CeilingCat

Hi everyone, I graduated with my ASN in 2011 on the honor roll. I a good student who tutored classmates. I also have a bachelors from a local University in a somewhat unrelated field. I am smart, articulate, well educated, and detail oriented. I scored 99th percentile in my TEAS entrance exam and passed the NCLEX easily on the first try. When I first graduated, I procrastinated in aggressively looking for work. At the time I didn't need the money so much. A divorce-in-progress was slowly coming to a close. I took care of some family matters. I did volunteer work. I got remarried, and we have a 4 month old. Now I NEED TO WORK. My husband was laid off, nursing pays better than his job, and it's time for me to use my education. He's offered to be Mr. Mom, if I can find work. I'm ready! Trouble is nobody wants to touch someone who graduated a few years ago and didn't work. I'm prepared to work anywhere at any pay to get experience, as long as I don't have to move. I'm commuting distance from 2 major cities. Where are the entry level jobs?? I don't (yet) need to take a refresher course for my state's license. It's still in good standing. I kept my BLS updated. So... What do you think is the best use of time while waiting for the phone to ring? I did sign up for additional college classes, and if I can't find work I'll keep taking them until I get my BSN. Right now I'm taking Nutrition for credit. How do I list on resume "taking pre-req classes in preparation for applying for BSN at school yet to be determined"? I could volunteer at my local hospital. But their don't give "nursing" work to volunteers. I'd be sitting at a desk maybe answering the occasional phone call. I did this when I started nursing school, and I felt it was not a good use of my time. Is the boredom worth it? Is there such a thing as volunteer work for nurses that utilizes our skills? How do I find such a thing -- without me having to relocate? I'm willing to work for free for a few months, if it helps me find a good job. It would be better than me sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. I am looking at taking little classes and seminars for Continuing Education credit. Can't hurt, right? Do I list these individually on the resume? Is it worth it to join the national/state ANA and list that on resume? I see they offer some CE-credit classes for cheap or free. Cost annually is about $130. There don't seem to be any internships available, and the few I heard others got were because they were recruited out of a graduating class. How do I find such a thing if it's not on hospital web sites or coming up in google searches? I am networking with former classmates and anyone else I can think of. My classmates and one of my old faculty will happily write letters of recommendation. But how do I get far enough in the job hunt process to show them to anyone. Any thoughts on me tutoring at my college? My nursing school had a tough program. I passed it with all A's and B's but I know students who failed. It might be a few extra bucks, but it also refreshes my memory, and maybe it can't hurt my resume? Is there any reason I should not do this and/or list it on a resume? Is there anything else I can to do to freshen up my resume to make up for the huge black hole? ...And the next person who tells me there's a "nurse shortage", I'm going to smack with a wet noodle! Some of my classmates from my '11 gradating class have really struggled. Some are between jobs or stuck in a nursing job they hate. I'm in the northeastern US between two huge cities, so there are employers. But if you don't have 2 solid years of recent experience, very few places will talk to you.

A "right" is whatever we the people decide it is. We've got all sorts of "rights" in today's modern world that weren't an issue (or perhaps even imagined) at the time the Constitution was penned. Either way, who cares of the Constitution grants people the right to access to health care? We can create new social services that are perfectly legal within the Constitution (social security, medicare/medicaid, food stamps, public schools, etc) that aren't explicitly listed. The absence of mention in the Constitution is not proof that something is UNconstitutional. Personally, I feel that one of the core responsibilities of our government is to assist in protecting the people from threats, domestic or foreign. If there was a terrorist threat that killed 45,000 Americans a year, you wouldn't object to the government taking action, would you? Replace the word "terrorists" with "preventable/curable diseases". Why is it so wrong not to want our family, friends, or neighbors to die because of lack of access to health care? Also consider the larger cost to society when a % of the population cannot get health care. Those are the people who use hospital ED as doctors offices because they're suffering and know no doctor will see them. They're the ones who miss extra days at work because they can't get treatment, costing employers money. They're the ones who end up having hospitals pay to amputate a foot or do a kidney transplant because, when they got a common disease such as diabetes, they could never get proper preventative care. What is the cost to that person's children, employer, or family when they die young from a curable cancer? How much does it cost to give the remaining now-single parent food stamps and other social services, when one of the breadwinners in the household dies? What's the cost to the next generation of kids who grow up with one parent bedridden, disabled, or dead -- from a preventable disease? Why do we as a society wait until someone is dying at the door of a hospital to offer any care at all? Wouldn't have been cheaper to give the education & preventative care/screening a year ago than wait for the person to have a MI and (at hospital expense) get a bypass?

