smarge117

Hi there, I am wondering if there are any programs that offer certificates in either Education or Infomatics. I'm not sure I want to do a whole MSN program (I'm 57), but would like to add to my skill set. All thoughts appreciated.

I have an Eko attachment and finds that it works very well. I don't have any issues with it. I purchased it originally and used as an 'amplifier' in line on my existing Littman cardiology stethoscope, when I got my hearing aids the blue-tooth worked just fine! I don't take my hearing aids out to use it!

I will say, when I was a brand new nurse (with all of the 20 year olds--with as much experience as they did) I felt that families were more comfortable with me because they 'assumed' that I had more experience than I did.

15 years ago I went to school with a lady who had retired from her job at Health and Human Services in DC, she went back to school to get her 2-year RN degree because she wanted to become a hospice RN. she was 62 when she graduated! if you want to, do it!

I went to school with a lady who had worked for Health & Human Services in DC for 35 years. She retired and decided she wanted to become a hospice nurse. She was 62 when she graduated from our 2-year, community college program program! If you want to do it I say go for it!

I have narrowed it down for about 4-5 schools. Primarily based on cost, accreditation, number of credits, and length of program. I have no idea how to choose one. They all seem fine. What am I missing? What haven't I thought of? What else should I be thinking about with this deision? Am I making too much out of it? Should I throw a dart? ;-) any suggestions would be helpful. margaret

I've been a pediatric med/surg nurse for 12 years and I am getting a little 'burnt' out with it. I love what I do, but really don't want to be a bedside nurse 5 years from now. No interest in management, or teaching, just--not for me. I have a two year degree, (with two other non-nursing degrees) . So I've begun to look into what holistic nursing is--I didn't even know there was such a thing, but, I think that it could be a great change and I do love the education piece of my job. So my question is, I have seen the term nurse coach tossed around as opposed to holistic nurse. is there a big difference in the two? And would I need to get a more advanced nursing degree to do this? and feedback would be greatly appreciated thank you

I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. Look for and get another job. Don't worry about staying a year. Life is is way to short to be miserable and unhappy at a job.

Thank you TheCommuter so much for the information. There is so much to look at out there it can be a little overwhelming. I feel you Squirrel, if I were 26 it would be a no brainer, but I came into nursing when I was 40 for a career change. Nursing school was hard enough the first time around (and it's my 3rd degree), so the last thing I've wanted to do was go back to school. But I'm feeling the need to get at least a BSN to widen my options. And is it awful that part of me would rather re-model the bathroom with that money? thank you again for the information and feedback! margaret

Hi there, I'm interested in an online RN to BSN (or an RN to MSN) program, but I'm trying to find the most reasonably priced (cheap) program. I'm 50 years old and not sure if I really want to get a more advanced degree than the BSN (still deciding that), but I'm very torn. Part of me is really ready to do it, but I don't like the idea of loans so I would be paying out of pocket--that's why I need something really reasonable. Any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks, Margaret

Congratulations to all of you who are accepted into the Nurse Residency program!!! Can I ask what the starting salary for a new grad at Vandy is? I'm considering a move from northern Virginia to Nashville and know that the hourly rate will be very different. Any information would be helpful. thank you

hello everyone, i'm a pediatric nurse with three years experience on an adolescent med/surge unit. i have a two year nursing degree and am a licensed rn. my husband and i are considering moving to the wilmington area (from northern virginia) and i'm wondering what nursing salaries are in the area. i can't seem to get any nurse recruiters to tell me over the phone. any help would be appreciated. thank you, margaret

hello everyone, i'm a pediatric nurse with three years experience on an adolescent med/surge unit. i have a two year nursing degree and am a licensed rn. my husband and i are considering moving to the portland area (from northern virginia) and i'm wondering what nursing salaries are in the area. i can't seem to get any nurse recruiters to tell me over the phone. any help would be appreciated. thank you, margaret

