After graduation back in December I studied for my nursing boards, which I took Thursday February 9, 2012. One of the worst/best days of my life! I still remember it as if it were yesterday! I took Kaplan study prep course and studied everyday for 3 weeks straight! I took so many sample questions that I wanted to vomit! The morning of my boards I couldn't eat a single thing because I was sicker than a dog! I arrived at my test at 7:50 am and started my test at 8 am. The nclex is a computer adaptive test. If you get a question right you get a harder one, if you get it wrong you get an easier one. The minimum number of questions is 75 and the max is 265. I've heard that the full test is given out randomly. Once you have either passed or failed the "minimum line of competency" the computer shuts off. You have 6 hours to take it and if you run out of time they grade you on the last 65, so it is better to finish the test. I remember taking it and once I got to question 75 it kept going. I was happy thinking "I'm still in the game!" I really needed to use the restroom, but I wanted to get to question 130ish first. (That's where most of my friends shut off.) At question 130 it kept going, 140, 150... then I realized I was getting the full test! 265 questions! Yuck! Just my luck! I went to the restroom and I noticed the girls next to me taking the same test were already done. That did not help and it made me sad! I started thinking why am I getting the whole test! This sucks! Well, I came back and the rest of the test seemed like a blur! There were some questions that I knew and some I was answering because I liked the name of the med! Eff my life! When I had easy questions I thought to myself "you must be in the lower level questions to be getting this easy of one" and other times I would thing "what the heck is this? What have I been doing the past 2 years of my life? Not once have I ever heard of this!" The other half of the time I would pick the answer as the "safe nurse" after all that is what this test evaluates... "Will I be a safe nurse?" Well 265 questions and 5 1/2 hours later I finished. I wanted to start bawling right there at that computer, but I didn't. I waited until I got in my car and looked at the 5 million missed calls I had! "What was everyone thinking? No one takes almost the full time to take that test!" The next 33 hours of my life were torturous! Munch and I went to a movie Friday night and when I got home I checked the Dopl website and my name wasn't there :( Munch told me not to check unless he was with me. About 15 minutes later I was talking to my sister and I unconsciously checked the site https://secure.utah.gov/llv/search/search.html and there it was Ashley Scharman! I couldn't believe it! Tears streamed down my face and I screamed of excitement! Munch nor my sister knew what was going on! I couldn't believe I passed! I literally thought I bombed it! Munch was upset with me, but I have no idea why I checked the site 15 minutes later at 10:50 pm. Like it was really going to be there? Duh! So here I am now starting a job at the University of Utah with the dialysis team! I started applying for jobs the end of February, but I didn't look too hard because we went to Boston in March. I applied for this job and many others. I got a call back 2 days after I applied and set up an interview Tuesday April 3, 2012... (exactly 1 year after my aunt passed away) The interview went really well! I was in there for an hour (it felt like 30 minutes) and I just had a good feeling about it. I was trying not to get my hopes up, but something kept telling me I was going to be working there. The next day they called my general manager while we were at work. He told me they called him and he said he told them really good things about me. They told him I was at the top of their hiring list!!!! I just knew then! They called me that day, but I was at work :( They called me the next morning and asked me "Ashley, would you like to be a dialysis nurse?" and of course I said "I would love to!" In 2 weeks I will have a big girl job! I couldn't be more excited! This is a picture of me after my interview holding up my nursing license.
Of course I had to document a little bit of the past 2 years of my life! Yep, all 12 binders stocked full of notes! Taking up precious closet space, and lets not forget The Basics book from Kaplan. The only text book I've every read from front to back! I'd rather stick a dagger through my heart than read that dry horrid book ever again! Graphic.... I know :)
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