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When are you taking your CBIC exam?

My acute nursing experience that I had prior to leaving the ‘bed-side' included cardiovascular/telemetry/step-down. But that was only about 1 1/2 -2 years. I then started working for the health district running their tuberculosis program. Having knowledge about TB really helped me land my first official Infection Preventionist job because I was responsible for the Medical ICU/ CVICU and several medicine units. So don't discount the knowledge that you bring to the table. Having an understanding of how any health departments works (the beast that it can be;)), how to investigate outbreaks/exposures in the community, having a thorough understanding of the community demographics will really be beneficial for you (it was for me). Your understanding of employee health/immunization standards will actually come in handier than you may think… everything that you do seems to qualify you to sit for the CBIC exam. Have you looked into that? Eligibility Requirements | CBIC: Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. If you are able to become certified, you will definitely be more marketable, regardless of your experience in the hospital environment. You have the educational foundation to apply infection control/prevention standards anywhere you would work. While I didn't have all the hospital IC/IP experience when I started there, the others that I worked with were eager to learn from me and I from them. The health department was really a great start for me.

I've been working in IC/IP for about 5 years and only for 2 different facilities. Both of my facilities are quite different, and the position of IP/IC nurse has permitted me quite a bit of flexibility as far as schedule goes. For the most part, I haven't worked weekends for the past 5 years. There was only one time that I offered to come in one Saturday to meet with a family to do some education about a CRE infection in a family member. As far as 8 or 12 hours shifts, in both of my positions I (along with others in my department) was given the liberty to work 40 hours however we wanted. For the most part we had some early risers that preferred to come in 6-3, and then we had those that preferred to sleep in so they worked 10-7. Our boss was very easy going and allowed us to flex our hours as long as one of us was in the office between the hours of 8-5. She even permitted working from home a few hours on days when we were not going into the office due to personal appointments. Right now I work for a 50 bed Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital (IRF). We have an inpatient therapy gym on each floor with 25 patient beds. We also have a therapy pool and outpatient gym on our ground floor. These things offer different infection control/prevention opportunities/risks than a typical inpatient acute facility. I conduct daily (sometimes more) rounding to do hand hygiene/PPE observations, and conduct surveillance for any infection control concerns. I review all cultures on all patients daily and order isolation if it has not already been done. I will also meet with patients/family to do education on any organisms and also discuss the importance of hand hygiene. I conduct daily surveillance on all invasive lines (foleys/CVCs-we don't have vents at this time) to make sure that the nurse is documenting the continued necessity (or that it is being removed or to be discussed with the provider) and that the physician also documents the medical necessity. I am the co-chair for our Infection Control Committee (ICC) so I prepare all the data/charts/presentations for that. I also review any policies that may need amending and write proposed changes for them to present to the ICC meeting. I present at general hospital orientation the IC/IP information. I participate in EOC rounds and several committees representing and driving the IP/IC components. I am also the Employee Health Nurse & Workers' Compensation Champion. So I manage that as well, reviewing all new hires immunizations, drawing blood for titer checks, conducting fit testing, reporting any injuries, reviewing and managing any WC claims. As far as my hours go, I work whenever really. My boss is very flexible, but I prefer to come in early to get the night shift nurses if I need to do any training/immunization with them. I also flex my hours if it is needed to adjust for the census. It's actually quite a bit, but that is it (in a nutshell) for where I am currently working. See the link below when I posted about where I used to work. I would still be working there had I not needed to relocate for my spouse's employment. I love IP/IC world… and can't imagine ever leaving this kind of nursing. Good luck to you!! https://allnurses.com/infectious-disease-nursing/becoming-an-infectious-775679.html#post6937961

You technically don't need hospital IP experience specifically. I actually know several people that belong to my APIC chapter that work for the state in different epi departments and are CIC. I would print out your job description and verify it directly with the CBIC eligibility requirements. If there are things that you do that are not specifically mentioned in your job description you should speak with your supervisor to see about amending the job description so that it is correct and reflective of tasks that could qualify you to sit for the exam. Also, they change to be more specific starting July 1st (you probably know this) so make sure that you look at your job description and compare it the the appropriate eligibility requirments based upon when you are planning on taking it. From my understanding, I would think that you would qualify on their 4th component specifically in the areas of management and communication & education and research. Seems like semantics, but I know that you manage 'outbreaks' and communicate your findings to prevent/limit exposures. I would see if you can email them to ask; I imagine they would be forthcoming if they felt that your job description was lacking in a certain area. Good luck!

