jfisher23

I was a Corpsman in the Navy and my experience influenced me wanting to become a registered nurse. Nursing is my passion and calling in life, but what's the point if there's no job for me in the end? I live in Southern California and the majority of the human resources department and experienced nurses have stated that SoCal is oversaturated with nurses. Schools are pumping out more graduates which exceeds the demand for them. I heard its rare for hospitals to hire a new grad w/o any experience. I currently attend USC's business school along with UCLA's nursing school. I'm not really stressed about taking the course load from both schools and I'm doing very well in each field. I am very optimistic with my double major in Business because I know many executives from the Big Four Accounting firms and have finished my paid internships in San Francisco over the summer. But, I have no experience with the field of Nursing with the exception of the clinicals we are required to do alongside with our labs/lectures. How does one go about gaining experience in Nursing if nobody is willing to hire? Military? Peace Corps? VA? I still would like to do Nursing, but with all the bad news I keep hearing about nurses not gaining employment. Some have recommended me to relocate (which isn't a problem at all) to Texas or some other state. But, with all the new grads already relocating to these locations, I don't think there would be a job at all by the time I graduate. Some have even told me not to waste my time in Nursing. The economy doesn't seem like it will recover anytime soon nationally, and specifically for CALIFORNIA! Education, health care, social security is all being cut etc. Are there any recommendations/advice/suggestions that you guys may have for me? Any informative information would be highly appreciative.

I know it's none of my business nor any of my classmates. However, we have this problem that most of us are quite paranoid of. There is a nursing student who is tatted up from neck to forearms with gang affiliated tattoos and he admits that he recently (2008-2010) committed 4 misdeameanors: battery (striking someone in the face), vandalism (breaking government property), speeding (going over 150 mph), and drugs (unsure, he didn't really explain). According to him, he had to hire legal representation and present his case to the nursing school. Because of this, it took several weeks for his paperwork to be processed and WALLAH; he was admitted. He even informed us that he was convicted of all counts and that he pled guilty to all of them. Did our nursing school lower their standards of admission? or do only felonies raise red flags? I'm sorry if I sound nosy or some innocent good girl, but this type of behavior is unacceptable in my opinion. I can understand if he committed at most of one or two misdeameanors, but isn't four a lil bit excessive..? Just wanted to know your opinion...or is there some type of catch that has not caught our attention? I feel paranoid and fearful for some of the patients

I have a friend who was admitted to Nursing school along with me. However, when he took the tuberculosis skin test for the physical prior to admission, he was positive. He then proceeded to get a chest x-ray, he ended up positive for a certain pulmonary disease, but not for TB (according to him). They then ordered him to get a full body scan to further diagnose. Despite this, the nursing school allowed him to be admitted under one stipulation: he must wear a mask when conducting clinicals. I'm in no way attempting to sound rude or nosy and I love my friend to death, but shouldn't this be struck as odd? He sits right next to me in the lecture and I'm just so paranoid that I might catch something. I don't want to ask him about the details because he thinks I'm offending him. He was also born in Mexico in which during the time he was born, some babies are not injected with certain immunizations. Any guesses? Advice? Will I be fine?