Need advice from nurses....

naughtoj

naughtoj

Cathlete
Hi everyone..
On a hunch, I thought that we may have some nurses around here and I am seeking advice.

Recently I have been going through a "what am I going to do with the rest of my life" slump, and was contemplating getting certified as a personal trainer. While this still sounds very appealing to me, I have found something almost equally appealing: nursing.

I also have college credit that I hate to go to waste and would love to finally get a degree in something!! Originally I went to college majoring in Dietetics, so I have almost all of the beginning classes, except the ones related to nursing. So......it would be a relatively easy transition from Dietetics to Nursing.

However, I have NO CLUE what all the stuff means and what education you have to have to be them. LPN, CPN, RN, BSN......I have an associates degee, albeit not in nursing, but I have the classes. What does it make sense for me to go for? The BSN?

Any advice would be enormously appreciated! I am thinking I am going to go down to the local community college here and get advisement tommorrow. I am maxed out on the number of credits that will transfer to a 4 year university, but I am sure they won't want some of my previous classes now.

I will stop now or I will just end up rambling. I will check back soon for any help!!! Thanks!!!

Janice
 
Also......

My hubby and I are looking to find me a profession that has a lot of flexibility as we are contemplating having children in a few years. Dietetics was the original plan long ago, but I would rather have something I can do part time that will make equal $$. Dietiticians don't seem to make as much money as they should for all the classes they take.

AND, finally, what area of nursing can I get into if I don't want lots of blood and gore? That is the unappealing part.:):)

Thanks again!

Janice
 
Janice,

I'm emailing you a copy of my thesis--I did it on recruiting & retaining RN's. It's a wide open field but it is a very hard field to work in.

DO NOT go for an LPN. RN & BSN & ASN are all the same except for level of education.

If you war looking for a just a "job," an Associate of Science in Nursing is your best bet. You will make the same money with an ASN as a new BSN person.

If you are looking for a career & already have your sciences out of the way, go the BSN. The BSN will afford you greater advancement opportunity.

Check out www.jcaho.com & look at their information on the nursing shortage & nursing education. Also check out www.discovernursing.com. That will give you good information on scholarships & grants available in your area.

Good luck!
 
Janice, blood and gore come with the territory - LOL! Seriously though, if you do decide to do this (and I hope you do!!), get your year of general med-surg in and then try to get into a clinic of some sort, where you're less likely to see acute injuries. I've worked critical care ever since I graduated 17 years ago, and you get used to the blood and gore. You'll have a better idea of what you'd actually see when you do your clinicals. It's not all like on "ER"! Unless you work in a large city trauma hospital, most people don't bleed all over you. I work in a very small community hospital's CCU now, and I hardly ever see blood unless I make a mess starting an IV (which I do! LOL!!). I used to work in Cleveland, at the trauma center, in Surgical ICU. I saw enough blood and gore there to last a lifetime, thank you very much! Blood and body fluids don't bother me though, but I've always been that way. Guess I was just born to do this - LOL!!

It's a highly rewarding, although emotionally and physically challenging profession!! We need nurses, and you quite literally right now can do anything with it. Best of luck to you!! If you ever need any questions answered, or help with anything if you do decide to pursue this, please feel free to ask! You can even email me privately. I'd be glad to help you!!

By the way, Deborah is right - go for your ADN or BSN!!

Carol
:)
 
Hi there Janice. I was out of town for a few days but thought I'd reply just in case you were still checking on this thread. BSN will take more time, but I agree with FitnessGoddess that it will afford the most opportunity, possibilities for advancement, and further schooling (masters, etc.) if you so desire. I received my BSN in '91 and have had some wonderful experiences...and really difficult ones, too. And, yes, blood and gore go with it all! But as it has been said there are SO MANY places in which to use a nursing degree and it is extremely rewarding. I haven't worked for the past 3 years (we moved, I homeschool my kids) and I must say I miss it.

I hope this helps in some way...it is very rewarding and difficult all wrapped up together. If you can handle that tension you'll be great!
CinDee

p.s.-FitnessGoddes, if you're reading this, can I have a copy of your thesis? I'd love to read it!
 
Thanks everyone for the help and good advice. I actually got help on this on and off the forums! Special thanks to Deborah and Joanna!!!

Undecided on this as of yet, but I will let you all know what I find out or what i decide to do!!

