KMarie10

I am about to graduate nursing school in 40 days (seems unreal!). I will receive my AAS (Associate in Applied Sciences) and soon sit for my boards for RN licensure. I was offered two jobs at the hospital and I am having a hard time deciding what would be the best fit for me - not just for now, but for the long haul too. I applied at the OR and ortho floor. Everyone knows nursing school recommends med-surg nursing to every graduate. So I took the hint and thought ortho (though a specialty/still med-surgy) would be a good fit. I enjoy seeing patients recover and get better and I want to be a good motivating factor to help them succeed. However the thought of passing meds, hanging numerous IV's throughout the day and possibly throwing out my back (hopefully not though!) are frightening because I don't feel prepared to face it all and I am not positive if that's what I even want. I was officially hired on the ortho floor (they gave us 24 hours to either decline or accept) so for job security I locked that one in and don't start until July 20th. Meanwhile, I am doing my preceptorship (90 hours) in the OR. What I thought I would just think was ok...has turned out to be pretty great! I enjoy being a part of a team of many different people, I like seeing the surgeries and setting up the rooms. I enjoy learning and I feel like I can be myself there (I can be a tad sarcastic - but so is everyone else). The downsides are possibly new employee hazing (which I have heard can either make or break you) and being understaffed. I am currently in the Ortho core and my day flies by! My facilitator thinks I should work in the OR, and tells me I am picking up faster than some of the new hires. I don't mind the minimal pt. interactions, but I enjoy getting the patient, and wheeling them back to a new world and being the one to gain their trust in a small amount of time. This job makes me feel needed and important (even though I am just a student and very limited). My problem is - now that I have locked in the ortho floor job, which I remain indecisive about, should I switch all together because I am liking OR nursing so much? If anyone has experience as an OR or Ortho nurse - your input would be greatly appreciated! Or any comments, advice, etc. would be nice too!

Thank you for your response - sorry on my delay in answering. NYS BON does consider my offense a misdemeanor unfortunately, and they advised me to just make sure I have all my paperwork assembled together with a letter explaining what had happened. Basically, a letter of good moral character - something to say I am not a terrible and irresponsible person, and I am capable of providing safe and excellent patient care to anyone. So, as I told purplemargie above, I will be graduating from RN school in 40 days - and I will be submitting my paperwork and hopefully approved.

Wow, its been quite some time since I logged back in. Needless to say - now I am about to graduate RN school next month and already landed a job on an ortho floor and OR (have to pick one soon). I never ended up taking my LPN boards years ago (I was fearful that I would get denied, wasted too much time inbetween and I decided to go straight back to school to get my RN). Since then I have spoke to several people who told me that I will just need to write a letter explaining my situation to the NYS BON and attach all paperwork that shows my fines/fees/charges were taken care of. I believe I have everything I need in order to proceed when I send in my application. Fingers crossed. This has been a burden for me for too long. I really hope you were able to figure out your situation! - please fill me in!

I am currently enrolled in and have attended 4 days of vocational school for LPN so far. The teacher was very specific about past and present criminal charges a person may have that will definitly interfere with chances of being a licensed LPN, but she mainly said felonies would prevent someone from getting their licenses. Back in 2007, I used to live in California and unfortunately went through a very bad time in my life and received a DWI conviction, which is a misdemeanor. I looked up my driver's record here in ny and nothing even shows that I lived in california, and my insurance rates haven't gone up either (though I hear it takes up to 5 years to hit). But my question is, will my conviction back in 2007 in another state hinder, if not completely destroy, my chances of getting my LPN license here in New York? I asked my instructor and she said she did not know but I should talk to the head of the department asap. I will be doing this, but I wanted to see if anyone else could be of any help. Does anyone have an input on this??? I am very VERY stressed out over this.