Aberdeen

The last place I worked had one for a short period of time. It didn't work well and everyone hated it. It took longer to move the patients to the lounge than it did to discharge them from the room they were in, so the flow of the department actually slowed down. Flow did improve when the idea was abandoned a few months later and the area was turned into an extension of triage to draw labs when all the rooms were full.

I have known a few people who have worked as nurses in correctional facilities. Some of them loved it and some of them hated it. I think it all comes down to the individual person. I work in an ED at a hospital that has a contract with the state DOC to provide health care to inmates, so we see our fair share of them. I personally have not had any problems with any of them. In fact some of the nicest patients I have had have been inmates, but you learn quickly that it is not always genuine. Most of them are smooth talkers trying to manipulate you to get what they want. In my opinion I would focus on being a student right now. Focus on learning the core and fundamentals of nursing that you carry with you no matter what path you take. It is like someone told me one time "you have to bake the cake before you start putting on the icing". Good Luck!

The classes will be different. With other classes it is mostly about learning new information and being tested on it. With nursing it is more about learning new information that transforms the way you think and approach problems and then being tested on your new way of thinking. If that makes any sense. Taking it one week at a time in my opinion is the best way. It doesn't seem to be as overwhelming that way. Try to keep up with reading. It will be a lot, but it can be done. If you can stay ahead, then great. If not, don't worry about it, there will be times where there just isn't enough time. Just make sure you are current with everything and you will be okay. It is a job and like other jobs, some days are good and some days are bad. I would imagine there is politics for sure, but I am pretty lucky where I am and we don't have too much of that going on. We do have drama, and it usually revolves around something petty, but there are a lot of guys who work in the department so it seems to balance things out a bit and we stay really busy, so there isn't a lot of time to dwell on things. As before, Good Luck, and keep your eye on the prize. It will go by faster than you think. If you have more questions post them and I will try to answer them the best I can.

It’s hard to say what to expect overall. The biggest thing to expect is a lack of free time. The work load can be pretty intense at times and you have to make sacrifices in order to stay ahead. Get organized early and always try to stay ahead. As far as studying goes I would try to find people who have similar goals as you do and try to form some type of study group. It may take a semester or two to find the ones that are truly committed, but you will find them. Don’t worry about the NCLEX right now. It tests you on your ability to think like a nurse and you are not there yet. For now just focus on the semester ahead of you and take it one week at a time. If you start to look too far ahead you will burn out quickly. I work in the ED and there really doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in being male or female. It may be different up on the floors, but I have no desire to transfer and find out. The non-nursing staff where I work will tell you that they like working with all the guys better. They say we don’t create “drama”. Lol. The patients don’t seem to mind having a male nurse. A lot of the ones I see are in a lot of pain and they could care less if you are male or female. I hope this helps and good luck!

Probably the biggest challenge is learning to think in a new way. I am not sure how to explain that in a way that would make sense, but nursing school changes the way you think about problems and also changes the way you react to those problems. The science for me was not bad at all. I had excellent instructors for both A&P and Micro and the fact that I love science makes all the science related content much easier. The tests can be challenging as well. It is very easy to over think a question and totally miss what the question is asking. But with a little practice you learn to ignore the fluff and see the real question. Clinicals depend a lot on the instructor you get. There are good ones and bad ones just like with everything else, so sometimes you just have to suck it up and make the best of it. If you don’t enjoy learning new things, nursing school will be a nightmare. You will hear all the time “nurses are lifelong learners” and it is very true. There is always something new to learn, which for me is exciting. Another thing I have seen is people seem to struggle with is being too hard on themselves. I have always been a straight A student and it is hard to swallow failing a test or not making an A in the course, but there is a saying that says “C=RN” and sometimes you just have to except the fact that you are passing and keep moving forward.

Is nursing school hard? It depends on who you are. I personally don't think it is "hard". Is it challenging? Yes. Does it take up more time than most classes? Yes. I have a very good background in A&P, which I think is the reason it has been much "easier" for me than some of my classmates. My advice would be to get a good understanding of how the different systems in the body work and how they work together. If you do then it makes it a lot easier to understand what is going on when they are not working properly. The work load can seem overwhelming in the beginning, but you learn to manage it with whatever way works for you. Try to stay organized and try to plan ahead and stay ahead as much as possible. As far as being squeamish, everyone has their moments with something, but it gets better over time. The big thing to remember is it is doable. If it wasn't then there would be no nurses in the world, so just stay focused and work hard. Good Luck!

