icarr757

I am lucky enough to have started nursing as a 2nd career at the young age of 43. I have a job at a decent hospital on the medsurg floor working nights and I have the support of some great coworkers and a boss who do not mind all my innane questions and lack of experience. I am blessed and my short term goals are to spend next few years learning the basics, doing the BSN and maybe getting some professional certifications. But what about long term goals? If I told you good people I am a single 43yr old male with 2yr degree in nursing and my long term dream 10 years from now to be still in nursing but doing something that pays $35/hr or such, could anyone recomend a field of nursing so I could get a idea of what path I need to start aiming walk down to reach said finiancial goals?? Not really interested Managment or Mother/baby, but other than that, I am pretty wide open to most any ideas. Thanks and have great Holiday season!

I am from, and still reside in, the great State of Virginia! But we do need more Canadian beer down here!

I am still going thru orientation and a friend gave me a suggestion that I liked. He said most floors keep a list of the top 5-10 drugs they use on a regular basis by their Pixis to list name/generic names/potential side effects and incompatabilities. He recomended, go by your floor and ask them for a copy of it to study in down time and that will give you a little boost of knowldge when you start on your floor. Help the ego so you feel like you at least know SOMETHING beyond how to give a bedbath on day one =P So I went up to the floor, ran into my soon to be manager and asked her if I could get a copy of that list. She loved the idea and zipped off to get it for me. Then she came back looking a little down saying, she could not find it. We joked, she told me just to look up and memorize everything I could about Dilaudid =P So any other Med/surg folk recomend a few other common drugs that you use pretty much constantly? Thanks!

A) Do you have beer? B) Will you share beer? After that, its all downhill =P

Our hospital recomends against Dansko's for that reason. They cannot stop you from wearing them, and they will not kill your insurance, but they have some ugly stories about folks breaking ankles...

I started prereqs at 39, Passed NCLEX at 43 (had to retake !#$#%^ mother/baby and had to waste 2 months + a summer!) You can do it! Good luck

Congrads, study hard

Best thing, be honest. You give them honest answers then they will give you honest feedback when you talk to them. Totally off topic, if you are thinking of doing LPN program, why not just go straight RN? Word just came down from Bon Secuous, as of Aug 1, there will be NO LPN's at inhouse facilities any more (hospitals) only outpatient and Dr. offices.

Say "Hi" to Mrs. Stainback! That woman makes a killer psych test! Very fair, but I still have nightmares when I remember her tests... When Mrs. Ruff tells you to skip reading a section because it will not be on the test, READ IT!

You all are totaly right! Oh well, the dream was nice while it lasted. From what I hear, I will probably make up a little bit of the time finishing my charting before I leave. Most of my friends tell me their shifts tend to run 12+ hours and they rarely leave "on time." Thanks

Hmm. I could be wrong, but I thought I was told the job was 3 12's and paid for 40hrs a week. Will double check that tomorrow and get back with you...

Ok, you work your schedualed week of 3 12's, 1900 - 0700, mon, tues, wed. Fri your boss calls and pleads you to come in and cover a shift. Ok, sure, another 1900-0700. Here is the question, working your 3 12's, you are getting paid for 40hrs. When you go in and work that extra shift, are you getting paid for another 12hrs? Or just 8hrs, and the first 4 get sucked into limbo as your first 3 12's are actually only 36hrs? Depending on this answer, is your OT paid on 8 or 12hrs for the Friday shift? Thanks!

Hospital that just hired me tested for nicotine as well as all the other fun drugs when I had to go pee in the cup. The future is here...

Quick background, 43, this is a 2ns career start. Just hired for medsurg, night shift (3/12's) at a reputable hospital one town over (60mile commute one way, joy! But I have friends that might let me crash overnight now and then...). Passed NCLEX back in Dec '13, and this is the 1st job offer I have gotten in that time, so I jumped on it. Here is my problem, I have not seen or touched a pt. in 6+ months. On top of that, the hospital where I did my clinicals is in a predominantly older community that has a good bit of $ (wants pts to believe they are at a spa, go Hcap scores!). The nurses that we did clinicals under wanted us doing bed baths, linen changes and to walk pts around the floor 99% of the time. Both I and my clinical instructor caught heat because the last few weeks of clinicals I asked to be assigned to the clin2 on our floor and stated that I wanted to follow her to watch what she did, see how she prioritized, time-managed. By the end of the week the clin2 complained to the unit mgr. that our time would be better spent on bed baths, etc. etc. From a work perspective, I feel our clinical time was almost (not all) wasted. I feel totally unprepared to start this new job. My question, if you were a preceptor what kind of things would you expects a new grad to know walking in the door? I know I am expected to be new and with no previous medical background/experience my knowledge is expected to be... basic. Right now I do not even feel I am at a "basic" level. Can anyone recommend some reading; you tube videos, a good website for good practical and useful info? I am a pretty quick study, I am good at time management, when I know what I am doing and I am not afraid to ask for help when I feel I am in over my head. I do not want to try to be some rock star on the floor; I just want to seem totally incompetent starting the new job. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks

Can't say I have noticed it, but I would love to hear you elaborate on logic you use when "guessing."

