lotus1

Hello honeylet80 and all others, Sorry for the lag in responses. I haven't kept up with this thread in ages. I am currently a practicing RN on a telemetry unit. I made it! It took some time, 6 months, getting a chance from the BRN, but once they let me through I took/passed my NCLEX. Then took another 6 months to land an unpaid internship with a hospital on their Tele unit. I worked through that for a few months and landed my intended position! Here I am almost a year and a half later in my career and am now looking at schools to further my education, but now I'm looking at Nursing/Health Informatics as I took part in the implementation of CPOE at my hospital as a super user and thoroughly loved it! Too sum it all up, it does get better if your truly sorry for your mistakes and work your butt off to make it right! My worries over time have gone from not being sure if i would ever be a licensed nurse, to now worrying about what upper degree program would be ideal for my future career goals as I continue to work full time, lol! Be sincere, work hard at fixing and learning from your mistakes and it does work itself out! Good luck to honeylet80, I hope you and everyone else is doing well.

Hey Paul, I am currently in a similar situation, except I am currently working as a floor R.N on a telemetry unit with his ADN. I have just been part of a project implementing CPOE with Meditech at my hospital and took on the role of "super user". I very much enjoyed this project, as I also have had a love of I.T ever before I became a nurse. I am looking into a informatics career shift now, and am also wondering if I should go the route of Nursing informatics or Health Informatics. I am currently looking at programs that offer an RN-BSN (then MSN in Nursing informatics), RN-MSN in Nursing Informatics, RN-MSN then gaining a Informatics cert., RN-BSN then gaining a Informatics cert., or even a RN-Bachelors in Health Informatics offered by WGU. I am conflicted as to what the right path is too. I enjoy nursing and would like to have to option open to nurse in the future if I wanted to, but I definitely want to pursue Informatics now, but retain my nursing disposition. If anyone with experience in Nursing/Health Informatics, or has been involved in management position in charge of hiring such candidates, see's this I'd also appreciate some input. Good luck you paul.

I would rather not state the school I attended. As for rotations, it was hit and miss during semester registering. I had to look at the hospital sites that were offered with each instructor, it wasn't ideal (for my educational purposes), but I chose the sections/instructors that were at more "forgiving" hospitals. Lawyers come in all different price ranges (mine was around $1,800). For me to say that having one is "necessary" is beyond my scope of expertise, but I will say that I believe having one helped me, and I think contacting a lawyer is a wise choice. I wish you the best with your situation and I wish you the best! Keep the thread updated as to how your story unfolds, if you wish!

I'm just a new grad, but the first thing that pops into my mind is "Informatics Nurse". It's actually a long term career goal of mine. If your good with computers/technology/etc. and don't mind some more school, it may be an idea!

@Lifeinthefields, Thank you! I got my NCLEX results back 4 days after taking it and I passed! Registered now and looking for employment. Regardless of what people say about finding work being harder than it was before, the job hunt is a welcomed task for me, from where I was at and where I am at now, I feel great. Good luck to all those in school still, newly graduated, and seasoned nurses who see this

