Lilkay4

This may be a silly question but please forgive me I am just learning about all this nursing stuff.. What do you get certified by these exams for? I am just confused because they require 2 years experience in the NICU.. so once you have all the experience you wouldn't necesarily need to be certified to get a better job.. Do you get certified in case you go to a diff hospital? Or does your pay increase with certifications? Sorry for the ignorance just curious why it's good to get certified if you are able to work in a nicu BE4 being certified...

Hello, I am about to start my nursing program next semester towards my BSN! I am very excited and also have a passion for babies which is what got me into nursing to begin with. I have always babysat and found myself gravitating towards babies all the time! I know that I am in love with babies, and would like to take my passion into nursing and believe I would like to work in a NICU or something to this sort. I guess my question is.. being that I've always cared for healthy babies, tho i'm well aware of the potential losses that may come.. I'm not sure how to word it..the best I can ask is how do you cope with the loss?? If ayone would be willing to share experiences that you've had .. both good and/or bad .. ALSO if you are able to still live a normal life with your family or has anyone not been able to cope, and had it affect their at home life??? I think these are my biggest concerns, and I know that I will never know until (if i am fortunate enough) to be there myself.. but I think that learning through other peoples experiences may also help.. Thank You ~And I have to say I am SO EXCITED that I found this NICU forum.. I have had so many questions for those forunate to work there!!!

Hey I am about to apply to accelerated 2nd bac. program at RIC to start in Sept of this year.. .. and my best friend applied this time last year and had some prereqs still to take but got in.. she told me that instead of a wait list they are now basing entrance on your GPA.. so those with the highest GPAs will go to the top of the "wait list" basically.. I heard that CCRI is switching over to this method too.. So basically the best way is to either have almost a 4.0.. my best friend had around a 3.8+ So you may want to look into other programs.. or you can receive a bachelors degree in something else, like i did, mine is in Psych.. and now they have special programs all over the country especially for students with a bachelors degree in something other than nursing who want a nursing degree... The programs are accelerated and very intense, but most of them are under two years long.. Good luck.. maybe see what URI has to offer? or CCRI?

Hey Solip.. I am not sure if you'll get this, but I just read your post, and it reminded me of my mom! She went to nursing school back in the 90s (like forever ago.. haha) At the time, we were too young for her to start working.. She passed the nursing boards, and received her RN in I wanna say around 99.. She finally got the opportunity to start nursing when we were all in college which was just two years ago.. so she took a Refresher Course in nursing!! She found it at a smaller university within driving distance and I bet you could do the same thing as long as your RN license is still good! Try to find a refresher course, then you don't have to go to school all over again.. Maybe you want to, but I just know that my mom got back into nursing 6 years after she got her RN license by taking this refresher course, and having no experience just like you said... Hope this helps, as the best way to get experience is to just work as a nurse.. she's been doing it now for two years, and said it was not easy at first, but its gotten a lot better! **Sorry for the long blurb, my whole point is you should either call hospitals and see if they know of any refresher courses, or call some local universities, and schools and see if they offer any of the refresher courses!