We had this in the last acute care hospital I worked at. I hope you were able to find some of the published research supporting reduced HAIs. I came across a bunch! It's relatively new technology so research that has been done is really starting to show some excellent trends. Keep in mind it doesn't replace cleaning, but is an adjunct to the sanitation process. I even saw a report on it improving HCAPS scores because they made an effort to educate patients on the extra mile they were going to make sure they were safe. Be sure and pay attention to how they test for evidence that it works. Swabs that are cultured should be pretty reliable if they were obtained the same way. But, if ATP swabs are done your counts will go up after xenon just by the nature of how it kills. It pulverizes the organisms into many smaller pieces.

Thank you! Perhaps that video is helpful... I'm surprised how misunderstood TB is amongst many medical professionals I encounter. If you ever need additional resources for TB there are regional TB centers throughout the US that have TONS of info on their websites.

As an infection control nurse I've only needed to know the basics, but my husband is graduating med school in a couple weeks and had to be well versed in this. I know before medical school he had used Immunology Made Ridiculously Simple. While in school he just used the SOM Scribes that the previous year's med students published (basically class notes). He also has this website book marked that was widely shared amongst his colleagues Learn Immunology Easily for the USMLE Step 1 - Medical School Memoirs Hope that helps! Good luck to you!

I haven't taken the exam yet, but my entire department (6 IPs) has been studying for the exam. We (with the guidance of our CIC director) have been using the APIC text & review outline to go over the materials. The text has actually been revised and the lastest edition should be released this summer. We've also used The IPs guide to the lab. One of my team members has been doing the online review course and said that has been very helpful. I plan on starting that within the next year. She has 4 more years of infection control experience than I do... she's going to be ready to test within the next few months. Good luck on getting the job!

I just wanted to point out a few things.... Acinetobacter are bacteria that are naturally occurring in soil and water; so unfortunately, there is a great chance that just about every staff member at your facility is carrying that around on their shoes. Which leads me to my next point... A staff member that picks up ANYTHING off the floor and places it ANYWHERE without thoroughly cleaning it has just created an infection control issue. I've come across many hospital staff members in my career that fail to understand that if it is on the floor or touches the floor it is dirty. Also, standard precautions and isolation precautions are implemented to prevent the spread of organisms. If hand hygiene, standard & isolation precautions are being adhered to this will prevent the spread of organisms. So the hypothetical situation that you have described is centered around a staff member that wouldn't adhere to simple infection control principles which I am sure are part of your institution's policy (somewhere). Management is going to assume that all nurses are going to adhere to these policies no matter their location. I do completely agree with you that it would be best to have a closed unit. I was not able to find any literature that supported the points that you made. You may want to contact the previous hospital you worked at to see if they have references that you can provide your manager. I did find an article that correlates increased HAIs to units that have poor staffing and utilize float nurses often. (http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/47/7/937.full.pdf+html) I don't know if that will be helpful. I don't know what state you live in, but you may want to look at your nursing practice act. If it has been awhile since you have cared for that type of patient population, it may not be safe for you to do so because your knowledge and skill set is now more focused on the NICU population. In Texas, our NPA doesn't not address staffing directly, but does state that as a nurse I am required to only accept an assignment that is within my education/training/experience. See below... http://www.bon.texas.gov/practice/faq-floating.html So, you may have an argument there. Good luck in trying to make changes to your unit!

I would contact the manufacturer of the electric shaver for instructions on what kinds of solutions/materials are approved to clean the different surfaces of the clipper/shaver. Depending on the type of metal, there are certain cleansers that can be abrasive and/or corrosive creating potential infection control issues. I agree with Sweet_Wild_Rose, disposable blades are the way to go. I double checked with our Infection Prevention Nurse that covers our High Level Disinfection/Sterilization procedures/policies and she stated that ALL our policies for cleaning any kind of reusable equipment are EXACTLY the standards that the manufacturer has established and reference the manufacturer as the source of information. Hope that helps!