You do not write orders for meds -- even just change in the route of a med. You're risking your license. You needed to call the doctor and get one of her doctor to do a phone order for this. Shame on the doc who said "thanks for not calling me for this". He's encouraging you to order & give meds before checking with him.

The TEAS test was a piece of cake (compared to nursing school exams and the nclex). It's just an assessment of what you should already know. It's pretty much jr high to high-school level reading, math, and science. Other than reviewing basic formulas (volume, temp conversion C to F, etc), I'm not sure you can really do a lot to prepare for it. Just try to relax. Take you time. Read the questions carefully, and double-check your math work. You'll be fine. :)

All types of nursing can be sad, if you choose to see the negative. You can look at the positive in NICU: in some countries there really isn't a NICU and most of the babies would not make it. By working there you're helping to give the newborns the best chance possible. I don't work NICU but I was there for volunteer work & part of my clinical rotation. The upsetting part for me were the withdrawal babies who were suffering terribly because of their mother's choices. It infuriated me that in my state not only is there no penalty, the infant is turned over to [drug-addicted] mom as soon as he is stable. There is not much in the way of a support system in my county for the women who do want help getting off drugs/alcohol, so it just keeps happening over and over. But if your state has better laws or your hospital serves a different demographic, perhaps it's not as big a problem elsewhere.

Nursing school is a full-time (sometimes even an overtime) job unto itself. I think you're right to be noticing differences in the kids. If you don't need to enter nursing right now, don't feel bad about postponing graduating. Once the kids are adults, you'll reflect back and know you could never get those missed years back. I think you're setting a great example for them by putting THEM first, ahead of paycheck. I don't mean to be sound pessimistic, but I know that of the people who dropped out of my nursing program, family/spouse/child stress is the top reason. Some people are getting divorces. One person had her younger kids suddenly involved in discipline issues at school. Another was putting her infant in daycare so much, a stranger was raising her, and the mom realized she was uncomfortable. There will always be another year they offer nursing classes. There will only be this one time you can enjoy your child's first day at school, first baseball game, or first dance. In the meantime, have you considered working p/t as a nurse's aid. Get experience and get a little extra spending money? And this way you can see if it you like it.

It really depends on what schools are in your area, your budget, your personal goals, etc. I did the community college to RN route. I am graduating now and will be working under my RN license as soon as I pass boards. The plus of doing it this way is that many employers still offer at least partial tuition reimbursement. So when I do the RN-to-BSN bridge, it won't cost me much. The college credits at the community college level are also 1/3rd of what the same classes at university level costs - at least in my area. So if I get the first two years done locally, I am not stuck with a big loan that is only going to keep growing as interest accrues. The total cost for my nursing school including books, pre-requisite classes, lab fees, and other expenses is under $10k for my ENTIRE education. But if you don't have a community college in your area it might not work. Or some community colleges have pretty good programs which means getting on a waiting list, which may not work for you. I'd also say look at all the schools carefully and talk to graduates. There are some SUCKY nursing schools out there. They keep their NCLEX pass rates high because they fail out more than half the carefully-selected students who start the program. In other words, it's that they're only letting the self-motivated able-to-self-teach type students make it through to get to the Boards. There's no point in starting at a really bad nursing school just to have to repeat a year or quite entirely.

