milwerica

Unless she coughed in your face and you inhaled oogles of droplets you are fine. Also like others noted it comes with LTC and most are colonized. No worries...

YAAAA the appreciation is great to hear. We have to have more of that from nurse to doctors also:)

When I was in nursing school doing my clinical rotation I had a preceptor do the same thing with IV push morphine. Kept it in her pocket until she remembered later that night to put it back. I felt it was time to say good bye to that preceptor. She had no idea why I was flustered. Really IV push morphine in your pocket on a peds unit... but it is the way others tend to get slack when they are in the same job for so long I guess... I hope to not get that slack. It is important to follow the rules because you never know if you may lose the med, have to go home early.. so on

I work in a skilled nursing facility... that is what I say and it tends to not have that stigma. I am in the acute setting type rehab... lots of dressing changes, trachs, wound vacs, peg tubes, picc lines, therapy, therapy, therapy, MD appointments and critical thinking because I do not have an MD on site 24 hours a day to call when someone goes unresponsive or when someone is confused out of the ordinary or if their wound is goeyier than normal.. I honestly critically think more in SNF than I did as a nurse in the hospital... I assess every time I see a resident... and I have 25 of them, all with acute care needs... and I LOVE IT!!! Never would I apply to a hospital now because I am using my nursing skills every second! All should rethink what they think long term care is because it is an evolving field with much more acute care patients there for rehab to go home...

You people are great. I am a new grad and got a position in LTC. This was a great list for me! Thanks all!!!

I totally agree with a previous poster and do the online BS to BSN accelerated programs. I am at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and it is all online. No commute to school nothing. I am also a single mother. My daughter was 5 months old when I started to the program. I started in may 09 and I graduate may 2010, 1 year. Though you have to have a Bachelor degree in something already. I love online classes, I get to spend time with my daughter and I am getting a degree. Though it is a lot of reading and tons of clinical hours so you will need a babysitter at least 25 hours a week to get the reading and testing done. Good luck

I was pregnant starting nursing school. I gave birth on christmas break, 3 days after taking my finals for the fall semester. It was worth it. Who cares what they think. If you give birth in may you might not even miss any school and then have summer break to take care of the little one. It is up to you, but I would stay in school.

I too would like some info. I have looked at Ball State (BSU) but the courses are part time and will take at least 3 years. I have also looked at University of Southern Alabama, but am worried that I do not know anyone that has gone there. Let us know of any others that you all recommend!

Nope organic chem is not a prereq. On the website they have all the prereqs that are needed. Which I did not think were that bad. As for the time that you have to put into it. The assignments are just during the week, along with the exams, so you do have the weekends and nights off, but I use them to catch up on some reading and get organized, but I do find that I am not busy all of the time. So I guess you could call it 8 hours a day. The only assigned times are when you have to take an exam. I have an exam today and it is 1 1/2 hours long, but I have to take it between 12 pm - 4 pm central time. So there is flexability.

Ya, it is awesome. We have all course work through an online discussion module. Classes are between two to three weeks long. But it is one class at a time. It is a lot of reading about 60 - 100 pages a day, but some classes are easier than others. We do have what is called "Second Life" where we go in and do health examinations in this second life video game type world. We do group work using it. So it is like we are in a group but really in a video game. We got a lap top and iPod touch free (well included in tuition) and we are required to use the lap top because it helps with the second life stuff. It is a looooooooooooot of reading but I am learning so much! It is great. I get a BSN in one year. We shall see if I pass the NCLEX, but all the other cohorts have had a 90% or higher pass rate. They do an online interview and then a phone interview. I did not find it that competitive as long as you have descent grades and CNA experience. They arrange with a hospital in your hometown your clinicals. My cohort has a guy from Hawaii in it with us! It is strange to see him posting things at like 1:00 am our time. We are not chatting with each other all day. It is reading and posting discussion responses to help learn the info.

I am in an online BS to BSN through UW-Oshkosh in Wisconsin. It is great and one year. I did not find it that competitive but it is $34,500 for the year. All class work is online and clinicals are in your home town. I am in my third month and I am learning a lot. Fast paced and we are not allowed to work while in the program, but is so worth it! http://www.uwosh.edu/con/ Take a look!