I don't mind questions at all, if you don't mind the delayed reply :) However, I think the school to which you are applying is different than what we were referring to in this thread. While the RN to BSN program was a second undergraduate degree for me since I already had a BA in a different area, it is not their "2nd degree BSN." I had already earned my ADN-RN prior to starting the RN to BSN program. So, I can't really comment on the challenges of their "2nd degree BSN" coursework. My pre-requisites were a combination of on-line and in-class courses. Since all of the institutions I attended were in Texas I was able to verify that they were transferrable through the Texas Common Course Matrix. Luckily I didn't have to retake any courses. Sorry, it sounds like I wasn't much help. Good luck though!!

APIC's educational offerings are tailored to Infection Preventionists/Practitioners so they are perfect for what you want to go into. When I first started in IC I found them instrumental in creating a foundation for me to build on. If the position that you are applying for is an entry-level IC position, they do not expect you to have any specific IC knowledge, although it would certainly be helpful. I have come across some online nurse CE websites ( nurse.com-you pay about $45) that have some organism-specific CEUs that have some very good information regarding the drug resistant organisms that we are concerned about. You may want to gain a good understanding of these organisms and the mechanisms/processes that make them resistant & how they can be spread/controlled. They also have some good classes on general infection control/hand hygiene/EID/immunizations/etc. (For 1 CEU per class, not bad for $45.) Like the previous person had commented there are different ways that facilities fulfill the requirement for IC/IP. Some are associated with their quality management departments; at my facility we have our own department, Healthcare Epidemiology. There are 6 of us and we are all assigned ICUs and procedures to conduct surveillance on for HAIs. All inpatient facilities are required to report HAIs whether central line/ foley catheter/ventilator/surgical site related. Having a general understanding of NHSN (National Healthcare Safety Network) and different required reportable infections may be a good idea. Also, some states have different requirements for reporting HAIs... NHSN has a link to see those state specific requirements. I had commented on one of these threads before about when we had conducted panel interviews for a new IP in our department. Being willing & eager to learn and a team player are two of the most important factors that we looked for. We realize that not everyone is going to know the principles of conducting a TB exposure or how to collect denominator data for surveillance purposes, but it is critical to have someone who is willing to learn all that and work with folks that have experience in the field who are willing to teach (especially when new to the field). The fact that you have ICU experience is a huge plus. There is a lot of chart review that we do that having a great understanding of patient symptoms/condition will make your job easier to do. I came into Infection Control/Epidemiology from the TB world. I worked as a TB program manager/nurse so my experience working exposures and having a thorough understanding of TB really helped me. Since TB is a reportable disease I would be the person that my facility had contacted to report any suspected or confirmed cases of TB. So, I wasn't exactly a stranger to them when I had applied. Although, I did have some serious competition to get this job. I have since found out how sought after an IP/IC positions are. I hope I wasn't too late in my reply.... Good luck with nailing the job:up:!!

Wow... It amazes me that these nurses have the time to go through the trouble to label, bag, and return to the freezer something that is typically deemed "single-use." Cost aside, if a manufacturer states something is single use it needs to be used appropriately (as you have tried so hard to make happen). I would just verify that this is what the manufacturer has set. If the manufacturer has said that these are reusable. They will have set standards for how they are to be cleaned and stored after being used. If JC were to come and they were to ask about this, the staff would need to be able to speak to this process. So, if they can be cleaned, stored and reused the recommended process needs to be implemented and followed (if this is the direction that you guys choose to go). As a nurse in infection prevention/control I cannot believe that the infection control nurse suggested to get another freezer!?!?!?! The point was clearly lost on them. The manager needs to change policy or create a new policy addressing this and communicate this to every staff member. They need to understand that this is a part of their minimum job expectations (patient safety!!) and staff members should be held accountable for not meeting this standard (whether they are single use or used, cleaned and reused). I've found that the most compliance with these kinds of things comes when an employee understands their will be consequences for deficiences (aside from possible nosocomial infections). When you have patients possibly getting infections due to actions that the nurses are taking...you stop the actions. It seems rather simple, I know. If you don't have any further luck I would definitely get the neurosurgeons involved. They don't want their patients to have to deal with infections, whatever the source. So they should provide some additional pressure to get the standards set and followed. Just as a side note... Neuro surgeries are not currently a procedure that is part of the reporting requirement of nosocomial surgical site infections to CMS via NHSN but that doesn't mean that they won't become a reportable procedure in the future. (Although I'm sure if it was already a reportable surgery you wouldn't even be addressing this as it would have already been a resolved issue.) Good luck with getting the changes implemented! I applaud your efforts in taking this on!

