JLA

Thank you so much for the feedback. It's greatly appreciated! I'm leaning towards the EHR clinical coordinator position. Sparked my interest and the manager seemed great. Plus it's close to home. Fingers crossed! ?

Hi Guys- I've been wanting to make a change from onc/med surg for a while. I've been on the same floor for almost 6 years. While I have a great crew at work I no longer love what I'm doing. This past year I hurt my back at work. That has made me think the time is now to make a change. I've been looking into case management for a while...there was an opening at my hospital and I applied. I hadn't heard anything so I also applied to an EHR coordinator RN position. Well, they both called me and I have interviews scheduled this coming week. Any input on either position? Both are within the healthcare organization I work for. CM position is at my current hospital 45 minutes from home. The EHR position is at my local hospital 10 minutes from home. What are the pros and cons that you see to these positions? I'm nervous to make a change, but so ready to leave bedside. Lastly, do you miss 3 12's? I haven't done 8's for so long... Thank you.

Hi Guys- I've been wanting to make a change from onc/med surg for a while. I've been on the same floor for almost 6 years. While I have a great crew at work I no longer love what I'm doing. This past year I hurt my back at work. That has made me think the time is now to make a change. I've been looking into case management for a while...there was an opening at my hospital and I applied. I hadn't heard anything so I also applied to an EHR coordinator RN position. Well, they both called me and I have interviews scheduled this coming week. Any input on either position? Both are within the healthcare organization I work for. CM position is at my current hospital 45 minutes from home. The EHR position is at my local hospital 10 minutes from home. What are the pros and cons that you see to these positions? I'm nervous to make a change, but so ready to leave bedside. Lastly, do you miss 3 12's? I haven't done 8's for so long... Thank you.

Thank you everyone for the feedback!! ?

Hi Everyone, I'm thinking of making a change from bedside/oncology med surg, to being a nurse for the county office of education (special Ed). It would be more of a management role and not a traditional school nurse. I'd be working five days a week...i currently do three 12's. My questions are: 1. Do you ever miss bedside? 2. How do you like working five days vs 3 12's 3. Any tips for me? Would love any feedback from those working in a similar position. I'm interviewing next week. i'm super interested in the position and have wanted to make a change from bedside. I'm a little nervous...thinking if I accepted the position and for some reason don't end up liking it, that it may be hard to get back into a bedside position. Advice? Thank you!

Hello Fellow Nurses, I have been a nurse for over 4 years...I worked oncology med surg for the past 3.5 years. I just recently transferred closer to home to a smaller hospital med surg tele dept. I had panic attacks/anxiety 20 years ago (before I was ever a nurse) that I learned how to manage. Therapy, exercise, and meditation. The panic attacks luckily never came back, and the anxiety was minimal. Since I've been a nurse the anxiety has increased. I start to feel anxious the night before my shift, and I feel myself pulling away from my family and getting mentally geared up for work. I feel like med surg/floor nursing is not my thing. The long 12 hours are getting to me and overall I know that its not good for my anxiety levels. I feel stuck. I like having 4 days off and the money is great. But at what point do I say enough my mental health is more important? I feel torn. I am trying to find something less stressful and more a m-f environment. I have 4 years experience floor nursing and a BSN. My questions are: 1. What areas of nursing would you recommend? 2. Those of you that deal with anxiety what works for you? Thank you all!

The school nurse job with over a $30,000 pay cut plus having to pay about $1000 a month for benefits wasn't going to work for my family. My company now pays my familys benefits which is huge! I ended up transferring within my company to one of our sister hospitals. It is a small hospital closer to home and I'm on a med surg tele floor. They are in the process of opening an infusion center so I have my eye on that and hope to be using my oncology/chemo certification in the near future. In fact my old manager is helping to open it. Anyhow, I did make a change and am now only 10 minutes from work vs the hour I was driving before. Just a different change then I was originally thinking.

Thank you everyone for your honest feedback. This helps a lot. I think the suggestion of talking to a nurse in the district is a great idea. From what I understand it is a position that travels between schools in the district, not based at just one school. I never thought of the fact of how lonely it might get at times being the only health professional in the building.

Yes! My son is a sophomore and daughter is an 8th grader. They'll be in college before I know it. I'm realizing how fast its all going and I know I cant get this time back.

So true. Thank you. :)

Hello Everyone, I need some advice from fellow nurses. I have been a nurse for 4 years. I was on a med surg/onc floor for 3.5 years. I just recently transferred within my hospital organization to a med surg tele floor at one of our sister hospitals closer to home. I cut my commute from 45+ minutes to now 10 minutes from home. My commute is awesome but I am no longer working with with onc patients which is where my passion lies. Since I became a nurse I always wanted to focus on oncology or school nursing. After almost four years of bedside nursing I'm ready for a change. I don't enjoy my job anymore and don't feel a passion for bedside nursing. I feel anxiety about work, we are often out of ratio/short staffed, and lately I dread going. Im at point where I'm going back and fourth on what I should do. School nursing or outpatient oncology/infusion. Both have pros and cons. I have a friend that works for a school district and they have expressed they'd like me to apply. The school nursing con is I would take a huge pay cut, and would be back to commuting. $30,000 less a year. Yikes. But the perks are more time with my kids, being able to get to my sons games, summers off, holidays and weekends off. There is an oncology office that is looking for an infusion RN. Infusion perks: passionate about oncology, no weekends, no nights or holidays, $6 more an hour than what I currently make. Cons: commute, I'd miss most my sons sports activities. (Both of these positions are monday thru friday and both have about 40-60 commute). I'd love to hear input from my oncology/infusion nurses. 1)What do you like/dislike about Ocnology Infusion? 2) Tell me what is a typical day like? 3) Last but not least...what would you do if you were me? Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Hello Everyone, I need some advice from fellow nurses. I have been a nurse for 4 years. I was on a med surg/onc floor for 3.5 years. I just recently transferred within my hospital organization to a med surg tele floor at one of our sister hospitals closer to home. I cut my commute from 45+ minutes to now 10 minutes from home. Since I became a nurse I always wanted to focus on oncology or school nursing. Those are my passions. After almost four years of bedside nursing I'm ready for a change. I don't enjoy my job and don't feel a passion for bedside nursing. I feel anxiety about work, and dread going. Im at point where I'm going back and fourth on what I should do. School nursing or outpatient oncology/infusion. Both have pros and cons. The school nursing con is I would take a huge pay cut, and would be back to commuting. $30,000 less a year. Yikes. But the perks are more time with my kids, being able to get to my sons games, summers off, holidays and weekends off, working with kids and making a difference. Infusion perks: passionate about oncology, no weekends, no nights or holidays, $6 more an hour than what I currently make. Both of these positions are monday thru friday and both have about 40-60 commute. I'd love to hear input from school nurses. 1)What do you like/dislike about school nursing? 2) Tell me what is a typical day like? 3) What is something you wish you would have known before becoming a school nurse? 4) Last but not least...what would you do if you were me? Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Hi there- I am a newer nurse…recently just hit the one year mark on an Onc/Med Surg floor. I like the people I work with and the floor…however working nights combined with an over an hour commute is getting to me. I've almost fallen asleep driving home (more than once) and it scared me. I have the opportunity to transfer to a sister hospital close to home and work med surg. My drive would be 10 minutes vs. over an hour. My dilemma is I've always wanted to do outpatient oncology. I am not chemo certified yet. Although the floor I am on is labeled onc I very rarely get onc paints. Most of the time it's just med surge or comfort care pts. Do you think it looks better to stay in the Onc/Med Surg position to eventually get a outpatient onc position? Or would you take the med surge position to be closer to home? What to do….? Thanks!

Thank you for all the great feedback! I put Oncology as my numer one, second I put ortho (i liked that floor), 3rd I put surgical floor (thought this would give me a good variety). Will find out in two weeks which one I get... thanks again!

Thank you both for your responses! :) SwansonRN-to answer your question Peds scares me a bit, lol. I think of how you have to really think about how you say things to kids, and then doing things that hurt (for example an IV), and seeing the sad little faces and the parents looking on. At least with babies they aren't saying ouch or things like I want to go home. That stuff breaks my heart. Although, now that I think of it maybe it would be a good option to learn and push past my comfort zone...

Thank you for your feedback. I appreciate it!

