nursern07

thanks for the replies everyone! i'm still weighing my options, and thanks for the tax info!!!

i'm sorry, i didn't mean anything bad by it, i hope you didn't take my post wrong!!! i just meant i would love to work in an er, but i have realized after my time as a nurse i like working with patients for a longer period. i've also thought of working in an acute neuro floor, but sometimes you have patients for a few days (sometimes longer) but i really like seeing them for weeks and watching their progress. personal preference. again, i meant no offense!

ok, ready for a long story? lol when i first got my license (ma) i immediately went for my ny reciprocity. i got it, but them family issues hit and i was unable to move. i bought a condo instead and have settled where i am. i love what i do (rehab nursing) but still think about nyc all the time. i'm not married, have no kids and i'm 24. everyone tells me it's the best time to go to nyc and feel it out. i have also been debating going back to school for my adult/geri np, which i would love to do in nyc. i have can easily rent out my condo (i have family and it's by a college) and my mother already said she'd help out and be the "stand in" landlord. i'm just really freaking out. i never really wanted to pay rent and that's why i bought a condo; however i really want to do this and move. does it make sense to do traveling nursing to nyc and feel it out? i'm not sure if that's considered abusing the traveling nurse position though, esp in this job market. but i also felt it's a good way to get my foot in the door and if i want to go back to school i can work on it and get my own apartment while i'm already in the city. i may also love travel nursing and want to keep exploring other cities, i'm just not sure. for awhile i was not exactly sure what i want to do, but i have found my niche in rehab nursing. another question is, are there rehab nursing positions available in traveling? one big fear i have is that i won't be able to cut it in a job where i'm new all over again. how have your experiences been being the newbie all the time? sorry for the rambling, but while i'm proud that at 22 i bought my own condo and have a job i love, but after 2 years i feel stuck and i need to do something!

thank you for this thread, everyone. i haven't gotten around to reading all the posts, but the ones i read made my day. i worked in ltc for a year and went on to acute rehab. my unit is the first jcaho certified stroke rehab program in the state of massachusetts and one of a few in new england. that is exciting news for our staff, but still people say i'm "too smart" for rehab. i'm not too smart, i'm smart and i'm right where i belong. i love working with geriatrics (which a lot of the people i graduated nursing school with think that in and of itself is low on the nursing totem pole) and i love seeing them come in at their lowest and literally walk out the door. it's an amazing feeling. yes, sometimes i feel like those icu nursing are so smart (which they are) but i am done feeling like they are smarter. they have a different skill set than i do and the nursing world needs us all! i love having the same patients every day for weeks at a time. i love seeing the progress and i love seeing family members who love seeing me every day!:heartbeat sometimes i think of how exciting it would be to be an er nurse, but i know i am good at what i do and i like what i do. i am good at what i do and i use it to my advantage. i have learned so much and i know there is more to learn.

I have a question on PICC removal. I know after the MD removes it, the RN needs to measure it. However, I've heard you must measure the tip to the "hub." This confuses me. Some refer to the port (as in the plast piece on the end we clean and flush with the needless saline syringe) as the hub. And others refer to the point in which the lumen break off into double or triple lumens as the hub. Where am I measuring to!? Thanks!

I graduated from UMass Amherst in 07. They have changed their program based on numerous surveys and feedback from students. When I entered UMass in 03, you were a "pre-nursing" student. That meant at the end of your freshman year, based on GPA, experience and outside activities (mostly GPA) you had to apply to the nursing program which officially started your junior year. If you got in, you would start fall of your junior year (having taken a few nursing courses in your sophomore year once you were accepted)... confusing, I know! If you didn't get in your first try, you could apply again and then start spring semester. Well, after a while of people complaining they had no idea they were only "pre-nursing" and the lack of clinical sites because of a new group of students every semester, they changed it so when you got in freshman year, you were a nursing student and they'd only accept students in the fall (or at least that's how I heard it would go after I graduated.) If your GPA dropped, you would be kicked out of the program. I found it to be a good program and a fun 4 years. Hope I helped.

I work in MA as a BSN in a LTC facility and I make $25/hr 7-3 and $28/hr for 3-11/11-7.