1. TX 2. 4 yrs 3. Large academic public hospital (I cover 2 ICUs & 5 other medicine units) 4. 69,550 5. N/A- we don't work nights/weekends/holidays(paid off:)) 6. Never

You should have policies in place that mirror the CDC's 2007 Guide for Isolation Precautions (which standards for shingles/herpes zoster have been copied in other posts above). Your institution should have these readily accessible so that if there is a question, no one is relying on what someone remembers doing last time because there can be differences in patient presentation (especially with shingles). It is my experience that when isolation precautions are implemented, all employees are to adhere to them... regardless of evidence of immunity. Most institutions' policies do not state a mask is required for anyone not having immunity, they usually read (for shingles) that Airborne (negative pressure room & N-95 mask)/Contact precautions (depending on the patient's presentation) are to be implemented and adhered to by all employees. As someone that works in our Epidemiology dept (Infection Prevention/Control), I can't even imagine having to monitor adherence to isolation precautions exempting immune individuals. Also, the isolation is to protect everyone, not necessarily only patients. If you have a titer showing immunity, literature shows that you can still become reinfected (see below). [COLOR=#0066cc]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106231/ If you get a chance to read the article... it is very interesting:nailbiting: (Of course this kind of stuff is always interesting to me!

1. We screen all babies in our neonatal ICU every Tuesday (We do nasal, oropharyngeal, periumbilical and perirectal cultures. If they are currently on abx we do not culture them.) 2. Yes, we retest all babies every week (unless on abx-or going home). We require 3 consecutive negative follow-up cultures obtained one week apart to have isolation precautions discontinued. 3. I don't think CHG bath wipes are to be used on neonates. It was my understanding that according to the literature and the manufacturer instructions, CHG wipes have not been tested nor approved for this use. Our doctors generally do not decolonize any of our patients (unless there is a specific situation in which it would be most beneficial to the patients care to do so). 4. Our NICU can cohort if possible, but it is not something that we require. We do not use 1:1 if we were to have only one baby on isolation; the literature shows that adherence to contact isolation precautions and proper hand hygiene are sufficient to prevent the spread of MRSA (or any organism for that matter). 5. Our visitors do not need to gown and glove. I don't know if you are a member of any infection prevention/control professional organizations, but there are some forums out there that have specifically addressed many of these types of practices so there may be more specific Infection Prevention/Infection Control information there. Good luck to you!!

http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/pdfs/toolkits/CAUTItoolkit_3_10.pdf The above link to the CDC's toolkit for preventing HAIs, specifically Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) is a great resource if the department director is concerned about CAUTIs. A foley catheter is supposed to be a closed system, ANY interruption in this can lead to a CAUTI. Something as small as the drain spigot becoming contaminated during emptying the foley bag can cause that bacteria to ascend (via biofilm production) the drainage tube and cause a CAUTI. Replacing the orinigal drainage bag with one that has a urometer is no different. Below is the recommendation from the CDC and the link to their guidelines below. "III. Proper Techniques for Urinary Catheter Maintenance A. Following aseptic insertion of the urinary catheter, maintain a closed drainage system (Category IB) (Key Question 1B and 2B) If breaks in aseptic technique, disconnection, or leakage occur, replace the catheter and collecting system using aseptic technique and sterile equipment. (Category IB) " http://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/pdf/CAUTI/CAUTIguideline2009final.pdf I hope this is helpful!

Sorry...just came across this message!! @nikkilumac Did you already find someone? I would look to posting your position with APIC & even your state BON website or newsletter. We are a large academic hospital located right near a large metropolitan area that has a hospital district so our area is over saturated with qualified nurses. I know that when we put our listing out we highlighted our schedule since there are usually nurses that want to get out of bedside nursing, but still have no idea about IC nursing. All but one of our applicants had no idea that this was an avenue of nursing that was possible. We ended up hiring someone with over 6 yrs bedside nursing but was new to IC... she has learned so much & has become such an asset to us & is a resource to our team members whose background is in micro or biology.

