EllieBell

I love this forum and have the same aspirations and goals as you! I really am looking into this idea of being a nursing health coach, and for expanding into my own practice without having to be an APN. Why? Simple, I am fed up with the education "machine" and the enormous cost associated with higher education that I could achieve through my own intiative and learning. Also, many of the schools teach the same system that I have grown tired of, the system of medicine that ignores the whole person and instead "fixes" one aspect of a dynamic being through "medicine" that often leads to more side effects. There is a LOT that doctors and nurse practitioners can achieve and help patients with. However, how cool would it be to have a coach to assist you with your illness? I am going to get my Oncology Nursing Certification and then my massage liscense. I dream of having my own practice and simple HELPING people with all aspects of care. How does this sound to any of you? Have any of you heard of anything like this? Does anyone else feel, like me, that over certifications and over regulation have lead to a dearth of actual human caring and people that can help each other without worrying about liability and all of that? Nurses know a tremendous amount of information and yet are often tired out by running around the hospital taking care of stuff that does not involve health or education.

Way to go! I think it is so great that you are making the best choice for your baby even though it may be harder for you. What a great mom! I hope your place of employment allows you time and space to pump-it is often the law, or should be.

HI All! I am hoping that a few of us can do Sun. evening drinks this week...I am not sure yet where but there should so far be about 5 of us and any others that would like to come please PM me-also, invite friends! Total credit for this excellent idea must be given to Seven14-but I thought I would start organizing it:chuckle We can all relax and get to know each other a bit. Someone said to me last night that if she did not know that 100 people had already graduated from the program she would not think that it was possible because there is already so much to do

How long does it take to drive from the Woodlands? I would leave a half hour to park and shuttle. Don't freak out, though! Tomorrow will be fun and hopefully they can answer some of our concerns over everything being last minute!!!

:yeah:Thank you!!! Have I mentioned before how much you rock :redbeathe This is so helpful and I really. really, really appreciate it as do the rest of us I am sure Congrats on being done with the final!!! Yay! I need a little smilie bowing down to you for being so helpful to us....the info. is great!

Meeting up sounds great! Rolly-I am also sometimes nervous about the program-when I think that I am going to be a nurse in a year? Yikes! BUT-I know that we can do it and they are a great school. We made it this far and we can all keep on going. No talk of not making it!!! Everyone will. I honestly am not going to buy another thing until I figure out where all of this money is coming from. Not even a book. I would love to start reading and stuff and maybe practicing taking bp. etc. but not only do I not have the money for all of the stuff yet-but also still working ft (until the 21st), and classes to finish up. I know there is at least one guy in accelerated-although Se7ven I did not know until I saw you on fb Are you ready to be surrounded by women for a year? I think we should get lunch on the 13th but I don't know. Luckily I packed some almonds for my interview b.c. I was seriously the LAST one. Really. I waited in that room until the very end -5 hours or something!

Aghhhh Se7ven! That is nerve-wracking! I hope they got it and will process it. One week before classes sounds like cutting it so close but I guess I will just need to have faith that it will all work out. I need to get two more shots on Friday, so more money to spend. At least I am done with the TDap for 10 more years, though. That one hurt for days! I would contact them again of I were you-call Rhoda Richards and just check in (?). One week until orientation! Se7ven and prasmasters and August, are you on facebook? I want to say hi to you there but have no idea who to look for :)

Thanks for the news! I expect we will hear something this week for sure. We start so soon and I am getting all flustered about being prepared but I am sure it will all work out! I'll let you know as soon as I hear something....

Has anyone received scholarship or financial aid info yet? I feel like we have such a small amount of time left and i am getting nervous! I was told that I should hear something soon, I am just wondering if others have received any news. I put the purchase of several items such as steth., shoes, on hold until I get some sort of news on the situation!

Thanks so much for the help and congratulations to you as well! That is so nice of you-and another reason why I am so excited to start in May, current students like you!

Oh gosh! What a shock-I am sure they will work it out for you but that is quite annoying-it is already expensive as it is-I cannot imagine paying 11k a semester! I chose to pay non-resident tuition for my pre-reqs at HCC for a year and I was SO happy when I got switched!

Yes-I feel the same way about books. Anytime in my college career so far that I have bought books early I have found that perhaps we did not need some of them or the profs. have changed some. I will wait on those. I don't know about the student health insurance-it is actually a good deal if you look at the per month price that you would be paying-but I am not sure about coverage. I am imagining that it should be great as it is through the school system but you never know. Right not I just switched so I am hesitant to switch again! There are so many things that I have to buy still and I am trying to budget myself as I have received no money yet! At this point I keep on getting nervous about it all and then reminding myself that it should work out and that this is how they always do it

I got a checklist in the second packet that we received which had two additional items on there (other than the items such as residency status and drug test, etc.) It said on the second page that they recommend completing the steps of getting the id badge and waiving your student health insurance or not before orientation. They do not say it is required, so you may want to just do it the day of orientation. It says once you have enrolled in courses then you can get the badge-and I do not think I will have my grades in by orientation in order to register. Yikes-very short amounts of time here I do not think that scrubs are urgent-I think as long as you get registered, books, etc. you will be fine. Mostly getting the holds off and getting registered I think is the most important part.

I am in the same boat as you, Seven, I cannot register until I finish my last 2 pre-reqs so I think we are both fine. The late date for registration is May 22 and I know my grades will be in by then. Question-are we supposed to meet with our adviser that they have listed on our degree plan? I did not know if I was supposed to before orientation-I may call the school tomorrow. So far I have spent quite a bit of money on scrubs, shots, cpr classes, etc. and no financial aid yet! I am scared, too, Prasmaster! But-I calmed myself down and just reminded myself that this is a fast program and the timeline is very condensed-I am sure financial aid will come through for us. In terms of what to wear to orientation I am going to go a bit more casual than my interview but still nice. Javagabby-I would change before the plane so you can wear pj's when you fly I am so glad you can make it!

HI Seven- I am doing the CPR class online for the academic part and then meeting with a lady who will demonstrate and check skills this Friday. I am sure you can call the school and find out when they have one but what I did was to go to the American Heart Association and then type in my zip code and the type of class that I wanted and then they displayed a whole page of different providers. The lady I am taking it with and I primarily chose her because she is an RN who has been teaching the class for many years and also lives just down the road from me. The combined total for online and her is $40. Basically you go to onlineaha.org and then register for the BLS HCP class. You can complete all of the academic portion online-take a test which should not be too hard from what I have seen so far-and then print out a certificate. You bring your certificate to the "live" skill checker where you practice with a dummy together. The vaccines at UT seem to run more than at other places. I got some there but I am going to get another DTap and get it at Personal labs b/c it is much cheaper. The physical I had a hard time scheduling as I work 7am-5pm daily-they close too early! I am going to get the physical at another place. They were fast and friendly, however. You can just walk in for the vacc, which could be around $60 which is what the HebB was, you must schedule the physical which they said was anywhere from $75-$300 yikes! Most health plans should cover it, just check as to providers covered. Hope this helps! Javagabby-where do you see your list of profs, pelase? I want to look!