mttzakr87

I wanted to get the opinion of some seasoned veteran RN's and especially any RT's out there, because theres plenty.....but for me im going into semester 3 at my RN program, and I really dont think im going to make it,...im running out of money from my loans, and Its taken even more time to committ than I ever imagined.... over 40+hrs of studying per week,......yes welcome to nursing school, I do like the job, but ive been thinking lately about leaving for RT.,,,motivation is mainly financial, since right now I cant even handle working part time. But im really starting to think about RT long and hard, I've heard, while its still difficult, ive heard its a lot more managable than Nursing, according to the department chair of a program I talked with, and some grads I talked to...... and I may be able to handle some working again, which financially, is something I really need to do..... and its really something that has started to intrigue me, the idea of being able to be on many units in a hospital, and not be restricted to just one unit, and being spared the physical ass-kicking that is nursing, and plus the option to be able to work with patients when they are in their most critical state: struggling to breathe.... I was wondering from more experienced in one or both fields, which schooling did you think was harder, what was it like, and which one did you ultimately like better......or if you chose one over the other? What led you to your choice?

"i agree with most of your points, but wanted to address this. 87% is the national average nclex pass rate for first time testers, so your school isn't that far off the mark. https://www.ncsbn.org/1237.htm i know it's been discussed many times on this board that 50% attrition is the norm at many nursing schools. i agree that finding a school that doesn't weed out so many students is a good idea, but it doesn't automatically indicate that your school has something wrong with the program." i agree with that somewhat about the retention rates and the nclex pass, but my point is......if you are gonna committ the time and energy and money, because you are paying money, then i think you should aim higher than 50% retention and 84% nclex pass rate.....if i was a student looking with a goal in mind, id say to myself, id rather have the school that has the 70+% retention rate and the 96% nclex pass rate like 3 surrounding colleges in my area do, unless cost and or travel restricts your choices heavily......i mean when you are paying money, you need to do your homework on your schools and aim for the best you can have and as far as working fulltime as another poster said......simply put in my opinion, some people can do it ,.....others cannot, but do not assume just because a few people can do it that you will either..... your better off living off loans and working minimily, but thats just me

Nothing really grosses me out any more..........The First ass you ever wipe is like your first beer....you'll always remember it

Yes, and other people cant control what they have going on in their personal lives, and unfortunately most nursing instructors....I mean foir example, youre having a really bad day for some really hurtful personal reasons, you miss an exam because you were sick, and you either lose points, or cant reschedule it..........Try telling that to the single mom with 4 kids, and she has to miss an exam because her son his really sick, and having difficulty breathing.....in many cases they dont care,....that also causes people to be unsuccessful. For study tips, id say: -committ as much time as you feel you need to to be successful,....i only study as much as I do because well, I know im only gonna have one shot at this, Its not required to study in 24 hour librarys or get to school at 4 am, but if youre that kind of person, all the better..........point is just study until you have a firm grasp of concepts.....in A+P, you could almost look at a question and know an answer, because it is "probably right" or because it looks familiar,......you'll rarely get away with that in nursing school. -Adequte Rest is important,.....getting 3hrs of sleep and going to clinical is not safe for you and especially your patient -stay on top of things.....if you have a paper/project/ careplan due in a couple weeks, you get it done in a couple days -If you know anybody in the above levels, ask them if you can see the syllabus for their level and try to read ahead ...it will help and give you an advantage -Before you start, check your school's retention and NCLEX pas rates....if your school is starting with 110- and graduating 50-60, and only passing 84% on the boards like mine, then there is something wrong with your program. -And the big thing is: Remember that the questions require critical thinking, and you hear people say you cant just memorize, but that doesnt mean there is not a memorization component....because there most definetly is......Remember that you cant, I repeat...You Can not apply and critically think information you do not have" And I would get a plan B....whether if its Respiratory, Rad Tech or LPN......most people dont have one going in, fact is people who fail are devastated because they do not have a plan B, they banked everything on Nursing....and plan B can still be nursing, ....if you fail out of RN by any chance,....you can be an LPN and get admitted into another program in an LPN-RN track or do Excelsior from there

After a couple semesters of RN school, ive got some advice to pass to new students. First off,...i'll tell ya, I dont wanna say i didnt know pursing my RN was hard, cause I did, but I never imagined in a million years it was gonna be this hard, and believe me, if i would have known what I know now, that it was hard to the point where I cant even work more than 11hrs/ week, I never would have done it, I would have went to school for something else, something hard, but a little less rigorous like Respiratory Therapy or X-Ray. The main advice, is that there are no cutting corners in RN school, there are few tricks and no easy button to press, meaning, the only way youre gonna get though your program is by studying your ass off (excuse the language)....For everyone, it will be different, but for me, id get on my campus at 4am, and stay straight though the 9-10 @ night mainly when I wasnt on clinicals, plus I would commit, summers, weekends, breaks, hollidays, you name it....and id even use my breaks in between semesters to get ahead and read for the next level. this certainly was required in my program which has a really low retention rate,...we start with 110 and end up with 50-60 by the end....including only about 3 lpns of 10 made the last class..... not every program is like this, but believe me its hard no matter where you go.....hopefully your programs arent as bad as mine, but im still standing..... I love the work, and thats what keeps me going, just get through it

