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DJ I can completely understand your concern as all the other commenters who have given comments. I too am an RN and a USAF Vet 1979-1984 in Weapons Maintenance Officer. I was fresh out of San Diego State in 1979 and wanted to serve my country as my uncles had. I was among the first wave of women entering a male dominated profession: flightline. I too was sexually harassed not by enlisted, but by the Lt. Col. of my Squadron. I was silent for 32 years after reporting the incident to the my superiors, up to the Wing Cmdr. And like you, I began hearing the women's stories and experiences in the military. It brought back the flood of emotions and trauma that I had sequestered for many years. I left his command, but his comments to my new commander were devastating. I was an embarrassment to the uniform, I was lower than dirt, I had the IQ of Zero. The Lt. Col. retired, but he did considerable damage. I too went through PTSD. I didn't have other women I could turn to for advice and counseling. There were no Military Rape organizations and clinics. I didn't have role models. I believe there were more women like me at my time. We just didn't know where to turn, who to talk to without retribution. We were surviving. I left the AF, returned to school and nursing. This experience is not meant to scare you and those commented before me don't want the same. The reality is that the world is not safe. We take our chances in life. The same is true in nursing. Ultimately it is your decision when you weigh all the information on the table. Now there are organizations fighting for those abused, harassed, and assaulted. No woman or man is alone in this experience. There are many ways to serve your country. JFK said it best: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. I know nurses and professors who served in the Peace Corps, who work at Indian Health Services (Indian reservations are in need of help and assistance), who work at underprivileged clinics throughout the country and world. Ultimately we represent our country in whatever we do. Would I serve my country again? Yes, despite my experience. I also learned that no one takes me down except myself. I accomplished a lot for an officer he deemed an embarrassment: USAF Capt., RN, and now future Archaeologist. My prayers and thoughts to you. You are not alone...remember that, not even as a nurse!

Codes happen when we're in the bathroom, half way through the stream when we haphazardly pull up our scrub pants, (toilet paper not included). We don't have time to urinate, hence the UTI's. On our lunch breaks, we shove our food down our throats at warped speed and run back to our assignments. Our stomachs growl when our lunch break is toward the end of the 12 hour shift. Farting in the presence of the patient? Hey, life's a gas (sic).

"You're not God. If you give me attitude you will earn a life-long enemy. I don't care how many surgeries you've performed. You might be very talented and I'll respect you for that. But do not talk down to me. If I'm asking you a question, it's because I need the answer. " BRAVO!!! I have been an RN for over 20 years and I agree with everything, especially the above comment on physicians. I worked the Cath Lab and saw this narcissistic attitude from Cardiologists every single day.

You've accomplished more in a short amount of time than many pre-nursing students have. You have a GPA many students would love to have. I won't sugar coat it for you: Nursing schools are getting more and more difficult to get into. However, under no circumstances should that stop you from pursuing your goals. GPA's are becoming more important in the package, but remember it's not the whole package. It's how you present yourself in your letter of intention to the school, the experience you gained during your studies, how that experience will contribute to your education and nursing career, letters of reference from those supervisors, physicians, charge nurses that have seen your work, any contributions to research you may have assisted in. It's similiar to getting into the Masters Program; students believe the GRE scores are the end all. Not true. Explaining the reasoning for the low scores or low GPA together with experience and contributions to the profession can be a plus. Trust me, some people that have achieved their Masters degrees, didn't have the best of GPA's in nursing or other professions. It may take you sometime to get into the nursing program of your choice, just don't limit yourself to a few schools, safe of otherwise. There will be some sacrifacing to make if you want this nursing degree. Consider the financial alternatives of moving in-state or out-of-state going to school. Talk to the college advisors as well. Talk to former nursing students. Introduce yourself to the nursing faculty. (the old saying, "be the bad penny, he's always turning up") Ask the faculty for their opinion and suggestions in entering the program. In other words, make yourself known. Network, even at this stage. Ask for advice from the hospital staff you will work at or volunteer. If in the meantime if you are unable to get into the program anywhere, GAIN as much experience as you can in the ED. If there is committee that needs volunteers, volunteer; if there are classes for nurses in the hospital setting, talk to the supervisor of attending these courses for experience, do what you have to do. Put all of that in your resume package to the school. Nursing Schools look for achievers, not slackers. And, remember, GPA's do not reflect the whole person. If they did, many excellent nurses at the bedside now or in the past would not have gotten into nursing school, let alone the front door. We need nurses like you.

