pellykate

That's what I think, too. We only have two nurses for up to 32 clients. They don't all take meds, but many of them need a LOT of attention so the days are busy, and with admissions and discharges and panic attacks and questions and BPD... oh LORD, how am I going to have time to do director work and deal with all that? Filling in for call-outs I've had plenty of experience with trying to do both, and I don't see how it's possible. Anyway, I'll have to let go of one of my full-time nurses to make this schedule happen, which means I'll actually have to work three 12s and somehow be a director.

How many days a week do you work in the staff nurse role? I've been told I am to be the RN two days a week and am alotted three "director days" a week. Is this normal? I've never worked in this environment (voluntary residential psych) and never been a DON before.

I think what he meant to say was, “More nurses will not improve my profits.”

I’m a school nurse which is the perfect job for me and my family’s needs EXCEPT for the pay. Oh, the pay. I have $29 after paying rent and one smallish bill immediately after my paycheck dropped last night. That’s right. $29 to live on for two weeks. My rent is on the minimum end of the scale for my area, too. I’m working on a food truck tomorrow morning and do this somewhat regularly, but I was wondering if anyone knows about doing medical coding on the side, say part time from home, sort of PRN?

Why didn't she call the pharmacy first and ask about the med not showing up?! Sure, she may have been rushed, but GOOD LORD. If Versed is ordered, it doesn't show up in the Pyxis, you type in VE on override and something else shows up, you DON'T PICK something else! This blows my mind. That poor patient and her family!

LOL! Oops! I meant to type "$39K", as in $39,000 a year. Minus taxes and benefits, I end up with $2000 a month. I thought I could make it work. WRONG. As for cost of living, yes, it has increased dramatically around here in the past few years. From our local paper: What does it cost to live comfortably in Nashville?

In Metro Nashville, I am an employee of the city Health Department within Metro Government, which has excellent benefits. I divide my days evenly between two schools which are just down the road from each other. We work on the students' calendar with the exception of a few days of in-services throughout the school year. Salary is spread out over 12 months. I'm an RN, four years prior hospital experience, Bachelor's degree in another area and Associate's in Nursing, no certification in any specialty. I started out at $39. I LOVE my kiddos, the staff at both schools, and my supervisors and DON. Looking forward to snow days this year, too! The only problem is that pay! For example, I'm having to tell my kid we can't go to Great Clips until my next paycheck. I'm couponing my butt off, buying NOTHING unnecessary, not even a cup of coffee, and working on a food truck here and there just to have enough to not be overdrawn, and I don't always make that goal. Something has to change.

NOW do you guys understand why doing mouth care is so important?!

Right. I once said to a parapro who brought in a student she just really did not want to deal with that day (temp was in the lower 98's), "She feels warm because she's alive" and laughed so she wouldn't slap me.

Heck yeah! If the student has made it clear they are Christian, and they are in need of prayer, then how could I not?

Student comes to clinic with 45 minutes left in the day saying her sore throat is worse and looks all sad and wilted. I tell her go get your backpack and just wait for the bus in here with me. She comes back, plops down and proceeds to talk for the next thirty minutes STRAIGHT, so lively and animated, telling me scene by scene the plot of some crazy movie she saw. C'mon now! Fool me once, kid...

Do it! Go all the way! We have three women in our program who are 50 and above and a couple others who are in their 40's, and they are doing great. I think you have two advantages over younger students: life experience and your kids are self-sufficient at this point. I'm 33 with a husband and two boys ages 6 and 7, and I'm having a hard time but hanging in there and doing pretty well. You probably don't have to worry about rides to school and aftercare for your kids, they're not needing your attention when you have to study, you don't have to do everything for them. You're probably back to your pre-kids time scheme at this point. Sometimes I think maybe I should have waited until mine are at least in middle school. Owell. Also, as far as the physical demands, helping someone get out of bed can be challenging for anyone! At my age it's still hard, and I'm pretty strong... just small. Just get help. There's always someone around who can help you turn or lift or move someone. You'll be on your feet quite a bit walking around, but it sounds like you're already doing that. It's taking care of patients, not Wipe Out. You'll be fine. One girl in our program has severe asthma, and she's around 40, quite overweight, but she already works as an LPN and is having no problems in the program. You can do this. You can do this.

