Starkyss

My husband & I are throwing around the idea of selling our house, our possessions, & going on the road as a traveling RN... We live in Pittsburgh and have over $150,000 in loan debt due to my husbands recent graduation from law school. Sadly, there are no jobs jobs for him here in law, finance, marketing, etc; His only income is poker, which, thankfully, he makes quite a profit at. My thought was that I could make good money as a traveling nurse, enough to keep up with our bills and keep us afloat, and he could help out by playing poker. I was under the impression that traveling nurses make over $40/hr. Now, after reading quite a bit about the profession, I feel i may be wrong. I make $23/hr at a nursing home currently & this seems to be better pay than most that I am seeing. I would appreciate any thoughts on the situation because right now our money is running out and we need to change something. Perhaps agency nursing in Pittsburgh would be better? We are both at such a loss right now.

I just graduated in December, passed my boards in February, & am currently working at a rehab nursing home as an RN Supervisor. My ultimate goal is to go back to school to become a FNP, preferably within the next 2 years. The dilemma I find myself in right now is that I do not like my job because I'm not learning enough regarding acute care. I am babysitting dementia patients most of the time, passing out meds, & calling in lab results. I am learning quite a bit about the basics of being a nurse, but I don't feel that it will provide me with what I need in order to be ready for NP school. BUT, this job will pay for the schooling after I stay for 1 year & it pays more than any of the hospitals in the city (& I have lots of loan debt to pay off!!) So... should I stay for that reason alone? Or should I try to find another job like Med surge or ER in the hospital setting? What kind of job as a nurse would provide me with the best learning environment to become a NP? Any insight or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! :) Thank you in advance!

Thats how I found out. I live in PA & wasnt sure if other states had the license look up available. I took my exam at 8am Thursday morning and was able to see on the state website by noon on Friday that my temporary practice permit was null & void, and that I now possessed a nursing license. Perhaps it would be on there by the morning, but I was too scared to get out of bed to look! I never sent in money for the quick results either, I trust the website. & the official results should come in the mail in between 1-3 weeks.

Thanks! I finally feel like I can relax... What youre doing sounds perfect. I used this website- http://libtc.utmb.edu/nclexrn3500/mainMenu.do;jsessionid=1D6E4F24D79707A143799E5916159482 - See if that link works, if you go to Review, then Nursing topics, you can choose what areas to cover & I learned a lot from this site. The questions are more similar to NCLEX style than other resources I used. The answers are all similar, like you mentioned you like, & it provides great explanations as to why the wrong answers are wrong. That's what I always found the most helpful. Definitely just keep doing questions, you'll learn about the content that way anyway. My only advice is to relax & try not to worry about the exam or the outcome... all you can do is be prepared & do your best. If you worry about how you'll do, it will only hinder your performance. Use the time after the exam to worry about how you did! Good Luck!!

Thank you all so much. I just found out I passed my boards this week, so I will be calling all the places I applied to this week to let them know I passed. Hopefully, someone will want to hire me then, we'll see.

Hi! I just took my exam this week & found out I passed yesterday. I have never been so excited, but I have never been so nervous either. I think you will be just fine. You have done a tone of questions, and if you have learned anything from those questions & their explanations, then I think you'll pass. It is a rough exam, & I was for sure I failed it, but I hear everyone feels that way. I took about 90 questions, and I studied hard for about a month. I truly dont think youll ever feel prepared for the NCLEX. There is just so much in nursing that you cannot possibly know everything right off the bat, eventually, maybe. Right now, just make sure you know enough about the processes of the body. That way, youre able to think of which of the four answers may be wrong, in order to determine which one may be correct. Thats the best you can do. I was always weak in the pharmacology area & studied & studied it. I still ended up with 10 drugs I had never hear of on the exam. Buuut, I was still able to think about the question and which answer sounded correct according to the name of the drug and the questions I'd answered. With the amount you've done.. dont worry, try to get rest before the exam, & know that you have done the best you could have & you will do great. Good luck!

Hi Ladies! I just noticed this forum today, but I hope you are all doing well so far! I just graduated from Cal/CCAC in December and I have tons and tons of notes typed up from the past two years if any of you would like me to send them to you as extra study material. I sent them to most of my classmates at the time because I was able to attain more info typing than they could writing. I know that the first semester is super overwhelming... there is just soo much stuff to learn! Not only do you need to acquaint yourself with the hospital and how that setting works, but you have to learn words you've never heard before and then you have to learn how to apply them to things you've never seen. It's difficult stuff, but I promise it gets easier and the workload gets lighter. I know my biggest problem was keeping my due dates in order and finding some way to organize myself that made sense! I would bring my stethoscope on lab day when we didn't need it and would forget my lab book on days we did. I was a mess for a while! Good luck in your endeavor, it will be worth it. If you would like any of my materials or even just to chat or vent :) Don't hesitate to e-mail me at [email protected]

