Finish bio degree or switch to BSN?? HELP!!

[michellesb]

I'm going to try to make this as short as possible..sorry if it's too long :). I'm currently finishing my 3rd year as a bio major at CC. I've already taken animal bio, cell bio, molecular bio, plant bio, 1 yr gen chem, 1 yr physics (calculus based), 1 yr calculus, stats, anatomy, physiology, plus many more classes that are required for bio majors and right now I have a 3.9 GPA. I'm 21 and I support myself and I have almost reached the max. amount I can take out in undergrad student loans and I already have a lot of debt, so I'm reconsidering even finishing my bio degree and just switching over to nursing. Since I'm applying to transfer next semester, I need to decide now what classes I'm taking next semester to fulfill my pre-reqs to transfer. If I want to go the bio route i need 1 yr ochem + 1 yr ochem lab and I would transfer as a physiology major to UCLA or UCSD. If i want to transfer to a bsn i need microbio, comm and I think psych or sociology and I would also have time to get CNA and EMT certified before I transfer.

I've always known that I want to work in the medical field but I still don't know exactly where. I do know I don't want to go to medical school. I started pursuing my bio degree because i figured that when I finished my bio degree I would have the option to go the BSN route or the PA route. If I go the BSN route I would definitely go on to get an MSN as an NP or CRNA. I love both options (MSN or PA) a lot, both have pros and cons for me, but I know I am completely capable of doing both. I just can't decide which one I would be happier doing in the long run because I have no experience yet and right now my schedule is to crazy for me to shadow anyone. So, right now I really need to hear as much as I can from your personal experience working as a nurse or working with PAs. I've been doing a lot of research and reading a lot of the threads related to PA vs RN, etc and I think the best option for me would be going the BSN route (it's shorter, more time with patients, I can work while going to school, independent, work less hrs, more time for family, etc) but I'm scared that I'm risking too much with not finishing my bio degree after 3 yrs of hard work.

My main concerns of going the BSN route are that: I know I'm good at science classes but I don't know how well I'll do in the sociology, nursing theory, psychology classes. Also, I heard that right now there is a saturation of nurses in southern california, i don't want to throw away my bio degree and then graduate from nursing and not have a job. My main concerns going the bio route: finish 3 more intense years and then realize that I still want to be a nurse and I'll have too much debt and a degree so I won't qualify for financial aid for the BSN anymore. Any advice would be helpful right now in comparing nursing and PA. I really want to make the right decision. Also, if you could answer some of these questions from a nurses point of view i would really appreciate it.

1) In southern CA, is there a shortage or saturation of RN, NP, CRNA and PA? do you think it will be like this in 2-3 more yrs?

2) For nurses (RN, NP, CRNA): normally how many hours do you work a week? how many vacation weeks? normally how long are your shifts? If you know how this compares to a PA's schedule please feel free to answer as well.

3) What do you like and dislike about your job?

4) what do you like and dislike about PAs?

5) what are your daily tasks?

**I have no intention to offend anyone, so if anything I said is incorrect PLEASE correct me I know i'm not an expert at all.**

Thank you guys for any feedback!!

[goinforit]

Michelle- I cannot speak to what a PA does and the pros/cons of that route, but since you are posting in the pre-crna forum I will offer some suggestions as if you were to pursue that route. First of all, you have some amazing classes already under your belt that would make you very appealing for CRNA school. You mentioned money is tight, so one option could be for you to get your Associates degree in Nursing, I went this route because my entire ADN degree ended up costing me 550.00 bucks after all the scholarships I recieved for academic performance. (gpa 4.0) It would have cost me less than 5,000 without scholarships. Also you could start immediately with what you have and work on the micro/soc/comm/psych during the 2 year program or if there is a lag time between application and start of program you could knock those classes out. I wouldn't worry about the difficulty of nursing theory type classes, they will teach you what you need to know. So after I graduated I started working in a large, high acuity ICU and worked on getting my BSN at the same time as I was building up my experience. Since the hospital I work at pays 10,000 towards education, I will have my BSN paid for in full. The hospital has also paid for me to become CCRN certified and for my ACLS and PALS certifications. (All things you will need if you pursue CRNA) I think most of the things I have mentioned such as scholarships and hospital tuition reimbursements are offered all over so I'm sure you could get this for yourself as well.

As far as what types of things you can expect to be doing as a nurse, well, the choices are endless. I happen to like high pressure situations and having as much control over my environment as possible so the complexity of the ICU suits me perfectly. I'll let others go into job descriptions since this post is getting long. This was just what worked for me since I had zero money and 100% determination. I will be applying to several CRNA programs this year so wish me luck!

[cleo202]

1) i think that as we move out of the recession, the demand for nurses will go up. Ive spoken to very old RN and they have said that this has happened countless times before where they will have periods when hospital are short of nurses and they cant find enough nurses to hire and periods of saturation, where there are too many nurses to hire. Find and talk to very old RNs

2) RNs typically work 12 hr/3days a week for 3 weeks out of the month and 1 week 12hr/4days out of the month (thats 90% of RNs)

CRNA can work 12hr/ 3days a week, 10 hr/4days a week or 8 hr/5days a week

NP typically work 8 hrs/ 5days a week

PAs typically work 8hr/5days a week

3) im an RN i like the hours and days, i spend more days at home, decent pay, 4 weeks vacations and be 6 weeks if you use holiday time wisely

4)PA are always (by law)work with a doctor and Dr has to cosign prescription

NP are more independent in that aspect

5)daily task

take patient vital signs, do wound care, monitor patient on ventilatior, monitor pt drips, running codes (not everyday but when it needs to be done), fighting with residents over orders ect

[RN1980]

i get the following info from a freind of mine that works san diego. there is a saturation of rn's in the area. lots of competition for decent jobs. hospitals are cutting education scholarships and so forth. however, this is just from pal of mine who has been in that area for around 6yrs.

[studentinnursing]

I have been doing prereq's for 2 years and finally starting my ADN program in August. I have been researching CRNA since the beginning, and now here I am dying to get a semester under my belt to get into an ICU mopping the floors if I have to. I have just recently started looking at PA, and I personally like the role of NP or CRNA over PA, but by the looks of your classes, you'd be set to go right into a Master's PA program, and to finish your Bachelor's, you could of course find out what your school of preference may want in addition to what you already have and by the time those prereq's are done, you'd have your Bachelor's to enter a PA program--they usually want lots of chem and lots of bio, which you already have. That being said, I have just started to look for some kind of work to get my foot in the door anywhere (that accepts new grads into ICU anyway) cause I believe it's the only thing I want to do--ICU--I need fast, stressful, etc., to get me through the day, and I believe CRNA fits into that category as well. But, my point is, check them both out and decide what you want to do, what you will be happy doing the rest of your life, or for a fair amount of time anyway, with the cost and all :)

p.s. Some PA programs require previous experience in the medical field, but again, you have time to do that too while awaiting admission if you chose that route.

Good luck to you!