I work as a pediatric nurse on an adolescent unit. I fall under the umbrella of "peds" at my hospital, so technically they can float me to other peds units. The problem is that the hospital has no qualms about floating us to the PICU even though I have never undergone any ICU training (or even PALS at this point in my career). I understand that there is a 'comfort level' issue happening whenever you float to another unit, but in going to the PICU I feel that there is a patient safety issue as well. I feel that this is way out of the 'scope of my practice' I have a couple of questions: 1. is this a common practice at other hospitals? 2. are we just being difficult? 3. do we have the right to refuse this assignment and who regulates this practice? is it determined by hospital policy, is there a regulatory body that may oversee this kind of thing? any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated, thanks, Margaret

I think that you should really talk about the "culture shock" of going from being a student nurse to a real nurse. They really 'glossed' over that part in my program. Encourage them to "shadow" on prospective unites (if possible) to get a feel of what kind of unit they would like to be on, and talk to the nurses there. Most of the people I graduated with are miserable in their units and we aren't sure why that is. Did they (school) not prepare us for the daily grind of everyday nursing? were we naive about what we were getting into? were our expectations too high about wanting to 'love' our jobs? Organization tips!!!!! How to write a nursing note (they glossed over that one also). How to speak to doctor's efficiently. How to give a concise report. Encourage them to be proactive with their preceptors and ask questions, and not be afraid to get a different one if there is a 'personality' clash. Talk about what kinds of questions to ask about the unit when interviewing. OK, can you tell my first experience out of school wasn't a pleasant/positive one? Good luck!!

I don't know about Arkansas, but I live in Northern Virginia and had a similar problem over the past couple of months. I'm a new grad (may) and applied online to the 'big' hospital system in the area and waited... nothing... called the recruiter and left messages... nothing. Finally I called the floors I was interested in, asked for the nursing desk, asked for the name and number of the Patient Care Director of the floor and called them directly (mostly left messages). One called me back within the hour. She put a fire under the nurse recruiter and I've been interviewing and having shadow days on a couple of units. Don't give up hope, be proactive. If you have to go in as a 'new grad' do it, the way I see it you're going to be a nurse for a long time, another year as a 'new grad' is nothing in the big picture. Good luck!!

Thanks for the support. I've already started back on nights. After a long talk with the nurse educator on our floor (who I really like and admire), I decided that I would go back to nights first before I decided to go to another unit. It's a big new hospital, but they are hurting, so I'm sure they don't want to lose me just yet. I don't know about the patients. I find myself spending a lot of time talking to them, which is probably not good on the faste paced day-shift, but for some reason bodily fluids are starting to get to me--I did fine with them in school. So part of me is thinking that I need to be in an area where I can spend time with themr, (not interested in psych though). One option is to go on to become a nurse practitioner or something like that, but I've got a two year degree and would need to work while working on that, so that's way in the future, and doesn't address my current issues. I did do a preceptorship in the OR and one of the things that I really liked about it was one patient at a time--that patient is your only focus, I also liked the 'technical' feel of it. But they really drum it into your heads during nursing school that you need a good year of med/surge type of experience before you (basically) do anything specialized. I know that that isn't the truth, but took it to heart. I'm sooooo confused!

