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The doctors bought all the nurses a tin of butter cookies and our unit got a beautiful gift basket to split (which dayshift beat us to tearing apart, so night shift got nothing of that). And the nurses who have been here 5+ years all got paycuts...Happy Holidays!

It just depends on your situation. I lived in Philly, just me and my hubs, we both worked fulltime and it was reallllly hard to pay the bills. We now live a few hours away in a much cheaper area and are doing fine. I wouldn't go into nursing expecting to be rolling in cash. It's not that great of money, especially in Philly, from my experience.

I'd be a princess! That's a job, right? And I'd also like to open a pet grooming business.

If you had told me on my first day of nursing school that I'd be working child psych I would have given you a not so nice reply. I never really wanted to work with kids and I didn't think psych would be as hands on as I wanted...but I figured I'd give it a shot. Turns out, I love it. I do agree with the above poster, there is a HUGE difference between peds and child psych. I try to remind myself everyday that these kids have a lot of underlying problems that aren't always present in a regular peds patient, can often be manipulative to get things they want or try to force unhealthy relationships/attachments to staff. A lot of the kidss I work with come from really sad backgrounds and are just broken.You can be friendly but it's very important to set strict boundaries with this type of patient. But the job is fun. When the kids find they can trust you (and they will if you are kind and treat them as you would any other child) they will love you to death. I do a lot of paperwork, med passing, helping with crisis situations. We have diabetics, kids who come back from surgery, and other health issues so I still get to use some hands on skills. Best of luck to you on your journey!

I feel your pain. It's hard out there for nurses. Have you tried applying for homecare agencies? I know some (not many, but some) will consider hiring new grads. Whether or not that's something you'd be interested in, it IS nursing experience. Hold your head up. If you are serious about looking out of state then do that. Apply to surrounding states or whatever region looks interesting to move to. Heck, if you can afford it, you can do a year of volunteer nursing overseas in developing countries, which would look great on a resume. I had some classmates who did that and said it was an amazing experience. Just some thoughts.

No, clinicals are not very flexible. Most programs I've heard of will not give you a say in where you are placed/what times you are scheduled. You are expected to show up when and where. I lived around the corner from one of the hospitals my school did rotations at......never got placed there. The one an hour away from school....got to spend two semesters there. It happens.

Didn't need to evacuate. Came into work and am pulling a 20 hour shift to help out! Glad to do it too since we are so short staffed due to road closures and such.

I'm in the CCP program right now. It's very tough but as long as you recognize that you'll need to work hard, and really commit to it, there's no reason you can't succeed. The instructors are really easy going and really go out of their way to help you, so don't be afraid to ask. The first few weeks will seem CHAOTIC, but once you get the hang of things you'll be fine. Go to the skills lab after class as much as possible, there's always students in there practicing or studying together, and the tutors are really good. Better yet, see if they will hire you as a first year lab assistant or a second year tutor. You get paid to study! Just remember to take it all in stride, ask lots of questions, make lots of friends and have fun! You'll do great!! Let me know if you have any questions!!

I work at Target. I work Monday, Wednesdays, Friday and the weekend. I go to class all day Monday and Tuesday and have clinical Thursday and Friday. I'm lucky because I have Wednesday morning and afternoon to do homework (or sleep in!) but there's still never enough time in a day!! It's tough but you do what you have to do.

Please help! I am 22 year old, first semester nursing student. I have been diagnosed with the neurological movement disorder dystonia for about 8 years. I have been receiving Botox injections in my neck and right arm to paralyze the muscles. I have been receiving these treatments every three months and they have been true miracle workers, they completly prevent my neck and arm from twitching uncontrollably. Recently my health insurance has decided to stop paying for my shots. I won't bore you with the details, but I plan on fighting this. My fear is that if I do appeal and the insurance still refuses to pay, then everything I have worked for will go to waste. How can I possible be a nurse if I can't even keep my arm still enough to give injections? Should I even continue with the program any further? Please, any advice would be appreciated. I love everything about nursing school, I serve as a class representative, I stay after class to practice everyday. I've worked my butt off to get A's and B's in all my prerequisites. I start clinical this week and have bene looking forward to that ever since I got my acceptance letter. It would break my heart to have to withdrawal but it would hurt even more to continue with the program if there's just no hope for me. Thank you in advance Erica:crying2::crying2:

Pneumonia is fluid in the lungs. Atelectasis is the collapsing of the aveoli of the lungs. (at least that's my understanding).

