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I'm in the search and destroy mode, and easing out of it finally, I appreciate your response...you guys have been sooooo much more human than the suits I have been and worked with for twenty years... Bill

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, went into Nursing and generally hate most people, sounds a little like me....and scarey too....Would like to hear more about your take on the job market, what awaits the recent grad., did you get this as a second degree...that kinda stuff... Thanks....

You have to know that no instructor is going to succeed at browbeating you when all you do is look back at them, unaffected, or with measured empathy, (that really undoes them), and just calmly and respectfully stare right through them, with just a hint of psychopathy thrown in for good measure. It also helps being over 6 feet tall, muscular, and over 40.... ...Yes I understand the dynamics of boot-camp aka school/clinicals, but no one has the right to marginalize you publicly...just make up your mind to calmly and assertively expose their asses, they may retaliate, just be ready to document....and then apply gauze to any abraded areas.... :-)

I gotta say, you guys are unbelievable with your concern for what is sizing up to a whining poster....me!!!! So its not impossible to enter the Nursing prof. even with some limitations......I might of told me by now to forget it...but I find it, and have found there is a TRUE generalization with this profession , in that you all really try to offer help....thats how I've been my whole life....I am a nutritional nut....health nut etc., read all the chemistry behind most products...not just the labels, but the biochemical/metabolic details etc...whether a drug is fat bound, or liver metabolized, or water soluble.. and have always been sought out for advise on vitamins, foods etc...on an amateur level....but I have always been excited to share or help... So finally, after debating it all through College, and deciding not to go into Nursing...twenty years later, I'm gonna give it a huge shot... Thanks everyone very much.

Me? or the last post...? How about this, what if you have a lousy back....flat out lousy...? The kind where you have to bend with your knees constantly, you can't bend over from the waist, you stoop with your knees....kind of back??? And its wierd, I am very muscular and fit, 6'1", 195, look younger than I am....everyone else's opinion, not mine..and nobody ever believes it...waaaaaaaa!!! I'm afraid if there is constant leaning forward, leaning over beds, (duh), anything that puts me off balance, ends up aggravating my lower back....THIS SCARES ME, and once aggravated, I have to cease all insults for a month...doesn't sound like they will accomodate me, and if I lie about it coming in.....I'm screwed too.....I guess, or I'm wondering if I can compensate enough with body mechanics and stomach strengthening to offset the weakness, and lack of flexibility, and or increase flexibility...I don't have anything organically wrong except for "dehydrated lower disks...." those lower vertebrae are very tightly packed WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK, ITS EITHER NURSING OR TEACHING....BECAUSE I CAN'T STAND ANOTHER TWENTY YEARS OF ACCOUNTING!!!!! :-))) Thanks, I don't mean to sound so manic... Bill

...needed the pep talk....you have the perfect background for the field...your degrees and your life experience will really pay off in practice....patients and people in general will sense your sincerity, a hard thing to fake, and giving a %%%% about people, but also building in your own limits, never has failed me in the things that count in life...You learn how to express caring and intimate your limits as you get older, and people tend to sense that.. ..I have a ways to go...but have most of reqs for the BSN, took a lot of chemistry, bio, Calc. physics...(was premed for a while, then Business)and all the A&S Dev. Psych, upper level humanities etc...(my dad was a prof at the university I attended, so I wandered a lot) Thanks again Amy..! Bill

i want you to know that the potentially ethnocentric reference to the insourcing of foreign students, was not meant to be...and i have visited a few of these areas, and would understand motivations for looking beyond my bario etc., it's also interesting that many foreigners don't want anything to do with us either...understandable either way... visiting mexico city, tijuana, manila....quickly helps you understand with all your senses...believe me!!, what third world means...not from the ugly american perspective, but on a human level...you realize everything is relative to what you are used to, we are so spoiled here....at the same time, we all are products of the culture that surrounds us...i need to shut up...thanks for you response.. bill

What a great response, thoughtful, mature, you know, all that good stuff... what seems to be filtering through here is, from a bunch of responses is a level of maturity, ability to deal with many different personalities, and keeping the unrealistic expectations on hold, it's probably like most other things in life, you get out what you put in.... The idealistic probably gets crushed quickly, but tempered idealism looks like prerequisite... I have been dealing with financial statements, dense data analysis, programming and software automation....it's great to know how to do it, but almost never makes you feel good about yourself, in terms of the work itself, in fact, usually, the more you help the brass cut patient care costs, the more they like you... by the way, weak lower back, is that a career killer? thanks again

thanks...that helps, a little more freedom with your feelings on the back deal... you won't hurt my feelings...is that going to be a career killer?> Thanks very much, Bill

Thanks, thats helpful...it really does come down to what you put into it..just trying to figure out at this stage of the game, if I have the endurance... Bill

This is a continuation of a former question....I have a BS in Finance... Do you guys notice the following...?? Discrimination towards males in Nursing School or on the job, a tendency to view the male nurse as handy forklift?? Also, age discrimination especially as it relates to older men in nursing, (40's) (in other words, we are only in it either because we had to pick something due to economy etc., or we erroneously assume we will get into mgmt quicker than our female counterparts..) just the opposite I sure.. BIG QUESTION...I have a back that is fine as long as I don't use it much...!!! (pretty sure this is the kiss of death for nursing) I usually have to be careful with it....the thought of being off-center moving a heavy patient etc., makes my lower back flinch just sitting here..., doesn't take too much to make it tighten up, then it's downhill from there....re-injuring is a given if I have to keep doing whatever it was that injured it first... I am in great shape muscularly and cardio-wise, etc., but the back needs loving care...THIS is what scares me more than a male-hating bitter divorcee transferring her unresolved anger on me....I've worked in healthcare arenas, primarily female, and you learn not to take the male bashing too seriously...just don't get too comfortable and return the love... AND, whats your take on the VISA nursing importation issues...do you see this eating up demand over the next decades..this seems very disheartening...Admittedly, you need a heart to be an effective nurse, but also have to be pragmatic about your finances etc., Is it really just a matter of remaining positive, nose to grindstone, the workplace is always driven by gender and political issues....or is there a female groupthink, be it corrected politically but still harbored, that will make life more difficult for the male in this profession....I hear they are either harassed or cuddled depending on certain obvious attributes...!! Thanks Bill

I'd be interested in hearing more about this aspect....how bad is the importing, and do you see it really offsetting demand....because they not only are much more compliant and willing to take more crap from anyone, mainly because they were so desperate to get their Visa, and move from mostly third world conditions, eg Philipines, India, Mexico City...central America...etc., I've visited some of these places, and the intense overpopulation, extremely low wages and living conditions, make the US seem unrealistically heaven like... Thanks again for your thoughts.. Bill

Well, I can say that I like you guys just for your interest in responding to what I'm sure is a continuous concern, very mature answers, wow... I grew up with social worker parents, and have always been very uncomfortable in a repetitive black and white business world, all day seat belted to your screen, analyzing extremely dense data all day long...And some of you look at that as a nice change too....grass is greener kinda thing...maybe? ....Do you guys feel my years in accounting and healthcare finance and a BSBA in finance will make any difference to employers when paired with the BSN...I want to do patient care, probably in the same areas everyone else prefers, which will make it harder, but be able to also move into other areas....eventually go into a PA program... Really, you guys are so different, you must be nurses or something :-)

you make an interesting point, the field is getting a good infusion of diversity, experiencially, ethnically, demographically....which in theory should strengthen it...what's your opinion on the insourcing trends...??? Thanks for responding, not everyone would take the time Bill

Thats true, normally discussion boards aren't for happy run of the mill reports, as most of life should be....maybe the questions could all be distilled down to...in your opinion, and by the way, are you full time, how many years, RN, how are men, more mature men..., perceived in you profession...I would eventually like to become a PA, or ARNP.... Thanks for replying, not everyone would take the time!!!! BIll