Thank for the info. I have looked at some of those websites before, but I'll really take my time and really look into them. I didnt even think of checking into whether or not my state had a chapter, can I find this on one of the websites you gave me? Also, where did you go to school? You seemed to have had a great experience and without you having a nursing background it makies me feel better because I always here that I should have an ED background before going back to school. Thanks again!

I hear they're pretty scrict with who they hire, anyone work with them?

I have been considering this specialty for some time, but the seemingly lack of job opportunities is holding me back. I do not want to be a SANE. I have so much respect and admiration for those of you who are, but I couldn't do it. I do not think I have the ability to be there for my patients, not emotionally anyways. I am interested in the evidence collection, possible coroner, crime scene aspect. I have read a lot of posts here and online at other places about SANEs, but are there any non-SANE forensic nurses here? I was looking into a few programs, but a lot of them seem to be heavily SANE based. Anyone have any recommendations for programs? Anyone here taken the courses through Fitchburg State? Anyone have their Masters in Forensics? Where did you go to school? I hear a lot about internships/externships with their local crime lab/ME/coroner... how in the world did you find thos opportunities!? lol I have looked online and haven't found a thing! I don't have any connections, so any tips would be great. I'm willing to relocate as well. Just trying to get some info about this, thanks so much!!!

I know what you mean about going that long without income. I looked more into the program and it seems as though a major program they want you to get into is health administration, which is so NOT what I want to do. I'm so confused about everything. I hear these great stories about new grads or nurses with little experience or even nurses who have been in one specialty for years starting in a new specialty. Everywhere I look says "needs experience." This in itself is frustrating. I love my residents at my SNF, but I want something a little more exciting while I'm still young lol. I keep going back and forth between different things. I really need to do something. I am still considering the Peace Corps, it's really something I think will satisfy this urge I'm having to do something, but I don't think I'm going to do the MI program. It's what to do after that I'm wondering about. I still am interested in forensics, but I'm so worried I'll spend all this money on school and not be able to find a job. I have absolutely no connections. I was Googling Massachusetts and internships with the ME dept and I can't find a thing! I was looking into online programs but will I get the education I really need? Will all my questions going to be answered if I email my Prof? What about field experience? With an online program, is there any?? What I'm worried about the most is my loans. Apparently, private loans (like MEFA) aren't eligible for deferment... what am I supposed to do? I need to do something, everyone says go for it, but it really isn't that easy. I also own a condo, but my mother says she can rent it out for me, so that at least isn't weighing on my mind, but the loans. My mother can't pay them while I'm away for two years. Any advice from someone who had loans and then joined? Sorry for my melancholy rant and thanks for reading lol

Hello all! I have been working as a BSN in LTC for 1 year and just started to work at an acute rehab facility as well. Love my residents at the LTC, but I want different experiences right now. Not loving the rehab, but need the experience and benefits it offers. I'm young, no kids, no significant ohter at the time. I want to do so much!! That's what's great about nursing. I think travel nursing would be cool, but I know I don't have the experience required yet. I am also very very interested in forensic nursing, however not as a SANE and the job opps don't really appear to be plentiful lol. I want to travel and I want to go back to school (I know, I want to do a lot, right?). Anywho, I am seriously considering doing the Master's International program through the peace corps. As an FYI, the MI program is grad school for a year and then joining the peace corps for 27 months within your field, working there (actually volunteering) and gaining experience so when you come back, you have your MSN. I've always been interested in working with those with HIV/AIDS, I don't know why but it's something I've always wanted to be involved with. I felt this way, I could get my taste if that field, travel and get my MSN. Anywho, has anyone done the MI program or at least worked with the Peace Corps? The only school that offers the MI program in nursing is George Mason University in VA, which I am so willing to relocate, I need a change of scenery (from relatively small and boring town in MA lol). I would love to get some experience in the ED while living in Virginia. I was planning on working at the hospital for one year for the experience and then move. I don't know if I'm taking on too much or what. I thought maybe upon my return I could do some forensic work. I was thinking of starting some online courses now but I asked myself if it would be a waste if I'm possibly moving out of the country for two years. My head is so full of ideas right now. I really need to do something else beside what I'm doing bc I'm just not all that happy. And it's not nursing and there's nothing wrong with rehab or where I work, it's just not a great fit for me. Any words of advice would be great, I really don't have anyone to talk to about this stuff, everyone tells me I'm crazy for wanting to do so much. Maybe I am, but if the opportunity is knocking, shouldn't I answer?