I graduated with an education degree from UWM and now I am going to go back for the FNP. But the one issue that I did have with UWM was their advisors. I have contacted them almost 15 times now and the only time that I get to talk to them is if they answer the phone. I do not get phone calls returned or emails returned. Very frustrating but we shall see. I was told that they would have the program in 2010 so we shall see. If they do get rid of it I will then go to Marion but the only have the Adult Nurse Practitioner. So I am really hoping that UWM keeps the FNP until there is a BSN to DNP program available. If you find anything out or are able to talk to an advisor let us know! ERICA

Hey Matt: I am in school to be an RN (343 days left) and want to get into psyc nursing because of the "wildness" of it. As a teenager I was in a psyc unit for an eating disorder and severe depression. I admired what the nurses had to flippen put up with. When we heard an RN cuss we knew we better stop what we were doing and think it through. As far as a poor, gross working environment, I hear you on that one too. I was amazed at how nastly the unit was. Though when you are working with unpredictable kids, what else is going to happen. And you seem to actually care. I remember one time when I was tossing my ensure ice cream at the ceiling with my spoon during my pm snack a 5 year old went ballistic. They put him in the quiet room. 10 minutes later after I got scolded for flinging my ensure and staining the 20 some foot ceiling, the nurse went to check the window as to what the boy was doing. He let out a line of words I had never hear before. He got some other staff together, they put on gowns, masks, eye protection, big old dishwashing gloves and grabbed the lid to a garbage can. All us teens went to stare to see what was going to go down. They entered the quiet room and the kid came out naked, covered in feces and flinging it at the nurses. Needless to stay the nurses were not the only ones dropping f-bombs. They had to wrestle the slippery, wiggly, stinky,biting and dung tossing 5 year old boy to the ground and give him some "relaxation." The cussing should be the least of the employers worries. Yes it was wrong, unprofessional and could be trumped up to patient abuse, but I have seen a heck of a lot worse in the pscyh hospital than swearing. My advice, which is minimal since I am still "in training" is... I think you already have said it. Learn from it and move on. To make you feel better, I was a director of a reputable child care center. 200 children and 30 staff. I was just hired, found serious law violations and was questioning the higher ups. Came to work the next day to find out I was being fired due to computer usage violation. Checked my personal email at work!!!! Now every time I fill out an application I have to check that lone box with a bit of shame. But I have gotton other jobs and have succeeded. Be honest, be clear as to what you have learned and most of all move on. Good luck to ya and I so admired the stuff you have gone through. The adolescents might not say thank you then, but I wish I could say thank you to the psych staff that have put up with me!!! Also stay real. I hated the nurses that spewed the bull crap lines. The ones that were honest were the ones I respected. ERICA

Alright, I shall try to help you. First off there are a ton of Accelerated B.S. to B.S.N. programs around the United States. Though I feel they all have a degree of competitiveness. I also would say you have a limited chance of getting into even the least competitive if you have no background working in some type of health care. I am enrolled in an Accelerated Online B.S. to B.S.N. program through University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh. A requirement for the program was to have C.N.A. license and have worked as a C.N.A. To strengthen the application they wanted individuals that have worked in nursing homes as C.N.A.'s. As far as your GPA, I feel it is great. But without that knowledge of CNA you are going to be at a huge, I mean monumental loss. The program I am in is 12 months and we earn a credit a week. I am on my second class and we read over 100 pages a day and have exams almost every other day. If I did not have that CNA basic knowledge I would be done for. I would have no clue. That is why the program is accelerated because we are expected to have the basic foundation already through our previous B.S. degree. My recommendations to you is get the CNA, apply to all the accelerated programs you can and take in all that you can from now until the entrance of the program because a lot of what is in the program is taught based on the assumption we know the basic foundations. Good luck to you and I hope the best. I do recommend the UW-Oshkosh accelerated online BS to BSN because it is online and I do not have to sit in class!!!! It is 12 months and I did not feel it had a great competitive group. The cost currently is $34,500 and includes the tuition, laptop, iPod touch, webcam, and all the software needed for the program. No I am not part of the faculty, but I am greatly impressed and enjoying the program. Wish you well.

To be honest I would leave the LVN program. Apply for an accelerated BSN or MSN program and work, work, work to save up money for when you are in school for the BSN. I am at UW-Oshkosh Accelerated Online BSN program and love it. One year program for BS to BSN. $34,500 and all online, except clinicals which are done in your home town. Look into it. Do not spend anymore money for LVN if you hate it. Will just be a waste of money. Apply to schools, and work your butt off to save money and then go back to school. With the one year program I am in, we are not allowed to work. Which is so true because it is rigorous.