Hello Everybody! And I mean all the allnurses.com people here. Nursing, I found out well, is hard for potential nurses who are making the transition from civilian to nurse. I missed this board very much while I was away. You may remember me. I was so excited to get accepted to a 2 year community college nursing school, and then was failed in clinicals during my second semester, and there was no warning it was coming. Being failed for the clinical portion was under the control of a single nursing instructor. It feels good to say hello to everyone who may remember me because I learn so much from allnurses.com.
Well, the reasons sited for me failing this particular clinical assignment was that I didn't turn in a component of my paperwork due each week, and that I gave po med (percocet) without the instructor being there while I gave the med. (Percocet is a narc) Even though I was told to go ahead and give it by the nurses there on the unit, and even though I had given the same med to the same PT the day before with the instructor there, it cost me dearly.
I was/am working 24 hours a week during nursing school as a floor CNA (Med Spec) and was doing it, but when I was dropped from nursing school, it was so hard to tell everyone where I work what happened when they would all ask, "How is school going?" I just received my one year evaluation from the hospital I work as a CNA at and it was excellent. I love what I do (caring for people) and it shows through in all I do.
I was dropped during Feb, 03, and was told i could come back next year. I wrote a great letter to the nursing dean explaining my true and steadfast intentions of becoming a nurse. I didn't leave the school on a bad note, and always kept my cool and composure, even though I felt the instructor was particularly hard on me, and I didn't deserve to be dropped like that. So, for the last two months, i have been living with the fact that I have to wait another year to become an RN, and this is just a bump, and something that has happened to others, and I will go with it and be the model student next year.
Now the school has informed me that they will not be taking back any returning students because of the great influx of new nursing students. This is really hard for me to take, knowing how much I want to be a nurse and start helping people as a nurse, then having that process be shut down because of a single instructor. Now I am all the way back to square one, and it's very hard to accept. Has anyone tried to get a seat in a nursing program lately? Forget about it! The ones in my area are all so full...waiting lists...panic.
So here I sit...with all my prereqs complete with a 3.0 avg and I have been in school full time over the last 2 years to get all my prereqs complete...then got accepted to RN program last year...got clinicals in my second semester at a rough place for a second semester student (post surg)...had an instructor didn't help me...then failed me...school tells me i can come back next year...then 2 months later says there will be no room because of the shortage...ahhhhh. My CNA job...where I work with med/surg PT's >32 hours a week is the greatest place to work. The nurses there are very professional and tell me they know I'll be an excellent nurse based on what they see.
I can't stand thinking of myself as dead in the water, but thats what I am. I have all the potential to become an excellent nurse and all the prereq knowledge to enter a 2 year RN program...and I have no seat. It has eaten at me every day in a big way, and for all the folks who don't think I know what depression can mean....I have had one heck of a case of the blues. But i have not sunk, and I still want to get into another school for the 2 years to give me a seat at the NCLEX so I can start doing my best by providing the best nursing care.
So now I have to start getting myself into reality and climb ALL THE WAY back to start. It's so tough to get into a good school today. And now i am having to start completely all over again, after all I have been through.
I'm not looking for any sympathy. If anyone knows of a school accepting students for Fall for or Winter, I'd like to know.
What makes it hard for me is to see other students get the training and help needed to become a nurse, and then to remember what happened to me.
If there is a school somewhere in the US that would take an ambitious and caring student, I'd like to know. This is not easy for me friends. My intentions are all positive, and I am ready, willing and able to train to be a RN, but the shortage is in quality nursing schools, with quality instructors, with quality learning programs, and not in potential quality nurses. Thank you.
Welcome back Mario! Good to see you posting again. I think you've been offered some excellent advice in the above posts. Don't let this setback discourage you too much--this may open the door for new and different opportunities if you stay open and flexible. There is such a huge need, and I'm confident that you can find a program that will embrace you if you put forth the effort. Good luck and let me know if there is anything I can do to help!
hello there mario-- good to see you back-- keep the faith-- look at the pros and cons-- where there is a will there is a way-- listen to the above posts-- good luck to you-- if i can be of assistance please let me know
If you want to move back home, heres a list you could check out.....
