Parade

No, he wasn't ever a patient. He just walked in off the street and wanted to see a nurse...don't know how he made it all the way up to the 3rd floor without raising any eyebrows, but he managed it somehow. I never saw the actual injury, but from what I was told, it was at least partially healed. By the time I made it back to my desk, he had been moved elsewhere (thank God!)

Oh man, these are just a few I've learned as a UNIT CLERK. Just because someone dares you to insert the handle of a wooden kitchen spoon into your member doesn't mean that you are obligated to...and you definitely shouldn't. If your boyfriend has a genital piercing and you are on your period, do NOT forgot this tiny fact and try to have sex anyway while your tampon is still in place. You won't find it amusing, but the staff sure will. When angry because the ER doctor refused to write you a script for narcs (which you requested by proper pharmaceutical name), don't take your shoe off and proceed to stick it in the elevator and wait for the door to close. Seriously, the narcs are not worth it! When someone in the hospital has called to inform you that your girlfriend has been stabbed in the abdomen, your reply probably shouldn't be "Which girlfriend?" When 8 months pregnant, do not ride on the back of your new boyfriends crotch rocket, especially if you aren't going to bother to wear a helmet. And after you make it to the ER, don't tell them that the reason you didn't wear the helmet was because it would mess up your hair. Four asprin and a wine cooler does not constitute an overdose, and will not win your ex-girlfriend back. Raccoons are not domestic animals, and should not be treated as such. Oh, the things I see in patient records... OH WAIT, BEST ONE! When angry because you've been sitting in the ER waiting room for 5 hours just to try and get a work excuse because you'd rather have a 3-day weekend to spend drinking in Mexico, it's not advisable to vent your anger by throwing lukewarm coffee on the Unit Clerk. She'll get revenge.

Oh, that's the best part of the story! "They" were after his foot because it was "touched by the hands of God", and he was worried that this immaculately blessed foot would fall into the wrong hands, so he cut it off himself and kept it "safe" in the trash bag, which he took everywhere. I don't know how no one had noticed the horrible stench. Ugh, definitely made me re-evaluate whether I wanted to go into nursing or not.

I am not a nurse (yet!), but I have a rather tasty story I can share. At the time, I was working as a Unit Clerk on Med-Surg 8P-8A. Day shift had left me in one hell of a mess, and I really was paying too much attention to my screen and not enough attention to what was going on around me. It was probably close to midnight when I noticed the pungent odor of fresh feces. Hey, it WAS Med-Surg, and I just shrugged it off as an occupational hazard. It starts getting stronger, and my radar kicks in and a realize that it's on the move and coming towards me. I look up and I see this rather unsavory looking man limping towards me carrying a black trash bag. He walks up to my desk and tells me that he needs a nurse, and by this time, I can tell that he's not mentally sound. He absolutely reeks of feces and stagnant urine, and was covered in these open, draining wounds. I somehow manage to keep a smile on my face and I tell the man that I'll have a nurse out to see him as soon as I can. I knew my charge nurse would be back in the room in a short time, so while I'm waiting, I make the mistake of asking the man what he needs to see a nurse about. This sick grin crosses his face and he puts this trash bag he's been carrying ON MY DESK ON TOP OF A STACK OF CHARTS and proceeds to open it and pull out his foot. No, you did not misread that. He pulled out his foot and starts waving it around. Just then, my CN comes around the corner and I'm outta there! I managed not to yark until I made it to the restroom, somehow. After that, I think I'll be able to handle nursing school just fine.

http://www.snjourney.com/ClinicalInfo/PreNur/AandP.htm The whole site is full of great resources and activities, but I mostly play around with the A&P stuff. There are some really great learning tools there!

If it were me, and it isn't, I'd take the RN. Same time-frame, better degree. Yes, you may miss out on a little clinical experience because of skipping the LVN/LPN all together, but if you supplement with a job in the medical field, I think you'll be fine. If all goes well, I'll be starting my shiny new job as a Unit Clerk on Med-Surg in the week couple weeks, and I know the experience is going to be priceless. I also agree with the statement that going to school full-time AND working full-time may not be as do-able as you think. And I'm assuming that even with evening school, there would be clinicals of some flavor; where would you squeeze those in between a full-time job and everything else on your plate? If money isn't desperate and you feel that you could live comfortably on part-time wages, that would be my personal preference. Less stress, more time to focus on school, and going straight RN is going to be much more challenging than LVN/LPN first; I think you'll need all the extra time you can get.

