MurseHarley

Ditto, especially with my first career having been as a firefighter... you gotta love burn unit nurses.

I would look at an accelerated BSN or entry-level MSN program. They'll take your previous Bachelor's degree in lieu of 2 years of general education and fast track you directly in to the nursing curriculum. In many hospitals with a BSN you con progress as high as a nurse manager. The RN license affords you a lot more opportunities also in terms of jobs and growth opportunities.

May I suggest we move this thread to the Male Nursing Student Forum, so he can get some feedback from others who have experienced this?

It doesn't sound at all to me like ShawnieBoy is objecting to being asked to help with some of the more physical tasks such as lifting patients. It sounds like he's concerned that he's asked to assist with these tasks more frequently and/or in place of his female peers, and I think that is a completely valid complaint. I've often heard women in our profession say, "We need more men in nursing." When I ask them why they think we need more men, the top two responses I get are "you bring a different set of skills and views," and "you can help with the heavy patients." Few seem to be capable of elaborating on the "skills and views" statement, and even fewer seem to be aware of how insulting and demeaning "you can help with the heavy patients" is. Statements like that devalue our role as men in nursing, implying that our primary contribution to the profession is muscle. Let me tell you something, I learned a whole lot more in nursing school than patient transfers, and I've got a whole grab bag of tricks in addition to that from five years in emergency medical services. Maybe this will help... let me tell you a little story that these situations always make me think of. When I was a firefighter we had six men and one woman in my house. Megan and I were both "rookies" at the same time, meaning that we were supposed to be learning still, much like ShawnieBoy. In fact, we had a long list of tasks that we had to demonstrate proficiency in by the end of our probationary year, or face termination. Quite frequently when we had a patient who was either a crying child or a distraught adult, Megan was assigned to take the patient history. She had an uncanny ability to calm people that no one else could, especially children, and get the information we needed. Some would argue that her gender, in addition to her superb communication skills, contributed to this talent. Now, learning to effectively communicate with patients is an important skill, and one that Megan accepted she would be expected to perform... just not all the time. While she was playing therapist at every incident I was extricating the patients from a crushed vehicle, or triaging patients at an MCI, or providing direct care, or any number of other tasks we were responsible for becoming proficient in. She wasn't getting the same learning opportunities as me, because she got pulled away from other tasks to do this one thing that she was exceptionally good at. I stood with her and supported her as she formally complained about the situation -- first to our Captain, and when that didn't accomplish anything, to our Operations Chief. Long story short, our Captain got royally chewed out (as he should've been) and she got the learning experience she deserved, so that she could be proficient in all of her skills. ShawnieBoy may be physically stronger than some or all of his female classmates, and that'll be an asset to his coworkers at times I'm sure. But, consistently asking him to interrupt learning other skills to use that one strength when one of his classmates might be more readily available, is wrong. It's every bit as wrong as what my former Captain did. I'm not sure what to tell you ShawnieBoy. If you were a woman in a man's profession, I think your situation would be taken more seriously. Unfortunately, many don't view discrimination against men in nursing in the same light as that against women in traditionally-male professions. I'd encourage you to discuss the matter when it comes up, one-on-one, with the CNAs you work with. Be sure they understand that you don't have a problem when it comes to being a member of the team and assisting with transfers. You just don't want people going out of their way to get you to help, because it gives you less time to learn than your female peers get.

Should this thread be in the "Male Nurses" forum? (I'd much prefer if it were called the "Men in Nursing" forum)

In my BSN progam we had to take the ATI exam that corresponded with each course, and if you passed it at or above the national mean they added 2% to your grade. You got two tries. If you didn't meet the benchmark, you just didn't get the extra 2%. So, they weren't tied to course progression, but that 2% was an incentive to do your best and to pass. So, it wasn't tied to course progression throughout the program. We did however have to pass ATI's RN Comprehensive Predictor at or above the national mean in order to graduate.

I went through a generic BSN program, but my roomate was in the accelerated BSN at the same university, and he and all of his classmates had a really positive experience.

I know that firefighters in some parts of California make as much as 75k a year starting, with no degree.