Associate Degree Programs:
Beth Israel Medical Center - Manhattan
Bronx Community College - CUNY - Bronx
College of Staten Island - CUNY - Staten Island (failed me out of the program me in 1977)
Borough of Manhattan Community College - CUNY - Manhatttan (gave me my second chance in 1978)
Interfaith Medical Center School of Nursing - Brooklyn
Kingsborough Community College of CUNY - Brooklyn
LaGuardia Community College-CUNY - Long Island City
Long Island College Hospital - Brooklyn
Medgar Evers College-CUNY - Brooklyn
New York City Technical College of CUNY - Brooklyn
Queensborough Community College of CUNY - Bayside, Queens
BSN programs:
Adelphi University - Garden City, Long Island
College of Mount Saint Vincent - Riverdale, Bronx
New York University - Manhattan
Pace University - Manhattan and Westchester
College of Staten Island - CUNY - Staten Island
Herbert H. Lehman College of CUNY - Bronx
Hunter College of CUNY - Manhattan
Long Island University - Brooklyn Campus - Brooklyn
Long Island University - C.W. Post Campus - Long Island
Medgar Evers College-CUNY - Brooklyn
Mount Saint Mary College - Newburgh
Saint Francis College - Brooklyn
Saint Joseph's College - Brooklyn
SUNY - New Paltz - New Paltz
SUNY Downstate Medical Center at Brooklyn - Brooklyn
Wagner College - Staten Island
York College of CUNY - Jamaica, Queens
LPN Program:
Medgar Evers College-CUNY - Brooklyn
Tuition for the schools in the CUNY system (City University of New York) is less than $4,000/yr full time. The schools in the SUNY sytem (State University of NY) cost about $8,000 per year full time. Financial aid is available.
I did not know you before but it is good to have you here. I have no advice as I am not even a student yet myself but I just wanted to say I hope everything works out ok for ya and don't give up on your dreams.
I really appreciate how you have helped me today. You have pushed me up a little higher to get over this terrible feeling. Aww, I was all set here for financial aid, and have about 3 grand out in loans.
I would have easily passed through. I hear and understand moon shadow for her comments about time and license of others involved. You did say it very well, but really, I feel some warning could have been given to me about this, maybe some education about just how quick a fatal error could occur for me as a student, and examples of outcomes, or how to help yourself if you think proper comunication does not exist.
The worst is the negativity. Just thinking about nursing, I think of the position I am in, and it prevents me from surging ahead. It has been three months now, and I haven't quit hurting over this. This has to stop, and thanks to your caring and concern for me, I am generating a formula for direction.
I would like to have a BSN, but nurses I hear talk about it say the pay is not worth the investment, and that more skills can be learned via experience. Thats what i heard, and for me, I heard it is expensive to the point of serious debt. Honestly, I need to find out more about the places in my area, but, again, I draw to the negative by reminding myself how i shouldn't have to be going through this, and how easier my life would be if this didn't happen. Blah :-) I will check out the BSN, and basically have to launch a master plan, which can consider relocating. But I just completed a year with the hospital I work as a CNA and the people are all great there as well as the benifits now and the great experience. There is another college in Portland that I would like to go to that is a 2 year college.
I am getting back motivation, but for the last 3 months I have just worked and felt sorry for myself. I can't take it anymore.
Nursing is about doing and stretching our selves and our limits beyond where you can imagine in present day. Being dropped from nursing school is an honor and a priviliage, because, from this new zero point, my rocket will reach space by achieving escape velocity from the small things in life that can get us down (like Mario Ragucci being dropped from RN school). The peoples lives I touch will be more special and positive; More than i know of today, and i will always ensure my best honor and dedication to being the best nurse in my own eyes. I'm almost crying.
Thank you again to everyone! For not abandon me as i would not abandon you. Amen.
It wasn't "rotten luck"... it was not handing in assignments on time and handing out meds without your clinical instructor's presence...big no-no. Just calling a spade...a spade here.
karenG
1,049 Posts
Mario
good to see you back!! you could always come here to train............
Karen