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You would have to check your local hospitals, but around where I live, the county hospital will hire an ASN or BSN ER nurse right out of school. In a bigger hospital north of here, you have to have 2 years Med/Surg Experience before you can work in their ER (no matter what degree you have). If I were you, I would check job listings in your area and see what their qualifications are. I'm in an ASN progam b/c I am married and have 2 kids. If I were straight out of high school, I would probably have chosen a BSN program. That being said, there is a girl straight from high school in my ASN program. She chose it b/c she wants to get into the workforce as soon as she can. I think it is great that you are laying your plans out ahead! I wish you the best of luck!

You can work as an RN in the ER with an associate. I have been told the main difference between an ASN and BSN is that you have to have a BSN to get into management (nurse manager, case management). If you get your ASN and decide to go on with your BSN, it's usually an 18 month program that is designed for working students. I am in an associate's program and plan to go on for my BSN after a few years of working as an RN. I hope this helps?

For all of the ups and downs that I have been through in school (I graduate in May from an ASN program) it has definitely been up there in the most rewarding things I have done in my life. For every bad moment, there has been a wonderful moment to trump it. For every horrible teacher, there has been an amazing teacher. For every bad time at clinical, there has been a great experience to make me forget the bad. Don't get discouraged. Keep your head up and know that you can do this! Last week I witnessed a life brought into this world (I observed a c-section) and I got teary eyed and it reassured me that this is all worth it! For the time lost from my family due to studying and class and clinical, it makes the time that I spend with them more special and makes me appreciate it more. Nursing school has given me appreciation for the little things and I promise you it's not all bad and the good definitely outweighs the bad! Hang in there!

The assignment is to research a culture outside your own as it relates to the cultural practic/beliefs related to child birth and child care. I chose Hispanic because it is the fastest growing minority population in the United States. I had actually researched several cultures to see what I could find the most information on before I chose my topic. This one seemed to show the most promise, although none of them had alot of information. I would love your input on how to make this broad and then narrow it down because to me the assignment itself is pretty specific. I'm not a great researcher, so your tips and advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Thank you everyone for your help. It is starting to come together.

I have been to my local library and being in a small town, they have nothing. The majority of their culture books are in the children's section and none relate to childbirth. I am thinking of making the hour trip to my school library (I attend class at a satellite location, so closest campus is an hour away). I got to EbscoHost through my school site...is there another way to get to it? When I entered my search I got several hits, but nothing that I felt I could use.

I have used google (of course) and EbscoHost, Medline, LexusNexus, etc... I have tried Hispanic pregnancy Hispanic childbirth hispanic pregnancy traditions hispanic motherhood hispanic nursing care and others that I can't think of b/c I am so tired from staring at my computer screen for 2 hours lol. I have found a little information, but not enough to get a 7 page paper. I have also searched all of the above replacing Hispanic with Latina. I though with the increasing Hispanic population in the US that there would be a large amount of info. I just don't think that I am searching right and my brain hurts from trying to come up with stuff lol. Thanks for any help you may have!

My program is the same way. Everyone just keeps saying "It's the nature of the beast!" We didn't have grades curved, but 2 different instructors offered major extra credit. My Complex Med-Surg class the entire class failed the first 2 exams. The instructor is our program chair. Anytime we tried to talk to her about her teaching methods (or lack thereof) she either said "You'll get through it, don't worry" or got immediately defensive and shut us completely out. We had her for another class and complained to the Region chair and were totally blown off. It's a situation where it seems your hands are tied. All I can say, and I hate saying it, is that you just have to get through it and do as others have said and take charge of your education. Our Complex Med-Surg ended up being pretty much an independent study. You get out what you put in. Good Luck!

I am writing a paper focusing on cultural aspects of childbirth and parenting of the Hispanic culture. Sources cannot be older than 2004. I am struggling to find sources pertaining to my topic. Are there any websites that would have good nursing articles about culturally competent nursing care? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!