@Stephalump Yeah, thats what the serious issue is right there accrediation, when you lose that many students at my school like that 110- to 50, thats an issue, and accrediation is an issue at my school, they're in jeporady of losing it as they've lost at least 4 full time faculty members in the last year, at one campus and 2 at another, low retention + no faculty and declining NCLEX pass rates at ECC do not = accrediation that was my primary concern for posting, plus I do want to see the people around me succeed as well.

Im an entering level 4 (last semester) student at ECC City in Buffalo, NY, ........an RN program in upstate NY. I actually failed level 3 at the North campus, which is supposed to be the hardest by a mile, there were 30 of us of about 80 at the time I noticed something about level 4 at my school and at both campuses, and how drastically smaller it is.....Talking to students who graduated at north level 4 went from 105 to around 50, and at city the class went from 75 to around 40..... Was kind of wondering if other people's programs were similar in this aspect, because I think it seems like there is something up with this program if we start level 1 with 105 and graduate only 50-60 at the north campus and we start with about 75 at city and we only graduate around 40 according to the NYS department of education. ??

Excelsior is the only one I know, beware though, not all states take it. .....curious, what brings you out of RT into Nursing, im an RT who became an RN, but then went back to RT, pursuing my masters Btw, you should check out this post on this page, I thought it was an interesting discussion, sounds like someone can use your insight https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/respiratory-therapy-vs-715578.html

Wait until you take your actually nursing courses, difficult will be redefined lol,

To be fair, there are advancement oppurtunities in Respiratory therapy, but nowhere near as much as Nursing....which is the major advancement.... Radiologic Technologists have the same issues, but maybe worse. But Nursing has these oppurtunities because , Nursing is such a massive profession, there are a lot of nurses out there but so few RT's, therefore a lot of Nursing jobs, however, for all those oppurtunities in Nursing there are also a lot of qualified applicants for those same oppurtunities, and that should be noted. Advancement is there, but you may have to wait or travel to get to them. If you have a B.S in RT or an M.S, it makes you a lot more attractive because so few have the BSRT, and with your MS, if you like to teach you can also explore that as an option/. We all need a Nurse, but only a slight handful need RT's, because the only time you need Respiratory Therapists is when you have difficulty breathing. And yes, a lot of RT's i've known do become RN's, however this is only because of the lack of advancement reason cited above, which is why a lot of RN's also dont become RT's, not because its a step down, but Nursing has so many oppurtunitiues, so if you were already an RN, why would you go to RT where you might cut down your oppurtunities immensely. On the flip side of that, though, i've known a lot of RT's whom have gone on to other careers such as Physician Assistant, Medical School, Chiro, Dental School, and even PT, as RT often serves as the open door door for these people into the healthcare field. You never hear an RN going to be an RT, but you never hear an RN going to medical or dental school, or for PT and physican assistant either. Also I know there are also a lot of Nurses who want to get out of the profession, because of the physical and mental abuse you will take, and you will take a beating. You will get emotionally assulted daily by a family member or a cranky doctor or another ****** nurse or your supervisor or even an RT one day for your dose of mental stress and abuse on your body, and that will be followed by physical abuse of being on your feet not stop for 8 to 12 hrs a day. RT's also have much more autonomy compared to RN's, RT's can actually treat people, and make a huge impact on a patient.

Nursing School is Brutal, and Crazy and Insane... getting by isnt so bad though.... I just follow these rules for success: (of course these will vary for different people/ programs) 1.) People who try to read all thats assigned are f'n crazy because you will really may not retain and remember all of that, and if you can....drop out, go to med school ....the world needs great minds like you !!! (Some Sarcasm here)....this will vary some school to school and person to person though, .... on a serious note, some people can do all of that, and if you can....it wont hurt you at all, and if you find out that reading in your program is read everything or fail.... then get an organized reading schedule going, but ive discovered at my program that when I read, im really just giving myself way way too much info, and taking great notes in class, and only read what i have a hard time understanding is better. 2.) Lecture Notes/ Powerpoints..... I live and die by these, usually a majority of material we will be tested on comes from these, so I just take excellent notes in class and I study immediately after class and I NEVER EVER WAIT UNTIL LAST MINUTE to study ....you do this in an RN program ....and you're executing yourself 3.) I Supplement my notes with Saunders NCLEX Review which gives outstanding summaries and Pearson NCLEX review (I feel like im cheating for my exams when I read Pearson) 4.) If I have time, I match my notes up and what we covered in class on the powerpoints/ lecture with the textbook and read...if I have time to only supplement my knowledge.....reading does not hurt...but some programs actually make it a hardcore and strict requirement to read 5.) Dont Complain: RN school is hard..... if you complain because its hard and spend hours and hours of time complaining, ....ask Why? ..... Seriously What did you think you were going to school for? Paint Mixing? Liberal Arts? Gym? I can understand initially when we all started because of the shock, but really complaining is just time I can use to study.....it's hard on all of us ....deal with it. These are mine...., If anyone else has their own guidlines for success, id surely be curious to know

