 Hi guys, welcome back to today's video. I'm going to be talking about today some common steps that you have to take before getting your first nursing job. But before we get started, I want to mention that this video is sponsored by Dynabac. I don't know about you guys, but I got my first nursing job back in 2015. And I was so surprised by how many steps it took to actually like start your first bedside shift. I literally thought that like you did an interview, you got an acceptance letter, and then you just like started your first nursing shift. I didn't realize that there's so many steps prior to that, that you have to actually do. And so let's chat a little bit about those. One of the first things that you're going to have to do is submit all of like your vaccine records and want not to either your employer or occupational health. So if you haven't already, make sure you have all these like collected somewhere, like start getting this from maybe it's your pediatrician growing up or whatever primary care physician you currently see, but collect all of these vaccine records because it can be kind of time consuming and tedious to collect them all. Even though this process may be a little kind of annoying and time consuming, it's actually super important because we are exposed to so many pathogens throughout our nursing shifts. Like think about how many times you draw blood, maybe you're emptying a foley, and you're exposed to the urine or your patient vomits, and you're cleaning that up like we are exposed to so many bodily fluids and things that can have pathogens in them. Just by showing up to work, you are exposed to like dozens and dozens and dozens of pathogens. It's crazy. One of the pathogens that's actually on the rise is the hepatitis B virus. And even despite having vaccine options available, the hepatitis B virus has increased by 11% from 2014 to 2018. The CDC recommends hepatitis B vaccination for healthcare workers, and if you haven't guessed already, most of us here are healthcare workers and are at higher risk for contracting hepatitis B. I'm not saying all this to try and scare you guys out of your first nursing job, more so just to help you realize that hepatitis B is a thing, but it's also preventable. Little like fun side note for you guys. When I started my first nursing job, my employer actually caught that I hadn't received my hepatitis B vaccine in like the appropriate time frame. And so therefore I wasn't like adequately protected against hepatitis B. And this is actually very, very common. Once I learned this, like I like realized how many people actually experienced this, but a lot of times your employer may or may not catch it. And so you are being left unprotected from B. I want to add that this is not only a significant problem, but an urgent one. We are at higher risk transmission of hepatitis B due to being potentially exposed to splashes and needle sticks. And if you're found to be not protected against hepatitis B, the traditional vaccine series takes six months in order to receive all of the doses. And I don't know about you guys, but when you're starting your first nursing job, most of us don't have six months to wait or we'll be working with patients sooner than that six month period. And we just don't like have the time or want to be potentially exposed to Hep B and not be adequately protected. If you're interested in learning more about adequate protection against Hep B, as well as newer vaccine options available to you, I highly recommend you check out the link that's in my description box, www.youmaynotbeprotected.com. Along with submitting your vaccination records, you most likely will have to do a TB skin test, which is that little interdermal poke that they do to test you for TB. If you've tested positive in the past, you may have to get an x-ray or whatnot, but you'll also get fitted for an N95 mask. And this is important one for if you're working with TB patients, but also during our COVID pandemic, we've been wearing N95 masks as well. So they'll ensure that you have an adequate fit of a mask so you know which mask you'll wear during your nursing shifts. Some employers also require that you have titers drawn for like things like MMR and whatnot to see if you have antibodies against these viruses. And by the way, all these things should be covered by your employer if they're requiring you to get blood drawn and whatnot. So just FYI, these should be covered by your employer. Most likely you won't have to seek out and do this yourself. Another step you have to take prior to starting your first nursing job is actually going through an orientation period, but this isn't like an orientation necessarily to your actual floor, more so the hospital. And during this orientation, you'll go over things like how to clock in and out, maybe like how to get access to your PIXIS or Omnicell, whatever medication system that you use. It goes through a lot of the logistical things like getting your passwords and getting oriented to the hospital. Maybe you'll do a tour. Doing this orientation kind of eases you into the environment of your hospital and some of the policies and procedures that they may have. So it's not so overwhelming on your first day. You can imagine if like on your first day you're like, I don't even know how to clock in or out or like I don't have a password to access medications. So trying to work out some of those logistical things prior to starting your first bedside shift. One of the last things that you may be required to do prior to starting your first nursing shift is making sure all your certifications and whatnot are up-to-date and submitted. So this is like your CPR, BLS. If you're in a more specialized area like NICU, PEADS, ICU, ER, then you'll need things like ACLS or PALS, those types of certifications. So making sure those are all current and you've got your licenses that you can submit to your employer. It's good to collect all of this and if you're going into a special unit and maybe you don't have your ACLS or one of those certifications, most of the time your employer will tell you like, okay you need to get this within your first six months of employment. So don't stress too much if it's like a really highly specialized area, but they will require you to have like your basic CPR, BLS and whatnot prior to even starting at the bedside. And just like your vaccination records, you'll be required to submit all this to your employer and if you're required to take any special certifications, they should cover those. Okay guys, I know that was a ton, a ton of information, but if you're like me, I like to have all the information prior to starting anything. So that way I just feel more prepared. Hopefully this helps you feel more prepared going into your first nursing job, kind of knowing some of the things that you can expect prior to even starting your first shift. Thank you again to Dynavax for sponsoring today's video. Make sure you check out the link in the description box. You may not be protected.com to ensure that you are being adequately protected against hepatitis B. And as always, thank you for watching this video and I'll see you in my next one. Bye.