staff note:please, answer the op's questions about how to provide proper care for patients following the loss of a pregnancy (for whatever reason) and the other things she wanted to know. do not post about the inadequacy of her instructor/program in this thread. do not turn this into a thread about the morality or immorality of abortion. thank you. i don't wish to start a flame war, but i have some honest questions. i am just weeks from graduation from a public college, to become a rn. my program director admits to keeping anything remotely relating to abortion completely off-limits. her values are very conservative, so the curriculum seems to reflect it (birth control was also left out). the textbooks they chose don't mention the nurse's role when a pregnancy ends without a live birth. when i did maternity/peds rotation, it was never mentioned. as we got to the part about molar pregnancies and eclampsia, all i was told was that the "resolve the pregnancy". i still know nothing about it, other than it makes some people angry enough to picket planned parenthood and it saves the lives of other people. the internet is even worse -- everyone shouting at each other and very little medical-focused info. nursing care: i am guessing it might be to monitor for hemorrhage and infection. but there has got to be more to it than that? is care any different depending on trimester? on miscarriage ("natural") vs pharmaceutical vs surgical terminations? if conditions are incompatible with life later in the pregnancy, is it considered an "abortion" to use surgical intervention to remove an already deceased fetus? do nurses get training in how to handle the psych aspect for a post-abortion patient? not all women who have abortions want to terminate. is a psych or post-partum type screening typical done? do nurses interested in a obgyn/reproductive health type specialty get any additional education? or do you just pick it up on the job as you go? and can you ask colleagues about it and be sure to get an accurate answer? or is talk relating to it greatly discouraged in the workplace, too? does anyone here regularly give nursing care to women following pregnancy termination (intentional or miscarriage)? forgive what might be a naive question: but if you work in a clinic setting, is it true you have to be scared of terrorists and harassment? or has television really exaggerated that? what is the nurse's role as patient advocate, when a dr's personal/religious beliefs cause permanent harm to a patient? eg. when a mother's life is in danger and a provider doesn't want to consider terminating the pregnancy or doesn't want to treat a recent post-termination pt who is having a complication. thanks for giving me your professional advice, as i graduate and head into practice. i apologize in advance if i've offended anyone by asking about this topic. i know how strongly some people belief for/against this issue, and i do respect everyone's' beliefs on this issue. i just need some factual information. thank you.

Can you follow up with someone in admin? Is it possible the aide does not know the full results of the report the facility got from the inspector? Something sounds fishy. Is it possible a snotty shift manager doesn't like it for some reason and is using the inspection to "clean up" anything he/she doesn't like?

You could become a MD, but the path you follow to become a nurse is not the same one a Dr would follow. You COULD become a nurse and head to grad school to become a NP or PA. The NP and PA both do some duties as a doctor, though you still aren't a "M.D." In some ERs there are quite a few NPs and PAs. Expect to put in an additional 2 or 4 years of grad school once you have your bachelor's. You might also need to fill in a few additional pre-reqs depending on the grad school (example: Organic Chem).

I know I risk ruffling a few feathers of moms on this board, but I feel this needs to be said. The nursing schools don't warn against it and they can't ask if your pregnant when they admit you. But I am saddened to see classmates drop out, so I feel compelled to warn others. I've watched SEVERAL classmates out of my class drop out due to pregnancy/birth, and it makes me sad to see the loss potential good nurses. I don't know if they didn't realize what was involved in nursing school.... or perhaps did not realize they might need a c-section or extra time off? Out of an original class size of 72 students, we're now just weeks before our graduation and I estimate we've lost close to half the class -- between failing exams to medical/personal reasons including a bunch of dropping out related to new babies. In my school you get one second chance to re-enter the program. Then you're done pretty much forever. This week really got me: we lost a classmate who was only weeks away from graduation. She had to drop out last year's senior year because of giving birth. This time around it was a major conflict with her clinical instructor. Instructor failed her in that rotation, so the student fails the semester. If she hadn't missed last year, she could just re-start with a new clinical instructor and finish the final semester. But now she is done - as in failed out of this nursing school forever. The next closest nursing school has a 3-4 year wait list and high admission requirements. So please please please.... think long and hard about mixing nursing school and pregnancy. Even the best planning and best pre-natal care won't guarantee you might not need a c-section (a guaranteed clinical rotation fail due to days missed). And it's just a stressful time in general: hard to enjoy the joy of that beautiful new baby when you're short on sleep, studying constantly, and stressed out.

I didn't realize how many patients one nurse gets. Even when some are acute, some hospitals still keep piling on the patients on a regular basis rather than hiring extra staff. In the search for short-term profits, the hospitals ignore the studies showing higher rate of errors & even moralities when staff is overwhelmed. I also did not realize how little time the nurse did what I considered was nursing care. At least half the time the nurse is at the desk, doing documentation, calling doctors, straightening out pharmacy mistakes, calling family, doing more documentation, and trying to keep track of aids. When in the room with the pt, some shifts the nurse only has enough time to do a quick assessment, ask pain level, and hand out meds because she has 6 patients to see in that hour. I don't understand why in nursing school they bother to train us on communication, alternative pain management, the psych variable, educating family, and other things -- when some nurses on the med-surge floor don't even have time to pee before having to zoom into the next room to give out meds. (And can someone tell me why ALL patients have their meds due right at 8am? Wouldn't it make more sense to schedule half at 8 and half at 9 or 10, when pt load is 6+ per nurse?) It's also frustrating to have to listen to the corporate B.S. about top quality care at their facility, how they're magnet status, blah blah blah -- and walk onto a floor where the first THREE dinemapp machines are broken, two of the computer terminals are down, the single pulse-ox unit was lost weeks ago, and there is absolutely nobody assigned to equipment maintenance. They want us to be "customer service reps" to meet any need our pt or pt family has, but they give us 5 high-maintenance patients and a nurse's aide who hides in the closet to TXT her friends. How can we take the time to really show each patient is special if you're treating us like cogs in a giant machine, geared to run as fast as possible? And a personal pet peeve: school trains us on proper nutrition. But then we work in facilities where they think it's ok to serve over-processed, over-salted, inappropriate foods. Fresh vegetables are unavailable and most dishes are full of fat (esp saturated fat). Why are we serving diabetics a meal of Wonder (white) bread, instant white rice, and a deep fried hunk of factory-farmed high-fat meat? And patients learn from this bad example how to eat.

