kattben

I live in Northern Lower Michigan, new graduates start out at 20 an hour. there is a $2 3rd shift diff and no weekend diff.

the hospital that I work at also uses 30ml containers of saline. Each pt gets there own container when their meds come up from pharmacy

The nursing school I graduated from used computer simulation with fake arms to do IV starts. My clinical group had 10 student in it and we spent a total of about 30 minutes on this skill. Obviously we did not recieve adequate training in this area. The hospital i did my clinicals at, and currently work at, has an IV team, so unless I go into IV therapy I will never have the opportunity to master this skill. I feel for him. Where I work we do not even have supplies on our floors for people that want to stay in practice. All of the iv training is done through IV therapy orientation, where does a peron go to get IV start training?:angryfire

Your never to old. I just graduated in May and the ages in my class ranged from 20-60. Most were in the medical field and continuing on now that there children are in school full time or graduating. Your are never to old to complete your dreams.

Yes that is very true. There are hospitals all over the U.S that are doing this. Most of them will not pay for your pre-reqs only your nursing classes, but they will also put a cap on it. The main disadvantage to this program is that most of the hospitals, at least the ones I found, that offer this are very desperate for employees. Many are in bad areas or rural locations where people don't want to live and there is a very high nurse to pt ratio. I had an option to go to work at a place that would have pd back my loans but opted not to due to the nurse to pt ratio. Many employers also have tuition reimbersment programs. These are great. they pay for your classes based on your grade.

I went back to school when my children were 6months and 2. I was working a full time job from 6 am to 2 pm and went to school part time in the evenings. I did this for 2 years. i then lost my job (due to economic cutbacks) :) . We had no family in the area. We moved closer to my family, which was 3 hours away, and my husband kept his job there for 1 year, coming home on the weekends. It was definetely easier without having to work, and i continued to go part time until i got into the nursing program. It has taken me a long time, but I graduate in May. There have been times when i would feel guilty about the time i didn't get to spend with them, but I learned that it is the quality of time more than the quantity of time. I have always taken the time to read them a story before bed, and now that they are a little older, i always help them with their homework and usually play a game in the evening too. We have plenty of other time we spend together, but this is our special family time, with no TV or other distractions.

Hi all. i am also new to this site. I am a nursing student that will be graduating in May. I live in northern Michigan.

I am currently in the nursing program, and a friend of mine has ran into the same problem. She was convicted of a felony when she was 18. She currently works at the hospital, the problem that she may run into is whether the state allows her to practice as a nurse. I also talked to a human resource person at the hospital and she stated that it all depend on what the person did and how many years ago it was. my advice to you is to find out the what the policies are in the state you live. i don't think it would affect you. Another thing is always be honest. THe human resource lady told me that if they pull up any information that is not given on the application, they will not hire a person. Best of luck to you