This is wonderful information! We have a new clinical instructor this semester and if we have post conference (we don't have a certain time that we leave the floor, it's just whenever she shows up and says its time to go), she uses it to sit and gossip or talk about TV shows or movies or once she tried to help us "study" for our lecture class (we have a different instructor for the lecture portion). After 6 weeks of clinical, we have yet to have a post-conference that has anything to do with what happened at clinical that day. I'd like to give her your article!

Oh, she is reviewing the exam. She said that with the grades that everyone got, she knows there was some sort of mistake somewhere and she is going to make it right. She is a lovely lady. I enjoy her lectures and feel like I learn from her and that she wants us to learn. It's the lack of organization that is the problem and places a lot of stress on already stressed out students.

I am in my second year of an ASN program. We are in Complex Med/Surg. Our instructor for the lecture class is the program chair in our area. She is very unorganized! According to our calendar, we were supposed to take Exam 3 last week and we actually took Exam 1. Our class (there are 10 of us) feel that we are behind. She says we aren't. Myself and 3 other students were supposed to be in an observation last Friday as part of our clinical hours. We e-mailed her, called her, and texted her (texts is the communication method she prefers) and she didn't answer us all week. Finally, Thursday night at 8:45pm she e-mails us and says that there won't be an observation on Friday and we will have to make it up another time. Also the exam that we took was "open book" but was timed so we had to know the stuff before we took the test. The highest score was an 88. The questions were completely random and did not focus on what we read at all! We don't know what to do. We actually had issues with this same instructor our first semester and her superior was brought in and it was us vs. her and her boss took her word over the 10 of ours. We feel we have nowhere to go and no one to complain to. I am afraid I am not going to be prepared for NCLEX. To top everything off, we have a new clinical instructor. She is 3 semesters away from her Master's degree. We are her first class she has ever taught. So, keeping that in mind, we try to cut her some slack and give her a learning curve, but things are getting ridiculous. She has never observed me doing anything, as well as several others in the class. I don't know how she can grade me when she hasn't watched me. We are split up between 2 floors so she has to go back and forth but I have never seen her on my floor for longer than 5 minutes. She tells us and the nurses we work with that we are to do an assessment, vital signs, baths, and I&Os. As a group, we do not feel like we are getting the experience we need. We have voiced to her that we graduate in May and want as much experience as possible, and she tells us she is only one person and can't be everywhere at once. Here's the kicker...she disappears for long periods of time and comes back reeking of cigarette smoke! It is against our school's policy for ANYone to smoke during clinical hours for respect to the patients! She works at the hospital we are at and when she sees someone she knows, she stands and talks to them way longer than what is appropriate. Yet she doesn't have time to help us get the procedures we need? Luckily the nurses at our clinical site are absolutely amazing! I am so thankful to them for taking time from their busy day to help us and show us things. So, I guess my question is, How do we handle both of these instructors? We feel limited in what we can do. Several people in the class will complain, complain, complain, but refuse any idea of how to handle what's going on. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks for letting me vent!

We actually spent a day in the hospital's orientation for students. We learned the IV pumps and were shown the glucometer. After that we were thrown to the sharks! I definitely feel lost and confused most of the time. I just keep being told "You get out of clinicals what you put into it," but have never been told what to put into it! I just keep trying my best and wander around looking for people who want help and are helpful when I have downtime. The patient care techs have been the best resource so far.

Could you possibly use knowledge defict for the newly dx diabetes? I am new at this too. That is the only thing that "popped" out at me right away.

I need help! I am doing my care plan for Med/Surg II. Last semester my instructor told us that Actual diagnoses are always prioritized above RIsk for diagnoses. My list is as follows: 1. Acute Pain 2. Anxiety 3. Diarrhea 4. Deficient knowledge 5. Risk for deficient fluid volume 6. Risk for impaired skin integrity 7. Risk for injury. I am getting help from a 2nd year student (as part of her service learning project) and she is telling me to put the risk for dx first because they relate more to the patient's admission dx. I don't know what to do and it is due tomorrow! :banghead:Also, she told me to delete the Diarrhea dx because it is a medical dx and not a nursing dx. I got it straight from my All in One Careplanning book saying it is a nursing dx. I have been unable to reach the 2nd year student who was helping me and I need some suggestions PLEASE! Thanks in advance for any help!