ranchwife

I have had the privilege of working with a few MCCC nursing grads and they are top notch....they most certainly know their stuff when they hit the floor as new grads and are prepared for the "real world"!! I strongly encourage you to take on their program...they are ranked one of the top schools in montana...either #1 or #2 next to the Salish Kootenai College of nursing!! Best of luck to you and GO FOR IT!!

We are lucky enough to have several schools here in Montana that offer top notch nursing!!!! One of the top rated is the Salish Kootenai college....another that comes highly recommended is the one in Miles City!!! Carroll college, MSU (in Boze-angeles) and Montana Tech all now offer the Bachelor's degree (Montana Tech also offers the ADN)!! Carroll College is a private, catholic college so it is one of the most expensive colleges in the western half of the US, but I have worked with many Carroll grads and they seem to know their stuff!!

What does your partner do???? Plenty of jobs here in Ennis......construction and contracting is HOT right now and there are ALWAYS ranch jobs;) The construction work is pretty seasonal, but the pay is pretty danged good (make more than I do, that's for sure!!) and most of the bosses are not too bad to work for......I should know, as I am related to about half of them!! Let me know if I can help ya out!!!

Greeting, mt33133----First, I want to wish you the very best in your schooling!! Our hospital hires new grads, but they often find if more challenging than they would have ever dreamed! So, I am glad to hear that you wish to get experience in a "bigger" place before jumping into rural nursing!! Smart....very, very smart!! Yes, most rural hospitals so hire nurse practitioners and many hire physician assistants....they are the backbone of our "providers" and many are MUCH better to work with since most of them have "been there"!! Some of the best "providers" i have worked with in my 14 years have been PA's and NP's!! By far!!! Rural nursing is GROSSLY underpaid, under-appreciated, but one of the most rewarding avenues of nursing I can imagine!! I would not (and will not) trade it for any big city hospital out there!! I know my patients and they know me...personally and professionally....heck, most are neighbors, friends, relatives...many taught my kids in school or on the basketball court and, more than likely, we have had dinner or a beer together at some point!!

Greetings!! I have been an LPN for 14 years and will FINALLY be going for my RN this fall at a college about 80 miles north of where I currently work and where my family ranches!! I have TRIED the Excelsior program and was NOT impressed....expensive, contractual and I am the type of student who needs a room full of other students to "brain bust" with...am not good at studying on my own...especially with 3 kids still at home who always think that "because mommy is home means she is all OURS!!" Be careful before signing up for the LPN-BSN program or anything else "online"......there are more than just a few states who do not "honor" those types of nursing degrees!! As for me, I will get mine the "old fashioned way"....I'll continue to work part-time at our little hospital (since I need the health insurance for my accident prone cowboy/husband and 3 kids), school/classroom full-time and family time WHENEVER I can!!! Good luck to each and EVERY one of you out there striving for your RN...it will be SOOOO worth it when you are done!!! :)

Greetings, fellow rural nurses!! I have been discussing this very issue with several co-workers and would like the opinions of all of you as well!! In the 14 years experience I have as a "rural/frontier" hospital nurse, I have seen nurses of all shapes, sizes, colors and "specialties" come and go!! Nothing more annoying to a TRUE rural nurse than to have a new staff member come aboard with that "how quaint" attitude! You all know the ones...the ones from the bigger, "more modern" facilities...the ones with the "certifications" behind their initials...."I worked in ICU"...." I worked in OB"....."I worked in Med/Surg"....they all find frontier nursing "quaint" and have the attitude that small-town/rural/frontier nursing is their way of fading into their retirement years!! Isn't it funny, though, what happens when these same nurses hit their first day "on the floor" with 6 patients (all with IV's, foley, tele, tons of meds) and a busy ER day (even with only 2 ER rooms, they can be HOPPING!!)...then they realize that it is JUST THEM AND THIER LPN!!! NO RT....NO IV TEAM...NO HOUSEKEEPING....NO KITCHEN STAFF...NO CNA...NO SECRETARIAL STAFF TO REGISTER THE NEW PATIENT IN THE ER...5 CALL BELLS GOING OFF AT THE SAME TIME....AN AMBULANCE WITH A MVA IS ONLY 5 MINUTES OUT WITH 2 INURED...THE DOC IS 45 MINUTES AWAY...AND YOU ARE THE CODE TEAM!! I have seen too many "good nurses" hit the door running away when they realize that rural/frontier nursing truly is a specialty of it's own and not a walk in the park!! ;)

I guess I should thank my lucky stars!!! About the only problem we have here in the madison valley with transfer of pts to a larger facility is transport!! If Life Flight is needed from EIRMC or Billings, then we start praying for cooperative weather so that they may land! If they are travelling by ground, then we start praying that enough of our VOLUNTEER emt's respond to the page out for a simple transfer!!

