emily84

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Surprisingly, it's not the butt-wiping and the bed-making that are getting me down. I adore (most) of my residents and I do like taking care of them. It's just that there's never enough time to provide nearly the level of care that I would like to, or to just spend time getting to know my residents. I'll admit that it's physically trying some days, but it's constant emotional stress that's making me unhappy: my job is never done to my satisfaction and I worry about it a lot while I'm not there. One of my residents passed away last night while I was on the floor (not even one I'd had for more than a couple of days) and I had to do the post-mortem care...at the end of my shift I came home and cried my eyes out. My main worry about nursing, even on a OB floor, is that my inability to leave my job at work will make me burnout before I even get started.

I've been planning for about 6 months now to apply for MEPN/GEPN programs for fall of 2009, with a nurse-midwifery degree being the end goal. I recently (three weeks agao) started working as a CNA at an LTC while taking pre-reqs and I am miserable. Even with 10-12 patients, I feel like I never get eeverything (even enough) done and I take all my work-related anxiety home with me and worry on my days off about my previous and upcoming days at work. Is nursing different? Or will I carry all this stress with me all the time, and should I get out now before I've invested $$$ in an education?

I'm not sure this is the right place for this post, but it's definitely related to Yale's admissions requirements so... I just graduated from a small, well-ranked liberal arts school in the Midwest with a degree in Religious Studies. I have a 3.9 GPA but almost no science or math, although I did take a class on Women's Health and a stats class. I also have basically no experience in the health care field. In the past three or four months, however, I've done a lot of research and decided that I'd like to pursue an MSN, either to become a Women's Health NP or a CNM. My question is, should I even consider applying to Yale in the fall? I do meet the minimum requirements, and I'm thinking of applying just for the hell of it, but with no volunteer/work experience and very little science background, will my good grades, reqs., test scores, and a passionate personal statement be enough to merit consideration? Or should I wait a year or two until I've racked up some experience and taken Anatomy and Physiology, at least?