pyrolady

Huge shortage of nurses out there - shouldn't have any problem. I say walk (I just did...). Good luck !

To retain information for testing you must first UNDERSTAND the information - NOT memorize it. There is a difference. Please try thinking through the information in a logical manner where one thing follows or leads to another. Cramming means memorize - memorize means higher chances of forgetting. Understanding the process and subject matter of what it is you are studying means you have learned it. Once you understand, your grades will go up. Also - HOW do you take a test? You should typically sit AWAY from where everyone has to walk through to get out of the room (ie: sit in front far corner, not back row by exit). When you sit where you can see people leaving it increases your anxiety because you think they have all finished, they are brilliant and you are not (they probably didn't know most answers and so gave up faster perhaps?), and you should be done. Also, don't enter the room until lthe last possible minute (or go in, put something on the seat you want and leave - enter to sit down later). Why? Because everyone is anxious and talking to each other about thoughts on this and that and what will stick in your mind is the last comment you heard about a possible question / subject and it may be the wrong information - but you won't be able to get rid of the thought. Wear a little perfume on your wrist and when you get anxious smell it - it will relax you (ummm, if you're a guy you are on your own!). Make study cards and carry them with you at all times - review them at stop signs, in the park, wherever you may be. Take information in at a leisurely pace whenever possible (ie: always review your notes after class - perhaps retype them in a more orderly fashion for easier understanding). STOP studying after a certain time the night before the test. Put the books away and don't touch them again before the test. If you don't understand and know it by that time, you won't get it. Better luck on the next test - hope this helped !! GOOD LUCK....

I am a DON in a SNF and there is a huge shortage of nurses so you won't have a problem getting hired. HOWEVER, you need to keep this in mind: Hospitals have an approx. ratio of six patients per nurse. Nursing homes have approx. 22 - 28 patients per nurse and don't let anyone kid you - it is NOT what it used to be. Our facility handles stage 3 and 4 wounds, tube feeders, trachs, people in physicala therapy, dementia mixed in with all of the above and people are still coming for IV therapy or recovering from surgery. I honestly believe a SNF nurse can hack it in the hospital with minimum assist - visa versa might be a problem because the rules for SNF's have not changed with the acuity of the patients. LOTS of work and TONS of paper....

What was your first choice of career? If you can't go back and get another degree, perhaps you can use the nursing background for a different career with less stress. Medical transcription, medical billing, case manager or insurance companies, home health, teaching in high schools - there is such a shortage of science teachers that if you have a nursing degree they will let you teach in some states. You might want to be a unit manager in a nursing home, do physicals for insurance companies. Good luck !!!

Might want to try getting into medical billing or medical transcription. It's something you can do from home and don't have physical limitations - can even do the transcription from your laptop at any location. I know I've heard of people making in the $60,000 per year range with this....good luck!

A new career....PLEASE !!

One of my classmates had NINE children going through school. She drove over an hour to get there and was planning to divorce her husband at the time (hence the return to college). I had just gotten a divorce, was raising two children, had no car for four years, my mom and best friend died the day before I started. I hauled laundry and groceries any way I could, worked in a bar, sold shoes and prayed a lot (cried too). But I made it....if you want to you will, if there is no drive then you won't. Good luck to you - there are tons of stories of "survivors of nursing school" out there. Another one of my classmates gave birth to twins the last semester of school :) You'lll make it, don't worry. Have fun !

Our LTC has trachs, tube feeders, wounds (III and IV - NOT facility acquired) up the ying yang, isolation cases, etc. We do IV's, cath's, etc. I just finished managing a hospital unit. They had darn near the exact patients there with a 6:1 ratio. I guarantee that if one of my nurses in the hospital got planted in the LTC with a 24:1 ratio they would have a heart attack!!! They used to scream when it was 6:1 because 3 of them would be post stroke (everyday occurance in LTC) and the other three had more than 7 pills (try the usual 13+ in LTC). You can take a LTC nurse and put her in a hospital and she will survive and thrive. Do the opposite? NO WAY.

Chatter may have a point though - how close were your mom and brother before AD? Lots of sons are close to mom and when something like this comes along they have deep deep problems. Remember, it is a woman's nature to comfort and a man's to "fix" - this is something that he can't fix and perhaps it plain scares the he-- out of him. He may not be able to cope. Different people handle things differently, perhaps you should be his sister and try to probe deeper in an understanding way as to why he is reacting this way. In any case, good luck and hugs to you - it is a very long and frightening road. Make sure to take care of yourself, ok? God bless.

They were kicking that around when I went to nursing school 15 years ago and it's still recycling . I don't think I'd panic about it....they don't have enough instructors to do the ADN and LPN programs, what makes them think they'll have enough to actually train BSN's as the entry level??? Ain't going to happen.... ( and YES, I do have a BSN). Beyond that, each level of nursing serves a different purpose. LPN and ADN are more hands on and BSN is more admn. - we need all of the fields to give proper care.

Sunrise or Sunset? Gulf side is beautiful for it's sunsets, water is more friendly and TONS of intercoastal waterways, islands, beaches, friendly people and lots of culture in the Tampa and St. Pete area. Coming from Minnesota you may get sticker shock in the housing market though. We just bout a house built in 1971 for just shy of $400,000 in St. Pete. It was just remodeled though, on a golf course facing west with a pool (can't wait to move in...). Definately Tampa and St. Pete area - include Sarasota in that as well. Orlando is nice, tourist driven, and not really near the big beaches. Atlantic side is not as user friendly either. Good luck and welcome to paradise, the red tide, hurricanes, alligators and sharks ( no swimming in fresh water here - 'gators have that area) quite unlike the land of lakes in Minnisota (or Michigan where I was from). All in all though, it sure is nice (except July and August....)/ Welcome.

I agree with previous posts - none of your business, stay out of it. There's an old saying, "No good deed goes unpunished..." What purpose would your involvement be? You need to ask yourself, "why do I want to become involved in this (be it whistle blowing or whatever)?" There is no reason why you need to butt in - it will only bring you down in the long run. Hope you stay out of it :)

One more suggestion - if you have a BSN you can test for being a Nursing Home Administrator or an Assisted Living Administrator. Good money, office work not floor, everyone in the bldg. is under you. I have an administrators license and did it in the state I used to live in. Nice - however, I don't like the accounting side of things (I leaned more towards spend spend spend because these people need and deserve the best care). Not too well liked by the corporate world

Mom23RN - how much does a medical transcriptionist make and how do you go about doing it??? Did you have to market yourself? How did you find doctors to transcribe? Charge by page or hour? Different formats for different docs? I have an acquaintance who knows someone in that field - said she even does transcription at the beach on her laptop!! I've thought of it before because you can do it from home and I love secretarial work but I'm afraid I won't make as much as I do now. Any advice is helpful.... Also, one might consider medical coding or billing as it can also be done from home... however, you need to market yourself because most docs who work in hospitals have a signed contract that they will use the hospital for stuff like that. Thanks in advance for the help with above...

yup - a lot of them do. Hopefully you run into some who are professional enough to be a preceptor. Unfortunately you did something that someone reported. My suggestion is the same as a previous post - learn to cover your bottom. How? Well, sometimes I get anal retentive - also remember that you won't get everything all of the time and guess what?? Some of us are actually human. Do your best every day and it's all one can ask.