did anyone here have to do this in nursing school?

[bernikitty]

i'm in my 4th semester of a five semester ADN program.

i find that the most difficult and stressful issues for me with nursing school has been arranging child care. i have to pay alot of money to motivate someone to be at on time at the weird hours and all over the place schedule of my nursing clinicals. it's cost me a king's random but so far i've been able to manage it. (i'm unemployed fulltime student single parent).

now i've found out that in addition to a 90hr preceptor ship and 9 additional 6hr clinicals two lecture courses. we are required to go to a army base 45 mins from my home and STAY THERE FOR 72hrs so we can be trained in disaster scenario nursing. i have three kids one who is a 8y/o low-functioning non-verbal autistic child who's never been away from me for more than 12hrs at a time. he's not potty trained and when he gets upset he has screaming fits and sometime head banging. he's totally not aware for his own safely and at is also a "runner" he will bolt away and start running in one direction and won't stop til you run up and catch him. he requires constant vagilant supervision. i'm so worried that something will happen while i'm away. (when i get out of school i plan to work 7pm-7am.)

what bothers me most is having to stay there and no being allows to drive home in the evenings.

i feel like i'm being kid-knapped away from my children. does the school have the right to OWN me for 72hrs straight? while the state BON lists the obectives of disaster preparedness it doesn't say anywhere that we are requires to live away from our families for this training.

in addition i wil have to pay around $300 for someone to stay with my kids for those three days alone -this will be a huge hit to my finances. during this time (we live on well below $10k a year). i have no family support system to help me with this.

this wil be during the summer so he and his sister will be home. during the school year he attends our local public school where people know and understand the kind of care and supervision he requires.

this isn't the first time that i've come up against the attitude that "nursing school must be your first priority everything else must take a back seat even your family or how dare you have any life outside of nursing school". i've even had a clinical instructor smurk at me during orientation because i dared to ask when the clinical day would end. i guess i was suppose to accept the they would own me body and soul as long as they wished. "i can't tell you how much i wanted to yell "i have CHILDREN!! ever heard of those?!!

my children ARE MY MOTIVATION for going to nursing school and all the hard work i've put into it. i fail to see how neglecting my responsibilities as a parent will make me a better nurse.

thanks for reading and sorry for the rant. i will manage somehow. i always do.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

Never heard of this being a requirement for nursing school. Those of us who are already registered nurses can take a disaster training course that lasts 2 or 3 days, but we are free to leave at night. Good luck to you, dear.

[guest563546]

I agree with not_done, asking someone who works with your child on a regular basis and knows his individual needs is a great idea. If you're to shy to come right out and ask, maybe just talk to them about your situation and see if they can recommend someone. My heart truly goes out to you, I'm a mother of four who graduated as an LPN in '10 and am now going back to bridge to RN. I've been blessed to have people in my life who can take care of my children while I'm not around, but even with those resources it's hard. I can only imagine what you must go through. Don't give up! I know these hardships seem impossible now but they'll make your degree even more precious when you're through.

[bernikitty]

thanks for all the comments. its such an emotional issue and it's been so hard to make sure my kids are well cared for in the short-run while i'm in school so i can provide for them in the long run. the thought of my son being distraught or getting hurt due to my absence is a torture to me.

i will be going to speak to the dean to see if i will be allowed to leave the base at night. if i can't work something out that way. i will look into asking someone at my son's school. perhaps one of the aids would like to make the extra money. thanks again.

i know everything will work out somehow.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I am a foster parent and my agency also has a service of providing respite care to families with special needs children. The caregivers are licensed foster parents or others who are trained in caring for special needs kids. This could very well be an option for you, although it is probably better to get a caregiver he is familiar with if possible.

Just to add to your stress level, lol, be sure to consider that when you graduate and start working in a hospital as an RN, there may be times you are forced to stay later than planned, or in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency you may be unable to leave the hospital for days (depending on where you live, this could be for snow, hurricanes, etc). It is so important to have backup to your backup to your backup, especially when it comes to special needs kiddos.

Hang in there, you will find a solution and it will be over very quickly.