NurseGuy30

I'm currently an RN ADN with almost 5 years experience, about 3 of those years as manager of a post-acute rehab unit before I moved on to acute care. I hope to complete my BSN within the next six months. I'm looking at masters degrees. I'd like to be involved in research more than anything else. I'm well aware of the MSN/NP and DNP options out there. But I'm not sure I want to go into primary care for a living. I recently spoke with Benedictine University about the MPH degree, and that sounds very interesting; but I also don't know that I want to be a PHN, and I'm wondering if that's all that degree is likely to be available for an RN/MPH. So how about it? What advanced degree is most valuable for a nurse who wants to do research? NP? DNP? NPH?

Hoping for 6 months here too, I have 34 CUs to complete.

Oh, and FNP specialty.

Mary, I'm hoping for ADN to MSN. Frontier looks appealing.

Thanks!

Ah! ADN program I'm graduating from,.not an np program. Sorry.

I know you need to have a year RN experience, generally speaking, to get in. Will they accept someone with only LTC experience?

I'm about to graduate from an NP program and already work as an LPN at an LTC/rehab facility, on the rehab side. I enjoy my job, and when I get my RN I'll make a very good wage. I plan to pick up some PEDS home health clients through an agency as well. My goal is to be an FNP. When I think about the future, I wonder whether NP programs will take someone without hosital RN experience. This is of course complicated by the fact that I'd prefer an RN to FNP program. I've been looking at Frontier. Can you get into a good FNP program without hospital experience, or is it time for me to suck it up and take a rather large cut in pay by going into acute care?

I did my time as a CNA, and I don't think I could ever, ever, ever go back to being a CNA, for any amount of money. I love being a Nurse. (And a fairly well compensated nurse

FWIW, which is probably not much, I started my healthcare career as a tech on an oncology floor. I was on-and-off depressed for some six months. Now it honestly doesn't bother it much. For me, death just took some getting used to. It's a part of life, the patients would still die if I was elsewhere, and I can make their final experience just a tad better for them. It's something we all have to do someday. So my advice: go through that fire, and get used to it. It'll lighten up. May not help at all, just FWIW.

Rain---------------->Parade

I work out three times a week. It means getting to campus an hour and a half early, but it's totally worth it. It makes me feel better all week long.

Nursing school is the hardest thing I've ever done, and having a full-time job as a CNA doesn't make it any easier. Neither does having two young children. I'm approaching middle age. I have a bachelor of arts degree under my belt which was a lot of fun to get, and a lot of hard work, but never earned me a nickle. You know, my father never got a second chance at a career choice. Most people probably never do. They never got the second chance to pursue the dream of finding and doing something they love, and providing better for their families. So when you come down to it, I'm chasing my dreams, which is tough--but I can't think of a place I'd rather be. I'm pretty darn lucky. So cheers, here's to second chances.

You could work as a PCT or CNA at a local hospital, maybe just the weekends. Those jobs can even be hard to get. My advice: apply, follow up, go visit the hiring manager, tell them why they should hire you. Then a few years down the road you're an obvious choice for their next RN hire. Or not. In any case, the job prospects for RNs are going to be a heck of a lot better than the job prospects for nursing school dropouts, no matter what the damned economy looks like in two years. Chin up, yeah?

A nurse at a hospital I did a rotation in: "This is a Catholic hospital. A sister gets on the PA to say prayers at exactly 8:30 AM and exactly 8:30 PM. So if someone gets on the horn at 9:45 and says 'Sweet Jesus!' you know you should get ready to run."

Tele techs practice under the RN's license. So they don't really have a scope of practice any more than a unit secretary has a scope of practice. They just have a list of things they can't actually do. Your hospital should be training you. It took a lot of training and even a couple of shifts before I became comfortable in tele, but then we can take forty plus patients at a time. As for the strips, you can see a lot of things by "eyeballing"--a-fib, obvious arrhythmias. You may not find a bundle branch block (sometimes it's no so obvious), or a 1st degree heart block.

