gemimi

Good job owning up to it, the worse thing you could have done was try to talk your way out of it ~ hence the second chance. From now on, think clearly through everything before you do it and double check all work. Make sure to question yourself if there is the slightest doubt. I don't think it will come back to haunt you because you did the right thing in owning up. Good luck!

Isvalliant is right on target. FLY UNDER THE RADAR AT ALL TIMES!! If you have a question, find the answer out by asking another student or research it, if you ask the instructor they figure you don't know your assignment, if you ask a nurse in your clinicals they go to your instructor. If your instructor thinks you are doing "too much" of ANYTHING you are screwed so kiss butt and then haul it. You may not fail in HER class but the chances are the next semester you will as they all work together ~ especially in Med Surg which is famous for failure rates because so much of your grade is up to the instructor's disgression. I have another degree (first) and it was NOTHING like praying my way through nursing school. Do not, repeat do NOT get on an instructors wrong side or you're screwed ~ may not be by that instructor but one of the others will help her out so that you have no complaint to follow up with ... good luck and have fun. Been there, done that, wouldn't do it again for the world but I DO love my career choice.

Don't bother, they obviously are not a company that values their employees in any way, shape or form. Personally, I would not have called them the FIRST time after an interview three ring circus such as that. Remember, YOU are interviewing THEM as well during this process and deciding whether or not YOU wish to work THERE, and you would want to..... WHY???? Just pass the word along to others about what type of facility it was so they stay away as well. No one wants to work for rude and thoughtless people, a letter would mean nothing to them, nor would it change their habits. Don't bother and consider yourself fortunate.

Go for it, you'll adjust. If you have a husband he needs to pitch in ~ no reason why not if he has the interest of the family and you at heart. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today, life is too short and it's not worth it. You don't want to EVER look back and wonder if you should have, could have or would have.....EVER.

Different people have different learning styles, just as some people study better at night than during the day. Study the way that suites you best and stick with it. You are obviously computer savy and can google things, I might suggest getting a Mosby or NCLEX review book. A lot of times, rather than read 200 pages on the same thing that is stated seventeen different ways I would just go to the review book, look up whatever the subject was (ie: depression in the psych section) and the signs, symptoms, treatments and careplans were all there in a two to three page format and gave you the same information the textbook did only in a barebones outline "just the facts", no frills and confusing extra stuff. There are also practise exams in the book on the subject you are studying and I found that instructors would lift questions almost word for word from them and just change it a little. A Mosby or NCLEX Review Book and good care plan books will get you through just about anything combined with the notes taken in class.

Ummm, when did the 40's become old? :)

Guess what??? Next year you'll be 46 whether you go for it or not ~ want to look back at 75 and say, "gee, wish I would have lived my life instead of coasted...?" I graduated in my 40's with absolutely no science background and am now a Director of Nursing. Do what you want in life ~ it's short. Life is what happens while we make plans for the future.

Coming from the administrative point of view, they pay so little because they can. If CNAs and/or nurses would stand together instead of tearing each other apart every time they turn around (ie: that's not my patient....ever hear that one?) and just decide that enough is enough they would find out how very valuable they really are. Who do you think is going to do that care if you strike? I do, however, know of one strike that was lost in MI (Petoskey) where it literally went on for more than a year, divided the town, and many many nurses lost their jobs related to others who crossed the picket line. Managememet dug in and entrenched and so did the nurses. Result? No go, friends and family affected, care affected, and a mess. They have recovered and are now moving on, but it didn't do a lot to change things.

I had ET for about three years but it was after nursing school. It didn't stop me but did become more pronounced under extreme stress. Don't let it stop you from your dreams, many are better off than you and many are worse off than you. Go for it and work with it, it will be OK. Oddly enough, I later was diagnosed with cancer and received a full bone marrow/stem cell transplant. I had to go off my meds during the last run of chemotherapy and after the transplant the tremors went away. Funny how those oil changes work!!! AND GET TO YOUR DOC AND GET BACK ON YOUR MEDS!!! WE ONLY HAVE TIME TO DO WHAT WE MAKE TIME TO DO.....Good luck to you and God speed.