Think the title says it all. Anyone have a funny story, or some wisdom to lay out there?

This semester is mother/baby, psych and med-surg I, in that order, 5 weeks each. I picked my group to get mother/baby out of the way first. Have read some fun posts where some lucky guies basicly get to sit out mother/baby, either teachers or pts don't want a guy around... I doubt I will get that lucky . So just looking for any bits of wisdom folks might have, things you realize now, that didn't seem relevant going into mother/baby, etc etc. Picked up the Prentice Hall Maternal book, think im going to spend my last day or 3 memorizing the quick notes sheet in the front. Hope everyone had a good holiday, cause its time to hit the books again!

80%, no rounding. But thats only for the academics, you can still flunk out for clinicals or dosage.

Think about it this way, if you were running a ICU unit, would you want a brand spanking new grad working for you, or someone with a few years of experience? Also, think of how easy it will be for you, as a new grad, to loose your hard earned nursing license working in a ICU with no experience? Im a guy, and one day I also dream of working in a ICU, dunno, maybe its a guy thing. But after talking with ICU nurses and lab techs, they have pretty much convinced me to get a few years under my belt before I try for it, not only for patient safety but my own also. But thats just me.

This is a copy of a reply from the workout thread, hope folks dont mind the extra post as I am seeking a little more specific advice and having its own thread might get more replies, maybe... Hey guies looking for some advice here. I'm 40 and just starting nursing school this fall '11. I am 5'9" 272lbs (just got my mandatory physical) and very sedentary as most of my spare time now is sitting infront of the pc or drawing. Now, WAY back in the day I wrestled for 4yrs in highschool and worked out alot then, but even then i was between 160-170lbs, I have never been "small" if you will. And now I am searching for some advice on getting back into shape, slowly. Also, important to note, i am currently unemployed, uninsured, but I am very fortunate to have a loving and supporting family that will back me up on most anything I do (especially if it will get me out of their house and into my own asap ) So, again, I am looking for some advice for a routine that a 40 yr old, overweight male can do at home. I dont have lots of $ to go throwing around, but I also believe its willpower more than $ that will get you in shape. My main concerns are 1) boredome, need some variety in the routine. 2) potential self injury, i'm no where near as young as i use to be, and as I said, I'm very much out of shape atm. Also dont think the ladies staffing the nursing school would have much sympathy for me trying to call out because I pulled something and can barley move, etc, etc. 3) I start nursing school in about 4 weeks so I would like to start building the "habit" of working out now. I have done some searching on the web and there are 1 million and 1 websites for working out, and 2x as many that will build you muscle "in record time" as well as "add 6inches to your member" if you just send them your credit card number now... Could anyone recomend a site, or a "routine" heck, even a XL worksheet for tracking your daily work out, ill take any advice at the moment. Well, thanks for listening, I have to go do a 1mile walk now, trying to do that 1-2 times a day everyday, get my fat butt out from infront of the pc when the weather permits. See you in school soon [email protected]

Hey guies looking for some advice here. I'm 40 and just starting nursing school this fall '11. I am 5'9" 272lbs (just got my mandatory physical) and very sedentary as most of my spare time now is sitting infront of the pc or drawing. Now, WAY back in the day I wrestled for 4yrs in highschool and worked out alot then, but even then i was between 160-170lbs, I have never been "small" if you will. And now I am searching for some advice on getting back into shape, slowly. Also, important to note, i am currently unemployed, uninsured, but I am very fortunate to have a loving and supporting family that will back me up on most anything I do (especially if it will get me out of their house and into my own asap ) So, again, I am looking for some advice for a routine that a 40 yr old, overweight male can do at home. I dont have lots of $ to go throwing around, but I also believe its willpower more than $ that will get you in shape. My main concerns are 1) boredome, need some variety in the routine. 2) potential self injury, i'm no where near as young as i use to be, and as I said, I'm very much out of shape atm. Also dont think the ladies staffing the nursing school would have much sympathy for me trying to call out because I pulled something and can barley move, etc, etc. 3) I start nursing school in about 4 weeks so I would like to start building the "habit" of working out now. I have done some searching on the web and there are 1 million and 1 websites for working out, and 2x as many that will build you muscle "in record time" as well as "add 6inches to your member" if you just send them your credit card number now... Could anyone recomend a site, or a "routine" heck, even a XL worksheet for tracking your daily work out, ill take any advice at the moment. Well, thanks for listening, I have to go do a 1mile walk now, trying to do that 1-2 times a day everyday, get my fat butt out from infront of the pc when the weather permits. See you in school soon [email protected]