Career Change - getting ready to become an RN

hypnotic_nurse · Sep 7, 2004

There is classroom and there is clinical. Classroom is about what you're used to: you do the reading and you listen to the lectures. It is very fact-based reading for the most part. Probably not any more reading than you had in some of your senior level English courses, though. You'll probably have labs before clincal; that's when you learn skills such as assessment, phlebotomy, maybe even bed baths. Clinical is being in the hospital and putting your skills to work.

You'll probably have some prereqs you'll have to do, like chemistry, anatomy, and physiology. If you have not had a lot of sciences, I'd suggest taking these prior to any nursing courses. I've had a lot of school and I thought chemistry was tough (I had to study a lot for my B and I'm a pretty good student). Anatomy was a lot of memorizing.

You will probably get one grade for clinical and one for each class in nursing school. My clinicals started off with easy patient assignments and got harder as our instructor thought we could handle them -- and your instructor should be close by during your clinicals because the nurses on the floor don't always have a lot of extra time to help with students.

I did not have any problems getting a job -- I got my job offer before I graduated.

Snoopd · Sep 7, 2004

I'm glad to hear you are thinking about this academically challenging program. I graduated from nursing school and did not know what to expect either when I started, but I can tell you one thing, it's tough! Before entering the program I thought, how tough can a nursing degree be? I thought it must be comparable to any other college program. I've found out that it is tougher than any other college class work I've completed. This includes microbiology. chemistry, anatomy, physiology, general biology, calculus. In those classes you are dealing in absolutes - point A,B,C, lead to answere D. Its' fairly clear cut. Nursing classes present scenarious where all 4 or 5 answers are correct, but one answer is slightly more correct than the others! It can be maddening. Thus, nursing school takes an astounding amount of study if you want to remain in your program. Most programs are notorious for their fail/dropout rate - often 50%-70%. One big advantage that you have is your English degree. This will help tremendously when you are writing clinical case studies and research papers on various diseases. You will be able to fly through some of the written assignments and turn in impressive papers. There is also a great deal of subjectivity regarding clinical assignments (will you get an "easy" patient or someone who needs a great deal of care)? This is totally unpredictable. Your clinical instructor - and his/her personality will also be a "crap shoot". They vary from being decent knowledgable kind instructors, to being bipolar, borderline sociopaths who will not hesitate to fail you at the slightest perceived infraction or mistake. That may sound over dramatic, but it is true. Iv'e seen it in my program and I don't like it, but there are students who have been failed or decided to drop out of the program (after spending thousands of dollars on tuition) because of clinical instructors who couldn't care less if they were there or not, and who were unwilling to teach them anything at clinicals or provide any instructive support. Another potentially good future nurse lost. This is the "scary" part of nursing school. Because of this I approach every assignment, test, and quiz, with the mentality that I must under all circumstances achieve 100% in everything I do. That sounds extreme, and I usually don't get 100% in anything, but that mindset has allowed me to earn good grades thus far (good enough to consider an accelerated masters program in nursing or a Nurse Practitioner masters if I wish). Forget about C = RN. That is a loser mentality. Most of the people who have had that attitude are no longer in a nursing program or are hanging on by their fingernails - they can forget about Grad school to. Don't work a job unless you absolutely have to. Again, most of the people in my program who worked are now ex-nursing students or students who barely, barely, passed. After my first year our class shrunk from 137 to about 75-80. This all sounds horrible and stressful, and it is at times, but one of the wonderful things about anything that is hard is that if you are able succeed, you can look back at what you have accomplished, see "who is still there", and feel like you have conquered "something," and that you are "better" than you thought you were, and that you are a lot "better", tougher, and smarter than many of the people who are no longer there. This sounds arrogant and narcissistic, but it feels good - like you want to stand on top of the mountain, raise your arms, and scream a little. What do you get for all this stress and misery and never ending scrutiny? In most areas, especially the East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest, a decent paying job right out of school. Whether you have a "two" year ADN or a "four" year BSN - I use quotation marks because it takes most people more time than this to complete either degree, you can expect to earn about $50,000 right out of school with either an ADN or BSN. The BSN usually pays 50 cents to a buck more an hour, add on another buck if you have a masters in nursing. So you'll be making more money right out of school than most of your professors. No wonder they are mean and nasty! That's the base rate. You can add on another 2 or 3 dollars for working a second, night, or weekend shift. So one has the potential of raking in $50,000 to $60,000 as a rookie nurse in many geographic locations. One thing that I have been warned about is to be leary of huge "sign on bonuses". Apparently, these are not always such good deals - they can lead to positions where one is swamped with patients and employee moral is low. Finally, if it's something you feel seriously about, go for it. As I was told my first day of nursing school, "you will experience more stress in the next two years than you will experience in your entire nursing career," but if you survive school, you have a variety career options open to you - not just working in a hospital or clinic. You could be a mobile nurse, work as a consultant for biomedical companies, start your own nursing business, or go to grad school and specialize. Best of luck to you!

Hi everyone. I'm looking for any advice you can give. I'm a 27yr old who has already obtained 1 bachelor's degree (English & Art History). I have been working since graduation, but not finding satisfaction in what I've been doing. For the past year, I've been working in the medical insurance industry, which has gotten me thinking about what I'd really like to be doing. I'm currently looking at going back to school to become an RN. Right now, my primary candidate for a school is the Mt. Carmel College of Nursing here in Columbus, OH. I have no idea what to expect. My head is full of so many questions that I don't even know where to start. So I guess I'll start with: what all should I expect as far as coursework? What's the program like? (I know they'll differ somewhat from school to school, but much of it should be similar, I should think.) Being that this is a total change of pace from what I went to school for before, what all should I expect? Lab work? Papers? Tests? Also, when it comes time for my graduation, how difficult/easy do you think it is to get a job as a newly licensed nurse? Seriously, at this point, I'm looking for all the insight you all can give a newbie. All advice is welcome. I promise to come up with more detailed questions eventually, but for right now, I'm sticking to the more broad/general end of things. Thanks to all who respond!!!