I'm new to allnurses (this is my first post). I'm looking for some advice, maybe some of you have been in a similar situation:
Here's my story: I applied to as many nursing schools as I could afford to in January. I was accepted to: a BSN program out-of-state for the Fall of 2013 at a private school and waitlisted for an ADN program in state. I decided to go for the BSN, but it's recently come down to the fact that I just cannot afford the tuition and I'm about to withdraw my place in the program.
I plan on re-applying to more affordable schools next year, however, the majority of BSN programs in my area only take applications once a year. I have finished all of my prerequisites, in fact I'll be graduating with my Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences, A.S. with honors this week. I've been a volunteer EMT for the past year (which I love) and I have a full-time non-medical related job. I refuse to give up on my dream of becoming a nurse even if it means waiting an entire year. In the meantime, I'm thinking of getting into the hospital side of patient care to complement the EMS experience I have (and to earn a little more money for school) while I wait.
For those of you who are working in a hospital, nursing students, or who are licensed nurses, what jobs have provided you with a lot of hands-on, quality patient care experience in a hospital? I just don't know much about the individual responsibilities/differences between a CNA, PCT, ER Tech, [insert any other hospital job along those lines I may have missed]...ect, but any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for reading, I'm looking forward to getting to know you all here on allnurses :-)
