Derek1975

Summer is only 10 weeks and it would more than likely be the only class I'd be taking, is it a good idea to take it in Summer? It means being able to take A&P I that much quicker, and getting done with prerequisites that much quicker, so I'm considering it, but don't want to sabotage my GPA for admission requirements either.

I'm glad to see that it is possible to get into an OR Nurse position straight out of school, I'll know what I want to do for a clinical in my last year of school. I'm also considering ICU or something similar but I think I'd like working OR, especially in a Level I or II trauma center. But anywhere, really. What got me interested was taking a tour of the new OR in a hospital I volunteer with, and it was super nice!!

I was a volunteer in the ED for about a year and a half, and we were praised up and down by the nurses and techs. We helped the techs out with cleaning rooms, stocking supplies and doing everything short of actual patient care (although we occasionally assisted with moving or transporting a patient if it was a big job) plus if the rainbows ran low we refilled those. I liked it even though I had to move to a floor due to school scheduling conflicts.

I try to change my thinking while I'm trying to do the task. Think about baseball, or play a song in your head, something to distract your mind while you're doing it. That's what works for me. That and doing it as quickly as possible without doing it wrong.

Theoretically, wouldn't you be able to work full time during the summer since there are no clinicals or classes then? At least that's the case with the programs I'm looking at.

I don't know if 2nd or 3rd shift on weekends would be any better or worse since most classes/clinicals are during the day. I'm wondering this myself, and for the same reasons.

The same amount of grief that I imagine Female Doctors or Paramedics get at first. This image of a certain profession being made for a certain gender has to stop, now! Once they see what kind of skills you have as a nurse they'll shut right up. That said, the only real issue I had as a CNA was female residents who didn't want a male anywhere NEAR them. But that you can get past since there are plenty of other females on the floor. Don't know if a male RN runs into those same kind of issues.

I did post-mortem/cleaning as a CNA at an LTC. I was a little unnerved at first, but it was night shift, and me an another CNA were the only ones on the clock,(other than the RNs) so it was us or nobody. You do get used to it after a while.

Are all hospitals 12-hour shifts? I know a few folks in the ER and maybe ICU that work 11am-11pm, that could work for me, since I'm a night owl but not so much that I could work with 7p-7a without some ill effects.

I used to volunteer in an ER and happened to be on that date. Which is a significant date for marijuana users. As it happens our hospital is not far from a major college campus, so it was nice and busy that night.

On 4/20.

I do think I'm in the wrong line of work as a CNA. I do home health caregiving, and it is expected that you are an extrovert that can work with all different types of personalities. I would like to think I can adapt but patient feedback is telling me differently, and have lost a few clients as a result (me, not the company.) I have a burning desire to be a nurse and am going for prerequisites for nursing (LPN, to start.) I've considered something like Dialysis, but haven't seen much in the way of LPN jobs through Davita or a company like that. Clinic Nurse would be interesting as well, despite the pay cut.

I will work 3-11 or 11-7 if I work 8. 3-11 is nice, because it's busy when you come in, but it winds down the closer you get to quitting time (in my experience anyway). 11-7 for obvious reasons. If I'm working 12's, probably something like 11a-11pm or something similar. The hospital I volunteer at offers those types of shifts for nurses. But the nice thing about either of those shifts is very little dealing with rush hour, as it's just getting started when you get to work (3-11) or when you get home (11-7) or not at all.

http://www.discovernursing.com has a nice long list of nursing specialties to get into, depends on what area you want.

I am a CNA in Home Health, going for an LPN in the not too distant future, and would like to go for an RN eventually. My situation is I would not be able to do it without at least working part-time. Is that possible to do on an LPN salary while still not failing RN school? The company I'm with is very flexible, so I don't see a problem from that aspect.