I want to be an R.N. but dont know if I can, any advice PLEASE!!!

[RNDreams]

:nurse:i know that this is a little off topic to the post, but since someone brought it up it sprung a question on me that i have to ask. what other careers are available in the medical fiend, maybe some that are less known bout. i am an esthetician (and have been doing hands on esthetics as spa management for 7 years now) i know that managing other people is not fir me and i have always dreamed of being a nurse but her drug and alcohol addiction and her finally losing her rn license, amongst the fact that i am about to graduate my 2 year college with my a.s. in business which i chose because i was in spa management at the time so i thought it would be a good fit. although every day of my life i try to be nothing like my mother that threw her life and family away i was scared to get into nursing b/c i was scared i would do the things she did (steal meds etc.) i have worked as an esthetician at plastic surgeons offices where the dr was "loose" with his scrip's and i never did anything with them or have ever stole from a job period. so now i am in the position that i have to decide where to go for my 4 year degree and nursing is on my mind again and i have a husband i have been married to for 6 year and together 14 and a 2 1/2 year old daughter.

i know i could do nursing but the are some financial considerations and my husband just go a raise yesterday that is we lived very minimally i could possible attend ns and we coud keep our home and have our credit be kept decent and then i would have the career of my dreams for my life. it fits well with esthetics because i could be a skin care nurse and works for a plastics and do what i do now but also assist in surgeries and give botox and other facial injections as someone that is a licensed esthetician and rn is a dream to a plastic surgeons practice. but as i said financially it would be cutting it close and i would have to sacrifice a lot of time with my husband and daughter and i also had an emergency spinal fusion 8 months ago and although i fee almost back to normal i don't know if i could keep up with the physical demands of ns, the thought of making beds etc, makes my back hurt, but i know it would make it stronger in the long run.

so i have quite a few things againt me and a few things going for me, not to mention i live in atlanta so i have every option for any kind of medial related school i want to go to within a 45 min drive max.

my? is given my back situation and financial situation and dream of nursing what other programs or mainly licensed health care jobs are there in the medical field that are not so physically demanding and the programs are not as intense?

i am looking into radiology tech but they are only given at voc. schools here and i have a scholarship here in ga that if i maintain at least a 3.0 gpa i can go to any ga university for 100% paid tuition and up until this point for my a.s. i have self paid and then got that scholarship so i have no college debt as opposed to a tech school where i would take my pre reqs (that i don't know if they would transfer from a voc. school to a 4 year) so i am really at a loss of what to do.

any advice, knowing my situation, is greatly appreciated!

thank you!

christine

[I RN A]

I think you should evaluate you reasons for choosing a nursing profession. It takes a special person to be a nurse. Do you have a lot of compassion and patience? Do you like to help people? Would you able to handle dealing with blood, vomitting, feces, urine, medications, depression, anger? Are you good with multitasking? How do you deal with a lot of stress and stressful situations? I don't want to scare you off, but if you want to be a nurse just for a job security reasons, you are going to be misreable as a nurse. The nursing school is a lot of hard work. Are you prepared to sacrifice at least 2 years of you life and actually not to have a life for these 2 years? As far as job security, it is true that you can get a job, but only if you have one year of experience. I'm a new grad and have been looking all over for about 4 month and can't find a job. Are you prepared to do anything you can to be a nurse? Again, I'm not trying to scare you, just trying to give you the facts, and the decision is up to you.

[Vito Andolini]

Wow, congratulations on all of your achievements. You are already an esthetician, you are getting your 2 year degree, you are a happily married woman and a mother. Plus, you have a scholarship. You are also a wise person, I think, as you are taking time to consider everything, including your health, and to weigh all the factors that go into this decision of what to do next.

I don't know of health care careers except Nursing, Radiology technician, Physical therapy, Occupational therapy, Respiratory therapy, and Speech Therapy. Why not google health careers or check out the DOL listings? US Department of Labor - their Job Outlook Handbook; or talk with a career counselor at a school or ask the Reference librarian for help at a library?

I think Radiology is about a 2 year course. The others are longer, except Respiratory, which is likely 2 years at a community college or vocational school.

Whatever you choose, try to find out who's hiring and what the pay is like.

Since you already know what you want to do, why not think about going to work for a plastic surgeon or a dermatologist? They might eventually offer to pay for your further schooling, if they see a benefit to themselves in getting you further education.

I don't think your Mom's troubles will be repeated in you. You are aware of them and on guard against them.

I do wish you the best and hope you will be able to get the answer to your questions by asking the right parties - like whether or not schools will accept other schools' credits. Sometimes, they accept them within, for instance, 5 years.

Nursing is physically demanding, so do keep that in mind.

[KellyCCRN]

If you are talking about the GA Hope scholarship you can use it at a technical college in GA as long as you are in an associates program. Technical colleges also have the Hope Grant which is almost identical to the scholarship in that it pays for 100% tuition and fee and $100 towards books the only difference is that it is for diploma programs.

[thekid]

just out of curiousity are you unhappy with esthetics work? I'm an RN and would love to work in a plastic surgeons office. Will follow this thread to see other posts

I agree with the other nurses, school is TOUGH. I had my parents help as I was a single mom at the time but it was the hardest two years of my life.