--Thanks for apologizing for being snarky. I know it was a stressful day, so really--don't worry about it. --I'm sorry it took me so long to realize what a good nurse you are. --No, we don't usually get along, and there's some tension. But I've seen you work, and I know your a good nurse who takes good care of your patients. And I tell others that, too. --Stop trying to look cute and chatting it up, I'm trying to tell you your patient looks ten times crappier than he did yesterday and has neuro status changes, and nobody else has noticed. --Please listen when I bring up patient safety concerns. You know I've been proven right before, and it took you a while to clean up the blood. --Yes, I know your having a conversation. Please take ten seconds to answer my question so I can help you care for your patient. No, I don't think his bladder will wait for you to finish. --Please don't tell me that your patient satting 86% is fine because "he does it all the time." I'm not a nurse yet, but I'm not that ignorant. --Thanks for putting oxygen on that patient who satted 86%, even though the patient wasn't yours, because our nutty coworker refused to. --No, I really don't feel like going far outside of my CNA scope of practice to save you one or two minutes. Yes, I will have the nerve to refuse that request. So please don't ask. --Those words of encouragement you have for me while I'm in nursing school--someday I hope I can repay you. It means more than you know. --You're an awesome nurse. I hope I'll be that good. --You really impressed me by the way you treat your neediest patients. I hope I'm as good a CNA as you are. I'm glad I got the chance to tell you this on one of your crappiest days, and I'll pretend I didn't hear your voice crack when you thanked me. I've got your back. --I really don't care what the gentleman did or was accused of doing. Don't ever tell me you don't care whether your patient lives or dies. We're in nursing, not criminal justice. If you know something criminal he did, and it's obviously no danger to us, keep it under your hat. Stop googling his name. --I'll be honest in dealing with you. If you snap at me, I'll bite back. I'll establish some boundaries. I will not ever hold a grudge. I'll ask for your help when I need it, whether or not I think you want to help me. I'll help you whenever I can, and tell you when I'm honestly too busy. I'll do my best to lighten your load. I'll be honest about any mistakes I make and bring up patient concerns I have. I hope you'll be honest with me in exactly the same way, and we'll get to respect each other. Maybe eventually we'll get to be friends. You wouldn't be the first. --I'll pretend not to notice that you stayed a little late so you could walk out with and chat with me. But don't think I don't appreciate it. --You annoy the crap out of me, because you're just like me. I know I annoy the crap out of you, too. But I'm glad we've gotten to be good friends. --I had more fun at work today than I have ever had at any job, and it's because of you guys. --Thanks.

That's awesome. I have to say that I have been very lucky in my nursing school so far. The clinical instructor I have now has a reputation for being tough, and she is. But I know she has only the best intentions. I know that her motivation is an overwhelming concern for the quality of our nursing grads and the care nurses should be giving patients. And because I know this, I will take every constructive criticism she gives me to heart, because I know she is trying to make me better. I am more motivated in this clinical than I was in last--not because I'm afraid of this instructor, but because I'm afraid of ever disappointing her.

Thanks for the clarification. I had looked at it rather carefully, but apparently remembered incorrectly.

Okay, well you need to specify. I have a belief that alcoholism is a waste of humanity, but I also have the belief that I have the responsibility to help care for anyone who is (professionally) under my care. So that guy who's got ETOH withdrawal and tries to eat his spoon while peeing on himself and swinging at me? Yeah, he's my patient. I will do what's in his best interest, though his beliefs are considerably different than mine. I think you need to differentiate between judgments and beliefs. I try not to judge that guy--but for grace, I might be the guy peeing on himself with no clue how unappealing he has made himself. A belief, to me, is a boundary I will not cross. I would take care of the president of Planned Parenthood, and I would not ever try to avoid the assignment to do so. I would not tell her I disagreed with her views, because her understanding is different than mine (and of course I believe she is mistaken). I would not come to the conclusion that she is a bad person, because I am not her judge. I'm her nurse. That's withholding judgment. I would never assist in an abortion, and I would quit any job that attempted to force me to (though I believe I will never have to be in that situation). That's sticking with your beliefs. If you are in a situation where you are called upon to betray your actual bedrock beliefs, then I suggest you either speak up or get out of that situation while you still can. So I will leave my judgments at the door, but never my beliefs. So there you go.

I worked as a CNA/unit secretary at a hospital for a year before I started nursing school. I have to say that it has helped me tremendously, mainly in knowing how to deal with patients--bedside manner, I think. Also, being a unit secretary was incredibly helpful because I knew the tests, procedures, etc., before they were brought up in the reading.

Ridiculous. That's all.

A+ in Fluids and Electrolytes, A+ in Peds, A+ in Mother/Baby Pathophysiology Made Incredibly Easy Bought Pharmacology Math Made Incredibly Easy, never cracked it--passed pharm. NCLEX-RN Made Incredibly Easy The Saunders NCLEX Book, though not my favorite either

I'm a dad who works 36 hrs/wk as a CNA. I have a young boy and girl. Basically, my wife handles it. I'm able to study with kids on my lap--in small doses. Right now I'm at a coffee shop, taking a break from my med/surg book. I'm not at home. Daddy goes to school, then goes to work. They don't see me often, only for an hour or less a day sometimes. On days off I study all day. Yeah, it's rough. But in the end their lives will be enriched by it. I would never begin to make it without a very supportive wife.

Hi, I've heard it's almost impossible for a new RN to get a job in the Indianapolis area right now? Is this true? Should I start packing?