septicwad

You'll make it Sarge. Nursing school is kiddy crap compared to the military. The hardest thing for me was to hold my tongue. I was a medic and I wanted to tell these b*7)%$s where they could put their care plans. I hated every minute of nursing school.

I concur :yeahthat:

I graduate from Florida Gulf Coast University in 36 days, 11 hours, 25 minutes, and 5 seconds (but who is counting). I have hated (almost) every minute of nursing school. Thankfully the torture stops soon!

Got a B.S. and M.S. in chemistry. Had to get a nursing degree to be admitted to anesthesia school. I graduate on 30 April.

Who are you to define reasonable profit? That is a function of the market; supply and demand. Unless government becomes involved the market is very efficient.

I hope you're getting a BSN for that kind of money.

If you have an obnoxious drug-seeking patient in the ER, get a positive identification on them and call the police department to see if they have any wants or warrants for arrest.

I use ePocrates on my desktop and PDA. It will check for interactions for up to thirty medications and herbals. It lacks some of the information that you will find under the heading "Nursing Implications" in the hardcopy of Davis's Drug Guide, so I haven't been able to divorce myself of the book. It's a major assest to have ePocrates on the PDA when I'm passing medications during clinicals. You can get a trial version. Here is a URL for some PDA applications (free): http://www.pdacortex.com/software_palm.htm

Yes, I think it will be difficult to take those two classes in an accelerated summer term. You will be doing nothing but working to keep pace. Do you have any obligations that will detract from the time you have to study? I think it's doable, but challenging. I took twenty semester hours once. (Note: ONCE!) That was the semester from Hell.

The article was published in Nursing. This publication is not a peer reviewed, scholarly journal, unlike JAMA in which Dr. Aiken's study appeared. Dr. Sharon Bernier (President, National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing) issued comments critical of the study. These concerns were addressed by Linda Aiken. This article is not the result of research. It's more like an op-ed piece. I think it's a good piece of ground breaking work. The relationship between educational backgrounds of hospital RNs and patient mortality needs to further investigated.

This has nothing to do with respect. I am not an RN, I am a student nurse. However I am not your average student nurse. I hold a M.S. in chemistry, and am intimately acquainted with the process of scholarly research, whether it be nursing, chemistry, physics, or botany... I previously made reference to a study authored by Dr. Linda Aiken concerning the education levels of nurses and surgical patient mortality. (If you care to read back a bit, I provided a URL) Some of my colleagues here chose to summarily dismiss the study, which was published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). JAMA is a scholarly, peer-reviewed publication. Rather than express professional skepticism, a few responded with emotion and vitriol. This area needs more investigation. In all other fields, more education is accepted as leading to more positive outcomes. Why is that so difficult a concept for nursing?

This appears to be an emotional issue. I've been able to find one study concerning the level of nurse education and patient outcome. I posted a URL for that study. A few nurses chose to dismiss that study (published in JAMA) as being statistically flawed, without giving evidence. If you don't have the proof, you are just barking into the wind.

Well, how about sharing the URL or the source with us? I'd like to read it.

Before the paper was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (one of the nation's leading scientific journals) it received detailed scientific review and scrutiny. Read it for your self to determine its scientific merit and to satisfy your self that it's not critical of nurses in any way. It provides evidence that nurses are very important to good patient outcomes.

Dr. Linda Aiken studied the effect of nurse educational preparation on the death rate of post surgical patients. Aiken found out that surgical patients have a "substantial survival advantage" if treated in hospitals with a higher proportion of nurses educated at the baccalaureate level or higher. The study confirmed that the educational backgrounds of hospital RNs is indeed a predictor of patient mortality, apart from factors such as nurse staffing and experience. Some argue that experience is more important than education in nursing practice. Experience is certainly important for mastering tasks and becoming secure and comfortable in practice. Experience, however, is not a substitute for education. Rather, education is the foundation on which experience builds. Aiken, L.H., Clarke, S.P., Cheung, R.B., Sloane, D.M., & Silber, J.H. (2003, September 24). Educational levels of hospital nurses and surgical patient mortality. JAMA, 290, 1617-1623. jama.ama.assn.org/cgi/