We do round up and even push people who fail by a few points .... not too many like only 5 or 6,.....like if you get 296 points of the 300 you need to progress, they give it to you only because the people that fail the lecture course and not the clinical are entitled 1 repeat and they really dont want to have a flooded class of people repeating so it helps i guess And honestly my "success" its simple, I just follow these rules for success: (of course these will vary for different people/ programs) 1.) People who try to read all thats assigned are crazy because you will not retain and remember all of that, and if you can....drop out, go to med school ....the world needs great minds like you !!! (Some Sarcasm here) 2.) Lecture Notes/ Powerpoints..... I live and die by these, usually a majority of material we will be tested on comes from these, so I just take excellent notes in class and I study immediately after class and I NEVER EVER WAIT UNTIL LAST MINUTE to study ....you do this in an RN program ....and you're executing yourself 3.) I Supplement my notes with Saunders NCLEX Review which gives outstanding summaries and Pearson NCLEX review (I feel like im cheating for my exams when I read Pearson) 4.) If I have time, I match my notes up and what we covered in class on the powerpoints/ lecture with the textbook and read...if I have time to only supplement my knowledge.....reading does not hurt...but some programs actually make it a hardcore and strict requirement to read 5.) Dont Complain: RN school is hard..... if you complain because its hard and spend hours and hours of time complaining, ....ask Why? ..... Seriously What did you think you were going to school for? Paint Mixing? Liberal Arts? Gym? I can understand initially when we all started because of the shock, but really complaining is just time I can use to study.....it's hard on all of us ....deal with it. ----- Overall all the above is useless if I waste time, so I just stay on top of things and stay organized.... thats how ive achieved my "disputed" B+/ A- which is in the mid 90%..... yes ive worked hard but hey..... All of us will be getting our lisences and be moving on and I guess thats all that matters, but i guess i just again believe in getting what I earned.

I meant that I finished well above their A- cut off point of 367, ... sem 1 I had 368 points in my theory class, and sem 2. i had 370 points....and in my clinicals the grades were close to similar, and they gave me and the very few others...i believe there were 4 other people to my knowledge who achieved these grades a B+., basically they knocked us down... I dont know whay but its almost like they dont want us getting those grades. And yes I tried going to the dean, and even President of the college about this.... and I just get the run around, so I gave up trying...... I was more or less wondering if other people have had similar issues with grading and their nursing schools, or if people feel like schools want you to accept being mediocre. Wow below 92 is a B+ at your school? Dare I ask what a C is lol?

How are some people's grading scales at your school's? mine is out of 400pts and 392pts is an A.......367pts is an A- and 347 is a B+.... im in my 3rd semester ...level 3 and my first two, i finished with well above the A- mark at 367 pts in both my clinical and theory courses and I believe I was one of the few to do so in my program..... however, me and the "few" who accomplished this....we discovered we were given no higher than a B+ regardless of how north you fall of the mark,......... I know there are people whom barely get by, who would take a C let alone what I got and yes.....C's get degrees and im fine with that,.....unfortunately I also believe in living up to agreements and getting what you rightfully earned.... and It's almost like, they dont want us to get anything resembling an A or A- , ........eventually I would love to get into a BSN program and eventually MSN and FNP someday and I know I need a top end resume, and grades to match because im going to be competing with top end canidates for that spot... and I want top end grades to match that im working my ass off for.....and I also feel like im being screwed in someway and will only make it harder for me to compete with students with other schools for the BSN and MSN programs, and purposely knocking me and several students down a letter half letter grade ........Question is ...has anyone seen anything like this or heard of this at your schools?

Canada faces nurse shortage Disagree, Nursing employment always proves to be little effected by the economy except that maybe more people are enticed to go for nursing if they can do it, but that still leaves a shortage. I cant remember if Canada or the US has ever been able to use surplus and nursing in the same sentence. Like I said, how many people would turn away from Nursing as an option if it takes 4 years vs 2 years