racegrrl714

congrats on the job! One of my BFF's, Rachel, works as an x-ray tech in the ER there and she loves it. I am hoping to one day work for St Johns in St Louis myself.

:yeah:All I can say is, more power to ya! I'd consider it (after graduation that is) if I still don't have any kids at that time and if I could get two jobs that were 3-12's. I might do what you did originally and just pick up the part time job. Just make sure you keep taking care of yourself. Don't get too stressed out or too ran down.

Thank you all for the information you have given me. You have given me a lot to think about and some really good questions to ask my care team! I will ask my PT next week what he thinks about my elbow holding up during CPR or if there are any techniques, etc. to get around over use of the elbow. I will follow up with my ortho next time I see him too and see what he thinks. I have mentioned nursing school around him too, and he hasn't ever said anything negative about my ability to do it, so I'll corner him and see if his not saying anything was a good sign or if he just didn't really put 2 and 2 together... LOL

thanks for the comments! by no means have I made up my mind as to what nursing field I want to go into, or even sure about the crna/np thing. I'm definitely keeping an open mind, especially since I'm just now starting my pre-req's. I guess my real question is what fields of nursing are the "easiest" when it comes to lifting/ physical demands? and are most fields forgiving of nurses with physical limitations? I understand LTC would be all about lifting, situating the patients... wht about critical care/ICU? med-surg? etc.

Sorry for the long post but I am looking for advice from nurses who have "been there and done that." Let me introduce myself. My name is Andrea, I'm from MO, and I'm 30 y/o with a BS in business admin. I have been motivated to change careers to nursing for quite some time now. However, in April of this year I was in a pretty horrific car crash that pretty much crushed my left arm. Of the numerous injuries to my arm, I broke my distal humerus and proximal radius and ulna, leaving me with a floating elbow. The rest of my arm has healed up nicely but I just had to have a fourth surgery on my elbow to remove heterotopic ossification because my elbow had locked up from being casted for a long period of time. I'm currently in physical therapy and both my ortho and my p.t. are optimistic that I'll get some of my range of motion back, however, I've been told by about every health professional that I've been in contact with "that elbow is never going to be perfect again." My physical therapist and I were discussing college today while he was working on my arm. I told him how I am starting my prerequisites for nursing school next week and he got all excited... then gave me a look resembling this---> . lol He said "Now you know your going to have to pick a nursing field that involves as little lifting as possible..." I told him i was aware of it, and had even wondered if I could be a nurse at all... if I should look into a less physically demanding area of healthcare. He assured me I could still be a nurse... I'd just really have to do my homework. He said LTC would definitely be a no-no... that I might get away with something like that for about 6 months before my elbow would fail on me. So that being said and adding the fact that I also suffer from fibromyalgia, what do you think? What field(s) of nursing would be good for me? Will I be able to hack it at nursing at all? Will I even pass the nursing school physical?? Would you suggest a different healthcare field? My ultimate goal is to be a nurse practitioner or CRNA. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.