Second Life

Thank you for the heads up HouTx, its nice to know critical things like that I should be on top of my BSN before making a push for the big city hospitals, so I can map out my future better. Texas really catches my eyes because its almost the polar opposite of my home state. I like to be on the forefront of what I do and Houston and San Antonio have massive medical centers while Wisconsin doesn't even have one. Wisconsin tends to get hit harder and longer by recessions and benefits less from economic growth, all while also having a ridiculously high cost of living. The hospitals up here are pretty good but don't compare to those in Houston or San Antonio. Nurses have been laid off while I see everyone and their grandma pushing themselves through nursing school. I foresee a stagnant nursing career for myself in frozen tundra while I can see my career growing with an area that is practically a paradise to me. I welcome stronger competition in the Lone Star State, it should push me to become an even better nurse. Up here, I'd be competing primarily with the "Where's my job that starts out at $30 an hour and skyrockets from there? The diploma mill promised me one for suffering through all these brutal courses."

I currently live in Milwaukee, WI where I work full time as a CNA while working full time on getting my ADN for RN. I am very strongly considering moving to Texas when I get my RN, since I want more from my career than what this state will afford me. I am curious as to which are the best cities to consider seeking long term employment as a nurse in the Lone Star State. I want to specialize in cardiology, is there a particular city that is a leader in such care? Is there any advice for prospecting a nursing career in Texas? I plan on working on my masters and DNP through the University of Texas, though another university may be able to win me over.

I believe I also encountered sexism discrimination when I moved to Milwaukee and spent months trying to land a CNA job. I had a top notch resume, glowing references, a strong work history, 6 months experience as a CBRF CNA and 4.0 GPA taking 200 level pre-clinical courses yet I was ignored left and right by places that had a clear need for CNA's. I kept hearing the same line that "we had a flood of highly qualified candidates that unfortunately edged you out", yet there is no way you could convince me that the majority of my female peers at schools that got hired at these places even came close to comparing to me. It seems that a lot of these HR managers are turned off by a masculine male, even if he has proven himself before as a CNA, because its inconvenient to schedule him around male-phobic patients/ residents and because there is probably serious doubt that a masculine male has the interpersonal skills to build a rapport with anyone other than love struck women. But keep your head up because the few places that were receptive to me worked real hard to hire me. I now have a CNA job where I have an inside track to working as a Nurse Tech and then an LPN, so that I'll have a strong foundation for my RN. A dedicated male with a fatherly rapport is much more than muscles and a commodity to a good facility.

I will complete my ADN prerequisites this fall semester taking the highest level courses and I have maintained a 4.0 GPA. I aspire to be a cardiac nurse in a hospital setting and plan to continue my education all the way to a doctorate in nursing administration or nurse practitioner (I'll decide on that one when my experience tells me which I would rather pursue). I've worked very hard to get to the point I am at, my family has sacrificed a lot for this opportunity and my motivation to become a cardiac nurse is strongly rooted in my own personal experiences (something that I might share in another post). Last fall, I took a part time CNA position at a dementia unit over the hospitals, correctly figuring that the facility would provide me with more opportunities to develop my leadership skills and personality as a CNA (my last profession was as a mechanic where I did a lot of solitary work in a very hostile, masculine environment). The problem is that a few months ago I was discharged for bogus reasoning and its obvious to me and my former coworkers that it was in retaliation for an incident in which I had to go above the facility director and nurse because they were purposely ignoring a staffing problem that endangered the care of the residents. Recently I have begun to apply for open CNA positions at hospitals and I have been dismissed as a candidate early in the process. I don't know if this discharge lacking merit (unemployment did an investigation, the employer brought forth additional false charges that they failed to substantiate and concluded I did not commit any misconduct) is hindering my prospects or if I simply do not fit a strict profile they look for in candidates. This has forced me to consider continuing down the dementia care path. I am looking for insights as to how I could make this area of nursing assistant an asset to my aspirations to be a cardiac RN.