I'm a new grad (May 05), with no experience in the medical profession. Second career (I'm 40). Hired for a 48-bed telemetry/step-down unit, and my orientation to nursing has been horrible. I was hired for days, and on day one the woman (preceptor 1) they were going to put me with wasn't there so I was with someone else. The second day I was with the original person (we'll call her preceptor 2), but she was having issues at home and didn't want to take anyone. So the Patient Care Director asked me if I could go on nights (preceptor 3)--I said "fine" being the flexible new grad that I am. Nights were fine, and after four weeks (in which I missed a week--was away, so it was actually 3 weeks), they put me on days to get up to speed for daytime pace for my remaining two weeks. Well, the woman they put me with on days (preceptor 4) is very... (lets say it wasn't a good fit) basically I just can't do anything correctly, or fast enough. When I ask her a question I get a "you don't know?" and a heavy sigh. She's had me in tears a couple of times and I've been completely overwhelmed with 3 patients (they usually have 5, sometimes 6). On nights I had up to 5 patients (they usually have 6-8 depending on how many people are on) and juggled pretty well and had time to eat. On days, I was a complete wreck (some days didn't eat anything all 12-hour shift). I spoke to (that's code for got "really teary") the Patient Care Director and I'm going back on nights (till I get my confidence up--is what she suggested), and I'm fine with that. But in the meantime, I'm also beginning to not like the patients, they're all pretty sick, and needy, and it's beginning to annoy me a little bit (not a good sign). Or maybe I'm just stressed and projecting on the patients. I also wonder if I'm in the right job for me? So basically the last three weeks have been very stressful, and horrible, and I've been dreading going to work and I'm wondering if I really want to do 'bedside' nursing at all. On this floor or anywhere. I'm back on nights now for a couple of weeks (with preceptor 3), and just don't know what to do--at least I'm not crying on the drive home anymore. I'll be looking into other options for nursing, maybe a doctor's office, maybe another hospital/unit. But in the meantime do you think it would be "OK" to talk to the nurse recruiter at the hospital to see what else is out there? My husband doesn't think I should talk to her, that she would go right to my boss. I also wonder if there is any resource out there that gives you an idea of what each specialty is like (my ASN program was obviously not much help). As much as I browse this forum, there is a whole lot of data to sift through. Any thoughts? Pep-talks, suggestions? thank for listening to me vent. smarge

I live in VA and was able to call an automated number at the VA state board of nursing to get results. When I called this morning they said to call back later, so I tried the automated license look-up number. Try your state board of nursing, call them and ask them (if they have a web-site license look-up) when they update that information.

do they grade it differently? Or have it go through some other process? The reason I ask is that I took my NCLEX yesterday (75), and was able to get results today. My friend took it with me and got 265 questions and hasn't been able to get her results. And I seem to remember reading somewhere that if you get 265 they look at it individually, or differently, or hand grade it, or something, not sure what. But I can't think of any other reason that it would take longer to get results. Any thoughts? Margaret (newly anointed RN!!)

I live in Virginia, and many of my classmates have been able to call the VA state board of nursing the next day and ask (innocently, of course)... "When do you update the website to reflect yesterday's test results?" and have gotten results on the spot (for free).

I took my test on 6/29 also. I live in Virginia, and most of my friends who have already taken it have been able to call the VA state board of nursing the next day after and ask (innocently, of course) "So when do you update the website to reflect yesterday's test?". and everyone has been able to get results right then. I know that last year someone from our program called the board of nursing that afternoon and found out. One of my friends who was with me got 265, and she's a wreck right now waiting for 8:30am to roll around (so she can call). I'll keep my fingers crossed and send good vibes to everyone who is waiting for their results. margaret

Has anyone done the ncsbn (National Council of State Boards of Nursing) on-line prep course at http://www.learningext.com/ One of our instructors told us that these are the people who actually write the questions for the NCLEX. I don't know if that's true or not. So, does anyone have any experience with this? Any results? Thoughts? Pros or Cons? thanks, Margaret (NCLEX on June 29th)

I'm feeling very, very, very overwhelmed mainly because I just don't know where to begin. My test date is June 29th. I am doing Hurst online (she's a hoot!!), I registered at learningtext.com because one of my instructors said that these are the people who help write the NCLEX, and I've got a Saunders book/CD. Basically I don't know how to formulate a plan for myself because it feels so different from school. Now rather than knowing one section at a time you've got to know... EVERYTHING!!!

Hmmm... I'm a little wary about doing anything online as I have a crappy dial-up connection and am worried about the video aspects of that. But it would save me 3 hours of driving each day for the live review. Maybe I'll call/contact them to see how the online course works. May I ask, when you did the online course did you give yourself a schedule to do it? Another concern is that I'll get 'distracted' is I'm trying to do it at home--I may have a hard time sticking to a plan.