I really wouldn't think it would be an issue, as it only happens while you're sleeping. If you're on medication to control them and they're well-managed by the meds, I really don't see where it would be a problem at all.

I think it's going to depend on a lot of things. We all learn and study differently; what is difficult for some may come as second-nature to others. A lot of it comes down to what your own personal aptitudes and weaknesses are. (We all have weaknesses, it's definitely nothing to be ashamed of!) Do you have other obligations? Work, family, children? What is your support system like? Do you have people you can turn to for help when you need it? Are you comfortable talking to your professors if/when you run into trouble? What kind of learner are you? Visual? Audial? Do you learn by reading, seeing, or doing? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to accommodate your own personal learning pattern, even if it means taking the extra time to make graphs or charts, record and listen to lectures, etc? Like others have said, it will be difficult, but if your head and your heart are in the right place, you can push through it and come out successful and with a high GPA to show for it!

Honestly, I don't have a clue. I'm just trying to make it through bloody pre-reqs and trying not to think too far ahead of myself. But I've purposely been trying to keep an open mind about it, because I want to be able to enjoy clinicals without any pre-conceived notions getting in the way. My mom works ER/trauma, and I really don't think I could do her job. Maybe with a few years of solid med-surg under my belt I'd consider it, but until then, I wouldn't personally be comfortable with it. That's about the only pre-conception I've got, and that's purely based on what I've seen and heard from growing up in a house with two nurses.

Congratulations!!!! It sounds like such a whirl-wind!

As far as I know... LTC is Long Term Care and CNM is Certified Nurse-Midwife. There may be other definitions, but that's what I normally associate those particular abbreviations with.

Yeah, I think I get what you're saying. You've been there before, you couldn't handle it then, and you're afraid of the concept of "failing" at it twice. But just the simple fact that you've made an effort to try again shows me that there's something inside of you that really wants to be a nurse, and that's really the foundation of it all; the desire to be in the nursing field for whatever personal motivation you've got. If it were me, which it isn't and I'm not in any position to tell you what decision to make for yourself, I'd at least give it one heck of a good try before I made a final decision. We never truly know how we'll react until we're in the thick of things.

When I was first throwing around the idea of nursing school, I had a discussion with my mom, who has been an RN for the past 15 years. I was doubting whether or not I could handle it, and whether or not I'd make a good nurse, and what she told me really stuck: you can do anything at all for a year. So you may not be able to stomach bodily fluids very well. Pharmaceutical sales, like someone mentioned, is an option, as well as consulting. My mom's hospital even has a few RNs who hold administrative positions, without BSNs. If you can just get through nursing school itself, the possibilities are virtually endless.

I'm all registered and official now! But of course, I drive the 3 hour round trip to get to campus to pay and pick up books, and they don't have the books I need. I got a PSB study guide and a shiny, fresh new Taber's, but it'll be the middle of NEXT week before I can get my real books. Oh well, at least I'm all official now. I'm excited, but sorta scared at the same time. 7 hours is kinda intimidating, but I can handle it. A&P I and Growth and Development isn't that heavy of a load, I don't think...but I may be proven wrong!

I can only imagine how frustrated and discouraged you are right now, and a little betrayed as well. To be told one thing upfront and then another after they get your money or your hopes up is always a slap in the face. My mom managed to get through nursing school from the ground up with no previous college while working full-time and caring for a 2 year old (me) all on her own, somehow, some way. She herself will tell you that it was the hardest thing she's ever done, but she made it through, and now she's doing what she feels she was meant to do with her life. If this is what you truly want to do, don't let one two-faced woman ruin your spirit! Have you checked into pre-reqs online? They typically aren't much more expensive than it would be to attend them in-person, and if you're looking at a longer drive, the extra $15/credit hour would be worth the savings in gas. Where there's a will, there's always a way.