OK...bit the bullet today and signed up for the Community College's vocational CNA training...but now I am poor after shelling out the $550 (no books, scrubs, or supplies included) for the course!
At least I won't be "beholding" to any institution after I'm done...I guess that's the "plus" side of paying it all yourself...
Anyhow...enough griping! I am stoked to be starting in February, and the class is online (with in-person clinical days) so it fits with my full-time work schedule.
From what I have seen/read it's completely all over the board as far as costs go. Some free, some quite expensive.
I could have taken the same course (offered by the same CC) at the college, and it would have been a semester long, and is a 5-credit class at 5x$125 per credit hour!! (Yes, the CC is $125 per credit hour).
Just got back from California where the CC is $20 per credit hour
So with the online option, weekend clinicals, compressed time, and lower cost, this was a good choice.
Still got to buy books, scrubs, shoes, etc...we've got a large med community here, so hopefully finding gear to fit my 6'6" frame won't be TOO difficult...
Yup. Same here. Not only Y2K - out sourcing. The jobs still exist, they're just in Bangalore.
:)
Just found out yesterday our contract negotiation and vendor billing portion of my job is being outsourced (at least to a firm headquartered in the US, not sure where the actual work will be done). So the 3 of us on the team figure it is just a matter of time.
The one guy I work with is firing resumes off like he's at a carnival shooting gallery. I tell the "hardcore" IT folks about my desire for a career change, and they just stare at me dumbfounded. (developers! sheesh!)
Just found out yesterday our contract negotiation and vendor billing portion of my job is being outsourced (at least to a firm headquartered in the US, not sure where the actual work will be done). So the 3 of us on the team figure it is just a matter of time.
The one guy I work with is firing resumes off like he's at a carnival shooting gallery. I tell the "hardcore" IT folks about my desire for a career change, and they just stare at me dumbfounded. (developers! sheesh!)
My non-IT friends get it...:chuckle
I really lucked out. I did a year of clinical and now I'm the informatics nurse - I talk clinical and geek. It's perfect. I'm in a rural CAH so they're thrilled that I can actually pull numbers out of the AS/400. No one here is really a DB2/VSAM/Access kinda person, and they were thrilled to get someone with a licenses.
You're smart to get another skill set. Of course, this is about my fourth career .
I really lucked out. I did a year of clinical and now I'm the informatics nurse - I talk clinical and geek. It's perfect. I'm in a rural CAH so they're thrilled that I can actually pull numbers out of the AS/400. No one here is really a DB2/VSAM/Access kinda person, and they were thrilled to get someone with a licenses.
You're smart to get another skill set. Of course, this is about my fourth career .
Smart enough for another skill set, maybe.
Smart enough to figure out what "rural CAH" is...evidently not :imbar
Career path is like this:
Retail Management
Air Force
IT Analyst...
CNA/LPN/RN :)
I hope to get into the same kind of setup, where I can use my IT background combined with my newly found nursing skills.
Funny thing, when I tell my co-workers I may look for something in the 'Healthcare field', they say, "you mean, like a NURSE??":eek:
Smart enough to figure out what "rural CAH" is...evidently not :imbar
Oh, sorry. CAH = critical access hospital.
We're a small facility that stabilizes and ships for anything more than pneumonia, etc. That means we stop bleeding, start fluids, and get them onto an ambulance or helicopter.
We have an ambulatory surgery (ambsurg or AS) and nursing home (LTC for long term care, or SNF for skilled nursing facility, or NH for nursing home) with 84 beds. A clinic, and ED (emergency dept - the med director hates when we call tit the ER for emergency ROOM) that serves very much as a 24 hour clinic.
And Geek, depending on your state, you can go LPN to RN via Excelsior, and test instead of go to classes. I did LPN to RN that way.
You will need about a year of clinical experience under your belt but there's a lot of room for us in health care, particularly with Obama wanting to get the nation onto EMR's. (electronic medical records. EHR = electronic health record.)
I PREFER home study, so when I look for my bridge program, it may be of the online variety. The local CC here makes you take a year 'break' between finishing your LPN, and then bridging to RN to get clinical experience.
The RN track is just a straight 2 years, then off to work.
Thanks! I found out at my orientation for my return to college life (the local CC) last night that I am A YEAR FARTHER AWAY THAN I THOUGHT for the LPN program.
They do a "points mafia" kind of thing where you take the pre-reqs and electives (all of them, evidently) and then you apply for the program (PN or RN)...and you have to do it a YEAR IN ADVANCE, have a bazillion points accumulated, etc etc.
So I was trying to squeeze in the pre-reqs for LPN, and get into the program for the Fall of 2009.
Not going to happen.
SO...now that I have another year of school filling pre-reqs prior to formally applying to the Nursing program, I decided to skip the LPN pre-reqs, and focus on the RN pre-reqs, then go for the "whole enchilada" in 2010. Just seems like a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way away. I know why they do this (to make sure you're serious, and to have the stuff like Biology and Anatomy out of the way) but it does make for a 3 to 4 year "Associates Degree"
So the Spring '09 semester consists of my CNA class (ALSO a pre-req for entry into the RN program) and something fun titled "Social and Cultural Anthropology"
SO...now that I have another year of school filling pre-reqs prior to formally applying to the Nursing program, I decided to skip the LPN pre-reqs, and focus on the RN pre-reqs, then go for the "whole enchilada" in 2010. Just seems like a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way away. I know why they do this (to make sure you're serious, and to have the stuff like Biology and Anatomy out of the way) but it does make for a 3 to 4 year "Associates Degree"
Stick to it! I was going to go into nursing too and started taking pre-reqs, but dropped it. I'm sorry I didn't pursue it --- I could have been out of IT before I was booted out (after Y2K and lack-of-jobs).
for the course!
(developers! sheesh!)
SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN
10,263 Posts
Yup. Same here. Not only Y2K - out sourcing. The jobs still exist, they're just in Bangalore.
:)