Hello-I am in my 4th semester of nursing school and getting ready to submit my precept/floor request. Basically we put down our top three choices and my clinical instructor matches us with a nurse/floor. No guarantees that we'll get our first choice, but they try and accommodate. Anyhow, my options are: surgical, ortho, tele, AMCU, oncology, renal/diabetic, Peds, or Mom and Baby. Any suggestions on what you'd recommend. I want to be well rounded and obviously hope to get hired after. My interest so far lie with oncology and anything to do with babies. I feel that precepting Mom and baby might not give me enough of a foundation in case I ever wanted to do something different. Your thoughts? Thank you in advance for any input.

Kawaiinomiko-I applied to 6 different schools throughout the bay area and central valley. I got into Modesto and none of the others. It was my first time applying. I feel so lucky because I know many fellow students who applied multiple times. I actually had to leave the middle of the first semester because my daughter was ill and going through a bunch of medical tests. The school allowed me to do a one time postponement and I will starting back as a first semester student in August. The program is great and the teachers are very helpful and aporachable. I like nursing school much better than my prereqs; however, it is very intense!! The hardest part is the deadlines and feeling like there's not enough time to get everything accomplished. Sooo much reading! But it is a great program and the technology there is amazing!! roneep-i too live in the Tracy area (Mountain House). There are a few people, myself included, that got in on their first try. It's possible!! Good luck to you both!!! :)

Usually afer filling out an online application to the college (or submitting one in the mail) they email you a confirmation that you are accepted. This is not the nursing acceptance. The letter for the nursing program comes directly from the nursing department/Allied Health office in the mail. I got accepted last year with a January start date. I remember getting my acceptance really late...I think it was the last week of July or first week of August. Good luck to you!! jenny

I recently withdrew midway through my first semester. I was having feelings of doubt and yes fear. Afraid to make a mistake, discomfort over being out of my comfort zone, and then the ordinary stresses of nursing school along with the time commitment. That being said I realize I made a huge mistake by leaving the program. I have, since leaving, talked to the Director of my program and realized many people go through these feelings of doubt. Looking back on my own situation I would say talk to a few of the students you feel close with. Also, talk with your instructors on how you feel or the school counselor. I say ride it out through the end of the semster and re-evaluate on your break. I wish i would have taken more time to think things through. Nobody is going to be completely comfortable at first...it takes time. Hang in there!

​Hello Everyone- I'm hoping some of you can offer your thoughts and advice. I've been taking prereqs the last few years and planning to be a nurse. I started an ADN program in January and decided to withdraw a couple weeks ago. I am already feeling like I made the wrong choice. I only had clinicals a few days and I was so anxious. I don't have a problem talking with patients so thats not the issue. I feel nervous thinking about the what ifs....some of the patients are so sick and I was afraid of making mistakes. Also, kept thinking would I know what to do and react well in an Emergency. I went to the hospital to pick my patient the day before clinicals, went home made med cards, filled out my prep form, etc. Then I had this overwhelming feeling like this isn't for me and I don't know what I'm doing. I really feel like I let my fear and being out of my comfort zone get to me. How do you deal with the stress of nursing school? The anxiety mixed with the stress of so many deadlines and not enough time in the day? Have any of you withdrawn and then went back to try again? Do you know anyone that's done this? I have wanted to be a nurse for the longest time. I was getting A's and B's on everything and doing well. I just let the stress and anxiety get the best of me.

Hello All- I am in my first semester and start clinical on tuesday. I'm feeling both excited and anxious. Any advice for me? I hear stories of RN's not being helpful and then I hear other stories of them being wonderful. I guess it's just a matter of who I get paired up with. My main worries are of course making mistakes or hurting someone. I know I have lots to learn and am only starting out, so I'm guessing I'll feel that worry for awhile. What do you find that you love about clinicals? What is challenging about clinicals for you? I'm curious to get input from others. Thank you! Jen

Attn: 2nd-4th Semester Students- Hello, we have our first exam in theory thursday and I'm wondering if you have any study tips? I've done all the reading, answered all the course objective questions, and done quizes online etc. I'm purchaseing a NCLEX book tonight too. I'm guessing I should probably go back through the power points...? What are my other first semester students doing to prepare? What are/have previous students done to prepare? Thanks in advance for any input!

slopez24-I just sent you a pm. Looking forward to meeting you! Nursing school will be here before we know it! :) Jenny

Thank you so much ElBee!! Your information is so helpful and I really appreciate you taking the time to write to us incoming students. Sounds like the second semester is giving you a little bit of a breather. :) I am feeling very excited and feel like I have a better idea of what to expect. Thanks again!! Jenny