Practicing How To Sell Myself

Brainstorming...

Leadership Nursing - documenting assessments, VS, & meds on prism; learned how to juggle taking care of multiple patients; post-mortem care *shivers*; observed Roosevelt ER--dealt with a difficult pt who was throwing things on the floor; shadowed nurse anesthetist/anesthesiologist--yum, anesthesiologist let me listen to a heart murmur & feel for i guess a nerve twitching when they were administering a regional block; tried to explain lots of things like the frank-staring law & the carotid body, anesthesia, etc.; went to flush someone's heplock with saline warned him that it might burn a bit..and he said he knows and he hates it..after i finished he said wow thats the first time it didnt burn...because i took the time to do it slowly since i was by myself-whenever im with clinical instructors they tell me to push it faster..so the patient and the wife were happy about that

Community Nursing - presentation with ppt in Cantonese--huge challenge; taking on a spanish speaking patient--able to understand 60% of what she said & let her vent to me about how much she hates bellevue, also a challenge; rewarding experience bc she really appreciated having someone to talk to & i was able to help her fix her bp a little by changing her med regimen (with cli instructor); liked the autonomy

Elder Care Nursing - toughest pt...dude was about to bite my head off; visited PACU; refused my care & made me look like a fool in front of my instructor; made me think a little about what could have been done differently to avoid the hostility; was a little bit too hard on myself and took it personally; instructor suggested being more firm and confident with the pt instead of trying to be nice...; learned that some pts are just going to be difficult and it doesnt necessarily have anything to do with you; surprised myself by not being angry at the pt instead was able to tolerate his behavior by concluding that he is under a great deal of stress and frustration...

Child & Family Nursing - most rewarding clinical; visited Peds ER--a lot different from Adult ER, shadowed a great preceptor; visited Peds ICU..kinda boring; difficult preceptors; challenging mathematical calculations of meds thanks to MV--big emphasis on medication administration; started IVs; dealt with difficult family members; learning what each age group's needs are is a challenge;

Adult Health Nursing - stayed with a pt the whole day (skipped lunch too) for moral support & also to see her get cardioverted 3 times for her a fib; pt was very scared; expressed being nervous and was kinda annoyed that they took forever to bring her down; i tried to help her see that things are unpredictable and sometimes procedures get backed up bc there are emergencies or someone needs to be helped sooner than she; learned that i need to get some better therapeutic skills...maybe tell me more about that or so you're scared?; cardioversion was interesting...got to learn about propofol aka MJ's drug of choice

Psychiatric Nursing - played ping pong with the patients...and what else?? listened to their delusional stories...interesting experience though..and scary

Maternity Nursing - ugh i hated this clinical. dont got anything good to say. hate hate hate L&D. births were nice to watch but whatever

Fundamentals of Nursing - extremely challenging instructor; pushed to learn about EKGs before we were supposed to; spent time in telemetry; forced to perfect a 7-min head-to-toe assessment; did admissions with a preceptor; documented assessments and stuff on prism; spent time in cardiac sdu where my cantonese came in very handy bc a ton of the pts were chinese;

ER Externship- like how you see patient of all ages from infants to older adults; see something new everyday like a fetus in a cup, belligerent drunkards, people with psych issues, crazy injuries, etc; watched a DNR pt die in scared-fashion, but was impressed with how the staff handled it..inspires me to be like that one day; saw how important teamwork is in the ER & what can happen when there is a slacker team member; got very familiar with the triage room; worked with attending physicians in procedures, respiratory therapists, PCTs, EMTs, etc; assisted in the trauma room; must learn spanish...;

EM research - research assitant for the dean; used assessment tools frequently like EAI, MMSE; had to figure out how to clarify questions to older adult; got some espanol practice since i was at bellevue, used language line when i was desperate; listen to elderly go on and on but its ok bc they like the company; editing two textbook chapters; wrote an EM case study for one chapter; learned a lot about elder mistreatment; primary care setting; goal: to establish feasibility of screening in the primary care setting; also to estimate the prevalence & incidence of EM; obtain informed consent; collaborate with NP to recruit patients; assist in following specific protocol when a participant screens "positive"

lymphedema study - improve clinical practice by implementing & evaluating an educational & behavioral program to enhance active lymphedema risk reduction among breast ca pts; data entry; some SPSSness; research seroma extensively--lit review & relationship to LE; oriented a PhD student;

OTP research - recruit peeps to interview over the phone; to assess alcohol reduction policies of opioid tx programs throughout the US; traces back to Hepatitis C and what is being done in drug tx programs; hep C 4x more prevalaent than HIV or AIDS but doesnt get much attn; research focuses on ramifications for abuse users as well as services for etoh abusers;

name an instance where...