When you become a charge nurse, nurse preceptor,nursing instructor, or even colleague, you will understand what your students are going through. Your empathy and understanding from past experiences will come through to them, because you have been in their shoes. Nurses should never forget where they came from.

When I read your piece, all my memories of working ICU, going home, waking up in the middle of the nite or day, and phoning in to work asking my relief nurse to check on things I may not have done or skipped. No matter how many years you have in this profession, you will always be making those calls or re-checking details in your brain to "make sure." It's part of the psyche of being a nurse. There were nites when all earth broke loose and some things didn't get done. There were nites when IV's got backed up, because the 2nd of 2 patients was going downhill; then there nites when both patients went "south" then those organizational skills went down the tubes also. It's all part of growing as a nurse in terms of confidence. As long as your patients and their families know you truly care for them, then that's what truly matters. That's a feeling no condescending b**** can take away from you. Hang in there, you'll be a great nurse. As for the condescending b****, those nurses do exist. And, trust me, they too made mistakes. They seem to "forget" they too were new nurses. You don't live through this profession without making mistakes. We are human, caring for humans. If you make a mistake, admit it, report it to the supervisors, learn from it, and move on. Yes, some of those b***** with give you heartache, and will never change their attitudes. Be the better person and nurse.

To :The Commuter": I completely agree with the nursing profession lacking powerful representation. Though we have are American Nurses Association, etc. they are not as a cohesive group as the AMA. Nurses know that these nursing organizations can be just as powerful, if only the organizational leaders stop their bickering, infighting, betrayals of trust and confidence toward their "young", their colleagues, and the nursing profession overall. We outnumber physicians; we too save lives; nurses have saved new and old physicians from making severe errors; we even teach the young physicians. As a nurse with 20 years experience, it still saddens me that nurses are portrayed in this way by the media. Nurses must demand that their nursing organizations represent them in a professional manner and nursing organizations need to clean up their act. Then and only then, can we have a powerful lobbying group for nurses in this country. Just my opinion of 20 years.

DizzyLizzyNurse: This is a comment on your interest in archaeology and my involvement as a nurse/archaeologist: If you want to know what nurses have contributed to anthro/arch. then go to the Society of American Archaeology website, click about the society, click publications, then go to 2012, Volume 12, May Number 3, check the pdf on Lorna Tilley, a former nurse and public health worker from Australia. I went into nursing because of a bad economy in the 80's. Even with a B.A. my chances in anthro were slim. It took burn out to put me back into junior college and courses in anthro. I didn't get the support from my colleagues, but I am better off as a person now. Nurses contribute to anthro in many ways. We have the know how on pathophys, nutrition, lifestyle, etc. We know what questions to ask. We are not afraid of going to the top people who write the research and question their work. We know about assessing, eval, and most important documentation, that's the key, etc. It's our life's work, and we do it better than anyone. Field schools are expensive, so many junior colleges offer field classes in their area, means digging, shoveling, dirty work, snakes, ....we can handle that. It's frustrating with young classmates, who don't care, but the professors use you as a leader and will mentor you...they want older students who want to learn. You can be an avocational archaeologist if not a professional one, your choice. Lynne Christensen, Joan Schneider, Lorna Tilley, Harriet Boyd Hawes, all public health and nurses. Look up their work. I know more now about people and cultures: how they lived, how to differentiate stone tools, how to craft a projectile point from obsidian (flintknapping), faunal bones, plants, geology, primates, evolution, genetics, etc. It doesn't pay well, $18.00/hour, but get your foot in the door with an professional archaeology company and work. Keep your nursing job as well. The money is in a masters degree and teaching. Nursing comes in handy, archaeologists are not the safest people around. I plan to go for my masters in anthro. in a couple of years. If you work at a university hospital, look into masters classes in anthro. you might get the discount. I'd like to study the SW and hopefully osteology. The study of human remains is getting difficult, here in the U.S. we have the Native American Graves Protection Act, protects the remains of Native Americans, rightly so. However, remains of civil war battlefields, unknown cemetaries, are still being studied. Talk to the professors and they they can give you more info. Good Luck, keep me posted. Anthro./Archae. has made me a better person, a better nurse, and has given me the opportunity to pursue research in osteology and ancient people.

