> starting out I'd love
> to hear it. Time management tips are also more than
> welcome. I
> don't think I have a time management problem yet,
> but I don't want
> to develop one either. Also any other recent grads
> that have advice
> about taking the NCLEX please share I take mine on
> 3/18 - 6days.
> Thanks again.
>
> Barb Staker RNLP
>
>
>


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