It was in her chart. It had been placed to admin antibiotics before surgery because of a previous MRSA infection. Home health nurse failed to show to assess/change it, finally arrived three days late and found her legs swollen and hot. The pt said her face had been "broken out real bad all over", also, though it looked okay today.

I'm in my third semester of nursing school.Tonight at clinical my patient had cellulitis caused by MRSA from a neglected PICC line. Go ahead and laugh at/berate me for my ignorance, but i was confused by her arm that seemed totally fine, but she had 3+ pitting edema that was hot to the touch. BP 90/50, HR in the 80's while on oxycodone, RR 14, temp 97F. Can someone tell me why the cellulitis is in her lower extremities instead of the arm the PICC line had been in?

Dr. R. rules!

I'm assuming you were at the meeting Wednesday? : ) Wish I'd seen this before, because I would've told you the same thing the day you posted this that I'll tell you today. Just fill out the FAFSA and THEN pursue answers. Get that paperwork done and you can do all the worrying you want minus worrying whether you'll get that in on time or not. It sounded like we should all be just as eligble for aid as anyone else (assuming none of us are wealthy) from what Cindy and Lance said in the meeting. Hope your questions have all been answered already. I was freaking out over the "Maximum Time-frame" letter I got from Financial Aid a couple of weeks ago. She said they fix that on their own. *fingers crossed* Good luck. See ya in July! Kelly (the one who came in five minutes late and sat with the faculty at first, lol!)

Bowman, by any chance?

So I would probably be able to drop off and pick up the kids from school myself?! As long as I have that, I can work around the rest.

Can someone give me an idea of the daily time span of nursing school around Nashville? Can you go just the hours the kids are in school without having to pay for before and after care? When I'm getting paid to be involved in nursing, it won't be a problem, but right now it's the opposite. I wish people who don't have kids realized that child care is like a second mortgage. Anything you can tell me would be enormously helpful. I'm agonizing over this.

Thanks! Microbiology was super tough online, but I managed to get away with a B+! I agree about Belmont. It's just too doggone expensive! And you have to take 6 hours of religion courses, too? My husband works there and could get me a discount, but it would STILL be about three times the tuition after that. You're better off with a state school or community college. Definitely.

How do they know, though? That doesn't show up on your transcript, does it?

Thank you. That's encouraging. I think I'm going to go down to NSCC in person and ask an advisor face to face. Apparently, no one answers their school emails over the summer, except Belmont.

Huh. Well. So Belmont will accept credits MTSU won't. Did you know if you already have a Bachelor's that you can earn RN with an Associate's and then get an MSN online? MTSU's online advisor told me this. Good to know. Of course, if you get into Belmont's accelerated BSN program, that's probably less time anyway. I did ask the schools directly. I just didn't exactly believe them. :) @Sandnnw's advice is wise.

I've already got a BS in Psychology, but what I want to really do with my life is nursing. I'm enrolled at Nashville State and got one on-campus class (A&P I) and one RODP class (Microbiology). I called TSU, TSU at Vol State and Nashville State and asked if an RODP science prerequisite will count toward acceptance into their Nursing programs. They all said yes. I asked because I know at MTSU they would not, and pretty sure from a post elsewhere on here that Austin Peay's Nursing school doesn't accept RODP credits, but those are for a Bachelor's, and I'm just going for an Associate's to become an RN. I just want to make absolutely certain that if I want to do all my prereq's online, that they'll count. I have two little boys, so the less time I have to spend on a campus and in the car, the better. Thanks for any information you can share with me. Good luck, everyone!