bsnecu99

Stupid question - how do you pronounce your name? It sounds so pretty.

OMG! I thought the idea of opening a daycare for sick kids was just my idea! I was going to research it for this area, but now that you are talking about horrible insurance costs, I think I'm going to forget that brainchild! Thanks!

I'm sorry, are you a nurse? Or just a "consumer." If you are just a consumer you have no idea how illiterate some foreign doctors are. I also did medical transcription before becoming a nurse and on one tape, I just had to pass. I could NOT understand a single word! My dad reported to me that during his reconstructive surgery he had a medical consult from a foreign doctor whose interpreter followed closely behind. Now, doesn't that scare the pants off 'ya? :uhoh21:

Now that is a truly great post! I particulary like the last one!

What point? The only thing a patient's family wants a nurse to do is wipe the patient's bottom anyway. Or boost them in bed/Get them a pain pill/ Fill the water jug/Crank up or down the head of bed. All which can be done by staff other than nurses. They don't care! They don't give two toots what you call yourself, actually. Yes, yes, I am not starting an argument about whether a LPN is professional, I am just showing how stupid the entire argument sounds. Our BON licenses anybody. Teens with 10 weeks of night school are called "certified med techs," what point?

Hon, I guess you are a foreign nurse. ALL nurses on ALL levels require not only an education, but licensure. I had a license as a cosmetologist which meant I passed a written and a practical exam. When I passed, I became professional vs someone doing perms in the kitchen. When the CNA recieves his or her license, it specially states, CNAI or CNAII, NOT care partner, or whatever. That might imply they are on the same level as a nurse, MD or other ancillary staff. Now, is THAT what you meant to say? BTW I would rather be called by my education, MSN or PhD, whatever, than registered nurse. But, unfortunately my name tag only says my name, and RN!

Yes, I have noticed that also, but not as much as foreign MDs and their discharge summaries! Ever read any of those nightmares? Wrong subject, wrong verb, run-on sentances, and so on. We used to laugh about them in the nursing home where I worked! If we can't enforce English as a language, we most certainly can't assume that it will be used in a professional way!

I think you meant to say they ARE feigning education they do not have. Well, if an LPN is not a professional, I guess we can safely extrapolate that they aren't professional. Oh Lawdy, don't let an unprofessional nurse touch me, Oh Lawdy! I was looking on my license and no where does it say PROFESSIONAL. It just says "Licensed as a Registered Nurse in (state).

Ha, :rotfl: a zipper or a velcro flap!

Here we go again! Nurses ratting out other nurses! God, stop this madness! I really don't have any opinion about someone calling themselves whatever they want as long as they can walk the walk. Licensed Practical means exactly what? Practically what? Registered nurse does NOT imply anything professional except that you paid your BON seventy bucks and passed the NCLEX. How about this one? Nursing Assistants, that what their license says but here in NC they are called care partners, patient care specialists, nursing support team members, and other nonsensical terms for the same thing. You wanna call on them, too? Sheesh!

Probably because the state board of nursing there did not care, they just wanted their money. Shoot, they could have called themselves, lovely princess nurses and the BON wouldn't care! :rotfl:

Well, I believe there will come a time when EVERY nurse will be required to have a PhD to provide even minimal incontinent care. That is as it should be? It would end the fighting over whether an ADN, RN, BSN or PhD is more prestigious and who has the MOST knowlege, 'cause that is what it is all about! My son was treated by a doctor at DUKE and I started out being utterly impressed until this doc couldn't even put in a few stitches in my kid's chin! When I first started my nursing education, I saw a Canadian nurse doing something that I was thought was incorrect. When I asked her why she was doing it that why she replied, "if you have sound rationale for what your are doing, then it's correct." So, therefore, why not require every nurse to have a PhD? I don't know how Florence Nightengale ever performed her duties without one! Or Clara Barton, or others. The name for this philosophy is called "degree inflation." You can read up on this phenomenon in any good college level sociology text. Now even secretaries are required to have a minimal four year degree. Once everyone has a PhD, then what? Will universities put an entirely new higher degree in place like a FaPS? Which means forever a professional student? If your state board of nursing or your local hospital megachain has a list of nursing practice levels, please read them. Yes, level thee where you are pulling chest tubes and the like does require advance practice. However, if we are ALL advance practice, who will do the bedside nursing? And are hospitals, clinics, doctor's offices, and the like prepared to pay for all PhD level nurses? Thanks for the challenging forum.

