danny_RN

I wonder if anyone can give me some good advice about MSN program accreditation. I am currently attending an online MSN program that is not CCNE or NLNAC accredited. When I started the program, I had no idea that the program was non-accredited. I guess I just assumed that all major nursing programs in the United States in 2012 were accredited (silly me). I contacted the director of the nursing department and I was informed that the program was currently seeking CCNE accreditation. The program is very new and only started its MSN program last year in 2011 which is why it has not yet earned accreditation. The director also told me that once accreditation is obtained that it would be retroactice and I will then be able to state that I graduated from an accredited program. Is that true? I plan to continue into a doctoral program once completing the MSN program in the upcoming months- is this going to restrict me? Does accreditation at the MSN level matter? I have heard that particularly at the graduate level, graduation from an accredited program is essential. I have worked hard and don't want to earn a graduate degree for nothing if you know what I mean. I first went to LPN school (which was also non accredited), and later earned an ADN degree and became an RN. Later, I completed a BSN program that was accredited by both the CCNE and NLNAC. Now, I am about half way completed with an MSN degree from this school and I am learning that I have been doing all of this hard work for an unacredited program! I'm sure you can understand my concern. I'll be thankful for any advice!

Haha. I disagree. I am an RN, and have travelled in over 100 hospital ER's and I have a TON of tattoos. I am very professional and work extremely hard. In the over 100 hospitals that I have worked in, I have NEVER been told or asked to "cover them up." The hospital I work for now and have for the past year has no problem with tattoos. Tattoo's are not only displayed within the criminal element, but they have been a militaristic symbol of pride for generations worldwide.

I have heard of this happening, but never seen it. And I have travelled in over 100 ER's across the US. The idea of the ICU nurse "coming down" for a trauma is a good idea to be a second nurse in the trauma, but I think it is a poor idea to assign an ICU nurse as the primary trauma nurse. I worked ICU, and I know what is done in ICU. An ICU nurse is an awesome asset in a controlled code, but I think is an entirely poor asset for an uncontrolled traumatic condition in a department that is not their home department (such as the ED).

Tell the board of nursing the truth. I know a nurse who decided that she would not tell them that she had been to a 3 day inpatient detox for alcohol. She became licensed as an RN, worked for two years, and then lost her nursing license when they found out that she had been. Now, she is facing a lawsuit and awaiting trial. The BON informed her that if she would have been truthful on her application that she would still have been able to become an RN, but they would have simply been required to perform an investigation of her situation. And I assure you that she was an extremely competent nurse. Don't throw your life away and all of your education by trying to pull one over on the board of nursing. If you are truthful and really do not have a current addiction and are no longer using suboxone, you will be able to take your boards and work as a nurse. Honestly is ALWAYS the best advice.

Why are we even bringing up sexual orientation? This is the problem with the nursing profession- people who pass judgment enter it! lol. How about lets all go to work and enjoy our jobs, and not worry about what people think about us and lets not profile people;) If you are concerned that you are going to be profiled as being gay by becoming a nurse then you are evidently not confortable with yourself and sexuality, so perhaps you should become more familiar with yourself before you try to become a nursing professional.

Just read some NCLEX-PN study prep books and take the darn test lol. When you pass, look for a job. You will be oriented and will quickly be reminded of the things that you think you have forgotten. Don't be overwhelmed you can do it! And don't stress about being "rusty" because you will soon be anything but rusty when you start a job as a nurse!

I'm 26 and am an male RN. I was in nursing school when I was 15 and 16 and became an LPN when I was 17. If you want to become a nurse start out by taking some of the general education courses. You will need to take things like anatomy and physiology, college algebra, english, psychology, microbiology, etc, etc. Do really good in those classes because these college courses are what will make you marketable to nursing programs. Are there ADN programs AND BSN programs in your area? Do you plan to stay in your area to go to college and become a nurse? Try gathering your information by contacting the nursing programs you are interested in. Ask them if they have waiting lists and how many students they admit each term. Ask them how many times per year they admit students. Deciding whether or not to do ADN vs BSN is probably not your IMMEDIATE concern. Likely, you will need to have some (or all) of the general education classes (pre requisites) completed first so that is where you should put your attention right now. As for ADN vs BSN, both are good. Either degree route will make you an RN and you will be able to work in a variety of settings as a nurse. If you choose to earn an ADN, be sure to go back to school and finish a BSN program. As I said, I was an LPN when I was 17, an RN when I was 20, and I finished my BSN when I was 25 (I'm 26 now). If you want to become a nurse you can do it. Nursing school is not easy, but I don't think any college degree is easy. It is all about what you make of it and what you take from it. In High School I was a C student and I struggled entirely in LPN school but forced myself to finish and learn. If you would like to know anything else feel free to let me know!

