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Med Surg/Tele is an excellent unit to start on as a new nurse! You're gonna learn so much... meds, IVs, wound care, foleys, hanging blood, time management, and on and on. You will have an excellent foundation. It might be a grind, but the skills are invaluable. Even if you change to something different or less clinical later, you're not going to regret having all that experience. It is a lot harder going the other way, from less clinical to more clinical because after you are an "experienced" nurse employers often expect you have the foundation and do not provide enough training to become proficient as they do with new grads. The most important advice I'd give is: don't rush, double check everything, your gut is usually right, don't ignore it, and always ask if you're not 100% sure. Wishing you the best of luck in your new career! Nursing is a wonderful and diverse field. This foundation will set you up for so many options for your 2nd job.

@Zakando Z I changed careers at 35. I made less money than my previous career for the first several years, but I was so much happier. Serious quality of life improvement. Only thing I'd change is doing it sooner. I went straight to BSN, but the ASN first, then BSN route is a very good option. There are plenty of places that hire ASN nurses. I'm in AZ and the pay here is better than other states I've lived. CA pays well too. You can make pretty decent money within a couple/few years if you're making strategic job moves and working a little extra. I hope you love nursing as a second career as much as I have =^.^=

I’m a little late to the game on this post, but wanted to comment. I will finish my PMHNP program at Walden in May '22. I’ve had an excellent experience and it is a very good program. As with any online program, you get out what you put in. Every class I learn a ton and grow my skills. I am a stronger psych RN and am feeling ready to be a new psych provider. From psychopharm on, the class content, homework assigned, and the texts used are fantastic, and resources I’ll be using a provider as well. Here are some common statements about Walden that I couldn’t possibly care less about: 1. They are for-profit. I don’t care, more power to ‘em. I’m getting a great education at a decent price. The online model is 100% about schools making more money. Even not-for-profit schools implement online programs because they are more profitable. As long as my education is good, then I’m getting what I paid for. 2. They are a diploma mill. They have a difficult MSN program that requires time, effort, dedication, and growth to complete. Perhaps they have a lower admission policy? I don’t know, and I don’t care. If they admit somebody who is a poor performer, that student won’t succeed. Walden has an incredibly organized program with tons of university resources, the responsibility is on the student to succeed and complete the program, the resources are there for them. 3. You have to find your own clinical site. Yeah, you do. Almost every other online program too. Work all the psych connections you’ve made with your years as a Psych RN (hopefully you’ve been a psych RN). Hit the ground and drop off packets at clinics, whatever, keep at it and secure your sites really early. Wish it wasn’t this way, but it is. You control your level of effort, that has nothing to do with Walden or any of the other program that doesn’t find you placement. 4. They have a bad reputation. That hasn't been my experience. But we all know you can read any thread and see the haters. Doesn’t faze me because it doesn’t reflect my reality. Back when I first started the program at Walden I would almost be apologetic when I mentioned that I was attending Walden, because I let the negative posts lead me to believe they were widely held beliefs. They aren’t. I would say something like, “I go to Walden… I know it doesn’t have a great reputation but I am getting a very good education”. And I’d usually get back in reply, “I hadn’t heard that”, or “I’ve had some fantastic Walden students” or “I went to Walden too”. Walden is just another school among many online schools, same accreditation and same curriculum. Online is the new norm, maybe for-profit is too. And that doesn’t bother me at all. Anybody looking into an MSN program should choose a program that works for them and that they feel comfortable with. I did, and I have been very happy with my choice of Walden.

I came to nursing after 15 years of working a desk job in IT. Answering to The Man, only getting two days off a week to live my life. I made a lot more money, was able to work-from-home a couple days a week, but I lived to work, never had enough free time. I couldn’t do Corporate America anymore, grew to resent it, and it made me a grumpy human. I slowly worked at becoming a nurse, and wish I wouldn’t have waited so long. Nursing has filled my soul and given me work-life balance. My pay is just fine, affords me a good standard of living. And if I want to make more, I can! Having PRN jobs is such a plus of working in healthcare! I’ve had coworkers who work two full-time jobs b/c they’re working towards a financial goal. Would I do that? Nope. I need work-life balance, but I could if I wanted to! If I picked up an extra shift every so often I’d make 6-figures, it is totally up to me! Not to mention job security, and ease of changing jobs. I started nursing in Med/Surg, and I might feel the same as OP had I stayed there. It gave me a great foundation though, and allowed me to move around a lot with the solid skills I obtained. And, I have changed jobs A LOT. I tried different things in different environments big and small, hospitals, home health, outpatient, and I found what I love and what meets my personal and financial needs. I am making my life what I want it to be. I choose jobs where I can make my preferred schedule. Plus, providing great nursing care to my patients is worth every second of an exhausting shift. And, then I’ll have several days off to recuperate, recharge, live my life. Or, work my PRN job and make bank! Or, take a break to recharge for several months and only work PRN… which can net almost as much as full-time while working less, if you’re smart about the PRN job you choose. The key for me was trying a lot of different jobs, being selective about where I work, and changing jobs if it no longer met my needs. Nurses have so many options! I would absolutely recommend nursing to others, but would definitely give a prospective nurse a more realistic overview than what we learn about the healthcare environment from school (which was basically nothing). I’d also emphasize the work-life balance and how flexible the nursing profession is, for me that’s the biggest plus. I had to trial a lot of things to find my happy place, but I have and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

