Your First Years

How to get a job

The current recession has made it more difficult for nurses — even experienced nurses — to find a job. But don’t give up! Industry experts say that with a little time and dedication, nursing jobs can be found.

Speak more assertively as a nurse

Let’s face it: Standing up to colleagues, patients and their families isn’t always easy. Let these simple tips teach you how to speak with confidence.

The great med-surg debate

Everyone’s got their opinion: should you start out in a specialty first?

How do I deal with mandatory overtime?

Fifteen states have restrictions on mandatory overtime, so ask what’s allowed.

How to get organized for clinical

A student nurse’s formula for a pretty basic sheet that has all the components she needs. “That way I’m not spending my time looking for where I need to write down what information, I can just go with the flow during report.”

Nursing Etiquette: Embarrassing situations

“One thing I never learned in school, and haven’t figured out as a nurse, is how to handle embarrassing situations in the clinical area. For example, if my patient “lets go of gas,” he and I both feel uncomfortable.”

The Catch-22 of inexperience

Our skills lab really trains us well, but all the patients are plastic. If we can’t practice skills in the hospital as students, how are we supposed to learn?

New nurses struggle to find jobs

Many new grads are having a hard time finding a job. Are today’s nursing schools promising too much?

Dispelling the black-hole myth

Rumor has it that once you start nursing school, life as you know it, is over. It’s hard work, but it doesn’t have to be the black-hole everyone makes it out to be.

Continuing education debate

I have been inundated with many varying facets of my grand life plan that have posed interesting possibilities for me. And here I stand, three years out from graduation and facing one of the biggest decisions of my life. To return to school or not return to school…that is the burning question.