confused

[kariwatson]

hello, I am a confused junior in high school. I have always had a desire to do nursing. I really want to go into helping cancer patients. I have absolutely no clue where to start or what I would have to do followed by the requirements to be able to work with cancer patients. I have done my research, I have not really found any useful answers. How many years would I go to college for? What do you even do? very confused. Just do not want to get my hopes up in the cancer field and waste my time and it ending up being something I am not interested in. I would like to be able to be beside my patient during his or her journey during chemo therapy/ radiation. just looking for some answers!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

All nurses, regardless of specialty, graduate with the same basic education. Nursing school prepares entry level nurses- learning the various specialties will happen during orientation. So, basically, you should be researching nursing programs in your area. You can find a list of those approved by your state's Board of Nursing on the BON website. A further check would be to make sure the school is ACEN or CCNE accredited- both organizations offer searches on their websites. Once you have program names, you can then start looking at the websites of each school to see what admission requirements are. Your guidance counselor should also be able to provide you with assistance.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Moved to prenursing