Do not spare me..

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Hello everyone,

Please be blunt with your answers and dont spare me any details! good or bad.

Here is a little background. I am in the guard (national guard) and have worked for the last 3 years as either a Correctional officer and a car salesman. I have always had intrests in the medical field and i will be an RN within the next 5 years, but I do have a family so I must work until then! i am planing on attending Concorde for their 12 month surgical tech program. I thought i wanted to pursue criminal justice but it is not the way i want to help poeple.

Long story short I need the pros and cons of the trade(surgical tech)! I have done a little research but I want more info! I did look at becoming an lvn but i believe this is a better fit for me

I am 22 and a male if that helps with advice.

Thanks.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

If your ultimate goal is to be an RN, why spend 12 months pursuing a surgical tech program? Why not just go for your RN?

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

If you're looking for a quick route to make money, rather than do surgical tech, why not get your LPN and then bridge to the RN program. At least you stay on the same path.

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The reason i want to go to school for surgical tech is due to the fact that i do have a child and wife to support so i can not wait to get in to an rn program then wait to graduate.

So the surgical tech program would be a quick payoff and i can do it while i am in an RN program.

I would like to be a surgical tech to gain the experience in the OR so i can become a scrub nurse or a work in the ER.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.

Surg tech will most likely not help in the ER. Two very different places. I was an ST for almost 7 years.

If you want to be an RN in the long run, I would also make the choice for LPN porgram. Otherwise, you will do a 12 month program for ST then have to do another 2 years (if you dont have prereqs) to be an RN. As an LPN, its a year of schooling and then you usually have a 1 year bridge program to RN. So 3 years of school the ST route vs. 2 years of school with the LPN route.

Some places teach LPNs to scrub and the pay is very similar. Both programs are about a year.

Good luck with your decisions.

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Have you checked the state or community technical colleges for this program? Any school that doesn't post its prices but just gives a link to the loan officer probably charges way more than it should. Also, they may hit you for the entire cost of the program instead of semester by semester which means if you hate the program after a few weeks, you are stuck with a serious loan to pay off. This program may even be more expensive than a 2 year college degree. And, I doubt if any of the course work from Concorde will transfer so you'll have to start at the beginning with a nursing program. Expensive route to take. It could also take years to pay off the loan which probably is presented as an EZ application with an EZ payment plan...for the rest of your life for a job that doesn't pay that well.

Go to nursing school and get your RN. Get an entry level job of some type in a hospital that has tuition assistance. You'll then have benefits, a steady job and hopefully a flexible schedule especially when you use the words "I want to be a nurse".

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Specializes in CT stepdown, hospice, psych, ortho.

A good friend of mine was a scrub tech for a few years and then went through RN school with me.

Do you have a personality where you don't mind getting b*tched out every now and then? Probably, since you were NG (my hubs is military).

She said you got the brunt of some serious attitude from the surgeons sometimes.

Also, can you hear very well? I could never work in the OR because I couldn't hear what everyone was saying behind their masks without the benefit of seeing lips. I was always like "WHAT? HUH? EXCUSE ME?" and it was always too frigging cold.

Are you planning on working through nursing school? If you are, you may find yourself getting called in for an emergency surgery when you've already been doing clinicals all day and have to be back at 0600.

That being said, she loved it. She had a good working relationship with several of the doctors and we got to do school projects in the OR and she easily landed a position in the OR and went on to do first assist and she offered a lot of insight in class. Good luck with whatever you decide.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

if you want to work in the ER then some places hire CNA's or EMT's. My hospital where I worked as a CNA in the ER while in nursing school is making the switch to EMTs.

I was a CNA worked part time school full time and as a single mom with two boys. I think if your ultimate goal is to be a RN, I would look into something that has similar pre-reqs.

CNAs have no pre-reqs and is usually an 8 week class, EMT would have similar pre-reqs, like A&P.

You mention going to Concorde, if that is a trade school, I would be very wary of going to one. Do your research on the school and program itself, look at other places. A lot of the trade schools in addition to being very expensive ( 2-10X as much as CC) are not always fully accredited, and any classes you take may not transfer to another school when you are ready to get the RN.

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EMT would have similar pre-reqs, like A&P.

In most states, EMT is still about 110 hours which could be completed in less than 3 weeks and there are no prerequisites involved except for a high school diploma or GED.

If the ED hires either CNAs or EMTs in the ED, that would be a good entry level job. One could also work as a transporter for the OR just to get an inside view. Some hospitals also have their own OR Tech program. I believe Kaiser still offers it along with a few other technologist programs.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

Forget being a surgical tech - go all the way and become a Registered Nurse.

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I graduated from a community college here in alabama and got my RN. At my community college they have a night and weekend program for those who have to work fulltime. You might check into your area and see if they have such a program in your area.

Good Luck

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I did the LVN-to-RN route. I was earning rather good income as an LVN while attending an RN program. In addition, the scheduling for LVN jobs tends to be more flexible. If you are a surgical tech, you will most likely be on call.

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