Adam D.

Are graduating soon? If so, what specialty did you decide on? I got into the ED. It's very difficult but I'm enjoying it.

I enrolled in the online RN-BSN program and I'm halfway done with the courses. 5 more to go and I'll have my BSN. It's a great program, really straightforward, and you can do it at your own pace. This program is for those already with an ADN though.

As a newer nurse, just a year of experience, its sad to hear so many with so much knowledge and experience are leaving. I remember one day, about two months off orientation I was sitting on a step stool in the med room and one of the older ED nurses, with about as much experience as you asked me what was wrong. I told her I feel like a horrible nurse, and I hate leaving the admitted patients waiting sometimes hours before I'm able to get to them. I knew it was going to be hard but I genuinely feel like I'm doing a bad job when I come in and the patient has been sitting in their own filth for the better part of an hour. I felt like I just wanted to disappear into the floor I felt so defeated that day. She said the past few years have been the worst of her entire career, and left the ED to work per diem and urgent care. The last straw for her was when the hospital made all the ED nurses sign a pledge that they would complete a full head to toe assessment and offer bed baths for all admitted patients, otherwise they couldn't come back to work until signing it. I left three months earlier than planned, exactly at 1 year. Still staying in ED but not at that *** place.

Your facility sounds like a garbage place to work. I just finished my first year in a dumpy rural ER that wasn't even run by a *** ED nurse. The place was toxic as hell, grown *** women acting like 12 year old meangirls, and they'd always treat the new nurses like ***. Orientation was cut off 2 months early with no structure or any sort of residency program I was promised. Some nurses are just crabby they're stuck in a *** job at a *** facility cause they have a mortgage and can't leave. Try another facility or specialty before calling it quits. I got my year in and left that miserable place in my rear view. Just food for thought, all the travel nurses I've met up here in Maine are from down south. Everyone I've talked to said the pay and working conditions are trash down there. Maybe try moving out of the Carolinas if you can. I'm moving the hell back to Massachusetts to polish up my bedside skills. The place I was at was a *** dump, I couldn't believe it was in New England. 3 Emtala violations, over 6 nurses and 4 doctors left. That doesn't count support staff that left. Regularly short on supplies, sending pts home with a foley and no leg bag and everyone is looking at me funny cause I think that's unacceptable. Don't internalize their inability to run a hospital correctly, just leave. They'll try to put it on you any chance they get. ...Just go somewhere else. I've noticed nurses are notorious for trying to bring someone down to their level if the other person has a more pleasant disposition than they do. Just like any other job, there are lazy and miserable pieces of *** everywhere. Some of those old timers just put up with miserable workplaces for their entire careers, but that doesn't mean you have to. don't settle. LEAVE and don't go back. You know when your being held back or when it's time to go, that

Do they require NP direct entry students to work as RNs in order to complete their study? I'm just curious as I know most NP programs require some bedside experience and I'm just curious as to how the direct entry programs work.

Just curious to see if there is anyone out there that has completed University of Maine @ Fort Kent's online BSN program. What did you think of it and would you recommend it? I've pretty much decided on it at this point and just completed the application process today once I found out I was licensed but want to make sure its a good fit before I accept an offer to enroll.

Don't know if you've made a decision yet but I just graduated from SMCC's program this past December and loved it. The instructors are approachable and very thorough and the support for students was unbelievable. The chair of the program is also a really nice guy and is always willing to help students out when asked. The clinical rotations were great, even during the pandemic, and I genuinely feel well prepared as a new grad. I passed the NCLEX first try and tbh, I found the rigor of the program's tests to be on par with it. I couldn't recommend the program more, the cost and the overall experience.

I was wondering if anyone out there started out in the ED as a new grad and how it was for them? I went for it because I'm really interested in critical care and strongly felt like I should just go for it. It's a 12 week orientation in an ED in Maine and the shift is 1p-1a. I'll be orienting with a cohort of other new grads who've been hired into other units throughout the hospital.

I'm in my last semester of nursing school in Maine, but I'm checking out a program online through the Univ of Maine - Fort Kent. I'm from out of state and was looking for a program I could enroll in that wouldn't be affected if I decided to move back after graduation. I posted a link to info on their BSN program if your interested... https://online.umfk.edu/

Failed out of an LPN program after failing pharmacology by less than 2 points...Drove up to an info session for a program two states away three days later, and eventually got accepted for the following Spring. I'm currently one semester away from getting my ADN and it couldn't have worked out better. If you want it bad enough you'll make it happen. Don't let failing out discourage you.

I haven't graduated yet, but I'm currently heading into my last semester this fall @ SMCC. Despite the difficulties with doing lectures online during the pandemic, I think the program is great. They really give the students a lot of support, and the curriculum is structured in the way that I find not to be overwhelming. The instructors are also very accessible, and the tutoring/nursing club meetings go a long way to help facilitate success in the program. If you ask for help, they'll meet you halfway if your having trouble with something. From what I've heard, SMCC grads are highly sought after and the program has a really great reputation in the state. I'm also looking at the online BSN program @ UMFK. One of my clinical instructors graduated from that program and said its very doable working full-time as a new grad. She was able to get the cost of her BSN covered by her employer as well.