Refer to your facility policy. Or talk to your supervisor. If you feel she is impaired for any reason, you may be better off sending her home. That being said, I don't agree with some replies which seem to assume anyone using a narcotic at all must be "impaired" or "drunk". OTC drugs don't work for me. If I am in extreme pain, vicotin does work. I am not suggesting taking it DURING a shift or just before one. But don't assume taking one vicotin will put everyone to sleep or make them useless; each person responds to drugs differently. You'd never be aware if I took one (and to be fair, I would not take one within 10+ hours of a shift). But then again I don't blab to coworkers, complain about being tired, and want to pop one after the other, either... lol

Then apply for a position that's set around a 4 x 10 hour shift. Or a 5 day x 8 hour shift. They do exist in hospitals. Can you get away with doing no weekends? Depends on the hospital/unit. The feedback I get is that the people making the really good money are those willing to do evening or night shift. So, if you do go for a hospital day shift, they do exist but your paycheck will reflect it.

I have a bachelor's in Computer Science from a reputable university. After doing that for over a decade, I've had enough -- and I'm becoming a RN. I could've gotten a MBA and been a project manager "for the money", but I want more out of life than to shuffle papers & make Power-points for pointy-haired bosses. In the medical field, I DO make a difference. Am I rich? No, of course not. But any job done well is going to be work. If I am going to give up my time & energy it needs to be in something I care about. I can have the wrong outlook and find the bad in any career- long hours, exposure to disease, grumpy patients, bad bosses. But I choose to find the good: that I am doing something that society needs and that I doing it with the most competence and compassion I am able to. And perhaps one day, if I ever find myself in a hospital bed, it will be another Nurse who makes a difference in my life.

Your job is not to dole out "reality" to patients, no matter what you think their health needs are. You can educate, once you've assessed a readiness to learn. Anything else may be seen as judgmental and confrontational. Why do you have an issue with obese people specifically? Is it because their choices are so easily seen? Tell me about your life: have you ever had alcohol, used recreational drugs, eaten meat more than sparingly, or sometimes laid on the couch instead of exercising? I bet if I looked through your history I could find some flaw. Now imagine for a moment: how would you feel if you're in the hospital, laid out after a surgery, to have some stranger come up to you and lecture you about this unrelated bad habit? I have a friend who died a few years ago (in her early 40s) of complications r/t fighting anorexia/bulimia her entire life. She was NEVER thin enough. She was a lovely person who did fantastic charity work, and she was a role model for me. It was a tragedy she had to die. She felt could never escape others judging. Over 50% of teen girls in America have experimented with behaviors characteristic of eating disorders; people can do terrible things to their body without looking "obese" -- all in the name of looking "thinner". http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/ I, even back in high school when I weighed the least, never fit into government weight charts. I simply have a very large build & 5'10" height. And I get my "reality" every time I go to the mall and can't fit into size 4 clothes. My body will never look like the women on TV or in Cosmo. Never mind that I'm healthy, have ideal bloodwork values, and am more active than my peers. Never mind I don't abuse drugs or alcohol, nor do I engage in risky behavior. Because if I walk into your hospital, all you may see is a fatty. People get this idea in their head of what a healthy weight should be. We're reminded constantly by advertising, TV, magazines. Except what they're telling us is "healthy" and "beautiful" is fake. Have you seen this great short video that Dove created, showing how distorted the image of "beauty" is? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U Your role as a nurse is not to give anyone a dose of "reality". Educate when they're receptive to learning. Help them find the support & other resources they need. But please don't go around placing your judgments on your patients.

