Skippitb

Anything nasty that you can think of can and will be said to you at a hospital. I have been called everything from a "f***ing b***h who is abusive and trying to kill [them]," (them being that particular patient) to a "fat slob who no one loves (at 5'8'' and a whopping 130 pounds)," and just about everything in between. I can say that a very high percentage of the patients that are verbally abusive to me are either suffering from a poor reaction to a substance that they have either received at home or at the hospital or have some sort of mentally debilitating or mood altering condition. The ones who are having reactions to medications come out of it when their system clears the medication and then they are generally very nice and more times than not apologetic. Patients with dementia, Alzheimer's, and other afflictions that can affect behavior, are often redirectable. I personally find verbal abuse from these patients rather easy to ignore. Physical abuse is much more difficult to deal with for me. I worked with a completely lucid patient with two broken legs who punched and broke the jaw of one of our nurses. She was standing by his bed trying to convince him to wait for her to get help before he tried to climb over the edge of his bed to get out (this patient had already hurt himself falling while trying to get out of bed unassisted once before) and since she would not get out of his way he hit her. When I came in with the assignment of trying to prevent him from falling out of bed he told me that if I came with in reach he would " knock my f***ing head off." Of course outside of his room is a sign saying "Please protect our patient. Fall Risk." In my opinion we should have been protected from him, not the other way around. These actively violent patients are the ones that really make me just want to leave the hospital, but for me personally, the greatful patients always more than make up for the bad ones.

I am in SW Michigan also. I know the frustrations of the community colleges here. I have my B.S. in pre-med and I couldn't find any C.C.s that would give me preference for my degree, credit hours completed, core nursing classes completed, pre-reqs completed, or my GPA. I find it a bit ridiculous that they go by first come first serve and have no interest in screening people before they enter the programs. Maybe it is just me, but I got really irked by the fact that I, as someone with a 4 year degree in the medical field, years of direct contact patient care experience in a hospital, and a good deal of the nursing theory classes already completed, didn't get any preference over a 19 year old that has only taken the minimum pre-reqs and got barely passing grades. I finally just said screw it and applied and got in to WMU's BSN program and the whole thing will only take 3 years. The C.C.s around here have such long waiting lists that they couldn't even guarantee that I would be entering in to their programs within 3 years. By working as a nurse during the 2 or 3 extra years that I would have spent waiting around for a spot at a C.C. I will be making twice what I am now and be able to pay off most of my student loans that I take out along the way. For me, being able to start working as a nurse sooner makes the extra university tuition for the BSN just as affordable in the end. I do not know what is best for you but when comparing the ADN and BSN programs in our area I really feel that getting the BSN requires less time, a whole lot less tolerance of ignorant school officials, and about an equal amount of money in the long run. If you really want to go the ADN route I would check out Glen Oaks Community College. They let people in based on an entrance exam score (thus no waiting list) but they have pretty expensive out of district tuition for a C.C. and their program runs full time, all year long, for 2 years. They are on trimesters so it is 6 full time semesters total, since I only had 6 part time semesters of classes to take at WMU to get my BSN, Glen Oaks wasn't really worth it for me personally. I hope this was some what helpful. Good luck with your adventures involving the nursing schools around us. I hope that you can find a way to get in somewhere quickly and don't have to deal with nearly the bs that I did. ~Lindsey

Now I have a question. Many people seem to act like nurses don't get paid anything. At the hospital I work at ADNs start out at 23 dollars an hour. Do any of you really think that there is any other job that would pay someone with a 2 year degree 23 dollars an hour to work 36 hours a week. I think not. I definitely am not making that and I have a bachelors in biomedical sciences and am going back to get my BSN because I enjoy providing direct patient care, but also because it pays wonderfully and the shifts appeal to me. Even if I worked in a large pharmacuetical research center now I wouldn't start at that. I really think that many nurses just don't see how good they have it. It is work. It isn't meant to be fun. If you think you can find better money else where with the same amount of education and work less, by all means be my guest, but I wont be holding my breath.

Ditto. I have no knowledge of the specific laws in your state but it is likely that if this co-worker kills someone while she is high and someone finds out that you had knowledge of her drug use prior to the incident you could be held partially responsible. I would mention your conversation with whom ever is appropriate to go to in the chain of comand and let them decide whether or not it is a serious problem and how it is to be delt with. If it turns out to be nothing, no harm was caused. JMO

Have you looked at public universities and community coleges in your area? I went to a large public university in Michigan and it just barely cost me $21,000 for all 4.5 years of my bachelors. You could go to 12 months of medical school at the University of Michigan for $21,000. You should be able to find program far less expensive than what you are quoting if you want to make the effort. I would look around some more. All of the community college's around me have LPN programs for about $4,000 for the whole 2 years. I looked at a few different community colleges in illinios and they were priced similarly at about $1,800- $2,000 a year.