For the heck of it, if you're on a waiting list you might want to check out physical therapy. They make good money, less work, less paperwork, still have patient contact and leave the worry at the door. You can also specialize in hands, etc. and make even more money.

Nope, never around, never stop talking medical, never a "different" slant on your life ~ just the disease process and how crappy the help is. I love having some diversion in my life. Good thing about it is that they're probably never around so you can do as you wish ....

Sorry guys, I have to disagree on a lot of things said here. Let me say first that I have a BSN ~ reason being I already had a prior BS degree and the time spent for the BSN would have been the same for the ADN. I am a DON and hire brand new LPN grads all of the time (just hired one about three weeks ago). In their training they get a lot more hands on clinical time than the BSN does and in SNFs can do anything the RNs do with the exception of IVs and even then they can do IVs if they get certified. The LPN gets paid less but DOES their pay sucki? Not really, if you are presently making $8 - $10 an hour and you start at $15 - $17 an hour you just got a $5 to $7 an hour raise and that improves a LOT of peoples living conditions. Most places will pay for you to go from LPN to ADN and it's cheaper than paying for a BSN. Please don't tell me they are beginning to say that you "have" to have a BSN to even be looked at anymore because they were saying that when I went to school years ago ~ not true. BSN is great, especiallly if you want to be a DON or higher supervisory work but you can only have so many supervisors. If, like many people, you need to have that extra money while you are in school for your ADN then get the LPN and have the option of working three different shifts while you go to school to finish up. You will then have experience under your belt and more hireable. In either case, good luck to you ~ it's really a personal choice.

Badphish ~ I'm with you. Lighten up guys. The older regime wasn't perfect and THAT is when all the regulation came into play, now they are just adding to it for the sake of job security and yes, patient safety. I'll never forget going into my first med surg patients room and seeing tubes protruding from every orifice possible. Thank the heavens that his wife knew what they all did 'cause I sure didn't. Though I asked my instructor about some of it and found she was correct on every one. It's amazing what patients and their family pay attention to and learn. Just like i have learned a lot from CNAs. EVERYONE has something to learn and teach, NONE of us are perfect, and in nursing a sense of humor is essential. Yes we do stupid things and yes we learn from them and yes there are even those who make tragic mistakes. We are not a perfect lot, just people who choose to do our very best each and every day and pray we do everything the way it should be or get someone to help us who knows how.

StrawberryVanilla: If you like working in LTC you're probably going to be just fine. I've been in it pretty much since 1995 and last week I had my job interview ~ my first one ~ as I have been off work for 18 months now (see prior post above) and was hired as their DON. I'm soooooo happy! I start tomorrow. With the exception of a few Nurse Manager stints in hospitals it has mostly been LTC / SNFs for me, it's my passion and sounds like you already have a heads up on what it is like to work with our senior citizens. We need people who love older people. Stay with it and keep in it after your RN, if you've worked the floor as an LPN then apply for charge nurse / unit manager / or ADON positions next and after that you're a sure winner for DON. Salary isn't bad either but you'll earn every dime. Good luck!

Man, reading all of this is really making me depressed. I was encouraging my son to become a nurse because he is barely hanging on and is usually in the hole every month after working a fulltime job (no, he doesn't overspend, his ex-wife gets the money) with no hope of a second job where he is. He is a people person with tons of compassion and would make a great nurse he is also a teacher but there are no jobs in that field either. I am a BSN and now have to enter the workforce after an 18 month time off because of cancer and the death of my other child. Just what I need....no job possibilities ~ great. Now I can be depressed for my only remaining child AND me. Good luck fighting the good old US of A related to foreign nurses ~ there's another losing battle.