CareRx

Wow! This must really be a tough time for you. Thank you so much for sharing. This will definitely help me better assess a career in nursing before it is too late. Particularly, the things I don't really wish to see. Since I have trouble even pricking someone, this can become a problem in the future. Try to get professional help the next chance you get. A bit of silliness based on the bold texts above... after all, silly things can evoke a smile, laugh, guffaw, right? P.S. Look at the related Burnout in Nursing video as well.

You set up the problem right. Here you don't worry about minutes because you are ask the answers in mg/hr or ml/hr respectively. 25,000 units / 250ml x 30 ml / hr = 3000 units / hr If the question wanted to know in #2 how many units per mn? 25,000 / 250 ml x 30 ml / hr x 1 hr/60mn = 50 units / mn (which makes sense, you wouldn't want 3000 units per mn; and in the question below, you should expect the answer to be much less as well) (note that you can skip a step and add 60 mn right away under 30ml, but perhaps it is best when you are a just a little bit advance to do it.) #2: 25,000 units in 250 ml infusing at 30 ml /hr, how many units per second?

Thank you so much! I am not sure why I'm feeling this way. In my youth, I racked up all the good grades believing I'll find the perfect career. But this is far from reality. I see people here that comes from different background and for one reason or another decide they want to try something new. I hate debt. I suppose this is why I worry so much when I face a very tough exam in which I had to memorize so much. But I chose pharmacy because initially, I'd be scared to prick someone. In class one time, we were learning how to immunize someone or even checking someone's blood sugar and I was so scared to do it on a dummy model. Somehow, I knew they weren't the real deal. But hey, they say, most fears can be overcome. Anyways, I'm only in my first year so I need to go back to the drawing board, and remember why exactly I chose pharmacy over medicine or nursing. I need to find that passion again. However, the work is challenging and sometimes, when I'm unprepared, I panic which then leads to wonders about the consequences of that debt. It seems I don't really enjoy the education because of this stress. In any event, searching on here, I found out about this website. As it is just my tough luck, the National Health Service Corps doesn't seem to have a loan repayment for pharmacy. Anyone know of such other programs? Your point is well taken and somehow, I just might toughen it up and enjoy my career as so many people would love to be in my shoes right now. Thank you for your candid reply. P.S. My interest in nursing is also genuine. I've been in hospitals where I had to care for a dying, very close and young family member. I know the fears. Perhaps I was too busy and worried to notice the emotional side of nursing... but I definitely know the sadness.

So it seems a lot of people on here are career changers. Just like me, many are worried about accumulated debt and have come to notice that perhaps, nursing is that one career that may bail them out and that, surprisingly, they might actually like nursing with all its subfields. It's late or early (1:40 am); whichever way you look at it. My basketball team lost, and I painfully work on physics & calculus problems trying to remember as much as I can and get into a rhythm so as to apply to engineering schools. It's not happening! I'm tired of jumping all over the place. I'm at a time in my life where I need real income fast and that I'm confident I can finish a program without too much stress. I'm a nontraditional student. I'm waiting for a possible acceptance letter but I'm also worried that the Committee will see that I am in pharmacy school. In addition, there are many super competitive applicants with experience as CNA, LPN etc... Perhaps, they might be suspicious as to why I'm applying last minute with no nursing tech job under my belt etc... If I don't get into nursing school, my options will be limited. I'll have to consider continuing in pharmacy, which I like, but as I've said before, is too expensive. Meanwhile, friends and family see me and go: wow, you must be smart, you'll make a lot of money! Strangers look at me in my white coat and give me this stare: wow, all this math and chemistry. You must be smart! Money! I say to myself or to Allnurses.com: Thank you for a minute of your time.

Looks like a lot of us here are career changers.

I'll be willing to help if I can see your thought process based on the info given above.