I just read this story for the first time today and this is the most horrible thing I have ever heard of. I am so sorry that you have to put up with this. :angryfire Is there anyway you can get a lawyer involved? I really think that you need one. Perhaps you could get one to come with you to the grievance meeting? This hospital needs to learn that covering up age discrimination is serious business. My thoughts are with you.

I am going to be graduating with my pre-med degree at the end of this semester and will be going on to nursing school rather than medical school. I will try to be helpful by offer my experiences and opinions. I would generally not try to dissuade anyone from continuing a program based on one class, but if you are not very good at chemistry bio-med is going to be tremendously difficult for you. Most programs require at least 5 semesters of chemistry: gen chem 1&2, orgo 1&2, and at least one semester of biochem. I don't want to offend any one here, but a large majority of the math and science courses you will have to take for pre-med are considerably more rigorous than anything you will take in nursing school. Also keep in mind that the first grade that med schools look at on your transcript is your organic chem grade. When I was personally deciding between medical and nursing school these are a few things that I considered. -Affordability of program tuition -Willingness to relocate for medical school programs and residencies. -Willingness to put my personal life on hold for 4 to 8 more years -Preference in patient care role -Salary and shift flexibility vs. responsibility and work load -Intensity of schooling/burnout factor I am not willing and able to make the personal and financial sacrifices required for med school. I do not want to relocate. I do not want to have to wait another 4 years to get married and start a family. I want a more direct role in patient care. I would like to enter the work force sooner rather than later with the option to further my education in the future if I so choose. I feel that nurses make good money for the minimal amount of schooling required and I like 12 hour shifts. Another thing to keep in mind is that a pre-med degree is not a very versatile degree. If you decide that you don't want to go to med-school after you get our bachelors you are basically limited to low level research. If I could go back I wouldn't have even bothered to finish my pre-med because I have been informed that it is basically worthless to me in the health care field outside of getting me in to med school. I would have thought it to be an asset but it doesn't seem to be. A BSN on the other hand is an easier degree to get curricula wise and offers you many more options when you are finished, even if you decide you do not want to go in to bedside nursing. It is likely that your priorities are different than mine and your experiences may differ as well. In the end you will make the choice that is most right for you. I wish you the best of luck.

I have never heard of that. That does sound very interesting, thank you. Do you know where I could get more information on a direct-entry MSN program? Eddited to add: I found some info but the closet school to me that offers such a program is over 2 hours away. I will keep this program in mind, I am not sure that I am ready yet to move from the job and home I love, but I am always happy to be able to see all fo my options.

My problem with getting a BSN is that it would end up being more expensive and take longer (3 years for the BSN at the university near me no matter what) than just getting my masters in biology or going to PA school. At $3,500 a semester on top of the $15,000 of debt I already have from my first bachelors it would be really hard. If I went to the BSN I probably woundn't be able to afford a graduate degree at all. A 2 year program at a community college I can afford, but do you really think that I will make enough more as a BSN than as a ADN to justify the $130 more a month I would have to pay back in student loans (on top of the $150 I will already be paying) for the next 15 years?

I just wanted to clarify something. Calling someone who hasn't gone to AT LEAST 2 years of school and passed their VTNE a vet tech is just as mis-representational as that vet tech calling herself a RN, I would be willing to bet she is truly neither as holding the title LVT (or RVT depending on the state) is something that is highly respectable in the veterinary world. A veterinary assistant may have no specialized schooling but a vet tech is an LVT or RVT, a LICENSED or REGISTERED veterinary technician. A vet tech has gone at least as much school as any ADN and I don't know a single LVT that would call themselves anything otherwise. Just like RNs, LVTs are proud of their title, and who ever said they were making minimum wage or that they only go to 9 months of school was not very well informed. LVTs are in high demand and they are highly trained and skilled with many having an extra 2 years of training as a Specialist in anesthesia or emergency and critical care.

In May I will be graduating with my bachelors in biomedical sciences (my school's pre-med track). I have been working at a hospital for the last 2 years and have decided that I would rather go in to nursing school than to medical school. I am wondering if it is really worth getting my BSN. At the school that I am attending the hard core science courses the BSN students took were less advanced versions of the classes that I took. For example I am right now in the process of taking a masters level pharmacology class while the nursing students take a much less technical version of the same course. Same thing goes with microbiology, physiology, anatomy, etc. I have also compared the local BSN nursing school's curriculum to the 2 year programs and most of the key differences in the course work appear to be in these type of classes. So my question is: will my employers recognize my biomedical sciences degree in conjunction with an ADN as being similar to a BSN or will I need to actually have the BSN for them to notice my level of education in teh medical field? Do you think I would be considered for positions where a BSN is wanted with the Bio-med/ADN combo? I intend to further my education in the future but as of right now I am a little burnt out. If having the BSN is very important then I will probably just wait and do pharmaceutical research for a few years until I can get the energy to go back for my masters but if a ADN with my B.S will get me recognized as a well educated employee I would enjoy going that route. I forgot to add that I am very new here, so thank you to any one who can/will help me and I am sorry if this type of post is seen often.