No... I had contacted their office to see if they could connect me with a current or former student to get more info, but I never heard back from them.

Yes!! At this time I am responsible for 100 beds in my hospital and our MICU/CCU. It would depend on the facility though. Our facility conducts follow-up & point-prevalent surveillance cultures, environmental cultures, and this includes lots of educational opportunities with staff & patients & their families. Not all facilities do what we do though. I have made an effort to get to know the nurses that work in my departments and work closely with them to identify areas of improvement when HAIs had become an issue. Also, we had some Infectious Disease Fellows that were assigned to our department in the past and they began some research projects that some of us are still conducting. Unfortunately, there is a lot of research with regards to chart-review. I think that's unavoidable.

I understand why you can feel trapped. I didn't go into nursing to work in infection control/epidemiology, but now, I can't imagine working anywhere else! I imagine it would be frustrating to want something and feel that you have done all you can to prepare for it and yet, still, it seems just out of reach. My first exposure to this kind of nursing, was running our health department's Tuberculosis Program. I worked closely with the large academic medical facility in my county because we had many cases that would come through our port to be hospitalized there and the hospital also included a separate hospital that housed acute inmates that were part of the criminal justice program. Neeless-to-say we became very familiar with each other. Working in TB was very rewarding, but as you can imagine at any county position, the financial compensation required many sacrifices to be made. But because of the other benefits for my growing family, it was certainly worth it for us. Perhaps you could work weekends to supplement a HD income so that you could gain experience but still meet your financial obligations? Or, have you called the academic facility to see if they would consider adding an unpaid internship position that would allow you to work side by side getting some hands-on experience but still being able to work your regular job to make ends meet? In my previous career in the corporate world, I would often have job candidates that weren't offered a position with us call to find out what it was that they could have done/completed to make them more competitive or actually have landed them the job. It wouldn't hurt to call and ask. I would recommend to keep applying & interviewing for any and all IP positions you can find. Make follow up calls for those interviews that were not successful and that may give you some feed back. Let me preface this suggestion by stating that I'm just trying to be constructive with my suggestions for you and I mean no offense. Within the last year we hired a new IP. As part of a large academic medical facility, our team consists of about 12-15 different people. We now have 6 IPs and several lab personnel and our director & hospital epidemiologist. For our interview process we had all the IPs (5 at the time) & whomever from the lab that could make the interview present to do our part of the interview. Our director and MD conducted their part separately. We interviewed 6 different people 4 of which had masters degrees in several different areas and others with their BSN (some with certifications in other areas). One thing that we noticed during our interviews was that 3 of the nurses that completed their graduate level education came across as arrogant and all but stated they knew more than we did. Whether that was their intent or not, it was clear to all of us. From your statement above ("the reality is that I have more textbook experience than many actual ICPs"), I would say that is consistent with what we had experienced in the interviews that we conducted. I am certainly not attempting to minimize your educational accomplishments in any way. But the fact of the matter is this... Infection Control/Prevention or Hospital Epidemiology Departments are teams that do a lot of working together. When there is an outbreak or an organism in house that requires us all to be on high alert, we all chip in to help each other. This is where our hands-on, real-life experiences become more important that textbook knowledge. Yes, the basics of controlling an infection/outbreak can be taught from a book. But the dynamic environment of any hospital, especially ours with our atypical clientele, requires someone willing and able to take instruction from someone more experienced if necessary and act quickly. With over 60 years of infection control/prevention experience amongst the 5 IPs (and at that point I had only 1 year of experience) you can imagine it was odd to have someone with no actual infection control/prevention experience present themselves as ready to work, yet not ready to learn. Like I stated above... I'm not assuming that is how your interviews went, just something to consider. We ended up offering the job to someone who was eager to learn and interested in becoming part of our team. Lastly, when I worked at the HD we had a CDC intern (paid) that was working in our county but reporting to a regional CDC office. She was getting experience with them as part of a career change. I don't know all the details because she was assigned to a department that wasn't part of TB (my area). But that may be something to look into. I work with our CDC quarantine center from time to time & I know they have offices everywhere. (I had seen that you would be willing to relocate.) Also, there are job offers that come through the different professional infection control/prevention organizations that I belong to. So you may want to research the different professional organizations for epidemiology or IC/P in your state or a state you may want to move to. Keep your chin up and keep at it... you'll get there eventually!! All the best!

