wastingnotime

LaxNurse: How does your wife like her career? What setting does she practice in? Thanks!

Hi everyone...thanks for your replies! Yes, the OT school I'm considering offers an entry level Master's degree in OT. A Master's degree is now the minimum degree required to become an OT-R. To answer smily_nurse: I earned my BS in Psychology many years ago thinking I wanted to become a counselor. Over the years, I had worked in Finance (completely unrelated field) and knew neither Finance nor Psychology were right for me. I'm attracted to the medical field for various reasons, including having an interest in disease processes and health, treating the patient as a whole and building relationships with patients over time. I also enjoy the level and type of knowledge that one would need to acquire as a professional and the level of autonomy of the NP, PA and OT professions. I have shadowed an OT and RN. I have an understanding of the professions I'm interested in and am attracted to each one for different reasons. I started off originally with my mind set on OT, but I am worried that the profession won't be exciting to me and won't provide me with the type of patient care that I think I would enjoy. I'm attracted to nursing because it considers the whole person in the healing process and would allow me to work in exciting areas that I am interested in, such as the OR, ICU, or PICU. I'm not considering any of these careers soley for the money, but it is always a consideration when you have a family to support and are investing a large amount of time and money into schooling. Anyway, thanks again to everyone that answered!!

Hi all, I'm a 30 year old mom of 2. I have a B.S. degree in Psychology and no prior healthcare experience. I'm weighing my options between becoming a Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant or Occupational Therapist. If I went the nursing route, I could do an accelerated BS to BSN in 14 months then apply directly to NP school. So that would be a little over three years of schooling to become a NP. Do you think it would it be difficult to find employment right out of NP school? The accelerated BSN is $60k and the NP Masters is $35k. Alternatively, I could enter an ASN program that would take 2 years, and bridge to a RN-BSN program which would take 1 year. This would be inexpensive but would also add 2 years onto my studies. OT school would also be around 3 years to complete. Cost is $55k PA school requires at least 1400 hours of healthcare experience to be competitive, so it would take me over a year to accumulate that, and the program is 2 1/2 years. Cost is around $60k. I'm currently enrolled in A&P I and will be taking A&P II next semester, but I'm trying to make a decision soon because each program has different prerequisites beyond A&P. Please help! I know most of you are nurses on here, but which would you choose and why? I'm a sensitive, caring person and I've heard that nursing can eat you alive at times between coworkers, doctors and patients families. Does it get better when you become a NP? Thanks!!! :-)

Hi everyone! I'm a career changer currently researching health professions I may be interested in pursuing. I have a BS in Psychology and around 10 years of unrelated experience. I've always been intrigued by medicine and health and am now considering a career in Nursing, Occupational Therapy, or as a Physician Assistant (although PA programs seem difficult to enter). I'm really drawn to Nursing the most, but I don't do great with high levels of stress, or large amounts of interpersonal conflict (I say I'm a lover, not a fighter!), so I'm very hesitant about it. I'm interested in volunteering so I can make better choices about my future and what careers I think I would be successful in. I think it may also satisfy my desire to help the sick or injured and develop a bond with patients and families in some instances. I was wondering if you have volunteers on your units and what they do. I am specifically interested in the ICU, PICU, Psych, and NICU. I would like to have patient and family contact, so I'm not sure how open those units would be to a volunteer. Any opinions?