Hi! I just graduated with my BA in Psychology as well as my nursing degree in December. I think that if I was able to dual major, you could definitely work while attending school. I know quite a few who did, as well as quite a few who had 4 kids and a husband and a job! You'll be fine. I went to CCAC at California Univ. of PA. I loved it there. We were an affiliation with the South Campus CCAC and I have heard about the same thing from all of the CCAC nursing programs, they are great. I think that no matter where you go, the only thing that matters is that you receive your degree and that you pass your NCLEX. So, what you should consider is that CCAC is affordable, while some of the other nursing schools in the city cost more. A plus to going to any of the CCAC's in the city is that you get a variety of clinical experience, both urban and rural. You mentioned South and Boyce. I have heard from both of them that their instructors are not very nice. I think that you'll find that at any school though, and I would say I had a few instructors myself that weren't very nice. I also know quite a few students who failed out of South and transferred to my school, they mentioned that the workload there is much more demanding than it was at Cal. The problem with Cal is that our clinical experience was mostly rural, small hospitals.. i.e. Uniontown, MonValley, Westmoreland. I truly think that youll get the same experience out of all of them, though. What really matters is what you put into it, including what you take away from your clinicals or externship experiences. The only suggestion I have is that if you care to be a great nurse, do not do the fast-track program. I tried so hard to get into it at Boyce because I wanted to finish school quickly, but I am thankful I did not. In my experience, they produce highly incompetent nurses. Good luck in your decision!

Michelle - Thank you. I do not have a problem working in LTC. Honestly, I don't feel I am in a position to be picky at this time :) So, when I apply, I apply for everything whether I think I want it or not and I state that I am willing to work any shift, FT or PT. I've found that when I inhibit myself and only look for something I think I want, I end up not liking it anyway. Likewise, when I just let things come as they may, it usually turns out the best for me! So I'm up for anything right now & look forward to any new challenge! Lisa - Thank you for the words of encouragement, as well as for the job suggestions. I am remaining optimistic so far. Congratulations on the new job. I hope you enjoy it. I am leaning toward nursing home/LTC & would actually enjoy nightshift. I will most definitely continue on with schooling. I will be a Nurse Practitioner & am going to the Frontier School of Midwifery & NP, but I need one year of experience as a nurse first. So, thats what I'm working on right now. I take my NCLEX next Thursday & I feel ready, so hopefully that will go well & everyone will want me :redbeathe

Thank you, I appreciate it!

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, several people did lose their jobs at Braddock. I heard that the rest of UPMC was on a hiring freeze for outsiders, in order to allow ample opportunity for those employees to get jobs elsewhere. I have been in contact with a manager at Shadyside who told me that was not true & she'd heard nothing of that. I'm still not sure I believe her though. I do know that those employees do get first priority, but the majority of them should have been placed by December. They probably took all the available jobs I'm sure. I thought graduating in December would give me an advantage, Braddock sorta put a kink in that :)

:redbeathe Hi! I just graduated with my Associates in Dec.09 and I take my boards Feb. 25th!! I also received my Bachelors in Psychology. I thought it would be so easy to find a job once I completed school, but I am having tremendous difficulty. I have been applying since August and at first, I was set on an ICU position. I have since lowered my expectations & am applying for any open RN position, & recently even applied for LTC (which I dont want to do at all). I've probably sent out 40 resumes & applications!! My excitement over graduating is slowly diminishing. I did an externship in the NICU & on an ortho floor & I completed my mentorship in the CT/ICU at Shadyside UPMC dealing with open-hearts. :redpinkhe I have also been a physical therapy assistant & am currently an aid at Ruby Memorial in Morgantown, WV (which I could have a job at but it's just too far, especially with all these hospitals here!) I'm intelligent and I am a hard worker. I am quite frustrated because I think I am a better candidate than most & some of the jobs I have applied for have been posted for months now & never seem to come down. Why am I not even getting an interview?!? I have heard most of Pittsburgh is not hiring GN's, but I applied to St. Clair & when I called to check on my app. they told me they were. I realize Pittsburgh is saturated with nurses, but why are these positions still available? I am a perfectly acceptable placement. :) I am guessing I'm not getting called because I am a new grad, or because I haven't taken my boards yet (but I have my Temp. Practice Permit), or because I don't have prior nursing experience. What do you think?? *StarkysS*

Oh Im sorry, I will not have a Bachelors in Science with Psychology. It will be a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree with Psychology. I did not catch that you put that, and I realize it may make a difference regarding advanced practice because it is not a science degree.

Yes, I am in my 5th year of schooling. I began as a Psych major and one semester away from graduation I decided that I did not like the direction I was going. I feel nursing provides a larger opportunity to help people and is in itself gratifying, whereas psychology bears a significant degree of disappointments. So, I switched my major and dual majored, as it would be crazy to discount the 4 years I put into it or the psych understanding I have attained. My college only offered the Associates program, so I took it while completing psychology. I feel I do have one-up, regarding nursing jobs, on others graduating with me who will only have their RN. Psych still interests me, but it is not a profitable career choice for me, in neither money nor gratification.

Hi all! I am graduating this December with an associates RN degree as well as a BSN in Psychology. I plan to work for a year before attending FNP school. The questions I have are: 1. What area of nursing should I apply for? I feel it would give me the best experience with patients if I attain a job in the ICU or ER. Do you think so? Or do you have a better suggestion? 2. Do I need to get my BSN in nursing prior to entering the FNP program? I have read several things on "bridge programs" and RN-FNP programs, but nothing has clarified these for me and I am extremely comfused as to whether I should do an online BSN program while working next year or just gain my experience and enter one of those programs. 3. Is it reasonable to think that I can work as an RN while completing FNP schooling online? (I am unmarried with no children.) Thank you for your time. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I cannot seem to find the answers myself. Starkyss*