LilStudent

I'm a Maple tree. It's pretty accurate! :)

Tampa. The school I will be going to for LPN is a technical school. Luckily, I got in with their lottery system. They have a waiting list now. I plan on pursuing my RN training at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa also.

I would go to become an LPN and then go on to RN. That's the route I'm going to take. I am able to start school for LPN in January. If I wait for RN I will be waiting forever. It's easier to get into the LPN to RN bridge program here. I don't think the waiting list is quite as long. I like the fact that I will be able to work as a nurse in a hospital setting while I go on to become an RN. Plus, the hospital's tuition reimbursement will pay my tuition. I have read that LPN's are being "phased out" and that it is difficult to find work. That's just not true here in Florida. It might be elsewhere. Besides, I don't plan on staying an LPN long. I think I will work for 6 months as an LPN to gain experience and then go on for my RN. It will be easier for me as a single parent to take school in smaller parts than to try to go for 2 years straight. I hope you find what will work best for you! :)

Hi Veronica. Welcome to allnurses. I'm 31 and I have a 7 year old son. It's my dream to become a nurse and I feel it's my calling. I will be starting school in January. It took awhile for me to finally decide to start school. It's scary! I will only be working part time and I'm a single mom. Luckily I live with my sister and between the two of us we will be able to afford it. Just barely though. It will be a MAJOR sacrifice for us. That's why I decided to become an LPN first. It's only one year of schooling as opposed to two. I just can't afford to work part time for two years. After I become an LPN I'll attend a bridge program to get my RN when I'm ready. You can do it. It will be difficult, but it can be done. There are others here that have already done it. Good luck with whatever you decide. :)

Congratulations!!!!!! Go out and have a good time! Get some much needed relaxation after all that schooling. I am so happy for you! :balloons:

The LPN program I will be attending costs $3000 and is 12 months long. It's at a technical school.

The LPN program I will be attending costs $3000 and is 12 months long. It's at a technical school.

No. My uncle lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. Of course once he's 18 I can't stop him. He's only 8 now though, so I have awhile. :)

I contacted a local hospital in Tampa, FL and was told that a new grad LPN would make about $13 or $14/hour. A new grad RN would make about $16 or $17/hour.

I would ask the doctor what can be done at home to help with your mom's recovery. You might also want to ask him if she will benefit from physical therapy afterwards. I had back surgery and my doctor sent me to physical therapy prior to surgery and after. It helped me a great deal. One thing that was important for me was to be up and moving around as soon as possible. I moved around at least once an hour when I went home, even if it was just a little. I was scared of getting a blood clot so that motivated me to get out of bed. :) With my type of surgery it was beneficial for me to move around as much as possible during recovery. Good luck to you and your mom.

The first thing I want to say is I really, really want to be a nurse! I genuinely want to help people and hope to one day work L&D. I've been accepted to a school and can start in January. The problem? Gross things. Well, things that seem gross to me. For example, when I have to pick up dog poop because of an accident on the floor I gag! This morning my little boy vomited in the convenience store and out of courtesy for the employees, I cleaned it up. I thought I was going to vomit myself! I was gagging and feeling a bit faint. Also mucus just grosses me out too. I can't even stand the word. As experienced nurses, do you think nursing is the wrong career for me? Or, do you think I will adapt and get used to dealing with these things on a daily basis? Any advice is welcome!

Hi everyone! I was wondering if any of the nurses here have taken advantage of Florida's new homeownership program? This program is designed for people that work in healthcare (CNA, LPN, RN, etc) within the state. It offers a low interest loan with 0 or only $500 down. I think the mortgage is through Sallie Mae. It's also supposed to be easier to qualify for than traditional mortgages. I think they are offering it to entice more people to healthcare in Florida. I'm thinking of trying to get a home this way when I finish school (one day) and I was wondering if anyone has had any success with this program? Thanks! :)

I haven't attended their Nursing program, but I always had problems with my financial aid at HCC. I eventually got it. Just doesn't seem like they were able to get it to me in a timely manner. Good luck!

I was born and raised in Florida. :) I think many of the nice Floridians have fled this state. I used to live out in the "country" with my parents. It's so sad to see all the subdivisions popping up and all of the trees being cut down. Florida has too many people and still more move here every day. I don't want to uproot my 7 year old son or I would get the heck out of this state. I would love to live somewhere like Tennessee. So much of it is still unspoiled. I never thought I would feel like this. When I was younger I wanted to live a big city life. Now that I'm getting older I just want to get back to nature. I'm 31, btw. When my little one is 18 and looking at colleges, I plan to move out of Florida. By then he can make his own choice of where he wants to live and go to school. Which reminds me...that's one good thing about Florida...the Florida Prepaid College Fund. I don't know if other states have that. I opened an account for my son when he was 4. Even if he decides to go to school out of state it will still help pay for it. :)

I work in the insurance industry as an Insurance Underwriter (for now). Some of my fellow Underwriters have atrocious spelling and grammar! They might make grammatical errors, but they are excellent at what they do. I used to spend alot of time in chatrooms when I was younger. I also wrote lots of emails using "chatroomease". The best advice I can give is don't let yourself lapse into writing that way. I got used to chopping up the English language and dropping punctuation. I'm still trying to dig myself out of my "bad grammar" hole.