I have a closet full of old, no longer needed, scrub pants... After I found the Koi Lindsey I've only had eyes for them! They have a side pocket on both legs, the material is thicker than the normal thin scrub pant, they have back pockets that are flattering on the booty, they come in long lengths, and the legs have a drawstring so you can tighten them if you like (so they don't drag through the urine you don't notice is on the floor!). They are a bit pricey, but they hold up well and last a really long time. Flattering and functional.

I know how excited you must be, especially after wanting to be a nurse for a while now. But, just as an example to look at it differently, if somebody said they would give you $65,000 cash if you would graduate in DEC 2020 instead of JUL 2020, would you take it? As others have mentioned, you can turn an ASN into a BSN while working as an RN and maybe even get your BSN paid for. I totally understand the urgency you're feeling though. I got my BSN as a second bachelors so I understand where you're coming from. I'm now doing my FNP. BSN + FNP (at Chamberlain) will be about $65K for both of them together. I pay out-of-pocket because the burden of student loan debt just isn't something I'm comfortable with. If you'd be using student loans, that $88,000 will almost assuredly turn into a regret as soon as you start making payments. If you decide to wait for the community college, you'll have an admissions decision in a few months, so the pain of waiting isn't for too terribly long (fingers crossed for you!). If you find that you're set and determined to start at Chamberlain, keep talking to the community colleges and see if there are any options to transfer in. If you do end up at Chamberlain for the whole BSN program, if you can swing it, pay for as much of the tuition as you can afford out-of-pocket and only take student loans for the portion you can't cover. That would really help reduce the pain of the the many, many years of student loan repayment. I wish you luck no matter which path you end up on. Keep us posted!

@Marlene7 - I just finished the first course, NR-500. I was nervous at the beginning too, but the first class did a great job of easing us into working and thinking like a MSN student. It is a very low-stress class. So far, the content and structure exceeded my expectations. Preview Week opens Dec. 25th, you should see your Masters Success Seminar (the required orientation) and NR500 show up under "Go To Class" at that time (if not already). The full course and syllabus will be available that will outline due dates, etc. Good luck!

You could give psych a try! It won't help with your doctor phobia, but you might enjoy the change of pace. I was working Med/Surg then got on with an agency doing local placements. I had them place me in a psych facility to try out something different. I wouldn't say "laid back", but for me it is a welcomed change… for now. It's worth a shot if you have any interest. You could try calling a couple agencies in your area that do local placements and get on with one that you feel good about. They make it easy to try different environments, work a lot or a little, and can help keep you working when one facility stops using PRN/Agency staff, they can place you somewhere else. They also might have some ideas about different types of placements you hadn't thought of. I wish ya luck in the hunt.

I did ok on the Kaplan, but I was really prepared. I had taken the Net to get into GPC and didn't do as well as I would have liked because I had not studied correctly and was expecting math much different than what was on the test. So, for the Kaplan I studied fractions like crazy! I also used the Kaplan study guide and that was really on target with the test material. My scores were 100 in reading, 93 in math, 81 in writing, 88 in critical thinking and 60 in science. I really wasn't very prepared for the science obviously. You should see if you can take the Kaplan again. Now that you know what to expect you can focus your studying... Use the Kaplan study guide and know the math section backwards and forwards and you'll do great!

Yeah I'm starting the part time program in Jan. too. I'm soooo excited! I had my orientation this past Saturday. Are you register already? Everybody that registered with me had the same classes.... Med. Terminology, Patho, Jr. Nursing Seminar and Health Promo/Risk Reduction.