Templar1961

I've worked as a receptionist while doing my prereq's, but when I finally start clinicals, I'll have to quit. I'm hoping to do work-study while I hammer my way through it, though.

Respect! Salary Scheduling Tuition reimbursement

Yep, agnostic bordering on atheist. It was leaving Christianity that actually spurred me into nursing in the first place, believe it or not. Without the excuse of "God made it that way" to explain away most of the universe, I found myself curious to know how the human body did, in fact, work. Additionally, nursing seems like a good way to contribute to the human cause for my own reasons, rather than just because God said so. Keep in mind this is not to imply Christians are not curious about science, or anything even remotely offensive -- this was just how I responded to leaving the fold, so to speak. It's been exhilarating and quite rewarding so far!

I have a question, and I don't mean to offend anyone here, let me say that up front. I'm not venting or flaming. I am a white female. When I was in high school, I worked as a cashier in a grocery store. I was cheerful and talkative with all my customers. But I noticed several black women who would come through that would often avoid eye contact, ignore my greetings or questions, and avoid physically touching me, such as when I was returning their change. They would never speak to me, although they might speak to their friends or family members who were with them, and a few would behave as if they were slightly repelled by me. Some were young, some were old. When I spoke to my parents about it, they concurred that while I had never personally offended these women, they had probably been raised with this mentality, and were not necessarily being racist. Or perhaps they had been treated badly by white people in the past. (I took all this as the excuse given for this behavior.) However, I notice that when it is a white person behaving impolitely toward a black person for presumably race-related reasons, it never seems to be concluded that said white person must have been raised with that mentality, and were not necessarily being racist, or that perhaps they were once treated badly by black people in the past. It is always concluded that said white person is racist, period. I understand the touchy nature of this issue and that the entire matter is still very inflamatory in this nation, especially politically. But to this day I've never fully understood this. Being that there are numerous African-American posters involved in this thread, maybe one of you can help me understand this situation from your perspective?

SBK, why would you leave? And what would you do instead?

Okay! This is similar to the threads about whether or not you would recommend nursing, but with one simple question: If you be in a different career, right now, would you? Assume all education, licenses, whatever would miraculously be there. Pay would not be a concern. Whatever issues are keeping you in a career or department you hate would magically disappear. If you could leave immediately, would you, and why? It seems many are staying because of routine, no chance to attend school for a different career, or what have you. I'd just like to know how many are actually in nursing because they want to be. Thanks!

Here's my usual routine. It's long, but it works. Read the chapter, just as you've been doing. But do it before class. Get a general idea in your mind of what the professor will be talking about. You don't have to know everything at this point -- just be able to recognize the concepts and vocabulary words. Make it familiar to you. In class, take note of what the professor discusses. If he or she has provided a handout, highlight it, write notes on it, mark definitions in the margins. If he or she has not provided a handout, write down the major points he or she discusses. After class, use the notes you wrote in class to write a summary of all the material you need to know. Pretend you're the teacher, and you're providing a review sheet for your students. Make flashcards if need be. I know you feel like you're only memorizing, but as long as you comprehend the meaning behind the flashcards and aren't just spitting out meaningless repititions, that's all that matters right now. If need be, read the chapter again. Make up images or catchy sayings to help you remember things. For instance, to remember the functions of skin, I remembered the phrase "To Be Pink Can't Seem Easy!" That is, Thermoregulation, Blood reservoir, Protection, Cutaneous sensations, Synthesis of Vitamin D, and Excrection. The goal is to get to the point where you can review all the material in your head without using any other aide. It should be easy, like flipping through a book. That's what I've been doing, and I've been getting A's. Hope this helps!

The pill will not give you a false pregnancy reading. You might believe this because you may have been told the pill fools your body into thinking it is already pregnant. This is not exactly true, but it is a lot quicker than explaining how it fully works. The pill works in several ways: 1) It prevents your body from releasing an egg in the first place, which means you have nothing to fertilize. 2) It makes your cervical mucus (the goo that makes your lady parts slippery) thicker so that sperm have a harder time getting to your egg, just in case #1 fails. 3) It keeps the lining of your uterus thin and unwelcoming to fertilized eggs, making it hard for them to "grab on" and grow, just in case both #1 and 2 manage to fail (quite rare). With nothing to cling to, a fertilized egg will not be able to implant and develop into a fetus. If you take the pill consistently and generally on time each day, you should be fine. Unless you are on the minipill (Ortho Micronor, for example), an hour or two will not be a big enough disruption to tinker with the pill's effectiveness. Now, after all that, if you have not had sex since your last period (and it was a normal one), you can't be pregnant. The only way you could possibly be pregnant without having had sex this month is if your previous period was actually implantation bleeding, which is when the fertilized zygote burrows into the lining of your uterus. But that is usually light enough to tip you off that something is up. You would know. And if by some bizarre chance your last period *was* simply implantation bleeding, you would now be a month along and should certainly be able to have a positive pregnancy test by now. All that is a very long-winded way of saying you should be fine. But if you absolutely have to know, grab a home pregnancy test. Hope that helps! And good luck!

Hi there, I'm a pre-nursing student and I'd just like to know what some common drugs are that you guys each use on a daily basis. I'd like to try and get a headstart on learning some of them. Thanks so much!

Bump

Thank you all so much for your replies. That's very encouraging!

Hey there, I've read through a lot of these posts, and it seems eight out of ten nurses absolutely hate their jobs. Others say it's terrible but they trudge along for humanistic reasons. I know this topic has been done to death, but please answer me this question: if you could go back, would you still have gotten into nursing?

Get better grades. No, get fantastic grades. I know that's blunt and completely inconsiderate of your personal circumstances, and that you want some other tips besides that, but that's really all I can think of. And just because the required GPA is 2.5 doesn't mean that attaining that will get you in. I know it sucks! I'm right there with you!

Thank you for posting this! This is very encouraging. The verdict seems to be split evenly between those who hate nursing and those who love it, so here's my question: how exactly do you know if you're "born" to do nursing?

As I understand your post, it was the private MD who you spoke with originally who suggested it, and apparently it *had* worked in the past, so clearly it couldn't be that far-fetched. It wasn't just you! It's technically the other MD they're laughing at ... via you. Try to hang in there. I know that can be very frustrating and difficult!