Oh, absolutely! SAS are the best nursing shoes! I buy them at my local uniform shop but probably any uniform shop can order them for you. Mind you, they are quite expensive, but not as much as Birkenstock! :rotfl: Are you of normal weight? Because if you aren't what helps is having a custom orthotic insole made at your local podiatrist. And wearing support hose, if you can find your size. I've seen Dansko in nursing catalogs, but they only come in medium widths, so can't help you there as I can't wear that width. Good luck, and welcome.

If I had it to do all over again, I would definitely go for the LPN. One year, and you are out and working. Instead of taking four years and tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention four years out of the work force - I would NEVER do that again. Especially after graduating and finding out that the LPN and BSN make very similar wages. I went out to several places this week seeking work (there is NO shortage here, believe that), I was told more than once 'too bad you aren't an LPN 'cause that's what we're really looking for.' If you want a diploma on your wall to cover up a crack in the plaster, then I say go for the BSN. If your plaster is OK, then don't do it.

Dear Fellow Nurse, On some of your issues, I could not agree more. I do not know who thought of the ADN program, but if you will think for a moment, just WHO said it was a good idea? YOUR State Board of Nursing. I have to laugh, however, having read the latest BON publication which touts that they exist for the safety of the patient! This same BON will license a monkey if that monkey can get a pill bottle open! Their newest baby is what is called a "med tech." This "med tech" is a CNAII with, what I understand, is an additional short course in reading and MAR or something equally as absurd. These "med techs" then go on to pass meds such as digitalis, oxycodone, warfarin sodium, dilantin, Ativan, and other medications which, in my opinion, require a higher learning base than just a couple weeks in order to guarantee PATIENT SAFETY!! Would you not agree? Back to your point of what is expected of new BSN graduates. Our local megahospital, which owns 90% of all hospitals east of I-95, expects nurses to hit the ground running - yep - agree or not. I had passed my NCLEX not two weeks before and my nurse manager was horrified I could not pull a central line that minute. She was also upset that I could not skillfully manage a chest tube, a PCA pump, TPN with lipids and chemotherapy for AIDS patients. By the way, I was on a neuromedical floor. Before I graduated I had given ONE IM injection and started FIVE IVs. Yes, the ADNs who graduate from the local two-year college were more than ready to jump into the fray the first day and could start IVs on balloons without popping them. Scoff if you must, but it is true. As far as a knowledge base is concerned, here is my problem with that. Firstly, the doctor knows a thousand times more than you. The patient could probably score higher on an exam about his/her disease than you, and crap, the family could instruct you for weeks. Everytime I endeavored to discuss something with the patient or family, they would say, "I know, I already know." Where did that leave me? I did have a stint as an admissions nurse where patient education was nearly THE most important part of my initial visit. It was extremely rare that I taught them something they did not know. As a student I visited with a home health nurse on a young child with rhabdo, and that little girl even drew her own lab and flushed her own port! Made me feel like an idiot. Only after I was five years out of college, was I able to flush an implanted port! That was, oh, a month ago, maybe. On our unit, it was also a problem in that the ADNs who weren't laughing about how they get paid EXACTLY what a BSN/MSN or PhD nurse makes, were roaring over how scant our skills were! If they weren't laughing, they were envious and fearful of our degree. What a paradox! I also want to speak about what you are saying about education. I presently an unemployed. I have about 10 resumes out there. I spent the last three weeks calling and walking and knocking on doors and engaging employment agencies, the office of unemployment here, and nothing! Additionally, they are filling the local megahospital with Canadian and Filipino nurses by the dozens! I agree that BSNs or those with higher educations should make more money. In no other profession I can think of is this NOT true. I say, if you want us to get this advanced education, then at least pay us enough so we can pay off the student loans, please! If you want to pay us minimum wage and treat us like crap, then don't require any advanced education beyond high school and maybe what the nursing assistants must obtain. It is a shame that nurses have attempted to raise the reputation of nursing by taking on more, and more potentially llitigous responsibility. You can't make someone admire or respect you more by doing that. Why does everyone respect doctors, dentists and attorneys? Because they close ranks and REFUSE to take less than they believe they are worth. If I hear one more whining nurse tell me, "you should be in it because you love it and you should do it for free," I'll choke. The nurses who say that began nursing when they were 20, put their thousands away when they could work twenty shifts in a row, and nursing didn't suck. Now that they are in their 40s and 50s they can afford to be idealistic. The other half are 20 and don't know any better. They'll come around. For your information, neither I, nor my 15 year old handicapped child, have health insurance. So I am not sure where ideal #1 came from. My father didn't even finish 8th grade, and has never been in jail. Greater social status? My husband has a PhD in biochemistry/biophysics and could not afford to buy a house until he was 57 years old! While I agree with many of your statements, paint them with a narrower brush. By the way, who cares about "down the road?" Most nurses leave the profession before 10 years! Good luck.