I guess I am more confused than when I posted first time about career switch. I'm hoping scoring above 90% (took all the sections) in the Kaplan test among other things will let the school know that I'm ready for the rigors of nursing school. And because I still like physiology, dosage and pharmacology... I can have that in nursing. Plus nursing is so cheap. I'd pay about 10K for the whole education (compared to 120K + for pharmacy school). And nurses seems to apply more of what they learn in school. To be honest, save for the chemistry and lots of calculations, I believe nursing students learn much more about the human body and so on then us pharmacy students. Believe me, most of what we do is theoretical and retail pharmacy, you hardly put in practice at all. And as a nurse in a real situation outside hospital setting, you prolly would know much more what to do. And without the medications, we probably would not know so much. And nurses learn medication too! (ugh... how is it nurses earn much less than pharmDs?) For those who mentioned bank teller.... dealing with money doesn't give me the satisfaction of helping society in a big way. I love science and technology. And if I weren't so worried about the debt, I would just continue on with pharmacy. Also, nursing is more a career with stability than bank tellers. And I probably can support a family with a nursing degree. Some say in pharmacy, eventually I'll pay the debt. But if my dream of clinical pharmacy is probably not happening, than should I be miserable to pay off debt by working retail (my least favorite)? Thanks for your input. I realize I may be going about it the wrong way. That is why, it's good to ask.

In pharmacy, many students had pharmacy tech license, hence they have a part-time throughout school or summer. Some engineering students who knew they would go engineering route, are math/science tutors or have engineering drafting license. Given that my current situation, and as a way to pay for the loan, I was thinking if I had the nursing degree, it could be a great way to earn a living somehow. In addition, if engineering does not work out, then nursing will be my way of life and I aim to perform it well all the way up to a PhD. Then I'd teach dosage calculations or physiology.

Over the last week, I discovered this great site and I received lots of advice as to how to proceed with my life. As you may know, I'm in my first year of pharmacy school. This spring was not a really good one and given that year 2 is much more intense, I may not be able to reach my career goals of clinical pharmacy. Furthermore, I'm just paranoid of the debt I've accumulated. To understand this, one would have to know that I was debt free and was very meticulous how I go about spending habits. Not that I was that frugal, but the thought of owing so much has something to do with it. The worse I did, the more I worried and the further I was away from my career goals. Anyway, I narrowed my choice to Civil engineering hopefully with a structural engineering specialty. However, should I get accepted, I will strongly consider nursing which will cost me less than 10k for less than two years. This might serve me as a part-time job as I will need to support myself through engineering school. What could be better? You earn a degree in which you learn what you need to support yourself and you have a "good debt" (I suppose depending where you go). But I doubt it is as expensive as med or pharmacy school. Perhaps, I'm naive and this is where you come in! :) Cons: I post a link to structural engineering (for those who might be in my situation). Admittedly, my favorite pharmacy courses were PathoPhysiology, Dosage calculations, pharmacology... and when I see them pop up here, I wonder if I'm making a mistake still. Thank you all. Please feel free to chime in with any advice if necessary.

Without trying to confuse you too much, allow me to suggest a fantastic method to solving multiple-step problems. The cure: Dimensional analysis! You'll see it in chemistry and especially dosage problems. #2. Notice: 50mg in 250ml means 50mg/250ml and so on... You based the ratio based on final answer needed. If you needed to know ml/hr then you would have ml on top ... 250ml / 50mg and so on. On to the problem! NEEDED: mcg/mn Here are the clues: 50mg/250ml, 3ml/ hr Conversions: 1000 mcg in 1mg or 1000 mcg/1mg, 1hr/60mn (note that I set it up based on how I want the final answer to be) Here we go in one step: 50 mg/250ml * 3 ml/hr * 1000mcg/1mg *1hr/60mn = 10 mcg/mn (Note that the other terms cancel) Hope this is an extra tool in your problem solving!

