RNYC

I'd love to hear where they pay nurses 50/hr..lets give the new nurses a realistic bellweather.....if they are new RNs and lucky enough to land a job we're talking 18-34 (high end in California). I agree with 50/hr isnt enough most days, but travelers in some high paying states are getting 35-45 so 50 is wayyy on the high end. There are some hospitals systems I am very familiar with that pay CRNAs 50/hr!

6% of RNs are men....why do women get so territorial about nursing? Male doctors don't get territorial about female MDs!

I agree its not often reliable but, I personally know people who make far more than what they are saying as NP...but I only have experience with New Jersey/New York and California. From what I hear the south is extremely low paying across the board : (

Right but your not comparing two careers that are of equal education. Entry level for RN is BSN, ADN, Diploma...PT is masters level. The appropriate comparison is Nurse Practitioner, CRNA, Midwive, Nurse Educator etc vs PT - then we have a level playing field at masters level. In that case the RN+Masters makes 85k or more as NP national average... OT is 75k...the #s don't back up your argument. That is directly from salary.com (of course things vary state to state).

PTs make a lot more than some nurses?...don't assume the career doesn't have earning potential on the RN side once people get experience. Also CRNA vs. PT there zero comparison in compensation CRNAs make out double PT salary.

I'm BSN and even I found that comment to be way off color...its like a bad joke budumpdump ching! (crickets)

and 3...2...1 - cue the ADN vs BSN debate!

I know huh? lol...I am glad I can laugh about it now. Couple months ago it didn't seem as funny right after graduation! The good news is the following - because nursing is so diverse and encompasses to many different jobs, the likelihood of finding something eventually is rather good. I mean, home health, prisons, federal jobs, private pay, cruise ships...shooting botox....theres so many listings online its silly. Unfortunately the real $ is only in acute care right now. Maybe someday that will change who knows.

This is a great post and the take home point is, school+NCLEX preparation and passing NCLEX = your trained as a broad practitioner and to be safe (but de facto your not trained specifically to do much of anything). Nursing is, the more I think about it, very pleasing from a variety perspective. So many options - correctional nursing, hospital nursing, public health nursing, military nursing....the list is a mile long. Heres the bad news new grads....your not trained to "plug and play" into anything short of a flu shot clinic. Best of luck - John Doe Nursing School (lol)

I am asking this directly of the male RNs in this forum (not female sorry)...I am 2 months from getting my BSN and I am doing preceptor hours in an ER. The people in the ER seem to think I can get a job there after graduation easily...there is sooooo much negativity on this message board, but I have to say I feel more confident about getting a job being a guy and having a BSN + preceptor hours in ER. I am wondering if men have a slight (in reality possibly more than slight) advantage in securing employment as an RN in the current market. 6% of RNs are men...this seems like a serious minority.

Try Alvarado? The top tier Sharp, UCSD, and Scripps are really tough...you have to know someone, or be insanely experienced. There is a lot of military nurses too in SD, and their experience is solid.

Another FYI --> RN definitely opens doors, and the pay is higher. Job prospects are a little sunnier these days but, the curriculum is apparently much much more demanding than LPN curriculum. I know several LPNs that began the RN then stopped, not interested in the hassle. Some others I know failed, while others went on to the PhD level through ADN, BSN, Masters etc! Everyone is different of course...but expect a challenge.

Anatomy and Physio is helpful, but you will need to just be a sponge. You will want some basic skills like how to take vital signs, change dressings, and med calc.

Go for the RN...loans are easier to pay off when you have a 70k in income. LPN just prolongs the inevitable if you want the RN. BTW the whole bit about LPNs being "so far ahead" when they begin RN program? Not buying it. BSN programs offer hundreds of clinical hours and we arent sitting around.

Nursing school, especially in the accelerated BSN format, is very very time consuming. I am not sure if the material is necessarily hard to comprehend for most, but the volume is shocking. Not sure about LPN programs.

California is rough. The pay is high so, many nurses from all over flock to California for RN jobs. However, it is also going to have one of the most severe shortages in the near future. Alot of the state schools have been closing or reducing class sizes.

A year of critical care is required at many schools, and from what I hear they really actually accept with 2-5 years.

We are on the same level : )

There is no way you can become a nurse anesthetist 100% online...there is a large portion of didactic work. The lecture could be online I suppose...but there isnt any way to get around the clinical work.

thats not necessarily true. i attend wagner in si and we have a bsn and absn...and there are many other schools within a 30-60 mile radius of new york city. however, there are still many more adn programs in nyc.

Its a FANTASTIC long term career move, and in the short term your likely to get a job with an ADN in certain areas...it sounds like your area is one. Where I live ADNs are sort of locked out these days for new grad jobs, and the ones working are being forced into getting BSNs or losing their licenses....thats just NYC. As far as the prereqs for ADNs your right, there are none...its kind of backwards but you may find that those are the courses you will encounter taking later. I actually found the prereqs more challenging than the nursing classes but thats just me.

Be cognizant that nurses arent guaranteed jobs at all these days...and that hospitals prefer to hire BSNs in certain metro areas (NOT ALL!)...so while this was a cheap route that made sense in the past, if it doesnt result in a job offer at the end was it really "cheap" etc

Depends on the state...the larger states aren't hiring LVNs in hospitals at all anymore...only LTC and nursing homes if that even.

I think the original post is not only accurate, but there is a preponderance of "prenursing" even more than students. I do see a spike in people who can't find jobs that just graduated, and definitely CRNA/APN wannabes who have yet to be admitted to nursing school lol. This only looks preposterous to soon to be grads, grads, and seasoned RNs. Nursing school isnt a step to be written off....my experience in nursing school is many people wash out of just the RN part...yet alone to get to the APN status which takes years of hard work (unpaid clinicals etc).

No I said 2-3 years to ABSN completion. I am six months from completion and began prereqs in Jan 09...realistically I will need 2 months after graduation from nursing school to study for boards (they just made them harder, GREAT!). It takes year or so for prereqs.