Army/plumber Soon To Be Nurse Needs Help

bryndamor · May 22, 2008

Necessity is a good taskmaster. Poor students can compensate to a large extent by investing more time and focus into studying. You know what needs to be done to do this career change and it sounds like going back to school might be somewhat painful for you (as it was for me, til I adjusted), but it needs to get done. Keep your mind focused on your endgoal. As a student nurse, my first few clinicals were very helpful to me because I was able to see the work environment, patients, and caregivers, and visualize myself there -- how I'd like it (or not). Doing the clinicals as a student made it easier for me to get excited about the work and getting finished w/ school. The more I did, the easier I adjusted to the necessary studying, which kept pace w/ the slightly increasing difficulty of classes to me. In retrospect for me, it might have given me a little more focus from the start to tour a good hospital facility and see a little bit about what nurses in different departments do, but I don't think that hospitals really have tours like that unless you know somebody. Maybe that's something you don't need though since it sounds like your more oriented on your goal than I was before I started -- I was a bit more wishy-washy deciding between nursing and physical therapy, leaning toward physical therapy and even did over 100 hours of shadowing for it. Fast forward two years and I finished the ADN program -- admittedly not a stellar student, half B's and C's, a few A's, but I'm more of a hands-on learner than studying theory from books. If others can do it, so can you. Focus. Self-motivation.

rusticsc · May 22, 2008

hi bryndamor, thanks for the encouragement..i needed it. i'm gonna have to bite the bullet.

robred · May 22, 2008

A couple of thoughts....First and foremost, thanks for your service to our country!

Secondly, you didn't mention what has drawn you to nursing, so if you haven't had alot of up close exposure of at least 50 or so hours, I would recommend that you look into shadowing a nurse in a variety of settings (clinic, hospital, nursing home, etc) to get a really good look at what lies ahead. School is a challenge, but after 12 years on the job, I can easily say that the work life has become increasingly difficult. I've worked in a variety of acute care facilities in med-surg, critical care and nursing supervision; the work stress and challenges nurses face on a daily basis is increasing. So, be certain that nursing is the right fit for you.

Lastly, be prepared to do alot of reading and problem solving. If nursing is what you truly want to do...school will be a mountain to climb, but the peak is accessible!

Good Luck and, again, thanks.

rusticsc · May 23, 2008

hi, i work in the mental health pevention team. and what got me into thinking of becoming a nurse is the satisfaction when you help somebody . this is not my intended job i want to be a helicopter mechanic since i'm good working with my hand and mechanical stuff.but helping somebody and letting you know how much they appreciate your help its very rewarding,and this are soldiers thats been blown up a few times during the deployment.

bryndamor · May 23, 2008

ironically, my first/last career was in Aviation. I left behind my Airframe and Powerplant license (which never expires) and 5'ish years of good/hard experience working for the commercial airlines. It would be a small step to move into rotorwing maintenance, BUT Aviation as a whole is suffering, esp after 9/11. I think the numbers were that over 1 Million aviation workers got laid off after 9/11 and there are a lot of people w/ a decade+ worth of experience w/o work or decent pay. Now w/ fuel prices as they are, you can expect aviation to have to tighten their belts further. Its honestly horrible. I loved troubleshooting/working on planes and was pretty decent at it, but lemee tell ya, having to go into work amongst co-workers w/ the constant, cold atmosphere of fear due to impending cutbacks is mega-stress.

After surviving 5 rounds of layoffs after 9/11, I had the luxury to choose what I wanted to go back to school for, and after Aviation, a prime factor for a career choice was JOB SECURITY. Nursing fit well, and its very hands-on, like maintenance. As a plumber/hands-on person yourself, I'd be surprised if you didn't enjoy the hands-on aspect of Nursing as much as I do. Make peace w/ your choice of careers as much as you can. You will need the focus and motivation later, and having that thought lingering in the back of your mind that you should've done something else instead is distracting. For myself, I was two (outta five) semesters into the Nursing program before I discarded the idea of PT, then things went smoother for me.

nursemike, ASN, RN · May 23, 2008

Mental health prevention? Sounds like nursing, to me...

To the OP: I had to take some pre-req courses prior to entering NS to bring up my GPA from my first attempt at college. I attended a nearby community college, and since one of the courses I failed in my younger, wilder days was English 1, I started out by taking Eng 1 and 2 in summer school. It's a subject that has always come easily to me when I was sober enough to find my way to class, so it let me get my feet wet without straining my brain. I will say, though, that taking each course in a 5-week summer session was a little demanding. We had to turn in five papers, just like regular session, and writing a 500 word paper every week kept me a little busy. Nothing that couldn't be managed, though. Then I took a couple of evening classes, and then I was ready for nursing. I think wading in a little slowly isn't a bad idea for students with more life experience than recent academic experience. Anyway, good luck.

barefootlady, ADN, RN · May 23, 2008

I am an older nurse, female, but I agree with the other posters. First decide if you are totally committed to nursing. Then, yes, I would take a few classes at the local community college to help get you into the "school" frame of mind. All nurses have to have English, psychology, history, and sociology. How about taking these?

Work hard and get a good grade. Then you could tackle a science. General science, biology, anatomy come to mind. If you are going to return to Fl to live, I hear the community college system there is pretty good, works with students to achieve their goals, and is not costly. Do not let the process overpower you, I went to school with several guys years ago, they are all still in nursing, still happy with the choices they made. One guy is in Fl working as a DON in a nursing home. One guy is in peds in SC, and one guy is in Texas works for some oil company as a plant nurse. So it is possible to make good money, have job security, and be happy with what you do. Good luck, and may God bless you for your service to our country.