Congrats on your decision! I'm sure it was not an easy one. If you have a science, math question at a time that is inconvenient to ask in school, post here! Heck, we'll learn together! Cheers!

There is no question that this site provides ample advice for those who seek it. Amazingly, this is a great place to come for comfort, career decisions and my gosh, literally anything one needs to know without having to leave home. I'm impressed! It is a stressful time in my life now and I'm navigating both the nurses and engineering forums in hopes of finding answers. Thx!

So I'm trying to reply to a message only to find out that I don't have 15 posts to reply to a message. So I can't even thank the person for much needed advice. Whoever thought of that... Brilliant!

I appreciate your thoughts. They should serve me well. There is always a fear factor when one switches career plans... Once I get over that, I should enjoy it throughout. For me, I suppose the greatest fear is having loans over 100K when I'm done. In fact, there is no way around it. Are you starting this fall? Did you think about the change for a while? Good luck to you!

Whoa! I apologize if I came across that way. That was not my intention. Nowadays, it is tough to speak the truth on the merits. We sugarcoat things so much that we fail to do the hard and necessary work. I have known many people in my short life who otherwise leave it to the Creator to create miracles when the going gets tough. This is a very subjective thing, mind you. Of course to "fall seven times" is not literally taken out of context. But how many times are we allowed to fall where academics is concerned? What exactly is this passage supposed to mean? Try explaining this on your school application. Furthermore, why are you even worried for Friday's exam. It's under a divine control right? Many Christians make it seems they are the only people with humility, and refer to scriptures for help with ongoing problems. The last part is okay if they help you, but certainly not everything. After your exam on Friday, I enlighten you to read: The perimeter of ignorance I made a comment on the merit and I was not talking down on anyone. You find that providing a proverb is much more motivational than the math steps I showed you above, than fine with me. Whatever works for you. I did not mean to hijack your post and I should have not contributed at all.

Let us break it down somewhat: if you are motivated about your studies, this will often breed success. Sadly, competitive schools will see a failure (or withdrawals) just two times in the same course on transcripts and this is ground for dismissal or a seat not extended to you. We don't have the luxury to fail seven times. But yes, we make a lot of mistakes in life and we can't always feel sorry for ourselves but to pick up from where we left off. Where other people are concerned, we don't have that option. Above is just one calculation pattern to solve problems on the TEAS exam, which in my humble opinion, is much more important approach this exam. Now, if prayer helps, by all mean. However, rigorous study is more a determining factor. Humility should be inherent of all human beings and not just for Christians. But given my answer, you might call me a bad person already. To which I'd reply, I'm glad it works for you. State of education today

GirlDotson, This must be a very difficult time for you. I know you mentioned having a lot of study guides. It would help if you could really assess how you distribute your study time from what you already know to those you are unsure of. As for some of the problems you have in math, much practice will be required. But here are a few tips for graphing an equation. And I mention this, only to help you see pattern to solidify the material. Suppose your equation is 2x + 3y = 18 Don't panic! Here you draw on what you already know, and that is to send x terms to the other side. You are left with: 3y = -2x +18 (good so far?) You now want y to be alone; you divide both sides by 3: y = -2/3 *x + 6 ( I put the asterix to denote x is not in the denominator when you multiply) Make a table (eventually, you'll be able to do this mentally). Choose any # for x (start small! :) ) and see what the result for y is. Say I picked 3 for x. Two ways, the 3s cancel leaving you with -2 + 6 = 4 OR 3*-2 = -6 >>>> divide -6/3 to get -2 >>>> add -2 + 6 = 4. Good so far? So y = 4 when you replace x with 3. So your coordinate on the graph is (x, y) or in this case: (3, 4). On your graph (Cartesian coordinate), simply count 3 on the x direction (horizontal line to the right since 3 is positive) and up 4. From this point on, any point you pick should align with 4 to get a straing slanted line. There are dosage problems too you say! Different thought process but certainly sound reasoning helps. For more on this, in response to another poster, I postedA logical response to solve such problems. Dosage Calculation I agree with other posters that a CC route is much beneficial. I started there a few years ago when I needed to brush up on my math. I wish you much success and post whatever math, science questions you may have. I'm no expert, but if I happen to catch them, I'd love to help.