I have voluntary infertility: at 38 I still am choosing not to have kids. And it's tough. Everyone keeps asking when I'll start a family. My parents want to be grandparents. My peers are given extra days off because their needs need something, and I don't get any special consideration for anything. There is SO much social pressure on having kids. We're led to believe we can't be complete without them. We're prejudged as someone who "doesn't like kids" because people don't see children in our family photos. Over the years friends drifted away, once they had a baby and the baby became the most important thing in their universe and adult friends stopped mattering. So, yes, in a way I do understand how isolating it is not to have kids. I spent a lot of time thinking about it. Am I missing out on something irreplaceable? Are any feelings of dissatisfaction I might have are holes having a child would fill? Will I still be able to relate to my "mommy" friends whose major topic of interest are their children? I felt alot of doubts. I felt alone. But as time went on, I started to realize something: there are some wonderful aspects of not going through pregnancy or raising a child full time. I have the time to do all the things I want to try out. I have the time to volunteer or get involved in a cause. I have the time to further my education, feeling fulfilled and contributing to society, in my own way. I ended up becoming founder of a 501©3 non-profit organization 5 years ago. Our org had slowly grown ever since. We now have a wonderful Board of Directors, and we really do make a difference in the community. I could never have had the time, money, and resources to do this if was fertile & had kids to raise. People talk about kids being their legacy. For me, my non-profit is my legacy -- as it continues to grow and hopefully outlives me. We're all dealt a different hand in this life. To be happy, the challenge is to identify what is good and to make the best of it. It's not about dwelling on the pregnancy you can't have... it's about the joy you can find in adoption, foster parenting, volunteer work with kids, teaching kids, or a fulfilling cause/career.

I don't think aiming for 90%+ accuracy is a bad thing. That >10% you don't know could be a med error or procedural mistake that'll kill a patient. I am not saying all mistakes on an exam will cause patient harm... but the more you don't know, the easier it is to have a serious error. That being said, based on my own experiences in nursing school, for the 90% to be fair the exams must be fair. And the exams I've taken are NOT fair (we have a 76% minimum passing grade). There will be typos or wrong answer keys, which they usually fix if enough students bring it to their attention. But some questions just don't make grammatical sense. Last exam we had one question that was NOT in any of the chapters we studied and the specific info won't be covered until later in the semester. If the 90% rule applied at my school they'd lose almost everyone in the class. As it is with the 76% rule, we'll be lucky to graduate 40-50% of the students who started out (and this is AFTER all pre-reqs are done and then selective admission). The $50k thing seems high. I did a 2 year ASN program which cost me about $5,000 including books, which is also a RN program.

In retrospect, I'd say step #1 is to pick the RIGHT nursing program to go to. Some aren't a good match for some students. Some aren't so good overall. Some expect students to teach themselves almost everything. Some have huge class sizes, which may overwhelm you. Judging a school based only on nclex pass rates doesn't mean much -- some bad schools know how to look good simply by aggressively weeding the class size down to only the top students. Talk to multiple previous grads of that school and current students, if you can. Visit the school(s) during session. Check out the instructors reviews (eg. ratemyprofessor.com) and anything else you can find out about them. All it takes is a single aggressive instructor who feels their mission is to weed out people they don't like, and you may find yourself failed out of a clinical rotation based on very subjective grades. Just because a school has a wait-list to get in does not mean it's good. By the time you add everything up plus interest from a loan, your nursing education could be a $50,000 or more investment... so take the time beforehand to research it as much as possible.

I am so glad you posted this. I secretly have been thinking this, but I was too afraid nobody would understand. I already asked the director if it was ok if we didn't buy a pin. (Pins are these overpriced school logos made in s/s or gold, so I can't even get a cheap one?!) She gave me a guilt trip about pride and how much her pin means to her. I don't want to go to graduation or pinning. I'm really not interested in either. And to have to rent clothes and sit while hundreds of strangers' names are called (graduation) or listen to nursing faculty talk about themselves -- why would I do this? I am not a big fan of my nursing school anyway. Worst experience I've ever had taking college classes, and trust me I know - I already have a bachelor's from another school. Worst adviser, worst exams, worst everything. They've got such a monopoly going: people desperate to get into the field wait in line to get into local nursing schools. Instructors hired because the director likes them, not because they won some award being a good teacher. Their sole mission is to discourage or flunk out anyone who might not pass NCLEX, because all we hear about is how important the school's @#$#$ NCLEX pass rate is. They also appointed someone class president the one day in the semester I had to miss class. And now she is planning a massive catered thing (at our expense, of course), and she's not asking anyone their input. bleh I'll probably go and be miserable. I feel that I will continue to need these peoples' approval for recommendations, until I get my first real job. And as unprofessional as some of them are, I don't trust them not to hold it against me if I don't buy a pin or go to the ceremony. Hopefully your instructors are different.

