Nat706

Hello, A little background info: I graduated from nursing school with a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing degree in May 2013 and got a job working in a Labor and Delivery unit after passing NCLEX. Unfortunately, I underwent spinal infusion surgery to correct my 80 degree Scoliosis curvature at the age of 12 (I'm 27 now). As a result of this, I injured my back on the job given how physically intensive inpatient nursing is and ended up unemployed and on bed rest. Given that I had no medical insurance until now, I finally was able to go to the doctor and he recommends a desk job. You can imagine how stressful it is to be told that after studying nursing for the past 4 years and all of the student loan debt I've accumulated after attending a private school with no financial assistance from my family. Fortunately, I am married now and my back has healed but I am still unemployed. I applied to research assistant jobs but no luck and going back to school is out of the question for me give how much debt I have and I need a job ASAP before I get behind on my student loans again. I was digging through the Occupational Outlook Handbook and discovered Medical Coding and Healthcare Information Technology. I am based in the city of Chicago and was wondering if anyone can give me advice on how to go about beginning a career in these areas given my background. Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

Thank you all for your help I appreciate it!

Thank you so much, that truly helps, I will take your advice. I also found a youtube channel that teaches basic math from scratch and is very helpful. Thank you again. :)

So a little background information - I was raised by a family who doesn't value education much, they wanted me to have an arranged marriage by the age of 18 (I'm 23 now). I was brainwashed to think that this was going to be my fate and there was nothing I could do about it. Therefore, I was sent to a horrible high school and I can honestly say I don't remember learning much while I was there because the quality was poor and my father was very abusive. Needless to say I graduated and did fine in all of my classes without trying to hard, but with one exception - MATH. I've struggled with numbers since I was in grade school. I was placed in the lowest level math classes in high school and they were taught by a football coach who passed out As like free pizza. Anywho, during my battle against the arranged marriage, I applied to a community college and volunteered at a children's hospital. Being that my parents were so strict, I didn't have much of a social life so I spent a lot of time in the hospital. I observed the nurses interacting with the patient's and I just loved what they did, it def. sparked my desire to become a nurse. A couple years later, I had accumulated enough credits taking random classes at OCC and received a great GPA. I took pre-reqs such as psych, bio, microbio, etc. and I did excellent in those classes. I have no problem in any class aside from math, it's such a huge fear of mine that I didn't even bother taking the lowest level math class at OCC because I knew I would fail and I didn't want to risk ruining my GPA. I decided to apply to a private university that has an excellent nursing program and I got in at the age of 21! I waited a year to get into the nursing program and after I finally got in, I worked extra hard in all of my classes and I am now earning a 3.7!!! I def. surprised myself but hard work pays off. Here's the catch - I did just fine in my Fundamentals of Nursing course last semester (during my sophomore year) but i struggled so much with the math because (as embarrassing as this is to admit, I don't even have my times tables down) I spent hours and hours study the drug dosage calculation book and I managed to pass the quizes without a calculator but the information just will not stick. I passed because the information was fresh in my mind but I didn't have much time to really sit down and try to understand what exactly was going on with the math because I was taking A&P, A&P lab, Pathophysiology and Fundamentals of nursing (huge work load). I have no concept of mathematics, i cannot do long division (despite how many times my math genius boyfriend has tried to teach me) and I am gettin very discouraged because whenever I see anything that has to do with numbers, my mind just goes blank and I panic. i have no idea what to do anymore. I spent hours last semester studying nursing math and trying to get my times tables down but I need to really get it down before my Junior year starts in August. My course load consists of a medsurg course with clinical and a pharmacology course (thankfully since I'm a transfer student that is all I need to take) but I know I will be faced with even more complex math and I really want to do well. I have so much at stake and absolutely no financial, emotional or mental support from my family and I don't have many friends. I live in a different state and it's very tough trying to keep up with all of these students at my university who went to college prep schools and don't have much to worry about aside from getting good grades. I have a lot on my plate but my main concern right now is to better my math skills. My question is - where should I start? I cannot afford to hire a tutor, I've tried making flashcards and I still have my nursing drug calculation workbook from last semester as well as many tools / youtube clips I've found online but I'm not sure if I should start from scratch and teach myself how to multiply / divide or should I just jump into the nursing dosage calculation book and focus on that? how much time should i dedicate a day and will I be able to acquire efficient skills by August 21st? I am sorry this post is so long but I would really appreciate any help / advice. Thank you so much.