Is nursing school hard? It depends on who you are. I personally don’t think it is “hard”. Is it challenging? Yes. Does it take up more time than most classes? Yes. I have a very good background in A&P, which I think is the reason it has been much “easier” for me than some of my classmates. My advice would be to get a good understanding of how the different systems in the body work and how they work together. If you do then it makes it a lot easier to understand what is going on when they are not working properly. The work load can seem overwhelming in the beginning, but you learn to manage it with whatever way works for you. Try to stay organized and try to plan ahead and stay ahead as much as possible. As far as being squeamish, everyone has their moments with something, but it gets better over time. The big thing to remember is it is doable. If it wasn’t then there would be no nurses in the world, so just stay focused and work hard. Good Luck!

You are not alone. Everyone feels that way at some point. I am in my last semester of nursing school with about 75 days left to go and I still feel the same way you do at times. Skills take time to learn. By definition, to learn a new skill it takes, knowledge, practice, and aptitude. You obviously have the aptitude, because if you did not, you would not have been accepted into nursing school. You have the knowledge, because you have gone to class, now it is just a matter of practice. Like Meat Loaf says, "two out of three ain't bad". Keep your head up and your eye on the prize and it will all be over before you know it!!

Here are two sites that I used when I took A&P. I found them to be helpful. Good Luck! http://www.midlandstech.edu/science/kelleherk/210/ http://www.midlandstech.edu/science/kelleherk/211/

I work full time and I am also in nursing school full time. I don’t have kids, but I can think of at least 8 or 10 people in my class who have kids, work and attend school full time. It can be done, you just have to manage your time wisely.

It will depend a lot on the program you are in, since they are all a little different. My first semester we were in class 4 days a week for about 4 hours a day, give or take an hour. When clinicals started we were 2 days of class, and 2 days of clinicals. Clinical days were about 6-8 hours each. Lecture days started at 0800 and clinical days at 0600. Skip ahead to the end of the program where I am now and its 4-5 days of lecture for 8 hours, starting at 0800. The weeks we have clinical days the day starts at 0600, and a few at 0900, and they are around 10 hours long. One of the sites we go to requires me to leave my house at 0400 to make it there by 0600 which makes for a very long day. Now there are days here and there where we will only go in for an hour or maybe two and then we are done for the day. Like I said it will all depend on the program you get into, but you learn to manage it. Good Luck!!

i admire your eagerness, but i wouldn’t worry about it right now. like anonymousstudent said it is just basic algebra. one thing that i do is underline the important parts of the question when taking dosage tests. more often than not, the questions will supply you with numbers you don’t need, so it helps to eliminate mistakes. here is another site that may be helpful to you as well - http://home.roadrunner.com/~nurdosagecal/index.html

I agree with Katherine112, find a buddy and get organized. Once you get into a routine it's not that bad. About half of my classmates (maybe more) have children and work also. Some of them are single parents and some of them are military with deployed spouses, so it can be done. Just find a system that works for you and it will all come together. Good luck!

Don't worry about ranting. In my opinion it can be quite therapeutic. I can understand not wanting to walk away from the job. I was in a similar situation and it took me almost two years to make up my mind to pursue nursing and now I'm 8 months away from being done! I would agree about moving and dropping out in the middle of the program. There are a couple of transfer students in my class, that had to basically start over since the school wouldn't accept the nursing classes from the other programs they were in. And believe me; no one wants to do it twice!

The program that I am in is a full time program that doesn't have a part time option, so I can't comment directly on going part time. What I can say is in my opinion it would probably be hard to do both, as there are times where the job and the requirements of nursing school will conflict. I work, but my job lets me pick and choose the hours I work, so it works out well for me. To clarify a little more of what I mean by full time, I am taking two classes this semester (7 credit hours), but I am in class 4-5 days a week from 6-8 hours each day. Some days are clinical days, which requires some extra time with all the driving. One of my sites this semester is about 65 miles from my house, and the closest is about 30. So you can see time can become an issue. As far as being hard, I don't find it to be difficult. There seems to be a lot of "busy work" more than anything. Hope this helps and good luck!