Keep your head up. From reading your post I can tell that you care, which a lot of people lack. Likely that RN and CNA you mentioned didn't care! Don't take it personal when people don't treat you perfect, they are probably just angry at their job for other reasons and not upset with having nursing students. Look forward and keep trying, you'll make it! If you dont feel overwhelmed in nursing school then you don't need to be in nursing school! You mentioned that all you got to do for the rest of the day was vitals... So from this experience you learned something: Communicate with the nurse at the beginning of your shift. Tell him/her what you plan to do for the day; she probably didn't know what you were going to be doing that day! As a staff nurse, if I have students working with me, I can't sit around and wait all day when things need to be done. But, if I knew you were going to bathe the patient I can assure you that I would come find you if the patient needed to be cleaned!!!!! I'm sure the nurse would have loved for you to bathe the patient which would have been one less thing for her to do that day!

If you've been accepted to an LPN program, go for it! Use your LPN education as a stepping ground to earn your RN degree. You will start earning earlier and gain experience. It seems like you are unsure if you will even get accepted to the RN program soon, so why sit around and wait hoping that you get accepted? You have already done the prerequisites for the RN program which is the MAIN hold up for LPN's who aim to become RN's. It's hard to go back to school and "take your pre reqs" when you are a working LPN but you have already beat that battle! So, look at going to LPN school as doing the first year of the RN program! And, you'll likely find it easier to get into an LPN to RN program than into a traditional RN program!

I disagree to your response. The fact is, whether MSN/CNL vs BSN vs ADN, a new graduate nurse is a new graduate nurse. An MSN/CNL would likely land a clinical job right out of school, just as an ADN or BSN prepared nurse would. If you were a manager hiring an RN for a staff nurse job, would you rather have a new grad RN or a new grad RN? That is how it should be compared! I was an LPN, then ADN, then BSN, and now working toward MSN so I a firm advocate for nursing education. Yet, I do believe that a second degree RN (with an MSN) should be offered the same employment opportunity that a new grad ADN or BSN is offered.

Also, don't pay much attention to the CNL title. Many places do not hire specifically a clinical nurse leader as a professional title, but ANYWHERE will hire you as an RN with an MSN. It is a very good route to take if you want to be a highly marketable Registered Nurse with the opportunity to become employed in the majority of nursing areas across the nursing continuum.

A clinical nurse leader is a non advanced practice nurse route to graduate nursing education. Being a CNL will likely land you a nursing administration role and prospectively a position as a nurse executive, nurse researcher, or nurse educator. Likely, however, upon graduation from an MSN second degree program with a CNL degree route, and without previous nursing education (undergraduate ADN or BSN), you will be required to work for a period of time as a staff nurse to gain nursing experience. I have worked with a few second degree RN's from various MSN entities over the past few years who were expected to work as staff nurses for about three years before becoming department directors.

