DonutNurse

I think I wasn't clear on my point. Let me rephrase. Will personally arranging preceptored clinical hours aside from the EC program be useful? I guess I know the answer--yes. I do have good clinical experience in my field--psych. But not in med surg. I dont WANT to work in med surg.........so............... Thanks everyone.

hi lunah, i know the states look at the original RN for licensure....i was thinking more about supervisors who are in states where EC Rn is accepted and the issue isnt licensure but critics, as you say. thanks for your response...you are one ive been following for a long time and the biggest inspiration :)

Hi again--I've been reading and getting paranoid! First off, MN SON does accept EC, so I'm not worried about that. Also, I work for the VA, which "allegedly" (I like that word used here!) is open to EC grads. I keep seeing where people say their SBON require additional clinical hours..it is not clear to me if that means they can't work as an EC grad, period (I know some states do have that stipulation) or if it just means the student has to somehow arrange some clinical time. In some cases, it sounds like it....in which case I think, why not just do that? So here's what I'm thinking. I know the state board, as of now at least, will accept my EC education; I'm more concerned about supervisors hiring me (even at the VA; the facility accepts it, but supervisors still have to pick you!) I am thinking about working with my facility education director (who sits on her thumbs all day, but that's another story) to arrange shadowing/clinical time on different units. I did the math and I could get 200 hours or so of this sort of time just by doing one 8 hour day a week. I know there might be legal/liability issues but I am already an employee, which should help; plus i actually already did this as an LPN student--spent 4 days shadowing on a different unit as part of my clinical program--had to arrange it myself. I was thinking it would just help overall--I can put on my resume "AAS excelsior college plus 200 hours additional clinical experience on (units listed here)". there's hospice, subacute, vent unit, several extended care units, primary clinics including gastro and onco, mental health clinic, inpatient psych (my own unit), and more. I'd love to spend time with RNs on each unit seeing what they do and feel it would bolster my resume and comfort level and readiness for RN level nursing in general. What do you think? And last but not least.............I said in my first post (similarly wordy and needy!) that I plan to go right on for BSN. Do you think that will "help" also? Mn DOES accept the RN from EC.........so I am NOT worried about licensure--I'm concerned about general acceptance. For example, if I can say "yep, BSN from....Drexel University" is that going to offset concerns supervisors may have otherwise? I do plan to stay at the VA and am not at all interested in working in acute care EVER. LTC and psych are it for me. Sorry for the continued neediness but as I said earlier you are all a great wealth of information and I appreciate your input. Donuts to all of you!:heartbeat

that's my answer! Thank you!!!! :yeah::bow:

Suesquatch, that's where I go--where I have been going--but I don't see titles that match the titles of the courses I have to take--does that make sense? Where is "Essentials of Nursing Care: Chronicity" etc. That's not showing up on my list. This is too goofy. PS To the other MN lady (GrannyRN?) just out of curiousity which online LPN to RN program did you do?

I do have a user account on excelsior...have for a long time...already accepted. That's how I was able to download the content guide to Essentials of Nursing Care: Health Safety. Already have taken all of my generals except for sociology, which I will CLEP soon; and did my research very thoroughly and am aware of the online options in Minnesota. They didn't work for a variety of reasons, for example one would mean a one year wait; one would mean I have to take a basic chemistry course when I already have a MINOR in it (because it's more than 7 years old), etc. I have thoroughly researched all of my options--------------this decision was not made lightly.

Wow thanks everyone! My day is much brighter for having checked in I want to reply personally to everyone but it'll take me too long to figure out the format so I'm going to just do one reply and try not to feel too bad about not remember names (I could really get out of hand with these emoticons haha) We totally don't believe in low fat, low carb, donuts, heck no, if you're gonna be bad, be bad in a serious way..don't you think? I just stay the heck away from his .............. buns! To the other MN nurse.....I'm looking at Mankato state, one of my coworkers went t here for her BSN and I just like what I read and like that they offer clinicals and that it is a distance program. That's just a thought at this point though, I'll peek around a bit more once I get a good start on my Excelsior stuff. Thanks a million to all the answers about books------------what I have done so far is download the content guide for Essentials of Nursing Care: Health Safety (the first one I have to take--formerly NC 1 I think?) but I CANNOT find the content guides for the rest. Under the publications link there are other nursing content guides that I can see, but they don't say the course names..it's like "Adult Nursing" "Gerontology" etc. I sent a message asking for clarification but won't hear back til tomorrow at the earliest, so if anyone logs on today and knows where I can find the other content guides, I'd be forever in her (his?) debt and perhaps would send a long a jelly donut or two................albeit fully ladden with artery clogging fat and other such deliciousities :wink2: anyway I also bought two of the recommened texts, the Kozier and Erb Fundamentals and the Wong's Essentials of Pediatrics, but i went back an edition and saved a TON. I figure I can maybe get the library to order the newer edition and I'll just compare and make sure I'm not missing anything. I'm so glad to have "met" all of you and look forward to many adventures in learning! Tracy (my real name...did I put that down before?)

hi everyone--I've been lurking and reading for a long time and it is finally, at long last, time for me to join you :typing (I love these emoticons). Anyway I've been reading and admiring for a long time and following your stories. Here's my background...I have 3 college degrees, the 3rd of which is my AAS in practical nursing, new as of this past May. I have 5 kids and live in rural Minnesota and just can't see driving to any of the Rn programs which are all at LEAST an hour one way (this past year, driving a half hour each way, was tough enough, with the need to work,etc). Because of all my past coursework, the only general I have left is sociology, and I'm getting set to CLEP that. Like most of you, I've gone back and forth on to do or not to do (Excelsior) and it always comes back to it just being the most logical choice. I'm also a VA employee--and they'll pay for it, and theoretically, they hire Excelsior RNs, too. I'm concerned about being a new LPN and will only have about a year of LPN experience when I (hopefully) finish the excelsior program..........but it was a matter of weighing that with the cost and emotional difficulty of a year or two of torture for me and my family (driving to a traditional program while working full time, which I have to do). Any words of wisdom there? Every time I read these threads I get all encouraged and know I'm doing the right thing, so I'd really appreciate any encouragement you have to offer. I'm not concerned about my ability to complete the program--I know it will be a challenge, especially the CPNE, but I definately know how to take tests after all that school! Oh, and in case you are wondering..my BS is in biology, my MA is in management, and I've really never used either one...I worked for nonprofits and the state for 10 years, always in human services, and finally realized that it was just time to go ahead and do what I've always wanted to do, which is nursing--and besides it fits into my family much better (shift flexibility) and suits my temperament--and pays much better too I guess I do have one real question right now, aside from asking for encouragement about going this route as a new LPN....that is, do you buy all of the textbooks recommended on the EC bookstore for each exam? The VA will pay my tuition but not my textbooks so I need to save as much as possible---I know to go the ebay route and have found a few good deals but just want to find out what has worked for many of you in terms of what books to purchase, what study guides were particularly helpful, etc. Whew--that was a book--sorry!!! :imbar Looking forward to meeting all of you regulars.............. Donuts PS my husband is a baker.....thus the dorky screen name. PSS edited to add---because of all the generals I've done, I'm going to go right on to BSN through a MN program that does RN to BSN at a distance and has monthly clinicals--I'm hoping this will offset some of the issues that can arise from the different clinical training excelsior offers. From what I understand--most traditional schools do accept the excelsior RN if you have your generals from brick and mortar schools...?