JoMark06

I would encourage you to talk to a recruiter. They will have the best answers for you. I know with an ADN you can get a commission in the reserves with a requirement to get your BSN to go past Capt in the Army. The Army will pay for further school to obtain the BSN. Anyway, with you already having a non-nursing bachelors, you never know what you can do until you ask!

For all of you who have never worked at a VA hospital...this is policy and it is acceptable to the Union within the VA system. An Annual Leave calendar for the following year is put out toward the end of the current year (exact date depends on if it is for RNs or LPN/PCTs). RNs get 5 wks of annual leave per year, LPNs/PCTs get 2-3 weeks. Only one RN and one LPN/PCT can be off per shift per week. (so 1 RN and 1 LPN/PCT per shift per week). You sign up for the whole week even if you do not intend to take the whole week off. Seniority is based on years of service within the VA/Federal system. A nurse with more seniority can bump other nurses off the wks they have selected. Anyway, unless you are in the federal system, this is a pretty complex system and a lot of civilian nurses find it unfair and hard to understand. Anyway, as the year progresses, you can change leave weeks by switching with someone else, you can drop a week or request a week that hasn't been taken. All of this has to be done in advance of the schedule coming out. The schedule is usually out for a period of 4-6 wks. Nurse managers typically approve these changes without issue but it seems the OP is having difficulty. The only way she can move forward is to approach the union with proof in hand (copies of her requests well in advance of any schedule being posted, copies of the leave calendar, copies of her manager's denial of the request, etc.). And it would help her case greatly if she has co-workers on her same ward that are having the same issues.

Leave time is scheduled a year in advance at VAs. That is the policy and it is supported by the union. However, changes can be made as long as requests are put in before the next schedule is published. If your nurse manager is refusing requests, you need to talk to the union. When you approach your union rep, have your ducks in a row...this means documentation...make sure every request is email and take copies of your requests and the reply you get from your manager to the union rep. The union can't help if there isn't a paper trail to follow. If the union rep isn't addressing this situation, you then need to talk to the assistant nurse exec who covers the inpatient areas. If this doesn't work, continue up your chain of command to the nurse exec and then the director of the VA. Follow your chain of command and document, document document! From a fellow VA nurse who has been there, done that!

Contact the recruiter at the VA you applied to. S/he should be able to give you an idea of what you'll be offered. Of course, the board (nursing board at the VA you applied to) makes the final decision. It will be based on your level of degree, your years of experience and any certifications you may hold. The VA is one of the few agencies where ADN/BSN makes a difference.

I love night shift! Not only does it work for my family...we have 2 school aged children plus my husband is also a nurse and works day shift at a different hospital...but I truly enjoy night shift. Yes, sleeping during the day is hard but I've gotten used to it. I feel on night shift, that while things are fairly busy, I have more time with my patients. They aren't running off the floor for procedures and the family isn't there taking over and demanding much more than the patient does when the family isn't there. I have more time to talk to them, I can provide more effective patient education and I can better address their concerns (things they may feel they can't discuss with day shift because the nurse was too busy). Just my thoughts. Typically new grads start on nights because day shift positions are offered to more senior staff first. Differentials vary by hospital/region. I make $2 extra an hr for 7-11p and $3 extra an hr for 11p-7a with additional differentials for weekend hours.

I have a BS in Exercise Science from a traditional 4-yr university. I went back to school 12+ yrs later and got my BSN through an accelerated program. Whether or not your daughter ends up with a BSN depends on the school/program. Your questions will be best answered if you direct them to the school she is attending/planning to attend. Best of luck to her!

I never said don't apply. All I am saying is that if someone is trying to decide between ADN and BSN for school that they should take a look at how agencies are advertising in the area. The VA where I worked for 3 years prior to specializing and changing hospitals has hired only BSN in the last several rounds of new grad hires (which started with the new grad program I was hired into in 2008.) The only ADNs that have been hired in my time there were not new hires, but were LPNs who already worked for the VA and had gone back and gotten their RN. Also for someone who is an experienced nurse, degree doesn't matter as much as experience...but for a new grad, it matters a lot more than it used to.

It's becoming more of an issue these days. Veterans Hospitals/clinics are advertising "BSN preferred". My current hospital is going with a "BSN in 10 (years)" approach with the goal being an all BSN staff. As I have glanced through job annoucements in other states (my husband is military and we'll be moving in the next year to 18months), I have seen a lot of "BSN preferred". My advice, look at the agencies in your area, see how they are advertising vacancies and make your decision based on that. Good luck to you!

At my hospital I have been floated to another unit so they could have a "free floating" charge nurse. I didn't feel it was fair to my floor to take from our staffing where our charge nurse was taking patients to give them a free floating charge. On my floor (I work on a very busy cardio/thoracic stepdown unit), day shift charge starts the day with only 2-3 patients because they round with the docs in the morning, plus manage transfers and admissions. Night shift starts the night with 3 and often takes an admission at some point during the night. Our ratio is 4:1 but if staffing is bad, we can take 5:1.

Did a 16month accelerated BSN, turned 36 a few months after I graduated.

You'll only need to get and maintain one license...it'll be in whatever state your choose but preferably in your "home of record" state so that you can receive mailings from your licensing agency. When you work in a federal facility your license does not have to be from the state that facility is in. However, you have to maintain your license according to the rules of your licensing state (i.e. renewal requirements, etc.). My husband is also an army nurse (reserves), we live in SC, he works at the local VA Medical Center (federal) and holds a license from the state of GA (which is not a compact state). He is not required to get a SC license unless he decides he wants to work at a local (non-federal) hospital/agency.

I don't think any program, ADN or BSN, gives you "enough" experience with any sort of nursing skill. A huge amt of nursing is OJT (on job training). In my 4th semester practicum I was in an ER setting and that's where I got all of my IV start and basic butterfly stick experience. Then once I hit the floor on my new job I would always try first and if I couldn't get a good stick, I'd seek help. If the other nurse would allow, I would watch their technique and see if there was anything I could do differently to improve my skills.

Some employers will reimburse student loans. Not sure about reimbursing directly to the employee who paid for school out right. You can ask the nurse recruiters at different hospitals/agencies that you are considering applying to.

EKG is diagnostic, telemetry is only for monitoring of rhythm changes.

I was on a med/surg floor at a local VA until moving to my current facility. I now work on a cardio/thoracic stepdown floor and I am loving it. Such a different culture from the VA I left.