Well, I am guessing you could use me?!? I have been a nurse for 9 years but my education is as follows: I became an LPN 9 years ago, then finished an ADN program in 2006, and then completed a BSN program in 2010. Considering I just finished the BSN program last year and completed the ADN program 5 years ago, perhaps I am a candidate to answer your questions??? 1. Yes, I believe I was adequately prepared for my job in nursing school. Nursing school only provides you with basic knowledge and gives the student certain critical thinking techniques. Upon graduation, I felt comfortable knowing how to seek guidance and where to get information, which I believe is the basis of nursing education. 2. What was most valuable to me as a new nurse in practice was the guidance of highly experienced and skilled fellow nurses. I was extremely lucky to be hired into a step down unit right out of school with a group of coworker nurses who offered nothing less than 20 years of nursing experience each, and all were very willing to dump their knowledge and experience into the sponge nurse brain that I had. 3. I believe I have answered this question in answer 2. 4. Evidence based practice is large in any nursing area. In the ER where I work, research about changes are continually being reviewed. Wait times, faster processes, patient satisfaction, and continuing education are some examples of evidence based practices that are evident in my practice area. 5. I completed my BSN in 2010, and was an ADN before that. In the ER where I work, and on my rotation, I am the only nurse who is prepared with a BSN. The other 3 nurses who I work with are very skilled nurses. Being a prior ADN prepared nurse, I would believe that my answer to this question could be potentially biased in response. However, overall, I believe the care provided by me, a nurse with a BSN, is highly comparable to the nurses I work with who hold associate degrees. The only practice area that I have found that ADN curriculum lacks is in the management area. I am the charge nurse on our rotation, and I have sometimes found myself explaining and educating the ADN's regarding certain management or leadership decisions that I decide on. As for clinical knowledge and practice, the care provided by ADN's is equivalent to that of the BSN prepared nurse. 6. Yes, I have found a mentor in my profession. My mentor is a nurse who has been in practice for 49 years. She is in her early 70's, still works full time as an RN in a busy emergency department, is educationally prepared as a three year diploma nurse graduate, and offers an unremarkable wealth of nursing knowledge, experience, and guidance. To me, she has been my idol and guidance. 7. No, I don't think I experienced reality shock. As I had been an LPN, I was aware of what nursing was going to offer and what to expect as I entered the profession as a professional nurse. 8. The only encounter I have experienced with sexism is with a very small percentage of female counterpart nurses. I can recall one RN who resented me because I am a young male nurse and I was offered a supervisory position over her. I belive that my issue was more age related bias than sexism. I was an LPN at age 17 (I was 15 in LPN school). Take 17 and add 9 (years I have been a nurse) and you can figure my current age of 26. Therefore, I often experience mistrust and "slack" based on me being 26 years old. Yet, it is often a comfort when I state that I have been a nurse for 9 years at age 26. 9. I am very satisfied with my career choice and love the nursing profession. I could not see myself doing anything different with my life; nursing has become my passion and I have gained a wealth of experience that has empowered me to continue nursing education. I am currently a nurse practitioner student and plan to earn terminal nursing education upon completion; I just haven't decided whether to choose a DNP or PhD route in Nursing yet;) 10. As any new nurse regardless of sex, keep your head up;) You may become overwhelmed with job interviews and proving yourself when you land your first job. At an interview, when you are asked about experience, try to correlate a similar experience if you have no healthcare experience. For example, when someone asks you about your experience with "dealing with a psychotic patient," perhaps you could give an example of talking down an angry customer or managing an aggressive person, etc. When you start to work as a nurse you may feel overwhelmed initially, but don't give up. When things get very stressful, look around at all of the nurses you work with and realize that every single one of them was a new grad once. When a nurse coworker is unprofessional to you, kill them with kindness. Angry people are often unhappy for some reason or other. If you become angry back because they are angry toward you the situation will only get worse. Next, DON'T feel too "good" to ask for help. If you are unsure about something, ask for guidance or help from someone who knows, perhaps a more experienced nurse. The last thing you want to do is harm someone because you were unsure of something; a judge won't find you not guilty simply because you were unsure! And finally, if you make a mistake, own up to it. The fact is, you WILL make a mistake as a nurse. Everyone makes mistakes. The problem arises when you don't own up to it or lie about it intentially. I have made mistakes and I have always owned up to them. You won't get in trouble if you immediately take ownership for a mistake that you make! 11. Good luck as a nurse and I hope you are nervous. If you aren't nervous then something is wrong! Being nervous is natural. Afterall, it is a sympathetic nervous system response which proves that you have a neurological response to stressors and therefore have a sense of what is right which is imperative to the success of the nurse!

I am a nurse of 9 years and have both arms with sleeves, tattoos on my neck and legs, and my ears are gauged. I have not found a problem with my tattoos because I make it a point to always wear long sleeved undershirts beneath my scrubs so that my tattoos are not immediately visible. Especially if I interview for a job as a nurse, I assure that I am wearing a long sleeved dress shirt so that my tattoos are not disclosed immediately. Then, on my first day of work, I often will pull up my sleeves and display my art because then what are they gonna do? Fire me? lol.. Likely not. I am now a nurse practitioner student so a lab coat will now be my cover;)

I applied to USA FNP program and did not get accepted. Got the letter today. Kinda sucks, but it aint the end of the world lol.. My gpa was low- like 3.1.. My experience in nursing has been ER/trauma, critical care, and nurse management. Maybe next time? Or maybe ill need to find another program? lol