I've certainly been in your position, primarily burn out. I knew that if I were to survive nursing, mentally and physically, I would have to back away for awhile and re-group. The pay in nursing is good and I needed to pay the bills, so I went per diem and returned to school for my life long passion of anthropology. For three years, I worked at clinics and hospice jobs to make ends meet and went to school at nite. Returning to anthropology/archaeology, I was able to have an outlet to resolve my burnout. In other words, I began to love nursing again. I also used my experience in nursing and applied it to my anthro/archaeology studies, primarily in the study of bones and paleopathology. Now I plan to pursue my masters in anthropology. Hope to someday teach nursing again or perhaps anthro. I have nursing colleagues that took cooking classes, accounting, worked as volunteers in museums and slowly moved into secondary jobs, all the while still being nurses; because in the long run, the pay is still better than most jobs. It helped me with the burn out phase. Ultimately, it is your happiness, health, and life, not your husband's.

The V.A. Hospital and UCSD Medical Center are other options. Nursing jobs are tight in San Diego, all around, whether you are experienced or new grad. If you plan to live in the North County of San Diego, you may want to consider commuting to Orange County (San Clemente, etc.) or to Temecula (Riverside County) for a job. Some nurses do that. Check USA Gov Jobs for positions in San Diego VA facilities. Don't limit yourself with a few select organizations. Apply to all facilities. The better of all of them, per my experience, is Scripps Healthcare; five hospitals in their organization and room to float and advance.

Other alternatives are: apply to any college student health services (fax and/or hand deliver your resume; I did); apply to unified school district nursing jobs (most take LVN's, but it is worth the effort to regain skills); although, many nurses shun nursing and hospice facilities, they too can be a source of income; sign up with a nursing registry--but, make sure they understand your dilemma---I signed up with Nursefinders, Inc. and they sent me to the Kaiser Permanente Nurses Clinics where I gained valuable experience. At one point I had to travel from San Diego to Anaheim to work at their clinics--but it was worth it; These jobs are no long term, but I gained the experience and kept my employment current. Try USA GOV Jobs: Indian Health Services, which requires relocation, but its worth a try. San Diego is not a good nursing job market at the current time. It's tough even for nurses experienced and new grads.

Unfortunately this is the case with many RN's with our 20 plus years of experience. Nurses who burn out physically from ICU after many years and move onto clinic or office positions, then are layed off, cannot easily return to the bedside. Many organizations now state "recent" experience (3 - 6 months recent experience) required. I have a per diem position as a college health nurse and going to school at the same time. I encounter new nursing students with the same dilemma and I advise them to keep a stand by job (whether a waitress, secretary, etc.) until they find a full time position in nursing. I hope college nursing professors are preparing new nursing students and grads on the hardships of finding work. In fact, the market was bad back in the 90's, that I moved to Montana after graduation and got my ICU training. Perhaps, that's one answer for new grads. As for the experienced ones, let's hope for the best and keep looking. Networking also helps; looking up former colleagues who still work at the bedside and know of any inside open positions; returning to a refresher course---nursing is still nursing, but technology advances and we need to keep current; starting off as per diem and getting the foot in the door method.