Moss1222

I work for the military as a Home Visitor with the New Parent Support Program. Check it out. All the branches of the military have this program (and each are a little different). I am a federal employee with great benefits and average RN pay. I LOVE my job going into homes of young families and providing education and support for pregnancy through age 5. My background is in pediatrics but some of my coworkers were prior nursery nurses and other disciplines. The flexibility and job satisfaction of developing relationships with these young families is priceless! There is a low turnover of these jobs because they are awesome!

I am a civilian working as an RN on a Marine Corps base in a pediatric program. There are nurses that I work with who have spouses in the military. So working is certainly possible. But nursing school is a whole other subject. To answer that question you would have to have exceptional suppport b/c your children are so small. Is your extended family available to help you with childcare? You stated your husband is often not home. The commitment to your studies and clinical time can not be overstated. Nursing school is HARD and TIME CONSUMING. If you had a realistic idea of the time required and had the help available, then you certainly could do it. But it sure would be easier if your children were in school. Even then it would be hard. If you already have a degree, there are bridge programs in many areas that are shorter, but I know several friends who have had trouble recently getting admitted into a program b/c it was so amazingly competitive right now. If you didn't have all the prerequisites, this time when your children are small could be spend taking one class at a time to prepare for nursing school itself in a few years. I know schools who require your sciences be within the last five years or they have to be retaken. And one last thing, would you expect you wouldn't be moving? Different schools have different prereq's and to prepare for one school might not prepare you for another. Find a school that you would hope to attend and ask LOTS of questions. God Bless! Don't be discouraged if this is something you really want to do-just realize the timing might not be what you are hoping for and enjoy those babies. They grow up so FAST!

I also have taught CPR, First Aid, Safe Sitter babysitting classes, and all these classes to homeschooling groups as well. All these things, as the previous poster suggested, are a great way to gain experience and confidence in front of a group of people. Just like she said, I can do just about anything in front of a group of people now. And kids can learn all these skills at the preteen level, and they are not intimidating at all. Besides, its is really great fun teaching people skills they will use all their lives. It will also let you know if you actually like instructing before doing it. It helped me to know that I love it.

I worked many years in a wonderful children's hospital and loved it. I must say that I never really got tired of the children, but the parents were another story. When they came to the ED for a diaper rash at 3am, when their child couldn't sleep, and the child had the rash for a week already, it was very difficult to not be annoyed. But I tried to never show it. I had never walked in their shoes. My answer is: burn out is much less of a problem in peds than adults. Most of the children were scared or miserable (ie in pain or very sick) at first, bounced back quickly, and were adorable before they went home. It was very rewarding and some of the best memories of my lifetime. I wouldn't give up that career path for the world. It also prepared me for parenting-a huge plus.

The school system in my county has a scale posted on their website with the pay scales for their teachers. The pay scale is different depending on a teacher's qualifications (ie BA, MA, PHD, etc). Then, with more years teaching, their pay grows DRAMATICLY. Cetainly, a teacher with fewer degrees has less option for advancement. So, you may have a teacher making $23,000 and one in the next classroom making $86,000.

Vicky, I'm so grateful for all your posts. I've only read a fraction of them, but reading all the links you provide, and the articles in depth makes me feel like I'm in one of your classrooms. You will be an awesome PHD and maybe I'll have you one day when I finally get my MSN! (of course, I have no idea where you are located!) But I feel we have a lot in common ("under the shadow of His wings") and I LOVE education. I've applied for a teaching position for the fall and we'll see what happens. In the meantime, I'm continuing to glean from your wisdom. And I'm learning a lot. You address many issues that concern me and I love reading your posts. Thank you!

Dear Doubtful, I'm so sorry you are so stressed and having anxiety attacks is no small matter. First of all, I encourage you to finish these four months. Although that may sound like 400 months to you, if you drop out and don't finish, you'll never know if it was something that would get better over time. The things you said you hate are all issues of stress, intimidation, not feeling prepared, and being overwhelmed. Those are all things that will definitely change over time, getting experience, being with different instructors and co-workers, and you will gain confidence and enjoyment when you get to where you feel you are actually helping people. If you had said what you hated was the hospital environment, doing the work, and you really were interested in a totally different field, that would be a different issue. All the feelings you are having are very normal and a part of the stress of nursing school. Being a nurse (depending on your job) is sometimes a stressful occupation and since you are overwhelmed, I would recommend talking to a director of your school, a trusted instructor, or someone who knows you well and understands the profession. This person maybe able to help you decide if its nursing you should quit or its just that part of the program where everyone wants to quit. Maybe the pressures of your life outside of school are difficult for you also and there would be a way to lessen those stressors for the next four months. I remember wanting to quit school, move to the mountains and become a photographer of nature...school was very hard for me. And I wanted to quit. But I'm so glad I did not quit and have LOVED being a nurse. The variety of jobs available to nurses (esp if you get your RN) is amazing, and you would be able to choose something that you would really enjoy w/o having someone breathe 'stupid' down your throat. But it takes a LOT of time and experience to become confident of your skills and it won't happen overnight. Hang in there. It will get better. You can do it!

Maybe a wedding ring would change the story.

So she is in MedSurg II with her nursing education and she 'will not NOTICE the beeping'??? and wants to put eating FIBER before this??? Wow. I teach nursing assistants and medical assistants. I see a lot of advice on these boards that these professions are a waste of time and the students should just skip them and go straight to RN programs. Well, my opinion is that not everyone is wired to be an RN and my guess is this gal may be wired for some thing like that. Some people just don't have the critical thinking skills or multitasking skills to work at an RN level. Seems like it would be better for her to find that out now than after she has a serious incident with a coded patient who received ROM instead of defibrillation. One other thing-is this normal behavior for this student? Sometimes students (and anyone) go through a personal crisis and just can't think clearly and make logical judgements due to stress for a period of time, but once through the acute crisis, come back to normal.

I was trained through my hospital, but now many training centers are through local fire and rescue or even community colleges. You must choose a training site to be affiliated with and they will assign someone to monitor you and keep you updated. I love teaching CPR and find it rewarding. It may confusing at first, but you just need to find local folks to tell you what the ropes are where you live. I paid about $175 thirteen years ago and I expect it would be more now.

Well, I may not be any help, as I do not KNOW the correct answer. But I think my answer would be to help the patient with their coffee. If they were not paralysed on the left side, why would you need to put the toast in their hand? They should be able to pick it up themselves. But drinking is a lot harder, and if it is hot and they have some facial paralysis, drinking can be very difficult. It is easy to choke or steady coffee, so c would be my choice. Hope this doesn't lead you astray!