VMSR

Chinese did not close any companies in the USA- American owners of those companies did it. And I bet all of the people complainig about influx of cheap goods from overseas love to shop at Walmart. Also, while wars cost tremendous amount of money, foreign aid constitutes 0.16 % of the GDP, and contributes pretty much nothing to the deficit.

Duh! It was supposed to be harsh. We are all adults here.

Is anybody else as sick of this whining about nursing jobs as I am? This feeling of entitlement is totally killing me. Nobody is guaranteed job in this country at all, and we may yet live through even worse economy than we have now. Regardless of what happens, being a nurse is a respectable profession that is portable and actually has one of the better chances of finding jobs right out of college. But this constant complaining about inability of some new graduates to find jobs makes me think that people just slept through 2009-2010. Maybe this is a news to some folks but economy crashed and burned, and is still smoking.

I wish to thank all of you for posting in this forum. You drove me crazy, but also provided me with information, and helped pass the time until we all hear about the scholarship. I just got the email informing me I won the scholarship, and wanted to share my gratitude and happiness with all of you. Wishing you all the best of luck in the nursing school.

This is a bunch of baloney from people who profit by having nurses overworked and under-payed. It doesn't make any sense, even to people who are not RNs. I'm not even sure what their point is, except to 'carry water' for health care executives and financial managers.

Is anyone else kid of sick of this 'jobs is not waiting for me, what shall I do' complaints? Are people living in a bubble? Do they not hear the news? There is 10% unemployment in the USA, which pundits now are saying is 'structural.' Structural unemployment means that there are 10% of working age Americans that are , simply put, a human surplus. On the other hand, nurses, even the brand new ones, are still able to find jobs, albeit not as easy as they were able to do a few years ago. And when an RN has had some experience, there are tons of jobs. If there is some other profession like RN, with good work and good pay right out of college, I'd love to know about it.

I have the same issue, and here's what I know from personal experience. Most of the people who had BCG vaccine will have exaggerated reaction mimicking TB infection. My family physician told me not to get any more skin tests, and just to have chest x-rays. Since 2005, there has been a new skin TB test, QuantiFERON®-TB Gold, but as far as I know, it is not widely used. This test can distinguish between tuberculosis antigens and tuberculosis infection. You may want to ask if your institution is willing to use this test. Here's the link with more info about QuantiFERON®-TB Gold test: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5415a4.htm

What's up with questions like this? It is not like you want to get pregnant: your brain, unlike your ovaries, never stops working. I'll be (God willing) starting my masters when I'm 50. My friend, who is 57, is just starting law school. Money, also, need not be a hurdle: most hospitals I've looked at will partly pay for your tuition. Stop pondering, just go do it.

Hello my fellow students! Just wanted to thank all of you lovely, OCD people for making me look into my spam folder, where my first email from HRSA was hiding. You are the best, and I hope many, many of you will get this scholarship (including me, of course).

Yes, why are you asking? quote=K nurse-one-day;4425485]Jesus! Liberal much?

Original post is a classical example of selfishness that is being elevated to the point of virtue in this country. It is not controversial to say that one believes healthcare is a commodity: that is the point that both Republicans (and some Democrats) as well as better part of conventional media promote every single day. To say that healthcare is commodity implies that if one is not well-to-do enough, one is free to die, even if treatment is available. To me, that is not a world I want to live in, but a savage utopia ultra-rich conservatives are propounding, and to many people are falling for, not understanding it is not in their best interest. PetiteOpRN assumes that she will always have healthcare, will not fall on hard times, and that this is somehow proof of her virtue. Well, OK, anyone is entitled in to their opinion. To assert, though, that advocating for a healthcare as a right is "to advocate for slavery" is a willful ignorance of someone who doesn't understand (and doesn't care to understand) what is slavery, what is commodity and what is basic decency.

Eric, I have one comment to your post: pffft! If you believe nurses are more like McDonald workers than, lets say, pharmacists, I'd like to know where you work, and avoid the place at all costs, either as a RN or a patient. Issues you list to support your opinion are not matter of professionalism, but political problems stemming from healthcare being treated as a commodity and not right. Not to mention that employers (which are out for profit, and not providing the best healthcare) very successfully manipulate the fact thar there is massive amount of self-loathing (as evidenced in lots of replies to this post) in the nursing workforce which prevents them from organizing and exerting pressure to improve both workplace and their status. I'm actually pretty amazed that California nurses (which are, by the way, best payed in the nation) managed to get such a strong union going, considering what obstacles they had to deal with. There are about three million nurses in the nation: we are the largest group of workers in the USA. If there is solidarity and will to stand for the profession (or trade, if you will), you would not have to clean wastebaskets, and would have patient workload that is in the best interest of the patient, not the profit. If that is to happen, nurses need to take pride in what they are doing, and demand to be treated as professionals that they are. One thing, though, I can do away with: silly nursing diagnoses. They sound like something from Monty Python.

