Lost and Confuse

[tou860]

Ok, Here's my story and I need people's opinion and certainly RN's opinions. I'm a college student who wants to be Male RN, but I have no direction. Right now I'm just getting all the Pre-Rec classes out of the way at a community college. I did join a Surg Tech Program, but I felt as if I didnt want to be a Surg Tech because the pay seemed it wasnt enough. (did some research and it seemed starting it was around $15/hr). Also, would have taken me longer in school. So my question is what do I do now. Should I find a school that has a LPN program near me and try to enroll into that and then works towards a BSN at a University. It just seems that from what I heard where I live most of the Nursing Programs are filled up easily and very fast. Also I live in CT any suggestions is welcome.

[Joe NightingMale, MSN, RN]

So, no particular direction?

You might want to read the book 101 Careers in Nursing, which describes dozens of nursing specialties in detail.

I'm not sure which direction you should go--a lot will depend upon your educational background so far and what your eventual goals are.

Some people go for the ADN degree, which you can get at a community college. You can do most nursing jobs with this degree, but you won't be able to advance as far. I would think the same would be true of the LPN, but I think it's a bit more limited than the ADN. Community colleges are also sources of LPN programs.

Others go for a BSN degree. You might be able to do this through your present institution, or you might have to attend another school. Usually the first two years are general education requirements, and the next two nursing classes. There are also accelerated BSN programs that take less than a year and a half, but those are mostly for second-career nurses.

With a BSN you can do almost any job in nursing, and have the opportunity to advance to more senior positions.

After the BSN you could get an MSN, or even a PhD in nursing, but that would only be necessary for things like teaching, research, senior administrative positions, and specialties like NP, CRNA, etc....

But it all depends upon your goals.