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I would also love to start my own business being a wellness coach. Can anyone recommend a certification program?

I do not appreciate it when nurses describe body secretions in food terms such as "creamy" or "pudding like consistency" . Gross!!!

Checking out a hopsital in person is actually a good idea. You can see if the hospital would be a good fit for you as well. Good luck!

Why don't you check out the universiity of Arizona Integrative Medicine Fellowship. Dr. Andrew Weil teaches there and I heard that it is an awesome program. You would be able to set up your own practice and be affiliated with a reputable school. I would also check out Integative medicine programs with the affiliated with the Chopra Center. Good luck!

I am so sorry that you went through this. I remember when I worked in ICU, that a few nurses made fun of me for talking to comatose patients, but I didn't care since . When I precepted new ICU RNs or encountered a callous RN, I would give them my "One day you may be on the other side of the bedrail, so take exceptional care of patients" speech. Try to use your experience to educate other nurses. I am sure that there would be nursing journals that would love to print your story. I once read an article writted by a trauma nurse who ended up a patient trached and vented and it gave me such compassion to patients who most nurses and docs thought that they were not "in there". Good luck to you and may you be totally healed soon!

I highly recommend myofascial release- it is the only thing that has helped my back after years of abuse. Also, watching my sleep posture, doing yoga and strengthing my core has really helped as well. I do recommend if you are interested in yoga and pilates to go to a certified instructor until you get the techniques down rather than learning by dvd. The instructor can teach you proper technique and adaptations so you will strengthen rather than potentially injur yourself. Good luck!

Sorry to hear about your unsuccessful tests! I had a nursing instructor who also taught a NCLEX review that the number top reasons for failure is test taking skills and test fatigue. She recommended that we do several sessions of answering 250 questions at a time and review our test taking skills. She claimed the students that practiced the questions did better than those who just studied. You can also find out what your weaknesses while going through questions and find the areas that you need to brush up on.Good Luck!

I am so sorry that you have to deal with discrimination. How do these people treat their patients? I can only imagine! First, keep a log of comments and behavior directed towards you and then book an appointment with your manager. Management loves documentation. If you do not get any results, go to your HR dept. Most facilities have diversity training. I can relate to your experience, I once worked with a woman who hated me due to my race. She actually told me once that whenever she used the bathroom, she would picture the face of a person she hated while she was doing her business. She would also tell me "dumb racial" jokes. She was just a very nasty person in need of major psych therapy! My last job was a very toxic environment. I tried to make changes, but management chose to bury their heads in the sand and not address the issues. I learned a valuable lesson at that job. Never give your power away to people. This includes letting them get to you at any level. Some people just want to kick people down. I ended up leaving and now work with a great set of people and I love going to work. Good luck to you!

Pookoo- I was a cath lab nurse for 3 years and recently left. I made more money as a cath lab nurse due to the fact I worked more since I was called in a lot. I generally got a case bonus in addition to 1 1/2 overtime pay- minimum 2 hours. You might want to consider travel nursing in the cath lab since you have experience and the travel RNs I worked with made a lot more money than the rest of the staff. I did travel nursing as an ICU nurse, not a cath lab nurse. Also, go to a busy cath lab, that way you will get more call ins and there are always people who want to give up call. For anyone considering cath lab, it can be intense- I loved it, but I ended up wanting a life since I was always called in. I agree with the above comments that you need ICU experience with a strong cardaic background and knowledge of hemodynamics. Cath lab patients, contrary to popular believe, can become critical at any given moment especially in disection of an artery or arrythmias. Also, when you get called in the middle of the night for an acute MI, they can be highly unstable. I always loved comments from ICU nurses on what a cruise job cath lab is- if they only had a clue!

I graduated form HPU 10 years ago and I felt like I recieved a degress in paper writting rather than nursing. I felt that my time could have been better spent actually studying about diseases, pathophysiology and treatments/ interventions rather than write a paper on The Pros and Cons of Male Circumcision and Genital Herpes- no joke!!!! Also, many of the professors had MAJOR power trips!!!! My advice is DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck with your nursing career.