Thank you for your reply. Actually I don't think I answered my own question. I was just asking for advice; actually hoping for a bit of what you offered. I've been mulling it over in my mind & the problem is that except for a year as a dental assistant, I have no knowledge of what exactly a clinic/ outpatient nurse does and we will get no experience with that in school. I was hoping someone would say, "yes, considering your age & interests, this will be right up your alley and this is why....." When I started classes, I discovered very quickly that I had boughten into the "hollywood" image of what a nurse is, & that coupled with knowing what they did & were allowed to do 35 years ago, when I first hoped to attend nursing school were very different from what I am learning to do. And, by the way, this thrills me. I don't want to be a glorified CNA, and that is pretty much what I had previously thought LPNs were. Oh, that's not a putdown of CNAs by the way. God bless CNAs.
You asked why I am not interested in LTC. I had horrible experiences at nursing homes growing up and as a young adult. I truly do love old people but hate the facilities. I've done one clinical rotation in a nursing home doing mostly CNA work. It was OK but enough to assure me that it was not the place for me (perhaps it was just the facility, I don't know). In a couple weeks I return for my second clinical, coincidentally in the very same facility but this time doing more nursing, passing meds, caths, charting, etc. It's a good place but it had bad memories for me. It doesn't help that the first room I went into was the room where my Mother died 4 years ago.
I live in a very rural area. I don't see correctional nursing as an option- no facilities & I don't want to have to learn how to defend myself at work. Call me a chicken! My background is IT- big change from dealing with computer programs to working with people & their health but it's a dream I've had since I was 4 years old when I fell in love with the "fairy princess" who took care of me in the hospital. See what I mean about the misconceptions? And, dang, they don't wear crowns anymore either. My job ended up being outsourced, I was able to retire with severance, & I decided that it was now or never to try to achieve my dream, flawed as it was. I'd give almost anything to have been able to do this 20 years ago.
The "real" reason I chose nursing stems with my mother. I mentioned she died at that nursing home. What I didn't say is that the only reason she was there was because no one in our family had the skills to care for her during the last 3 weeks of her life when her cancer made it impossible for her to care for herself. I tried. I'd spend my days with her & go to work at night. But the day came that she started vomiting feces & I ashamedly could not stay in the room with her & support her. I fled into the next room & sobbed. And trying to help her care for her colostomy was just as bad. It was then that I vowed to become a nurse, if possible, to get the knowledge & skills so that if anyone in my family needed me again, I'd be able to do it. Of course, if it is my MIL, well, that's a different story.
Does that sound like a dumb reason to finally become a nurse? I don't know. I am looking at hospice down the line. In our area they are now starting to hire LPNs but only after they have had 2 years experience. I saw what hospice could do for a family as well as the patient. I guess I should consider home health nursing. Maybe what I observed when Mom had them is not the norm.
But I still consider clinic/outpatient but don't know what to expect. Are my expectations also hollywoodized or outmoded? I don't know.
Well, this is long & I have to get to school. Learning to do caths in lab today. Thanks again for responding.
Dixie
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