Wow!!! Looks like I am TRULY "frontier" here!! Our town of 700 has a critical access hospital with 9 beds, 2 trauma rooms (with one bed each). Our lab and x-ray are here monday-friday and on call on weekends, holidays and "after hours"....NO surgery (our little place simply cannot afford the insurance)....NO OB (also an issue of insurance!!)....the nearest "trauma" hospital is a life-flight away of a few hours....anything "non-critical", but still needing surgical consult is an hour an a half drive by ambulance (completely made up of volunteer EMT-B's) and you'd better pray for good weather or the pass between us might hinder your "escape" :) We also staff with one RN and one LPN!!! "Feast or Famine", as we say!!

I have been an LPN for over 14 years and will FINALLY be going back to school for my RN this fall. I have worked several different fields, but most acute care! While many LPN's do work mainly LTC, there are other options out there...you just have to be willing to look for them!! I have also worked ER (currently), med/surg and even in the correctional setting (both in Montana and in Wyoming)! corrections is a very...uhhh..."interesting" field, to say the least! You are working with convicted felons, the environment is very stressful, but they USUALLY pay MUCH higher than the private sector!!! Besides, with our crime rates, they figure that "correctional nursing" will be THE field of the future for nursing!! Best of luck to ya!!

Emma---keep your head and your chin up!!! It sounds like you did the right thing by your patients!! I am simply heartbroken to hear that you have had to go through so much!! hang in there, though!!! Somewhere, someone is looking for a nurse like you and when they find you, they will truly be blessed!!!

I am soooo excited!! Our FIRST ever Relay for Life for our little county will be held the 29th and 30th of June and I am the Team Captain for our hospital team....we already have 22 team members, so we had to break into 2 teams!! Not bad for only have 35 employees all total!!! We have raised money from the sale of raffle tickets and a HUGE yard sale we had last weekend!! We are all pretty pumped and getting things ready for the relay itself!! My sister is a 5 year survivor of Hodgkins and in a small town like ours, anyone with cancer hits the community pretty hard and we all rally behind them!! All of us nurses know that we are doing this for THEM....the patients...the ones lost and the ones continuing to fight!!!!

how did your move go??? where did you end up??? I am in the madison valley, here in ennis and the old saying really does hold try....if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes or drive 5 miles...it'll change!! hahahaa!!

unfortunately, with Boze-angeles having their own nursing program through MSU, you will probably have a harder time than most getting on at BDH!!! I worked there a few years back and they "prefer" MSU grads (though noone will actually come out and say it)....however, do not give up hope....ALL of the long term facilities in Bozeman are hiring RN's and LPN's!! you could always try there and get your foot in the door!! Livingston is hiring RN's and they are just over the hill from Bozeman...and ALOT cheaper to live...and the people who live there are still 'HUMAN', too!!! Course....if you'd like, you could always come on down to Ennis,too!! We are always looking for good, enthusiastic nurses!!!

Wow!!! After reading a few of these postings, it is now loud and clear why Montana cannot recruit and retain good, experienced nurses!!! I am an LPN with 14 years of experience in ER, Med/Surg and Geriatrics and am only making a little over $16 an hour!!! Course, they say that "what ya lack in pay, ya make up for just getting the privilege of living where ya do"...yeah, but the pretty scenery does not pay the bills and put food on the table!! :o :o

since my hubby is a self-employed rancher, I must carry the health insurance through my employer for our family......however, if I could only work 8 hours and be home with my kids, I'd do it in a heartbeat!!! I have had 2 of my kids grow up and are now on their own and I pretty much missed everything with them because of my work schedule and picking up overtime "just to make ends meet"!! Time with kids is too precious and it is gone too quickly!! Til I win the lottery, however, I will continue to work my full-time-plus-overtime hours and carry my $600 a month health insurance!! :uhoh3: :uhoh3: