elljayo

you read an awful lot into a lot less definite language than i actually used. i find that rather interesting. lot of fear-based negative people drawn to the internet, ever think about that?

it sounds to me like she knows she gets to you. you can kill her with kindness, as suggested, maybe even though it hasn't worked immediately it will over time. i'm learning to use techniques that never occur to me (my nature is to be responsive and helpful): - stare silently in response. see if she repeats the question. do not smile. don't be hostile - just don't smile. maintain eye contact. - provide terse, minimal responses (yes/no) and let silence follow. - if she's using anything but a polite tone, let her know you would appreciate her speaking to you respectfully if she expects you to respond. - ask her to repeat each question several times, asking nicely as if you didn't quite hear her correctly.

I'm seeing a lot of health care job ads that specify bilingual/spanish-speaking as a requirement these days, not even just a "plus." So i'm thinking the same thoughts - if I want to be be the most employable, especially as a new nurse, I would do well to work on my spanish language skills. I doubt I'll ever be fluent, but a limited vocabulary can go a long way.

fabulous post, thanks so much for sharing your experience. re your question in #6: I find that my mornings are great but something always happens around lunch that throws me off wack. I am still not sure how to fix that yet. ANY SUGGESTIONS? Sounds to me like it might be a food choice. A lot of time lunch makes me sleepy. I find more protein and fats, and fewer carbs, make a big difference in my energy levels. Also keeping myself hydrated. NO SUGAR!!!! some people do better with less protein, more complex carbs - so not saying i've got the answer for everyone - but that's what works for me. also, you may be eating something you have a food allergy or sensitivity toward. wheat gluten can be a real trigger for some, dairy for others. you see what i mean. Good luck with working it out. You might need to eat and take a short walk or something outside in the sunlight (see how little i know about real life work in hospitals? :) i assume you can actually take ten minutes for yourself and go out for a walk!)

yes, it will **** them off. but it will **** them off a lot less if you leave during orientation than if you leave after you've been assigned. i know burning bridges is bad and truth is i don't know how tight your medical community is and whether bad blood will follow you, but IMO after 20 years in the business world, trust me, they put their best interests before yours - you have to do whats best for you. if the 2nd offer is significantly better, if it was me, i'd probably take it. if you like the orientation and you aren't sure, you are probably better off staying with your first choice. sometimes it's just hard to make those commitments, but you can't keep all your options open forever and expect to get anywhere.

aside from all the negativity here on the board about finding work with an ASN (which is not what I'm hearing from my real-life colleagues by the way, and I work in a hospital), to me it makes total sense, especially if you plan to work your way through school at all. With an ASN you can make pretty decent money - starts at 24-25 per hour here - which makes it that much easier to support yourself or at least augment your income while working toward a BSN and anything else. Plus as has been noted, you can bring up your GPA and broaden your options considerably. I plan to get my ASN and while I don't really want to continue school (I've already done a lot of school) if i have the opportunity and i'm not too burned out, i might continue - i know i'll be a much stronger position financially, and experience is just as important as education. An experienced ASN with a new BSN is going to be a hell of a lot more marketable than a new grad BSN with no experience. I got an AA years ago and I found the school to be more student-centered and supportive than four-year colleges, it was just what I needed. I dont' know if I'll have the same experience, but I have a friend here going for an NP at a very prestigious in-hospital program and he says the community college I've picked is extremely well regarded by employers.

i expect to get over my squeamishness, and am looking for helpful information on how other people have faced this issue, as i have no question others have. whether or not i'll be able to do it, is another question. continuing education or qualifications in my field is not an option for reasons more complicated that would probably interest you. thank you for sharing your experiences.

"career" student... if working my way full-time through thirty years of education, two economic recessions, having two careers decimated by same, and going back to work my way back through another minor degree to try to leverage what education I already have so I can be employable again, constitutes being a career student, I guess that's me. I always kind of thought the term applied to people who went to school all their lives to *avoid* working, I must have been really confused! THANKS for straightening me out.

hip hip hooray for your professor :)

can you describe your best and worst days at clinical rounds (or at work period) and why? don't forget to include what type of nursing you do!

i think if not psych nursing, where I'm really starting as the ASN is really a way to leverage my MA into something useful and employable in substance abuse treatment, i would really look hard into hospice care. i worked as an admin at a hospice for 2 years and it changed my life. the more i look at nursing the more i realize a lot is going to boil down to what i can handle physically and mentally (blood). i might really love hospice nursing, or even the ER. In a way I look forward to my clinicals as much as I fear them. I fear I won't get through them, but I'm excited to think I may learn things about myself and what I can do, that I don't currently know. I love that nursing is such a varied field!!!! Meanwhile I'm going to get case of vicks to i can always keep a little tub in my pocket to rub under my nose

i strongly, strongly suggest you find a good career counselor - not just some life coach but an actual licensed counselor - who can properly administer and interpret assessments and help you find what is going to make you happiest. Just dropping out of one career and going into it's polar opposite could be a recipe for disaster. for the record, i was a technical writer - hated it. switched to mental health counseling - LOVED it. but i did a lot of soul searching, a lot of career counseling, and a lot of talking to friends and families (like, "what do you think i'd be good at?" and getting universally the same response) and still needed to have the employment market drop out from under me to make the switch. i was much, much happier in health care than i was in IT - in certain environments - just as in IT i was much happier in start ups than large established corporations. however i wish i'd done more research than i even did, because ultimately here i am looking for another career builder. i didn't know, for instance, that the type of degree would make all the difference in the world; also, i was still naive enough to think the real priority in healthcare business was the patient, and not the bottom line dollar. and all the naysayers yayaya i get it there's no jobs in the field. in my particular current position, an ASN will be a huge advantage, lucky me. now i'm a lot older and a little wiser, and hopefully and making good use of my varied education. by the way - IT background and bioinformatics - what a huge advantage if that holds any interest for you!!!

there are more and more "integrative medicine" medical clinics cropping up in my area - practices and agencies that try to integrate traditional western approaches with nutrition, nutritional testing, testing for toxis, molds, food sensitivities, allergies, heavy metals, etc. etc.... and treatment with more than just medications, but nutritional supplementation, DO, acupuncture, massage, and the like. not quite purely holistic but a much more comprehensive approach than traditional western doctors and hospitals, and you still need your credentials. their benefit is they find a balance point between both philosophies and many if not most of their services are still billable to insurance and therefore affordable and accessible to more clients. they are, in my experience, much more client-based and may match your personal moral code more accurately. look for "integrative" or "functional medicine" clinics and practices. could be psychiatric as well as purely medical.

i get pretty angry with my family when i can't ask them for support when i need it, when i've always been there for them. so we communicate about it. a lot. repeatedly. i have to be a broken record. i have to be very clear in what i need from them. for instance, i needed my stepdaughter to stop treating the house like a hotel and learn how to clean the bathroom and take that responsibility on one a week, along with doing the dishes and doing a load of towels once a week. when there is a snowstorm, she needs to come home from partying with her friends and help clear the snow off the walks around the house, since she gets the privilege of parking her car in a nicely plowed spot. and i needed my husband, who works a lot of overtime himself, to take more responsibility in following up on his daughter instead of letting me be the full-time parent, and to take more responsibility in preparing his own meals when i can't be around to fix dinner. i also resorted to things like having some groceries delivered to the house, and taking money out of the budget for other things to pay for it. they have been ****** off, tried to make me feel guilty, my husband has felt afraid he was losing me because i was "rejecting" him (by working two jobs and not making him the center of attention)....etc. etc... *sighs* i'm presenting their worst sides, really, but those are the problems in this situation. that, and me having taken on the role of being chief problem-solver and domestic servant. changing that dynamic causes a lot of discomfort all around but it DOES change over time if we stick to having good boundaries and in my opinion, really clear specific requests about our own needs and how to get them filled - not just saying "no" to theirs!

California unemployment rates are pretty awful and so is the expense of living. Texas is cheaper, but i don't know what the job market is like there (I'm thinking of Austin or around there eventually myself). I do know Florida and Orlando in particular has some of the largest hospital networks in the country, or they did when i lived there 20 years ago, which probably explains why 90% of my friends were in nursing when i had nothing to do with the field. Clearwater/St. Petersburg is a beautiful area, although not as "fun" or young as Orlando, and there's always Miami if you want metropolitan fun. South Jacksonville is a lovely area as well. I have no idea what hiring is like there. I would avoid new england like the plague not that you mentioned it but i live here and finding ANY job is extremely difficult. plus it's incredibly expensive.

oh and there's always the old M.D. : )

you could get an MA in psych (i don't recommend), an MSW, a PhD, a PsD, an NP or a PA, or you could try for something in public health (MPH) and do regulatory stuff, or bioinformatics (not sure what degree you'd need, but it might be in IT - they may have bioinformatics degree programs). I'm assuming you are asking about higher degrees. If you go with a PhD or possibly an MSN (i don't know as much about MSN) your focus will be much more on research. If you go with an MA (which hospitals won't hire, so be prepared) or a PsyD you will be more hands-on therapy oriented. You could also get an Ed.D (education doctorate). You can get licensed as a psychologist with an EdD i'm pretty sure, at least in my state, if you have the right classes. agreed you need some career direction at this point. the next directions you take aren't going to be easy to change out of once you commit. have you talked with a good career counselor? take your time and make a good choice.

how did this turn out?

i work in mental health treatment currently. i got into this line of work because i care about people. sometimes because of the nature of the work we get very close. but professional closeness is different from other forms of intimacy, it's kind of hard to describe and very important to learn how to manage - how to not cross inappropriate boundaries - as the professional it's my responsibility in particular to remain in control and particularly not to try to get my emotional needs met in those relationships. i do think it's really normal and i have made a LOT of use of supportive coworkers and good supervisors to help manage those feelings and attachments. Self-care is EXTREMELY important and learning to leave your work AT work when you go home - it's simple self-preservation. when i'm with a patient i'm 100% there, but when the appointment ends, i'm about 99% on to other things. i have to or i'd burn out big-time. my own life is enough of a handful!!!!

some, only enough for about 4 credits a year (about 600 dollars - i work part-time - max would be 1500 if i worked full time, after 2 years). i definitely plan to take advantage of it, but it's not going to come close to covering my clinicals. but you're right - every bit matters!!!

just FYI i was told i could not qualify for federal student loans for any degree less than a degree i already held. Since I had a BA at the time, that's the main thing that prevented me from going for an RN back in 1992. i don't know if i was misinformed or things have changed, but i would double-check that before counting on it.

i agree re. funding for the psych. i'm looking into grants scholarships etc. myself right now just for the ADN. I do figure once i'm in a position to make more money I can look into a BSN or eventually a NP or PA if it seems practical. It's great to know the psych nursing field is supported since that's really the direction i'm heading into. A lot depends on how long i spend with the psych hospital i'm currently involved in since my initial reason for pursuing the RN was to find internal opportunities beyond direct care and that's the only way to do it here. there is NO appreciable funding, on the other hand, for psych MA or MSW. i agree with the fear of needles, that's always been a big mental block for me, i've always wondered if i could get past the initial fear of doing it badly and hurting someone, if i could get good at it. i'm generally good with my hands. i'm curious to know how many people get hired from sites where they've done their clinical rounds. I know in the mental health clinician/MSW world, people very often get their first job from their site where they intern pre-grad.

i would, but it all boils down to cash flow. i just don't have any money. i can barely afford the community college classes. grad school is out of the question. plus, I really need to keep working while i go to school, most grad programs demand full-time commitment. thanks, though, it's a good idea and it's good to hear from someone with a similar background.

not an option. student loans maxed (150k). i'm 45 years old, i've been working full-time and going to school part-time for 20 years. i'm exhausted and disillusioned after 3 attempts at 3 different career starts. i've been told my only other affordable option, an LADC/CADAC (substance abuse certification) will be next to useless since I don't have my license, and that given todays' economic realities, getting my license would be useless too. Taking another 50-150k in private student loans, even if i could find a cosigner, and spending another ten years in school, (pre-med, med, interning, getting hours) just to jump-start my career (again) - especially when it looks like i'll be moving to another state in the middle of it.... mmmm no doesn't seem viable. SO the bottom line is either ASN or just stay stuck in the bottom-rung job that i have, then move to another state and have even less to offer, if i'm lucky end up in a similar low-wage direct care job, if i'm not who knows. If i really can't cut being a nurse, even a psych nurse, well, that will be unfortunate but just one more unfortunate reality i get to face. i may not have my sanity, but at least i have my health. it's funny but i'm getting much more positive feedback on the 2 year RN from local practioners than i am on this board, i wonder why that is! it's very interesting! still hoping to hear about how you guys who had this problem solved this issue on the clinicals, thanks so much for posting, keep'm coming!