JROregon

Agree with Ruby Vee, you can either do the work to get the BSN or not. You can do it cheaply through a WGU type program and take a bunch of credits at once or do it through a more expensive program with credits that are transferable anywhere if you desire to become an Advance Practice Nurse. Your choice. My BSN program was long, difficult, and had almost nothing to do with the job I was doing at the time. I became really proficient at APA format and learned a lot about public/community health. I actually became more familiar with my own community and the needs of vulnerable and marginalized people. It didn't help me start IVs or insert a perfectly sterile foley catheter but what it did do was broaden my knowledge base and make me more employable in case I decide I want to take a position that requires a BSN - right now my job only has the ADN requirement. It's your career and your choice.

In my area, hospital nurses start at $34/hour. In the bigger metro areas, a little higher but the bigger city hospitals require a BSN. The local hospitals usually only hire new grads if they have been working as CNAs but will certainly hire someone with 1 year of experience and a great patient care attitude. It is interesting to note that nursing jobs in public health require the bachelor's degree but pay less than hospital jobs that only require an RN. I guess it is all about location and job type. Best wishes in your search for the best job in terms of enjoyment and pay.

How will you find out if you don't apply for that hospital job and go through the interview process? I applied for 3 different hospital jobs, after working in a clinic for a year, and got the job I wanted and was best for my goals. The fact that you've handled hundreds, maybe even thousands of patients will show in an interview situation especially compared to a new grad. Just apply for and interview for as many jobs as necessary. If you get stumped on a question or two, get input on what would be a better answer and try again.

BanannaFish, I wouldn't give up on your dreams. While I have seen nursing students fail out and even fail twice and are done with it. I have also seen those who failed out come back and do a spectacular job. Maybe it requires some personal growth and maybe it requires more time to understand the material and take it to heart. If you were able to get into a BSN program you could certainly get into an ADN program. Maybe sitting down with one of your ex-professors to get examples of behavior or practice would be helpful and while you are doing your Tech job, do your best to work on some of those things. I have just seen, in person, so many examples of failure that have been turned into success with time and work. Don't allow this one experience dictate your future. Best of wishes!!

ASN 49 RNBS 52

Urgent care is very task oriented and you'll be trained on just about everything because there is really a little bit of everything. You will want to be able to talk about being a multi-tasker and good communicator because the physicians are right there working with you. There is way too much to brush up on because you'll be running lab tests for UTIs, doing strep swabs and running rapid strep tests. You may be placing ortho glass splints for fractures (our clinic is part of a larger practice so there is always a radiology tech working). We see people with pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, CHF and COPD complications, abscesses, STDs, rashes, migraines, and psych issues. You will see all ages from babies to 100 year olds. You will likely be required to do blood draws and start IVs thought IV starts are a rarity. There is lots of variety and problem solving. Have at it : )

How does one get accepted into a nursing school without having taken A&P? Is this one of those schools that you pay 100 grand ahead of time and they accept everyone who can pay? I don't mean to hurt feelings here but this is so unrealistic. On the other hand, I know of a nearby university that teaches the whole year of A&P in a summer term. It is like a full-time job.

Agree with the posters saying think non-hospital. The Legacy, Providence, and OHSU systems will all be wanting BSNs. If you don't mind a long commute, you might be able to find a hospital position at a more rural hospital. Best bet is home health, LTC, and SNF. Good luck!

I grew up in a suburb in the SF Bay Area and now live in a semi-rural area. Rural means you may have a 30 minute to hour drive before you get to the nearest Walmart. Rural means your nearest neighbor may be a mile away. Think of Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota. Think of places where there are major natural resources but no major retail to speak of.

So most of this will depend on which college/university you will want to attend at the end of active duty. A good start will be a writing/composition class, math at the college algebra level, biology or chemistry, psychology - both general and developmental, nutrition, sociology, statistics. Most of these classes can be taken online. You will absolutely need anatomy and physiology and probably microbiology but these all have labs and almost always need to be taken in person. Good luck with this. At least you can get a start. Try to get an idea of where you want to get that BSN so you can come up with a bigger list of classes.

You will be buying bunkloads of books in no time. Here's what I would spend a little cash on. I would get yourself one of the newest N-CLEX guides to see what you'll be tested on when you're done with school and to get an idea of what your test questions will look like in nursing school. I would also just look up how to do a head to toe nursing assessment on youtube. Practice your vital signs skills, like taking a blood pressure with a manual cuff. I wouldn't even bother trying to read ahead as you will be getting so much in depth information, you won't be able to keep it all in your head.

Really, 28 questions. I don't even remember the 1st day. I do remember the 1st 2 weeks being the most stressful as none of us know the schedule until we showed up on the first day. We were thrown a lot of new information, really quickly. We had skills and assessments to learn in lab and many of us had to come back to demonstrate very simple skills like donning sterile gloves more than once or twice. Classmates always looked as though they were coming out of a war zone when leaving the classroom for breaks. Work on ways to manage your stress level before starting and really prioritize what is important to you as you go through school. Learn to say "no". Pare your list of questions down to what is really essential because your school and clinical facility will expect you to be concise and to the point. Good luck and enjoy.

Know your pathophys. Know your most important lab values. Just as important, know what your role is as the nurse. What assessments will you be doing for what conditions? What symptoms are you going to look for? What is considered an emergency situation - when do you call the doctor or ask for help? What is normal? What treatments would you expect? With one issue, what other things are going to be out of whack? What is your 1st priority? If drugs are a big part of this test (and they may not be) what are the side effects? Start thinking like a nurse or at least thinking about how the questions are going to be asked. You've seen the kind of crazy N-CLEX questions that are on your tests. Find or make up some of your own.

I'm not sure why an honor student that dropped out of nursing school was a motivator to write all this. All of the people coming into nursing school (at least at my school) were on the honor roll and had some serious humbling after the first few tests. I like the idea of reading with the thought of the topic being a test question and trying to guess what those questions might be. Absolutely know all your definitions. Know your role as a nurse and what interventions YOU can do without an order and definitely know what you should NOT do (stuff that worsens a situation). Know the pathophys of the conditions you are being tested on and the classic signs and symptoms. Know the treatment methods - surgery, medications, medical equipment. What are the common side effects, what are the dangerous side effects. Whenever you have a drug with a very narrow therapeutic range, take that into your memory whether it is in your study material or a clinical situation (it is good to know how NOT to kill someone with too much medication). Know what a normal situation looks like and when the situation is emergent. Know what your 1st step is going to be.... are you going to call for help first, position the patient first, monitor the situation if nothing is serious now but could become serious? Look for key words in the questions - especially if the answer isn't coming to you. You may have overlooked the word "assessment" or "not". Memorization is only part of the equation and I think it should become easier as the information keeps building on previously learned info. Good luck and while I hate the word "concept map", I think it is very helpful.

Or, if you go back to the same hospital tomorrow, working on another floor, and decide to look up your friend's chart electronically. Since she is not your patient, you cannot look at her chart.