fireshifter

suspicious looking bump for a reply... anyone? see, I told you there weren't any!

I just want the class, not a nursing program. I need a job while going to nursing or paramedic school. I have previous experience with telemetry (it's been 6 yrs) but no certification. Any leads?

I forgot to call today. I'll call the nursing school tomorrow. Jen D.

thank you so much... i'm actually at sierra right now and have heard nothing but i guess maybe i'm looking in the wrong places. i'll call them. most people just tell me to wait until my kids are older and then go, but i'm planning on homeschooling so i'm trying to get done before it's time to really work on their schooling. Jen D

I've heard a rumor that Sacramento City College offers an evening RN program. A friend of mine claims his brother took it and is just finishing up... I can't find ANYTHING about it through numerous google searches and exhaustive searching. Does anyone know anything? Also, if they don't, does anyone know of ANY evening or part-time programs in the area? I live up the hill from Sac so I could go to Sac or Yuba or Placerville areas, maybe further if I am not going every day and can take clinicals around here. I know, I'm asking for a dream that probably won't come true and I understand that this area is tricky as far as nursing, but I'm just trying to find a workable solution with two small children as I have plenty of evening childcare, but nothing during the day. Thanks, Jen D.

I'm not yet done with pre-reqs. I have about a year left of them and it's all the sciences that I've got left so I'm trying to space them out a bit. I hope to be done with them by a year from December and then start getting my apps out. If we can move up to Grass Valley or Nevada City, I'll transfer up there for the rest of my pre-reqs probably. It's looking like it's easier to get into the classes up there. Jen D.

Reading through some replies, I guess some of it is what constitutes a thick skin. Is being jaded about society because of your experiences in the ER "thick skin" or is it just being disillusioned that there is good in all people or is it the sick humor we develop or is it being able to handle someone who is not very nice? I've been treated poorly by patients, but I've also been treated very poorly by doctors and nurses while working as a tech. I look at some of the jobs I've been involved in and realize that thick skin looks different to each person in each job. We kinda choose which battles are worth it to us in our jobs. I would never have the patience to put up with doctors all day in an OR. I remember the few times a certain plastics guy would come in and berate us all every time he came in to do a sew job. Same with an ortho who was frequently on call. Our ER docs were mostly very easy to work with and allowed a ton of autonomy on the nurses' part. There were a few that weren't all that great to work with but not so bad on a personal level. The medics that came in were tolerable and fun. The patients were a toss-up, half were easy and half were difficult. That kind of environment worked for me. Patients were typically in for less than 5 hours in the ER (unless we were holding for the floor due to lack of room) and then they were gone. That also worked well for me. So, I think that pretty much every place you can work as a nurse might be a place to encounter thick skin, BUT you pick the places where the negatives are outweighed by the positives in your mind. What do you think? Jen D.

I'm not an RN yet, but I was an EMT in an ER for 3 years. It totally toughened me. I agree with another poster that it had to do with the staff sometimes, rather than the job. Of course, I didn't work trauma so I'm not sure if that would have changed anything. I think the perception from outsiders was hardest for me to deal with. I was pretty young working there and my friends were all in college. They would ask for funny stories or crazy things I'd seen. Sometimes, I really just wanted to tell them the sad story I'd dealt with, though. I didn't have anyone to help me deal with some of the stress and I didn't realize I needed to handle it better. I'm eager to go back to the ER as a nurse with an adult mind and handle it a little more maturely. Jen D.

Oh, a stove top. I think that's about the best there is. WOW! What on earth... Jen D.

How about a Christmas tree ornament in the folds of fat underneath a breast of a lady who had been passed out in her house for several hours. It was in the middle of July in Nebraska and she had no air conditioning. Pretty nasty. These last three were from when I worked as an EMT in the ER two days a week and the other five days, I worked in a max security prison. A bic pen stuck in a p*nis, cap-first. The cap fell off when they pulled the pen out and we had to wait around before sending him to surg to see if he could "pee" it out. A small pistol in a rectum. An inmate who decided that taking small bits of wood, rolling the bits into balls on the concrete, slicing along the sides of his, um, p*nis, inserting the balls, sewing up the "incision" with dental floss and waiting a week to pull his pants down to show the female lieutenant, saying, "I thought it was a good idea, that the ladies would like it." It was pretty nasty and I saw him in the ER that week after hearing about it at the prison. Those are the ones that stick out from 7 years ago. Wonder why. Jen D.

Thanks. I think there's a good chance we would consider Redding if it was possible, but my parents take care of my son so we don't really have alternate childcare (that's why we moved to this place in the first place). Jen D.

Thanks so much for all the replies. I've gotten plenty of volunteers and really appreciate your time and help. SO, someday, I'll be at this forum as a REAL nurse instead of just a wannabe nursing student. Jen D.

As a ER tech, one thing that stood out in my mind was the guy that decided to use that Nads hair remover on his, um, nads. Major irritation down there. We sent him home with special panties from the burn unit and a salve. Then there was the inmate I knew both from working as prison guard and as an ER tech. He would routinely stick things in areas of his body they didn't belong. One incident was a pen in which the cap came off and got stuck inside so he went into surgery to get it out. We also had a REALLY old guy that decided to see if he still had the knack for driving in the snow. He didn't and ended up with a nice lac to his forehead when he went off the road. I'll try to think of some more. I worked weekend nights there and got some good stuff. Jen D.

I just emailed you. Thanks so very much

I'm new here, so this is part intro and part grump about the nursing status in this area... I moved back to this area after a 10 year hiatus in Nebraska where I have held jobs such as EMT (in an ER for 3 years), prison guard, 9-1-1 dispatcher and veterinary technician. I got pregnant in August with my second child and decided that January would be a GREAT time to start working towards my pre-reqs for nursing school. So here I am. I've also been trying to get a part-time job at the hospitals in the area, anything really, a unit sec. job, a tech job, a PBX operator job, whatever would get me back into the hospital again. After over 50 applications, with an excellent job history, I STILL don't have anything so I'm taking a few months hiatus while I have my baby and get adjusted to having two kiddos in the house. I'm doing only online classes for my pre-reqs this semester and so far, I've ended up with a TON of reading that is wearing me out and very very not interesting. I had no idea it was so hard to get into nursing school around here, no idea at all. The longest I've heard people waiting in Nebraska was 2 years and that was while they were still finishing up pre-reqs. I am very seriously considering moving up to Marysville or higher if it would help me get into school. I loathe the central valley (grew up there) so I would not go south of Sac (probably to my deficit, huh?) Anyway, like I said, this is an introduction of sorts and hopefully, it will give me some insight into this area as far as the nursing situation goes. I am planning to go into ER nursing once I graduate. I loved working ER work and that is where my heart is. Jen D.