Janice
 
Hi Janice,

Can I add a few words? I have been an RN for more than 25 years!!! (Yikes!) I have my bachelor's degree, and am glad I went that route. When I first told my friends I was going to be a nurse, they laughed uncontrollably because I would nearly faint whenever I saw blood. But I knew it would be a good career, and I have never regretted it. I have had more rewarding moments than I can recount in this note. I have done all types of nursing, too, from med-surg, to oncology, to pediatrics, to developmental disabilities, to school nursing. I spent 12 years doing home health nursing in inner city neighborhoods (housing projects, mostly). I loved it. I used to joke with the office staff that I was going out to heal the sick and save lives, but it was really the patients and their families who changed my life indelibly. When the home health dept I worked for was closed, I was devastated. But in recent years, I have found a new field I am passionate about, too: I am a clinical research coordinator in preventive cardiology. (Which basically means I see the patients and try to save their hearts. It cannot adequately describe how thrilling research has been!) Nursing is infinitely rewarding, challenging, exciting, ever-changing, and satisfying. Although I still have drawings on my wall from kids who have claimed I have made their lives better, I know in my heart that their gift far outweighed mine. And that is why I encourage you, or anyone else, to be a nurse!:7 :) :7
 
Nope, not a nurse. I worked in HR of a Trauma center for 3 years & did my thesis for my MBA on recruiting & retention of nurses during this time of crisis (the shortage).
 
Well everyone....

After a short stint looking into some other professions, for now I have decided to stay with nursing.

I have decided to enroll in community college next semester and take Anatomy, since I did not have that. Turns out I am a few classes away from being able to become a CNA. Then, you apply to the nursing program here (at my local community college) and usually it takes about a semester to be accepted into it. It is a full time, day time, 2 year program. Turns out also that I have a few of the classes required for that too so I won't have to go officially "full time" each semester. By the time I finish, it looks like I will have my AA in general studies as well as my ADN. Then, if I wish, I can begin working as an RN and work towards a BSN, which would take approximately another year. I spoke with a nursing advisor who said most students get their CNA certificate, start working, and then work part time of whatever until they obtain their RN. I guess I would have to go this route since right now I have a full time DAY job at a PPO network.

Because I am so unsure that nursing is for me, I have decided to volunteer at a local hospital. I asked to see nursing as well as ultrasonography and dietetics, just for fun. I figure that would give me a better idea of what being in that kind of environment is like and the people skills required.

I am much more worried about having the personality for the job than for having the technical ability or the physical strength. I guess I don't consider myself very compassionate towards humans, but I am extremely compassionate towards animals. And maybe that would change. Dunno.

Volunteering is good IMO because I have gotten so many mixed responses on this forum as well as with talking to some nurses I know. I think I need to form my own opinion.

Next semester will not be a waste though even if I decide not to go into nursing because I think pretty much anything I do will require anatomy. Plus, it looks like fun to me!!:)

I still would love any additional feedback on this!If anyone has anything further to add, email me at [email protected]. Thanks everyone!!!

Janice
 
I'm also a nurse, an RN.
I work in a tiny local hospital. Even though we are small, we still see our fair share of blood and guts. Farming community means farming accidents. And idiots riding 4-wheelers. Those things should be banned.


And there are things out there just as bad as blood. GI bleeds are really bad. And so are some of the bed sores that we see. And we see the worst one coming from large city hospitals cause they don't have the nurses to get all the work done.
 
Janice, I think you are going about this in a mature, logical way by volunteering to get a feel for what you'd actually be doing. Good for you! Since you say you have compassion toward animals, have you ever considered a Vet Tech program? My sister recently finished one, and she's a year younger than me (she will be 45 in December). She's working at the Bronx Zoo (she lives in Manhattan), and is loving it! She'd love to go to Vet school, and is still looking into that possibility. She obtained her degree at a two year college.

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck!!

Carol
:)
 
Janice,
Be sure to check out the federal loans that now have 100% cancellation benefits for those who work as a nurse (after 5 years of working full-time). For some loans, you will not have to pay anything at all.

There is also the Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program (NELRP). And in some states, there are cancellation provisions at the state level for those states who have a shortage of nurses.

Be sure to talk to your Financial Aid office, and also search the web as the staff at some schools are not familiar with all the possibilities for free schooling for nurses.

KeliJean
(former federal loan officer)
 
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