I come here to learn about the field that I will eventually work in. :) I've learned lots of things just by coming by every day and reading the new posts. Before I started coming here I had no idea what Telemetry was and I had never heard of sepsis. Hmmmm, I still don't know exactly what sepsis is. Other than it's some kind of infection. I see it in posts that list cause of sepsis as bowel perfs. Oh my. Anyways...that's another thread. I've learned lots of other things too, there's just too many things to list. There's such a wealth of knowledge here.

Wow. That's beautiful. Really touched me. :) I would have been inclined to leave a grouchy patient alone in their misery. Not anymore. You've inspired me! When I'm a nurse I'm going to strive to cheer up my patients just like you do.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about online LPN to RN programs. I don't even start LPN school until August. I plan to go to a Community College bridge program to become an RN. I can answer your question about salary for Tampa, FL. I was advised by a local hospital here that LPN's usually start out at about $13 or $14/hour. I know for me it is not a step up in the salary department, but a step sideways. I make $12.50/hour right now working as an Insurance Underwriter. I will have to wait until I become an RN to make the kind of money I want to be making. There's always a possibility to work Agency or travel once you get some experience as an LPN. I think they look for 1 year of experience. They pay more than hospitals. Hope this helped a little bit. I wish you the best of luck in your Nursing career! :)

I will be starting school in August. I frequently see people on this forum talking about lifting patients. Do nurses lift patients daily? Why do you have to lift them? When I was in the hospital after back surgery, I had a metal trapeze looking thing (sorry, I don't know what it's called) hanging over my bed that I used to help lift myself up using my arms so that I could get off the bed. My nurses never had to lift me. I'm asking this question because it is my dream to become a nurse, but at the same time I am concerned because I have had back surgery. I don't want to reinjure myself. I would be crushed if I couldn't go into nursing. One last question....I think I will have to have a physical done before I start school. Do I have to tell them about my prior surgery? If I do, won't this prevent me from being allowed to enter the program? Thanks to anyone that takes the time to answer! :)

Ginger vs. Marianne Hershey vs. Godiva

The only dangerous thing I've ever wanted to do was learn how to ride a motorcyle. I imagine there is nothing like driving fast down a straight road, no helmet, wind blowing through your hair. I'll never know what that's like because if I ever did get on a motorcycle, I would make sure I wore a helmet. I'm too cautious to even think of getting on a bike though, so the helmet part doesn't matter. I avoid all dangerous things though. I feel it's my responsibility as a mother of a 7 year old. I want to be around for him. Guess I'm boring too. My two cents about the whole grammar thing is that most people don't write as well as they should. Writing extremely well is a difficult skill to master.

When I was younger I skipped class too much and my GPA suffered. My college transcript is spotty at best. I know that I will probably never get into graduate school. I know there would be too many people with impeccable transcripts competing against me. I've accepted this, but I wish I could turn back time and do what I was supposed to do. I learned from my mistakes and I never, ever miss class unless I have to, not because I want to.

Congratulations!!! :balloons: I have lived in Tampa all my life. One really neat park is called Lettuce Lake Park at 6920 E Fletcher Avenue. It has a boardwalk and a few trails. It's a nice place to picnic. A few other cool places you might want to see are Ybor City (During the day you can visit the shops, restaurants, or movie theater. At night there are lots of night clubs to choose from with lots of different music styles.), Clearwater Beach (gets more crowded on the weekends) and Bradenton Beach (down here there is a small ice cream shop called The Shake Pit that makes the BEST shakes in the world), Busch Gardens, Evos in Hyde Park if you like vegetarian burgers/healthy food, Miguels at 3035 W Kennedy Blvd is great authentic Mexican food in a charming setting, if you like upscale shopping you could go to Old Hyde Park Village or International Plaza. I prefer University Mall because they have Old Navy and Hot Topic. :) Hmmmm, that's all I can think of for now. Orlando is also another great place to visit. They have some cool outlet malls. Lots of great restaurants. Downtown Disney is filled with shops. Disney, of course. Pleasure Island has some interesting night clubs. Old Town in Kissimmee has shops and a classic car show on the weekends. They also have a Sephora in one of the malls. I love makeup so I make the trek up there about once a month. Hope I don't sound like a guidebook. :)

I'm going into nursing for two reasons: 1) So that I, as a single mom, can provide a decent life for my little boy. I currently make $12.20/hour with 3 years of experience working as an Insurance Underwriter. I will make more than that as a new nurse. 2) Because there are endless opportunities available for furthering education and trying different specialties. There's lots of variety in nursing. Right now I think I want to work L&D or Mother/Baby, but that could change once I get out of school. :)

Right now, they say there is a Nursing shortage. I've read articles that say most states are scrambling to create more schools and more openings in the current schools to alleviate the shortage. It seems that alot of people are currently drawn to Nursing as a career. I think this might be because the salaries seem very appealing from the outside looking in and that there would be lots of job security. (Just my opinion) My question is.....Do you ever foresee there being too many Nurses? With all the interest and people being trained right now, do you think that when the shortage finally alleviates that there will be too many skilled people and not enough jobs? That possibly the market could eventually end up flooded? (Just a side note....I've read about how there is no Nursing shortage in other posts. I'd still like everyone's opinion that's willing to share. Even those that don't feel there is a current shortage.) Just curious what everyone's opinion is on this.