Some of the enthusiasm I see here (I'm fairly new to this site) reminds me of when I was first starting pharmacy school. It is contagious in that given my recent doubts about pharmacy school, I'm thinking about trying out for nursing. I did not want to say it, but frankly given that I'm a male, I'm not sure how I would fit in in this female dominated field (and females argue about this in the engineering forums). Furthermore, while I realize many nurses are just as brilliant, I'm afraid people might think I'm lowering my standards from aspiring physics/engineering major, pharmacist, to nursing where " many times you bathe and wipe etc..." (according to a few posts on here) In addition, I feel somewhat guilty that many people want this really bad and here I am, passing the Kaplan (not a shoe-in since I'll only hear back next month) and all that, only to be uncertain about my place in nursing. This is such a tough decision. Recently, I received some great suggestions on here about continuing with engineering, or staying with pharmacy. I've also been thinking about just becoming a physics professor at a community college (I'd have to earn my MS). The thing with nursing, I could start in August and be done in two years and bridge to a BSN. Stay with pharmacy and I have 3 more years of (volume load memorization) and massive loans (unlike nursing). Go Engineering/Physics route and take more math + earning an MS to be more marketable (still more years of school). My career path seems so far apart, yet this is where I am in life and I must play the hand I'm dealt. So for those of you who are certain of nursing, keep that motivation going, it will take you far.

I was not talking about the vast majority. I did say many of them. And, pre-meds circles are worse. Anyways, the purpose of this thread was to look for a solid career choice based on sound advice. I am probably going to stay in pharmacy, or do the engineering, and have nursing as a fall back career based on my needs. I will continue to browse these forums to learn more about your experiences in the field of nursing.