I'm in my fifth week and I love it. I'm busier now than I've ever been in my entire life, and that includes when I was working a full time job. But I still love it. I'm sure a time will come when I question why I even came to nursing school, but I'm enjoying the honeymoon phase I'm in right now. :loveya:

Congrats on making it through the first week! I start on the 8th and like you I am a night person. I've been trying to get onto a normal sleep schedule but I'm so used to staying up past 2 in the morning it's been hard. We start our clinicals sometime in early October, I'm not sure of the exact date yet but it's going to be on Thursday and Friday mornings. Good luck to everyone! Let's all keep each other posted!!!

I wear ponytails. I'm not used to having my hair down though, aftermath of running cross country all four year of high school I guess. :-)

I applied to only one school and I got in. It's not always the the smartest idea for most people, but I was planning on moving to a different state if I did not get into this program, and would therefore apply to schools in my new area once I got settled.

Congrats! My first day of NS is in a few weeks and I look forward to eventually being able to make a post like yours! Good luck!:yelclap:

- clean my room...again. - get my hair cut! - buy my nursing shoes. - get the brakes on my car replaced. And an oil change. And pray it lasts me through the next two years! - go out for one last crazy night with my friends, none of whom are in nursing school and don't yet get that I won't be able to do this every weekend anymore. - go to the beach one last time. - buy the rest of my textbooks. - pick up extra shifts at work. Need to save up a bit for when I cut back my hours in the fall! - thoroughly enjoy the few precious weeks of summer I have left!

I have the ugliest light blue smock-like shirt and blue scrub pants. So ugly, and the smocks run pretty big, I'm in a small and I still feel like I'm swimming! I think a lot of the uniforms in my area are ugly though, thank goodness we only have to wear them for a short while!

I went to Holy Family university for my fingerprints. They use a scanner and you sort of roll your finger over it. It's a Cogent location, I'm not sure if that's what you need. You can go to the cogent website that the above responder posted and follow the instructions to get your receipt, which you just take to the school.

I am starting my first NS semester in the fall and so far this summer I've been going over the cranial nerves, looking at drug lists, and basically just reviewing every aspect of A&P. I don't want to get myself all worked up and panicked, but I'm feeling really nervous since I have zero experience in the health care field. I've hear about how hard NS is and I know I probably shouldn't be getting so stressed about it already, but I have all these fears that I'll be one of the worst in the class because of my lack of experience. A lot of my fellow students that I met at orientation work at hospitals or are medical assistants and have have some basic skills under their belts. I've never even taken blood pressure! I know the instructors will teach me all I need to know, but is there anything I should focus on and have an idea of before I even start school? Any basic information I should have under my belt before I start classes?

My parents were pretty disappointed that I waited so late into the game to decide to switch my major from broadcast journalism to nursing! As far as actually becoming a nurse, however, they don't really seem to mind. It seems like your parents have some extreme fears about your choice. Maybe you could put them in touch with someone at your nursing school to answer some of their questions and maybe ease their fears a bit?

Great job!!!! I finished my finals last week. Haven't gotten any results back but I'm pretty confident! I start nursing school in September. Good luck!!!

Wow, do we all go to the same school and have the same teacher?!?! haha!! My A&P1 teacher was terrible! He never explained anything, just said "this is this, that is that". Threw information at us like we had been nurses for years. He was a total jerk and never available for help after class, no office hours or anything! I managed to get a low B and spent my break trying to catch up on what I didn't get in his class (which was everything!). My A&P2 teacher is a godsend. She is just...wow.

Do any of you have a certain body system or topic that you just can't stand studying? Or that you just do not get? For me, I absolutely DESPISE studying the brain and all those cranial nerves, and pretty much the entire nervous system. Sympathetic and para sympathetic systems.... I just don't get it! I get things confused and I have to constantly go over it again and again. Even though my class has been done with it since last semester, I still find myself studying it in my precious free time just because I'm so determined to figure it all out! We just finished the circulatory system and I loved that. It's just a lot more interesting to me and easier to understand. So what do you all hate studying? ~ Erica

I got mine a few weeks ago and it was the worst sitting around waiting. I kept worrying that maybe my GPA was a tad bit off or I got beat out by someone who might have scored an A in a class where I scored a B.....I just beat myself up over it every night. Good luck to all of you who are still playing that waiting game! And congrats to you who have gotten the answer you were waiting for!