dfarr

No need to feel guilty. If people aren't grateful for the care you give them, then screw them. Unfortunately a lot of the population that you serve have grown up getting "free" government care at no cost to them, so they expect to be catered to. I know because I work with the same population, albeit at a large research hospital so the facilities & staffing are probably better. Overall, do what makes you happy. Don't stick around a crappy hospital with ungrateful, ignorant patients who aren't going to follow your instructions.

Well suck up your pride and get on some medicine if you actually have it because nurses need to be able to focus. My roommate just got diagnosed and she said that nursing school was hard for her b/c of her lack of concentration. Finding study partners in nursing school is easy because everyone is looking for one, so there goes that excuse. Also the teachers at UAB were always very helpful, even after you had passed their class you could still go to them for help.

I think you have your schools backwards. You should use Jeff State as your fall back in case you don't get into UAB. People who don't get into UAB go to Jeff State. UAB's website has always been easy for me to use. It has all the pre-reqs that are needed to be admitted into the SON. Just look at the classes that you have taken and the classes that you would need to be admitted at UAB. It's not really that hard to figure out.

That's the whole reason why I got into nursing.

Hi, I'm David. I graduated in May and just passed my boards this past Wednesday. I'm starting in the ED at UAB Hospital in Birmingham. I went to UAB for nursing school too.

The nursing scholars program is just a program that gives UAB students an advantage to get into UAB's nursing school. I was a part of it. I believe that you have to have all your classes done at UAB and have at least a 3.2 pre-nursing GPA. It's really not that big of a deal.

I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Exactly what type of special considerations does a gay patient need? Seriously dude, stop being so sensitive. Gay patients don't deserve any more special consideration than straight patients do.

Why would you even entertain going to Jeff State if you could go to UAB? The programs are the same length once you actually get into the SON at UAB, but you come out with a BSN instead of having to go back to school to get it, if you so chose. You already have your tuition at UAB paid for. Is finishing a year earlier really worth having to go back to school to get a degree that you could have already gotten for free in the first place. Plus I've had friends who went to Jeff St say that it was the biggest joke of a program.

I have just a regular Landau lab coat, but I rarely wear it. The only times that I do wear it is when I'm at a clinical that we don't wear our uniforms and have to be in professional dress. I have never worn my lab coat while performing any procedures.

Honestly, since you have a previous degree and lots of medical experience, nursing school won't be that difficult for you. I have a biochem degree and I worked in pathology for 3 years before starting nursing school, and it has seemed really easy to me, and I go to a top 25 BSN program. I make mostly B's simply because I don't put as much effort as I could in, but I'm not trying to go to CRNA school either so it really doesn't matter. I'm also finishing another degree while in nursing school, so you should be able to squeeze some day shifts in surgery.

Could you not work as a tech on a PRN basis, or work weekends? I'm willing to bet that the hospital would want to keep you in some form since you've been there 6 years already. I work weekends at a bar and it has never interfered with my school at all. My first two semesters I actually worked evenings in a pathology lab and had the bar gig on the weekends as well. You will have time to work. It's not as demanding as some people make it out to be.

I work in a bar Thursday-Saturday. Easy money and I can pay my bills. It has never interfered with school either.

Yes, they're building a women's & infants facility right next to University Hospital. Parking at UAB is a pain. When I worked at UAB I rode the shuttle from a lot which is like 2 miles from the hospital. That cost like $15/month or so. I had some friends who went through RNI during school and they liked it.

She said that's days and it's $3 or $3.25 for nights and $6 for weekends.

I'll be heading to an ICU somewhere. I'm currently doing my peds rotation in the PICU and will be precepting in the SICU next semester. I'm applying for critical care residencies at several major medical centers to help me figure things out.