Pedophiles are drawn to kids. Unless you're 12 (or look to be age 12), the pedophilia should not be an issue. Personally I'd be more scared of the man with a history of violent rapes of adult women.... but that's just me. (Not that pedophilia is ok or I'd ever let him near children! But your scenario is adult female nurse in home of a male client.) He needs medical care. If you don't feel comfortable going back, ask to be re-assigned. Or at least ask you go with a 2nd person? If something inappropriate is said, having the 3rd person there makes it more than he-said/she-said. But keep in mind, many neighborhoods have a sex offender in them. He will not be the last one you meet -- and sometimes you don't find out until later (or not at all) they were a convicted sex offenders. Not to scare you, but those who assault women in non-sexual ways don't end up on public lists. You WILL have more convicts as clients. If you're this uncomfortable, perhaps another line of nursing is better for you?

I stopped carrying so much crap. Half the things on your list either are available on the floor or I simply don't use often enough to carry with me. Generally all I need is a stethoscope, pen, flash lite, bandage scissors, and a little notepad. Drug books: most hospitals now have online forumularies. To be honest I'd rather go with their resource than a book I chose, on the rare chance the information is different: I want to back up my action with what the hospital's own resource said is correct. Wipes and hand sanitizer have always been available everywhere I visited. I've never had a single cause to use a hemostat, and neither have any of my clinical classmates that I know of. Clipboards are nice, but some places don't want you to use them -- either out of limited storage space, infection control, or other reasons.

Part of the problem is students are still using their (overpriced) school bookstore. Maybe they rent because they don't know they can afford to buy? My college bookstore (now sub'd out to Barnes and Noble) charges max suggested retail price. I go to Amazon.com and find the same books for 30-50% less. I can get NEW books for the cost of the used bookstore ones. So if I'm only paying $70 for my nursing textbook, why would I bother with "renting" it just to be locked into shipping it back? And if I find i need to keep it for future semesters (eg. my med-surge text), I have it if I need it. One of the bigger problems is the textbook racket: publishers insist on releasing new editions every 2-3 years. If you buy it, you never know if the school book store will buy it back at the end of the semester. It's a big racket to get us to buy $100 or $200 books. I don't know any other type of book that people happily pay over a hundred dollars for! So I suppose by renting you're guaranteed to be rid of the book at the end of the semester? But that being said, the rental places must know when books are about to be discontinued, and that's got to figure into their rental prices.

One thing I am sure of : finish nursing school before you even consider having kids. I've watched classmates drop out because of either medical complications/c-section or because they can't handle the stress in addition to all the stress their body is under being pregnant. Is the nursing field mom friendly or unfriendly? Any job can be unfriendly when the hours they need you conflict with the time your kids need something important. A child is a huge commitment, and you'll be worrying about them even when you're at work. You can work towards a nursing position that does not require weekends/holidays. But your 1st job out of school may not be so flexible. Be aware that if it snows, the kids get off school most always. When it snows, the nurses are needed even more in the hospitals because you're more needed. And you can't expect any special treatment because your child needs you. Bottom line: it can be done, but for best results wait to do it with a committed partner. The good news is once you've got a little experience under your belt, you can have more say in when and where you work. I have a friend who works only Fri-Sat-Sun (12 hr night shifts). She is considered fulltime and gets benefits. So the baby is with her 4 days a week. And her husband, who has off all weekends, is there for the baby when she is at work.

I don't know the school or criteria for the letter, so it's hard for me to guess what they're looking for. I might go through and remove sentences that weren't absolutely necessary, because at a glance it seems awfully long. If it were me, I'd go right to the core ideas: you have a stellar GPA, almost all pre-reqs were met, and so on. Why makes you the best candidate for the spot? Do you have any clinical experience? Or any other experience (healthcare, volunteer, etc) that might be relevant? I don't mean to be a meanie, but PLEASE take it to someone for help in fixing the many grammar & punctuation errors! Consider if they have two applicants, one with beautiful writing and one whose letter is hard to follow, which one will they choose? If the letter is to be mailed in, also pay attention to format. If it were me, I might double-space with nice margins. No wacky fonts (no to Comic Sans, for example). Make it professional, easy to read, and pleasing to the eye. This letter might be their first real impression of you as a person, and you want to make the best impression possible.