Flu shot clinic immunization seems like a pretty good way to get some experience. We did practice on each other, which made me more nervous. We will also practice on each other intravenous shots and I guess, maybe even starting IV lines. Not until next semester, though, so I hope to be a bit less nervous in the meantime.

Hello fellow student nurses! I've just given my first two shots (sub-q and IM) today, and was pretty nervous doing it. Luckily, my partner was very cool, so it all went relatively good. I'm generally not a nervous type, so I'm curious: when did you start feeling comfortable giving injections? Did you get enough practice in clinicals?

Lisa, if you are foreign, you must have permanent residency (green card) and you have to pass TOEFL test. You will also need all your previous diplomas (high school, college) submitted to college. You should translate them to English, and then make copies and have them notarized before submitting. I'm foreign myself, and I go to Mercy, so I went through all of these steps. School officials are very helpful, so you should definitelly call them and ask for more details.

@luvRNs Your complaints are valid, but in reality, they do not have anything to do with the union. Union does not hire, or fire people. That is the management's job. I have worked in an union organized workplace, and this was always a complaint of the management: union will not let us fire this person. They are, of course, trying to have their cake and eat it, too. My opinion is that the main task for the union is to negotiate good contracts. I agree that unions are often perceived as shielding bad workers, but that is the nature of their function. Besides, management will always try to emphasize union's missteps. As far as I understand, nursing unions in California are the reason nurses over there are so well payed. Granted, not every union is going to be that good, but I think benefits mostly outweigh annoyances.

For all the new grads worried about jobs: nursing is still a recession proof job. I have just met tree new nurses, who all graduated in December and got their first job in area of their choice. I'm from Northwest Ohio, and we've been hit very hard by recession, but it seems like hospitals started hiring again. They are from different schools, but it seems most of their classmates found jobs already. One thing these new nurses told me was that they had worked as part-timers in the hospital during school, and they feel that definitely helped them. They told me, though, that some of their friends were hired by departments they percepted at, in the last semester of school, having had no previous healthcare experience. I'm thinking there still may be bumps ahead, but I don't think new nurses should be afraid for their future.

'Medicare cuts' everybody is talking about are not actually cuts to the healthcare, but streamlining administrative and excessive unnecessary costs. Here's a nice overview from the White House web page. http://www.whitehouse.gov/medicarefactsheetfinal/

President Obama has not signed bill yet, so we should keep all the disclaimers in mind, but I believe this will mean more jobs in healthcare in general, and consequently, more nursing jobs. Under this bill, over 30 million more people will be brought into healthcare system, so that alone would have to mean more jobs for healthcare providers. I'm actually looking forward to reading more about this bill, and talking about it with people here.

No reason for scolding on this fine Sunday. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar .

My understanding is that taxes will maybe be introduced for a high-end plans (so called 'Cadillac plans'). Medicare 'cuts' will, as I understand it, not affect customers, but are eliminating loopholes that had government overpaying for services. Again, who the heck knows. Right now, there are two plans, that are still being discussed, and have to go through a committee to be merged. I'm holding on to see what the final product will be. I agree to ItsTheDude: whatever we get it will be better than we have now, and it will take us all to the healthcare standards that the rest of the developed world has had for decades.

I do share your frustration. I'm normally a political junkie, but stopped following news of healthcare reform, because legislative process is driving me crazy. As you mentioned, the fact that we don't really know what will be in the final bill doesn't make it easier to follow the discussion. To me, the most important issue is covering all uninsured, and single payer would be my preferred option. I got my hopes up only to be crushed again on several occasions, so I'm just waiting to see what will be in the final bill.

You don't think that hospice rep would have some ulterior motives? Also 'withholding healthcare from elderly sick' is just another phrase for 'death panels,' which have been debunked more times than I care to count. Don't fall for such obviously harebrained lies, please.

There are no other professions I know off that have this ridiculous discussion about associate vs bachelors degree. More education is better than less education, period. This doesn't mean nurses with ADN are somehow worse than nurses with BSN degree. It is just that nurses with BSN degree will have much more oportunities for advancing their career. Why do you think we keep on having this same discussion? I'm really curious about this.

I see you are 21, so you have taken classes in the last few years, which is good, because Mercy will not accept any classes taken more than 7 years ago. I also think they have a limit on how many credits you can transfer, but I'm not certain, you have to talk with admissions people. You seem to have a good enough GPA to get accepted, and I believe it is definitely easier to get into BSN program, because most of the students actually go ADN route. School has had a large increase in students just this year, and there is waiting list to get into the program for the first time. I believe that waiting list is more competitive for the ADN program.