Shazz87

So I'm starting the final stretch for my associate's RN program, only have clinicals left! Yeah!! Having spent some time already in our local hospital, I'm not sure that's where I want to be. But I've gotten the impression that a new nurse almost has to punch the hospital RN card before they could get a job elsewhere. I also don't know what "elsewhere" is... Can someone tell me about any experiences they have had as an RN other than a hospital or nursing home setting, particularly part time as I may try and pursue my BSN? I hear about insurance review, flu shots, school nursing, etc., but it seems like NOTHING is going to want to hire you straight out of school with no experience. So what do you do???? Thanks!

I'm pretty lucky in terms of what I have left to take. I've been working on prereqs part time for about 5 years, and the local community college in Virginia where I'm going accepted all of my previous college courses from my bachelors in Education. So I only have clinicals to wrap up. I'll have one full day of class, then the clinical that goes along with it. So 2 days a week, for 5 semesters. That's why I figured I'd be a fool not to do it, and at least make a go of it. Like someone said, I'll know once I get into the clinicals if it's for me or not. Good luck with you husband. Sounds like you're juggling a lot. I only have one child and at least my husband's not traveling. Best wishes!!

omg - that's kinda what i'm getting!! it's a "well, if that's what you really want to do". he's totally worried about me bringing home something that my daughter would catch, or me catching something. he hates hospitals (whereas i love them), hates blood (doesn't bother me) and hates school, so he cannot understand at all why i would even dream of going back to school to do something so horrendous as work with sick people!! so i've got a lot of guilt about the whole thing in addition to overthinking!! the comments are right on track, though, and my thinking has been much more positive!! thanks all.

This all really is great, and very kind, advice. I'm very grateful. I can feel the knot in my stomach relaxing somewhat. LOL. I guess I need to just take it one day at a time. I shouldn't worry about things that might never happen, and focus instead on learning as much as possible and having a great experience. Then I can worry about things if they happen.... it's really easy to get stressed if you think about this too much.... Many thanks.

Wow, you are all very kind. Thank you so much. I'm glad to hear other people have worried about the same things. Well, not glad that you "worried", but at least I'm not feeling along!! Happy Fourth to all and thanks again!!

Hi Thank you. Yes, I have a tendancy to overthink things and try to make sure I've covered all bases. That probably works fine for teaching, but in this situation, it's not serving me well since there are too many unknowns at this point. I'd love to know if other people have felt this way and what you've done to kick yourself out of it... Thanks again!!

I am a second career student starting a Associates Degree RN program next month and all of a sudden, I am petrified. I only have 5 semesters of 2-day-a-week clinicals to get through, but I'm so nervous. I'm quitting my teaching job so that I am not so overwhelmed, and I'm panicking that maybe I'm not making the right career move. Nurses in our area make more per hour than teachers, but I'm also burnt out on teaching, so it's a combination of reasons for the change. My father is a retired family doctor, still made house calls till he retired. But I never ever considered medicine until recently, probably to take a different path. But I've always loved medical stuff, love hospitals, don't mind blood. I've been working on pre-requisites for about 5 years now and finally have everything done. I was sooo excited until 3 am last night when everything hit at once... But what if I'm not good at drawing blood? Do I REALLY want to work on holidays, every other weekend, and evenings -- something my teaching career didn't require? What if I make a mistake and someone gets hurt? What if I catch some awful disease and hubby (who is lukewarm on the whole thing anyway) freaks out? What if I try to help someone out of bed and hurt my back really bad? Am I really going to be comfortable helping someone go to the bathroom? It's funny --- as a teacher, I can say with 100% certainty that if I knew I'd be only working with kids during nursing school, I'd be fine. But there's something about knowing that I'll be working with ADULTS that is very intimidating. I know, some of these thoughts are stupid and rambling, but I figured if anyone could share something that would either make me feel better or cause me to rethink my decision, it'd be the awesome people on this board! Thanks!!