Stauffers on Main

Please refer to our new blog, http://stauffersonmain.blogspot.com/ for any new blog posts. I will not be updating this blog any more.

NCLEX

On Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 8:00 AM, I had an appointment at a Pearson Vue testing center in Harrisburg, PA to sit for the NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure Exam for Registered Nurse). After the test, I walked out of the testing center feeling pretty low, and almost certain that I had failed. Today (8/2/2010) while at work, I checked the PA State Board of Nursing website soon after 9:00 AM. The results of NCLEX are not released from Pearson Vue until 48 hours after the testing appointment time, so I had waited all weekend to find out. As soon as Pearson Vue releases the results, they report it to the State Board of Nursing wherever you applied for a license. Pennsylvania is pretty good about posting the results rather quickly - usually within an hour or less. I was busy with patient care at the 48-49 hour mark, so by the time I finally got to check the website, my results had been posted.

I PASSED!!!!!!

According to the PA State Board of Nursing, my title is now Gerald David Stauffer, RN.

I'm free!!!!!

I could write many things here, but I'll let my sister do the honors. Check out her blog at http://quiet-lane.blogspot.com/. You can see the whole happy tribe there. :-)

Everybody has a lot of pictures, and I'm sure they will all start trickling in within the next few weeks. Eventually I'll probably add a bunch of them to my photobucket slideshow at the top right corner of this page. For now, check out the new additions to the beginning of my music playlist, and see what some of those folks have to say about being free. Then, check out my sister's blog, and my mom's blog at http://www.stauffer-scribbler.blogspot.com/.

I'm writing this post while sitting here feeling spoiled in my new chair with my new computer, both of which are gifts from my parents and family. This past weekend was filled with so many things I didn't feel like I deserved. All I can say now though is I'm free!!! Like a zoo monkey out of its cage....

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GRADUATION DAY!!!! Finally!!! Today, my graduation from Alvernia University is scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM local time. I am graduating from Alvernia University with a Bachelor of Sciences in Nursing and a minor in Biology. However, just because I am graduating doesn't mean that I'm automatically a nurse now. As written in law, only Registered Nurses can legally call themselves nurses (not Graduate Nurses, LPN's, CNA's, home health aids, midwives, or anyone else). I am transitioning from the role of "Student Nurse" to "Graduate Nurse," and hope to be titled Registered Nurse soon. I am not yet registered. To get registered, I need to pass NCLEX, which is the licensure examination for nurses in the United States. I have applied for a temporary practice permit in Pennsylvania as a "Graduate Nurse" meanwhile. During clinicals throughout school, I signed all of my documentation as "Gerald D. Stauffer, SNALV" (Student Nurse of Alvernia), but now I will be signing things as "Gerald D. Stauffer, GN (Graduate Nurse), until I pass NCLEX to become "RN." There are still some GN's from Alvernia's class of 2009 who have not passed NCLEX, and it is illegal for them to call themselves nurses yet. If they don't soon pass NCLEX, their one-year temporary practice permit as a GN will expire, and they will not be allowed to practice nursing.

Anyway, enough technicalities....

I'm scheduled to start my new job as a GN on June 22nd in the Critical Care Internship at Lehigh Valley Health Network's Cedar Crest campus in Allentown, PA.

My family is planning a party for later today, so I'm sure there will be lots of pictures and things to tell later. For now, I am going to begin the day by sleeping soundly. Graduation isn't till 2:00 PM.

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