Mudminkk

Balls to the wall, do the RN program. And try to get into a BSN program - either RN to BSN or just the three year BSN program. :)

Shoot I just read that on their site, too! Dang. So close, haha! @Ram: Thanks I'll check out HRSA. The website looks familiar and it's actually in my Bookmarks...weird, maybe I did some late night searching and totally forgot about it?...

I'm halfway through my BSN nursing program and I'm getting a little worried about the debt piling up around me. The scholarships and grants I did earn have helped, but haven't covered all my costs. (I'll end up with just under 20k in debt.) So I'm trying to look around at the loan repayment programs that are offered. From what I gather the majority of these programs promise to pay back a percent of your loans, or up to a certain amount in total debt - in return for 2 years of service in an area of need. I've mainly been looking at the National Health Service Corp's Loan Repayment Program. What I'm worried about is that it looks like you have to be HIRED first (in an approved facility), then apply to the repayment program. Which of course, could be an issue if there are no jobs available OR how my competition will consist of many experienced nurses. AND even if I am fine with finding a job outside of my current state (California) how would I get hired? Over the phone? Via email? Skype?... Overall it sounds like a good deal to me, but I was wondering if anyone had some personal experiences with these programs they could share? Did you like it? Was it complicated as all heck? Was it worth it? Did you have to go out of state? In a perfect world I would become an RN and a job would magically appear in one of the approved facilities within 30 miles from me - happiness would ensue as I worked for two years enjoying the work I had already planned on doing for the rest of my career, and paid off all my debt while building my savings. One could only hope. /sigh

@Pock: Maybe novel isn't the word I wanted to use. The ones you suggested are what I'm looking for! More narratives I guess? That are based on true stories. The suggestions you gave me, How We Live and How We Die are exactly what I'm looking for! @Turqoise: I'm not sure what field I want to go into, so I'm just sampling everything! I've been interested in the ER and trauma in general - like Red Cross. I've also enjoyed some of my geriatrics experiences. I'm looking forward to Community Health and our Psych semester. And something I've always thought might be in my future - traveling abroad to help other communities outside the US. @Classic: I guess I should get my history knowledge going! And no I haven't heard of HLcells...However, our class is mandated to read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, so I'm glad to hear it's a good book! I already have it on my bedside, it's my first one in my list this summer. @Jessie and JV: Stiff just sounds hilarious. I'm putting it on my list! Haha Thank you everyone for your feedback! I'm creating a list of all these books and it looks like a lot of them can be found for cheap on Amazon. I'll try my local used bookstore first though. :heartbeat:yeah::heartbeat

I'm gathering a few books to read over the summer and wanted some suggestions. I'm looking for anything different than the straight knowledge I've been shoving into my head all semester. Something related to the medical/nursing field, but more of a story than a textbook. Anyone read any inspirational novels lately, that you would recommend to a student nurse? I'm halfway through my program - just finished MedSurg, going into Peds/L&D in the Fall. Thank you :)

My school let us use a simple calculator, nothing fancy. (They checked our calculators before the test.) But we were still mandated to show our work, and our answers had to be in the right form that was asked in the question. (Like milliliters or mgs, etc.) I found it funny that it took a $80-100 calculator to get me through Stats and into the nursing program, but a $1 calculator is all I can use now!

I have to agree with the others, check the Financial Aid office. I remember being (well, still am actually) in your position. I talked to the people at the Financial Aid office and they told me about a book fee waiver, called a BOG Form. Not sure if your school has one, I forget what BOG stood for. But it could come in handy...at least you wouldn't need to spend your money on books. The bookstore at your school just gives them to you for free :)

Yeah, don't be afraid to ask a million questions - usually the staff remember people like that. And make sure your pre-reqs are equivalent from school to school! Check out Welcome to ASSIST if you haven't already. Choose your school that you took your pre-reqs at, then choose the school you want to tranfer to, then choose the Nursing BSN option. It matches everything up to make sure you took the right classes. And for SJSU, remember that there are NO waiting lists to get into the program. Everyone is based on a Compaction Score, and the pool resets every semester. You'll be competing with new applicants, as well as applicants who didn't get in the previous semester.

I'm actually in the SJSU Nursing Program right now. So I can give a little advice about how to work with this school. You need to get into SJSU first, and list your major as Pre-Nursing. (You'll need to take the WST to get into SJSU) When you've been accepted to the school, THEN you can apply to the School of Nursing (SJSU SON). (And you'll need to take the TEAS with a passing score of 80% before applying.) Here's the website: Welcome to the School of Nursing Website And this is the Undergrad info: BS Nursing You need to go to one of the meetings that Dr. Malloy puts on - she's the advisor for incoming students. The meetings go over everything and anything you need to know about the program and how to get into it. Sorry this post is a little sporadic, but I'm doing this before I have to go to work, which is now! I hope this helped a little! :)

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post in, but I had a question about a surgery. My father had a rotator cuff surgery earlier in the year, and he's been working to rehabilitate it through physical therapy. But now, the doctor is saying his shoulder is frozen with scar tissue, and needs to be put under again in order to tear it all apart. The next day after this surgery he is scheduled for physical therapy. Is it normal to go through a surgery like that, and have therapy the very next day? If I had known my father was going in for a check-up I would have gone - I tend to ask a lot more questions than he does. But as it is, he said the doctors/nurses were really vague about what was going on, and that he felt a little lost in the whole process. Are there any key points I should know about this surgery or post-op? It seemed my father didn't know what to ask, and the medical team wasn't very forthcoming with details. Thank you for any help!