I would suggest looking into the eligibility requirements for the certification exam: 2013 Eligibility Requirements | CBIC, Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. There is no set amount of time that defines the experience needed to take their test, but they stress that their test is geared towards the IP that has had at least 2 years of experience. As for the "some people [who] say YOU CAN'T TAKE THE EXAM" the only people saying you can't are the governing board for certification in infection control. That's kind of important. When you go to register for the exam there is a form that is to be filled out by your employer/supervisor called an "Attestation Statement." This is where your employer or supervisor agrees that as being part of the infection prevention/control program, infection control and prevention are part of your primary duties/responsibilities for which you are held accountable. They agree that you actively participate in investigation/surveillance of outbreaks/infections and that you collect, analyze, & interpret infection control outcome data (in addition to some other infection control program activities). If you are in an interview for a position in infection control/prevention and say that you don't have the hands-on, real life experience but you are certified, anyone familiar with the CBIC's requirements would either ask you about the discrepancy or not even offer you an interview in the first place. I think your decision to actively participate in you facility's ICC is great. You may also want to look into working for a health department in epidemiology to get some experience. I know many ICPs that got their start that way. Another thing to consider is researching growing hospitals. If hospitals plan to add a new wing/building that will increase the number of beds, they will (more than likely) be adding ICPs to their team. We will be building a new day surgery center in a few years and it will have a capacity of about 300 beds (I think) and we will add at least 1 and as many as 3 new IPs to our team (depending on the average census). Most facilities will utilize 100:1 ratio of beds to ICP. Good luck!

Our department has 6 ICPs (only 3 are RNs). We are a growing facility and plan to add more ICPs to our team. We don't have a miniumum number of years of bedside nursing experience on our applications we post, but we receive applications from nurses with many, many years of experience. So keep in mind who your competing with. Also, having any amount of nursing knowledge is helpful because we do so much chart-review looking for infections that we have to report. So, those folks on my team that have microbiology/clinical lab backgrounds were at a disadvantage in the beginning had a pretty serious learning curve. But the key thing is to be open to receive training and feedback. I would suggest looking into your facility's infection control department. Reading through their policy, asking your infection control nurses/personnel if you are able to shadow them on a day off, so that you can get a real picture for what you will be encountering. Showing an interest in infection control at your current facility and being a champion for infection control issues on your unit will help you. Learn about APIC (Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology) and SHEA (Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America). These are 2 organizations that provide a lot of resources for infection control/epidemiology personnel. There are classes you can take to educate yourself on this. Or you may be able to check out an APIC text at a nursing school/med school library. Having an understanding of what IC is and how the facility (to where you plan to apply) conducts their business will put you at an advantage during interviews. Also, if you appply to a facilty and are not familiar with their process you can always say....'I know x,y, z is done where I am currently working; do you have similar processes here?' I would also read up on CBIC (Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology). You would actually be required to be in a role in which IC is your primary responsibility before you could take the exam and most people are encouraged or even choose to wait about 2 years before taking the exam because of the content and length of time to become comfortable with it. But knowing about the steps to become certified and having a plan in place (like adding it to your 2-3 year goals), will show that you are serious about making a commitment to an ICP position. As far as teaching goes, I'm not sure there is a position in the nursing profession where teaching is ever 'not done' per se. We do a lot of education at my facility. We are tied to a university, so we are constantly educating new nurses, new docs, seasoned nurses/docs on new/old procedures/policies. We do seasonal education flu season/I volunteer to do immunizations/TB skin tests when they are doing them facility-wide. We do a lot of surveillance cultures/environmental cultures so we do a lot of teaching to patients/family members about out the surveillance we do and why we do it. I left bedside nursing because I had a baby and the hours for ICP provided my baby girls a better schedule. I am able to wake up with my babies every morning & put them to bed every night. I never expected to be so excited about my move to infection prevention. Of course it was interesting at first, but the more I've learned the more it has just 'sucked me in'!! I really do enjoy it and I think the best part for me are the opportunities to learn more everyday... and knowing that with things always changing, that will never stop. Good luck on your journey to what I'm sure will be a rewarding change in nursing for you!! Let me know if you have any questions!!