RNtobe26

So I am getting a picture here that you have a pretty severe case of anxiety, but are not able to do anything about it because your parents aren't supportive. I am not going to tell you what to do- this is your life and you need to figure it out for yourself. What I will do is this nugget: I would start with a list. Make a list. What is your goal? What are the steps you need to reach that goal? What are the smaller steps you need to reach the bigger steps? I would imagine that treating your anxiety will have to be one of the first steps. You say that you can't do anything in your house without your mom in your business. If you need to talk to a mental health professional, take a walk to a park or even a parking lot nearby. If you can talk on the phone, you can get help. It doesn't have to be in your house. You are very good at providing reasons why things aren't working, and you have true hurdles to overcome. Use your critical thinking skills to come up with solutions to your problems, as that will serve you much better.

Is there any reason you don't have a driver's license? If you are a graduated BSN nurse you are making money and it sounds like you need to start moving towards independence. Small things will help, like getting a license, if your parents will let you use their car. If not, save up and get ready to purchase your own. It sounds like you know that things need to change... but you have to be ready to make those changes, no one else is going to do it for you. You made it through school, you are capable of doing these things for yourself. Prove it to yourself that you can!

Check with your clinical educator ASAP. Most hospitals will have an EAP (Employee Assistance Program), part of which is mental health resources. There are online therapy options so no need to drive anywhere if you can access the internet... If you don't find anything through your job, whatever health insurance you have should have mental health resources as well, but you may need to dig a bit to find what they are. I have been where you are and it's not pretty. Get the help you need RIGHT NOW because it will be very hard to get better on your own without changing anything. I wish you the very best of luck.

Lawlipop, you are in a great position to really stop and think about what you want. Let me say this- 31 is NOT too old to go back to school for nursing! I graduated last year from an accelerated BSN program, and 31 was probably around the average age of our cohort, nowhere near the oldest. (I am way older than 31!). You have a job currently, I'm assuming, and are thinking of quitting to go to nursing school. I did exactly that. I planned, saved the tuition (and more) and quit my job. Here are a few things I would have done differently: 1. Volunteer or go through CNA training. I'm not sure where you live, and how close you are to some big hospitals, but I would really suggest if you are interested in bedside nursing ("default" new grad position), you should definitely see how nurses in the hospital work. A lot of my cohort had been CNAs to get training, and it showed in their familiarity with patients, equipment, basic procedures, time management, etc. I worked up until my program started and did not have any formal hospital training (I did about 250 hours as a volunteer, but the role was extremely limited). I felt extremely unprepared and wished I had known what I was getting myself into. CNAs handle all of the daily duties such as vital signs, feeding, toileting, cleaning- sometimes with help from an RN, sometimes not. If you want to know if you will like nursing, this is a way to see if you can handle what the RN is responsible for. 2. Make sure you are leaving your current job for the right reasons. Another poster here mentioned that an RN doesn't always have the time on the floor to provide touchy-feely care, and that is the truth. There are times you want to give a patient attention, and you can't. Unfortunately, prioritization will dictate who gets your attention first and how much. The patient you like the best because they are pleasant is likely not the one you will spend the most time with! And for me, I find it hard to cut off a patient who is chatty- I know this about myself- but I have to, or face not finishing my work/ neglecting my duties and other patients. Again, you will not see this reality of nursing if you do not spend time as a nurse in the hospital. There may be other specialties that allow you better patient contact like home health or clinics- but check, because they often want you to have some bedside experience. 3. Take a look at your life right now. Do you have weekends off? Do you get holidays regularly? Do you plan to have children in the future? Nursing is a career that has a lot of flexibility in some ways and not in others. For example, I worked an office job before nursing. If one of my children was sick, I could tell my boss directly, leave to take care of my kid, and maybe even get some work done from home. Bedside nursing is a 12-hour shift, and you can't really "work from home." I wonder now, if my husband can't pick up my slack, what will happen with a sick child if I am on shift during the daytime hours (night shift makes this less of an issue, but has its own set of problems!)? What if I feel sick in the middle of a shift but there is no one to cover for me or I have to wait a few hours before they can call someone in? Are you OK working weekends (some places rotate who works weekends, others just dictate what your schedule is, etc)? Holidays? Is your significant other OK with you essentially being MIA for three days out of the week? 4. Here's food for thought. You are 10 years into a pretty decent career. You're an expert and feeling good about where you are (I assume). It is HARD to start over! I didn't mind being in school, but as a new grad I find it overwhelming to have literal lives in my hands. The sense of responsibility is very different than the job you have now. You will be licensed and will have to act within the rules and regulations that govern your license, as well as your facility. I definitely feel the weight of that responsibility just because it is very different from how I worked before. My stress level is way up, even though I found my previous work stressful. You liked nursing your boyfriend back to health and you found that rewarding, and that is not the worst reason to consider nursing I've heard. Before you jump all the way in, do your research. Home health might be a good fit for you, but what will you have to do to be able to get that position? It is also COVID times, and know that hospitals will use you, even as an inexperienced new grad, to take care of whatever patients they have. I would talk to the BSN coordinator about any concerns you have before you apply, if possible. A lot of times, non-nurses have an idea of what nursing is... and are very wrong! Or at least have a very limited picture! Try to do as much as you can to inform yourself of what nursing is in real life so you know if it's something you want to take on. Best of luck!

Congrats, shellbeejeann! This is giving a lot of us on here some hope (or at least me!) that interviews may still be possible! Good luck on your interview!

I'm still sitting tight with "submission received" for Mother-Baby!

Those of you with interviews, are you being contacted by email? I just am afraid of missing a potential message... nothing yet but my status still just says "submitted..." good luck to you all who are moving forward!

I also applied and still just see "submitted..." I put NICU, CVICU, and surgery as my three.

I applied to Mother Baby (at Miller)! Good luck to everyone ?

I just got a text saying that my credit score changed... and it's a week after the CHLA application closed (I remember their application saying they will check our credit...?) Did this happen to anyone else? I'm trying to check my report to see if I can find out why there was a change and if it's because of someone performing a check. I just need some good news!

My guess is that we won’t hear much until next week at the earliest, and after the new year of course at the latest. Happy holidays, co-applicants!!

I applied! I did the interview last Thursday and am just waiting to see if I hear anything before the end of the year. Good luck to us all!

Just sent my request too! Can't wait to meet everyone @etchensketch, thank you so much for posting about the class schedule! I can't believe how much more real that makes things seem (and helps everyone plan... which I'm sure is a common thread among many of us).

I think if you don't have a recent (few years?) hep B series, you will need titers drawn. Best just to get all titers, and then get any vaccines where the titers do not reach "immune" status.

Phew! Email received at 7:46pm. Congrats everyone who's gotten it, good luck to those still waiting. So very looking forward to meeting everyone in just another month! Anyone want to coordinate fire card/AHA BLS classes?