-you handled a difficult patient - elder

-you worked as a team - post mortem care

-spoke up to a preceptor/physician - allen ED; told preceptor she was giving the pt an attitude and starting beef even though she was trying to deny it to the nurse manager. she took it well though..

-describe a clinical you liked a lot and why - leadership; more autonomy...teacher isnt following you every 5 seconds.

-went above and beyond for a patient - cardioversion

-weaknesses - not confident when i am in unfamiliar territory

-strengths - fast learner; motivated; always want to do better; can unconditionally sympathize with pts

-what do you do to de-stress? play sports!

-what's one thing you do everyday? chat online

-why this unit? i like ER bc blah blah blah externship.

-talk about one bad experience you had during clinical - elder clinical crazy patient

-if you were not a nurse, what would you be? a poker player? a doctor? something healthcare related

-how did you find out about this job posting? irrelevant

-what'd you think of the unit? lovely

-what's the most important thing you learned about in nursing? must use advocate or EBP. what else is there?

-why this hospital? #1 in ny; great reputation; blah blah blah; agree with your mission statement--high quality pt care, great learning environment, support, great team effort in the ER;

-How would you describe yourself in three words? determined, insightful, precise, motivated, influential

-Would you ever NOT follow the rules in order to get something done? depends on the situation; would use judgment to see if something>rule

-What are your future plans and how do you see this unit benefiting you? don't know. just want to learn. Im keeping my mind open and plan to explore as much as I can before deciding which path I’d like to take. Who knows maybe i could end up being an ER nurse for 10 years or I might go into a different specialty, schooling, etc. it’s difficult for me to decide what I want to do but once I do decide, I am dedicated to it and I stick with it no matter what.

-tell me about how you came to be a nurse - always wanted to be in healthcare; originally pre-med...decided to give nursing a try and it was a great decision bc the profession suits me so well—I have many interests and I like trying new things and learning about everything. Also there are so many directions I can go, like nurse anesthesia, nurse practitioner, PhD for research, etc. I have a genuine desire to help people with anything..not just healthcare related. I enjoy the impact nurses have on patients, the time spent at the bedside, etc
-ER nursing: it’s nice to see patients leave and get better everyday as opposed to an ICU where they might be there for a while; like seeing so many different patients in one day & how everyday is different; out of everything I’ve experienced in school, ER nursing is my fave. Originally I thought it would be ICU bc I loved my critical care course, but when I spent a day at a medical ICU in millstein, I did not really like it. When I go to the ICUs in other hospitals I’m not that fascinated either.

-my questions: is there a residency program? how long is orientation? when do you begin triage? is there reimbursement for the Certified emergency nurse (CEN) exam; tuition reimbursement

k, ready. this is how i should have prepared for the cornell ER interview...then i might have gotten it =*********(
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heres some other stuff they asked:
-where do you see yourself in x amt of yrs..although my interviewer asked me "what do you want to be when you grow up?" -_-
-how is nursing related to customer service? (i used to be a waitress)
-they are always gonna ask you why you became a nurse, why you chose this unit, & why you chose this hospital.
-they gave me 2 scenarios
-how are you going to deal with some of these older, grouchy nurses?
-they asked me if i ever discovered something wrong with a patient (during my externship) that had not already been known. i actually could not think of such a situation so i had to be truthful..
-which clinical was most rewarding?
-if i have a problem with nights & my commute. i said heeeell no
-if your preceptor could describe you in a few words, what would she say?
-if i asked your preceptor what is one thing you could use improvement in, what would she say?
-asked me--so you like research, huh?
-you might think this is a stupid question but i said to the recruiter..."i don't intend to fail, but in the event that I do, would the job offer be rescinded?" she said not necessarily..you would be re-evaluated. it also depends how quickly the position needs to be filled.
-what were your responsiblities as an extern?

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i always thought i would make a terrible nurse and i always questioned myself about why i even picked this major, but after looking back on all my experiences from the past few years, i'm glad i'm here and i'm ready to do a good job!