Thank you all for replying to my post. There is no way to address these issues without appearing less dedicated while trying to escape the kind of work that nurses will be called on to do. I apologize if I appeared that way, yet I appreciate all the great responses and guidance. To address the many comments, this post can't be too short. My brother had cancer and this whole experience shifted my career goals from engineering to healthcare. I chose pharmacy because it provided an intellectual core wherein chemistry, math and other courses came into play. I shunned medicine because it was cutthroat and long after they earned their MD degree, they still act as if they are God. Of course, there are exception, but truth is, I was not willing to sacrifice my time and my future spouse to become a physician. In addition, the massive loans would be a constant reminder that would shoot the stress level really high. So that settles that. After taking the PCAT, a grueling 4hr pharmacy entrance exam, I was admitted to the schools I applied to. Good so far. Of course, I had other problems in life, but performed much less below my level. With that, my goals of becoming a clinical pharmacist diminished considerably. I'm not a research kind of person, hence clinical. Pharmacy is very intense with a fair dose of memorization. It was challenging always to reach into the memory bank on an exam. Ironically, imho, this does not produce better clinician. In the workplace pertinent information is readily available. To me, the calculations and of course pathophysiology is much more important (if you had to memorize) and even the trivial info is so necessary. I'm willing to bet no physicians know/remember all the intricate parts of the body. Just as such, no pharmacists remember all the myriad of drugs (generic vs brand names) and their mechanism of action. I got sick and tired of all this memorization and to make matters worse, I was not liking the work in retail. My grades were slipping fast while I searched for the right career for me. It was very painful. Yes, there are some things I enjoy as a pharmacy student. I like that I could just do cerebral work most of the time (mostly hospital or clinical). I was disenchanted with corporate reducing pharmacy to what seems like another food chain. I hated dealing with non-pharmacy related sales in retail. After working in retail pharmacy, you use very little of what is taught in pharmacy (which is a lot!) Pharmacy pays very well and perhaps, I might have sucked it up and try to finish the program, however, I was not doing well this semester and I wasn't sure if I should continue through that grueling 2nd year to with another two years to go. Many of you are right in that I may be rushing a decision to attend nursing. The fact is, given the rigors of pharmacy school, I had no time to do any kind of research at all and the loans are starting to pile up. Pharmacy school is not exactly cheap and it is for four years (except a very few accelerated programs, which I don't think is worth the brain cells). I did ok in undergrad, I set myself for the competitive fields: engineering, pharmacy, nursing etc... But now, I feel a bit like a failure. In engineering, you have PhDs that keep a low profile, realizing there is so much more to learn. Physicians, belittling nurses makes me sick. To go through med school, all it takes is to be prepared for the workload and a good memory at the time of exams. They are not any brighter than say, engineers who are solving very complex problems and sending robots into other planets using Newtonian and Einstein's equations. I respect this kind of work. Physicians are not God, and many of them are down right ignorant. I thought about becoming a physician because it is the first thing one tends to think about when a family member succumbs to an illness. But being around that kind of inflated egos is not for me. I think I love pharmacy in that I can possibly have my own pharmacy (though hard these days) or finding my niche later in life. However, I'm trying to hopefully, figure out a way to memorize and do well on exams. Interestingly, there were the same students in my class that would be done in ~20-25 mn for a 90 mn exams! These, probably have parents paying their way through college and with very little care in the world. So why nursing? In the hospital, I saw how diligent some were and it was nice when nurse paid special attention to my loved one. It's quick and very little loans to repay back. Yes it is twelve hour shifts, but physicians and pharmacists have same hours in hospital. It is very stable! There are many different specialties to choose from and so on. Fill in all the positives you can think of. Engineering fascinates me. I mean, goodness gracious, I love the thought process. Believe me, when you solve physics, there is very little memorization involve. In fact, one is allowed to bring the sets of equations during exams. This proves that you really have to understand how to solve the problems. I work hard like the rest of you, so I'm no expert in physics. I believe if you truly love something, it breeds motivation and effort. I had many painful moments in physics, but I sought help and soon I was doing well in physics with calculus (where actually using calculus can simplify how you solve problems). Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that I'm probably going to go the engineering route. To respond to some of you, it is one thing to love something, one must be honest with self about truly able to use these types of tools in the work place everyday. And I've had my doubts. As stated in my post, I've been out of calc/physics class in a while and naturally, I'm concerned. Plus, I've been in school for a while, and I dread somewhat the length it takes for most engineers to be marketable. Most go on to earn a Master's. However, I have a spouse and while I wouldn't mind doing this, soon I must find a way to contribute to the family income while not sacrificing my choice of career and satisfaction for the rest of my life. Decisions, decisions... I leave you with a link that piques my interest in engineering: Mechanical/Aerospace engineer If I can get excited about the very complex math and physics, I see myself doing that kind of work. However, if I don't feel too confident, I must pick a career that will eventually put food on the table for my future kids and family. Or I earn a nursing degree to have something to fall back on. Any thoughts on this is welcomed. Cheers!

