What do you do and how long have you done it?

palesarah · Jul 9, 2004

Great topic!

I went to nursing school after 4 1/2 years of "exploring" engineering, art education, architecture and lay midwifery and graduated with my ADN in May '03. I was hired into a hospital birth center right out of school and have been doing labor, delivery, mom/baby and level II nursery since!

TMPaul · Jul 9, 2004

BRAVO!!!!! to you ..... I bet it feels wonderful to have the undergraduate degree behind you as you move on to the MSN! Congratulations. I am still plugging away. Had to take some time off, but plan to start back shortly.
Did you go to the graduation in Phoenix?

I'm an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse- Board Certified (APRN-BC, AKA Nurse Practitioner) working in Adult hEalth for the past 11 years. I also teach the community health nursing classes for The University of Phoenix-online, and am a member of Homeland Security's (via FEMA) National Disaster Medical Services (NDMS) for Tennessee. :)

Imagin8tion · Jul 9, 2004

After Graduation I worked for 1 &1/2 years med/surg(couldn't wait to be done with that!) and currently at 9 months of ER(community hosp). I am and associates degree RN and will be returning to school for my BSN in the fall. I'd like to end up in PACU or cardiac cath unit.

~Christina~

southern rn · Jul 9, 2004

I currently work on a telemetry unit/ICU stepdown in a smaller hospital. Have also worked med-surg, ortho, skilled care, etc. Have been an RN for a little over 14 years now. I also worked as a CNA for about 3 years during high school and college. I haven't ever had a job not medically related!

ragingmomster, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 9, 2004

I worked for 10 years in LTC as an LPN and tried hospital nursing in sub-acute and post-partum for a few months to years along the way. I was ready to quit nursing altogether when I took a HUGE leap into corrections nursing. Now I am back in school, working M/S in a 100 bed community hospital and will finish my BSN in 5 months.After that it is on to labor and delivery while I go on for my MSN/CNM to deliver babies and teach in an ADN or BSN program. (14 years total experience) :uhoh3:

stressednurse · Jul 9, 2004

Paramedic for 4 years while I went to nursing school. 1 year in med/surg then ICU/CCU in a 12 bed unit that did fresh open hearts (this facility also did sex change operations and I got pulled to that area occasionally). After 2 years of that I went to ICU/neuro and was on a specialty flight team for 6 years. This team was doctor assisted and was one of 3 teams in the USA that would transport patients on ECMO LVAD and RVAD. (cardiac bypass and left and right ventricular devices). I traveled as a nurse for almost a year and worked in a level I trauma center for 6 months then off to an Open Heart center for 2 months and back to the specialty flight team (I was surprised they took me back after resigning to travel) Total burnout placed me supervising in a large(325 beds) LTC facility with a sub-acute unit. I am still there after 4 years and now I think I am ready to go back to hospital nursing for a year so I can travel again.

Other little things were Nurse aid for about a year after high school in 1975 while I was establishing a horseshoeing business. And working as a unit clerk in a busy suburban ER friday and saturday nights while I was going to medic school.

Next step is to make sure my 14 yo daughter has an education (two adult kids already) then I am off to explore the world.

Katnip, RN · Jul 9, 2004

Graduate with a BSN last May. Spent a year in a step-down unit, both medical and surgical. Will be starting in an ED next month--what I've wanted to do all along. :)

gaulkari · Jul 9, 2004

I have been working Oncology since I graduated from nursing school last December. Most of our pts are gyn Onc, but we get a mix of almost every other type of cancer you can think of.

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Jul 9, 2004

I'm an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse- Board Certified (APRN-BC, AKA Nurse Practitioner) working in Adult hEalth for the past 11 years. I also teach the community health nursing classes for The University of Phoenix-online, and am a member of Homeland Security's (via FEMA) National Disaster Medical Services (NDMS) for Tennessee. :)

Wow, what an exciting career path you have chosen. Perhaps I will have you as one of my instructors as I complete my degree.

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Jul 9, 2004

Wow - thank you everyone for all the wonderful responses. It truly is wonderful to see the vast amount of experience on this board. No wonder so many nurses come here when they have questions that they need answered. The educational as well as experience on this board is overwhelming to me. Keep em coming .... this has been really great to read.

weetziebat · Jul 9, 2004

I was an LPN for about 10 years and the job I enjoyed most during those years was in NBICU. Stressful, but so rewarding. Then went back to school for my RN and have worked in postpartum, nursery, M/S, ICU/CCU, ED, a drug dependency unit, spent 7 years working in the Middle East (adored that), and now am working with MR/DD clients. Have recently been thinking about a change - to return to hospital nursing. We'll see :uhoh3:

Brenda-RN,BSN, WA. · Jul 9, 2004

How nice of you to ask about all of us! I have been working in Post partum for 8 years. The past 6 years as an RN, BSN, the other 2 as an LPN working my way through school. Before that I was a CNA for home health, and loved that as well. I absolutely LOVE my job. I am thinking of some day working in ICU, I am very interested in that. I could never work in pediatrics. My 5 yo son recently had emergency open heart surgery, which, thank God, was a success, but I don't know how those nurses do it. I look up to them so much, and have tremendous appreciation for them, but I don't think that I could do it, probably because I had a personal experience. I can't imagine ever being anything else. I think nursing is the best career. Good luck with school.

I have been on this forum for a long time and do not think that I have ever seen a thread like this posted, perhaps I am wrong, but I would really love to know what area of nursing each member works and how long they have worked there. If you are aspiring to another area of nursing or are in school, please share that as well.
I have been an RN for 4 years and was an LPN for 17 years. I work in open heart step down and a surgical recovery unit. I am applying to actually work in CVICU and should know in the next couple of months if I have been accepted. I am currently in school and hope to complete my FNP after graduating from UoP. Once I am done, I would like to teach as an adjunct professor as well as maintain my hand in the clinical environment. Once I am done with school, I am not sure if I will pursue more degrees .... I am anxious to have school behind me. Thats me :) Thanks for sharing.
PS - I have been told that my advar looks like an older version of Harry Potter with a moustache.