Hello all, I'm sorry for the long hiatus from this thread. It was a very busy and stressful time getting through the latter half of school. Suffered through some personal hardships (financial, loss of a long standing family house and mid program relocation, and loss of a family member in my home who was on hospice for biliary duct cancer just as we were covering oncology material in school, ironic huh? But, I digress. Well, It all worked out!!! I was upfront with my school and as you can see from my avatar I GRADUATED! Better still, I applied to the BRN of California and with support from my school, family and friends and getting through some red tape and quite some time waiting; I finally was given the green light to take my NCLEX!!!! This is where I'm at now reviewing for my boards and feeling blessed that it all worked out. This is some of my back ground in regards to the legal troubles I had: I had a 0.8 BAC, was very cooperative with the officers on that night, had NO prior problems with the law and hired a lawyer specializing in those types of cases to help me through it. He assisted in getting my d.u.i reduced to "reckless driving". I believe my prior history and the circumstances around the night the indecent happened. My school was understanding and my instructors supported me. Now, after all this, all the work to stay in school and graduate I was faced with D-day; BRN application time! Will I be allowed to take my boards? I wasn't sure. I had to submit a lot more paperwork (arrest record, court transcripts, letters of recommendation, proof that I complied with all court appointed punishments and fines, and a hand written letter of what had happened that night). Now, I could have had just said I had reckless driving, that was the first impulse I had since that's all that showed up on my record now; the d.u.i was dismissed. But, I figured I needed to be completely honest and divulge everything from start to finish in my letter to the board. I'm glad I did! The wait time was approximately 4.5 months from application to the final decision from the board, but in the end they gave me the privilege to take my exam!! Well, that's it. Sorry for the long winded response, but I felt compelled to share my story since you all showed interest and replied to my thread. If there's anything else that anyone would like to ask, just go ahead ahead and reply. Thank you

Thank you MCSS well the lawyer I hired to handle it just had the court day and it was reduced to a "wet reckless" since it was a first offense I've ever had in my life and I was coorperative with the police, and yes I have learned my lesson (every choice we make we must realize has consequences.) The WR shows up as "reckless driving" on someones record I found out. It is still a misdemeanor, but it is not a DUI it turns out. I kinda wanted to wait for the whole court process to go through so I could now exactly what I would have to deal with and get the documentation that I paid my fines and appeased the punishments the imposed (which I will find out is a few days and handle it). Now when I go to them I will have documentation and know what I'm dealing with. Hopefully they will understand that I whole heartedly am sorry for making such a bad choice and let me continue with my career training. Thanks for posting and showing concern. I will post again with a final update once I tell them and all is handle (on the legal front and school front). Thanks for the kind and honest words posted in this thread by everyone. P.S. umm.. I've notice I have been refered to as a "she" but I'm a guy actually just a little thing I wanted to clear up :doh:

Thank you so much for your kind, helpfull, and inspirational words fiandgrace. Some time has past since the intial incident and I am about to have my laywer go in for the court day on monday and Ill find out how much in fines I'll have to pay and what other penalties Ill have to do (e.g. court mandated classes, community service, etc.) or if the whole thing may be dropped. My first semester is almost over and I am planning on telling my instructors during the summer as Im finishing up the classes and/or community services. I dont have the highest grade in class but I'm at a high B and I work hard and have shown progress in my school work, mainly careplans. I just hope that all that plus having my fines paid off and my penalties in progress will be enough to show them that I want to make a mends for this very ill decision. Wish me luck, I hope the next time I post I will be about my program letting me continue and not a post about ..well I hate to even think about it now. Thank you for your support and you post :)

Thanks for the input tiffany. I will.

Should I wait until I have completed the Alcohol classes and whatever other (if any) penalties before I have a sit down with them?

I am a nursing student in California, I am in my first semester of the program. I've read some threads on the matter which I am about to discuss but have not found an answer speicific to my problem. I recently made the worst decision of my life and drove home after having some drinks and recieved a DUI, this is my first DUI (or problem with the law ever) and it had no aggrevating charges. I hired a lawyer to help me through the legal process, but I am almost sure It will remain a DUI or at best a "wet reckless" I am adamant about taking the Alcohol classes and anything else required of me and refraining from ever putting myself in this situation again. My question is how and when should I tell my program, my greatest fear is being thrown out of the program and losing my chance to pursure this career choice which I've worked towards the past 1 1/2 years. I've reflected on this utterly stupid choice I made which was totally out of character for me and know I will have to tell my instructors. If I do remain in the program I know I will have to disclose this to the California Board of Nursing and will need personal reference letters from relevant people (i.e instructors, faculty) so trying to skate under the radar and finish quietly is not an option. Please any advice from people with experience knowledge on the matter would be greatly appreciated.