Hello! I am new here and I'm hoping a nurse here will be able to help me out. Some of the questions I have are not that I am considering nursing solely for the money or that at other times I am belittling the profession. When choosing a career there are a range of issues that pop up and that must be addressed if one is going to be happy in the long run. So, I am in pharmacy school and frankly, I'm considering a career change for many reasons. While in retail pharmacy, the opportunity is there to make a six figure salary, the work is unbelievably boring. I wanted to be a clinical pharmacist, however, my grades will not help me reach that goal. Furthermore, the workload is pretty intense and I just don't feel like having to memorize a ton of stuff. Some courses like complex dosage calculations (milimoles, E values, mEq) and medicinal chemistry, while hectic, aren't too bad if you truly understand what you are doing. I just don't like all the memorization stuff. So I'm contemplating two career options: nursing and engineering. As you might have guessed, I like math and physics and I could start a mechanical/aerospace possibly this fall. Issue is, I've done so much of the other science (pathophysiology, microbiology, biochemistry etc...) that I am forcing myself over the summer to review calculus in preparation for calculus 2. In short I have to take more math (time consuming) and review physics for engineers. Nursing, I never thought about this career before. It seems to have gotten competitive, requiring many students to get top scores to matriculate. The thing is, I have no clue (beyond the usual admin meds to patients) what nurses do. I have read here that many nurses are somewhat overwhelmed when they have to help a patient "bathing in his/her urine and feces". While I have heard fear of poking someone with a needle can be overcome, having to clean someone is the least glamorous part of nursing imho. When a family member was in the hospital, in fact, we bathe him most of the time (which we proudly did given family... etc). I'm not sure, in all honesty, nurses can attest that if this is something they do many times a day, that they enjoy doing this. How often do you have to clean a patient? What field of nursing deal the least with that kind of stuff? How much do nurses earn? (I know of someone who is a nurse and seems to be living very comfortably) What makes a nurses job stressful? Is it physical or mostly mental? As you can see, I have lots of questions. I know some of you will say that I need to work in a hospital to really find out. I concur but there is no pause button in life. Decisions must be made sometimes given the situation. I took the Kaplan exam and did well. I submitted the application and now I will find out soon if I made the cut. But, I'm nervous. While money is not everything, it pays to go into a career where you make enough money to live comfortably. Also, nursing seems appealing because it is a stable career while engineering is not. And also, to be honest, I had aspirations of working for NASA as a future aerospace engineer and as you can guess, friends and families surely are thinking that I may be nuts since both careers are so far apart. Please help. Give me whatever info that might make me a better nurse while enjoying the profession.

I have not heard too many people talk about the CC nursing route and get an RN. Then if you want, apply for a BSN later. At least, you have your feet in the door.

I am a pharmacy student (taking time off to decide on a career path as my grades were also beginning to slip) and originally, I applied because I was looking for post-graduate training to be a clinical pharmacist. After working in a retail pharmacy, I realize that not only the path to clinical pharmacy is too competitive and more schooling/loans post training, I would most likely end up doing retail pharmacy (that ironically pays, but is boring). I began to assess a different career path. Mainly, I wanted something where I can enter the work force, live comfortably and spend time with my family. I was assessing an engineering career because of my love for physics and math, but I stopped at calculus 1 and now I have to take calculus 2, 3 and differential equations and more science courses. The loans are getting high up there, and I need to start earning some real cash and contributing to society in the healthcare field. Nursing, it appears, might be a good fit and ironically, when I was thinking careers, it was not one of those I thoroughly considered. In addition, I want the opportunity to be my own boss, and nurse practitioners appear they have a certain autonomy. So if you are an engineer/student or past allied health major, what are your thoughts on this matter? I'm very new to this forum, so I'm looking for some info. Thank you.

Hey all! I am brand new to this thread. So I was browsing on here to learn a little more about the profession and I came across this problem. Though it was answered, allow me to just show a different way, algebraically to solve the following problem. If Sally can paint a house in 4 hours, and John can paint the same house in 6 hour, how long will it take for both of them to paint the house together? This was given earlier as a solution. Find the common denominator, add, flip and divide. 1/4+1/6 =3/12+2/12 =5/12 12/5=2.4 hours One convincing way to solve it is as follows: Let x = number of hours it takes 2 people to paint the house. It is a ratio problem. 1 person / 4 hrs + 1 person / 6 hrs = 2 people / x hours Common denominator is 24. Cross multiply and you get: 6x + 4x = 24 (x cancels on this side) Combine like terms: 10x = 24 Solve for x: x = 2.4 hrs I hope this also makes sense. Good luck on your nursing applications!