tenjuna MSN

tenjuna has 5 years experience as a MSN and specializes in Informatics, Orthopaedics.

tenjuna's Latest Activity

1. 

   Do Not Underestimate the Difficulty Level of Nursing School

   tenjuna replied to tenjuna's topic in Pre-Nursing

   Here I am 3 years from my last post as promised lol. I did finish my MSN in Nursing Informatics online last year with a 4.0 GPA from University of Mary (umary.edu). Good school but pricey. I would still recommend Western Governor's if they have a program you are interested in! I just enrolled this week for my DNP in Nursing Informatics after taking a year off. 7 years of nursing school is draining to say the least I needed a break. This program should be 22 months and then I am all done, just a little over 10 years from the day I started my journey. What I learned from the difficulties of the ADN program have been carried with me throughout this entire journey. Do not underestimate it, make a plan to get through it, and make sure everyone around you understands that this is more important than going out or playing video games or whatever. I do have to laugh a bit at how crazy those initials years were, I spent most of it entirely lost. I now understand that this is normal, so if you are feeling like the world is going to end, trust me it isn't. You will get through it too, just keep your eyes on the prize. ❤️
2. 

   MSN Informatics program recommendations...

   tenjuna replied to nurse404's topic in Informatics

   I went to WGU for RN to BSN, very highly recommend it for many reasons. However, I did my Informatics MSN at University of Mary (umary.edu) before WGU opened their program. Good program overall but pricey.
3. 

   Does dating get easier as a male nurse in his 30s?

   tenjuna replied to nurse2bnoob101's topic in Male Students

   Before I became a nurse my dating options were practically nil. Since I became a nurse they have been practically nil with the option of dating from the workplace, and that option comes with an enormously high risk profile. I finally found someone (another nurse) but we have agreed to completely separate work and personal lives. We do not have any interactions at work other than the few necessary times that come up (I am an Informatics Nurse, she works on Med/Surg). This has been a very good compromise but I am definitely lucky. I would not generally recommend dating someone at work.
4. 

   Need advice please

   tenjuna posted a topic in General Career

   Hello all, I am coming up to a crossroads in my relatively young nursing career, and I really could use some advice. Graduated with my ADN and received my license in 2014. I moved to North Dakota to work in Ortho as a new grad, but after 9 months had to return to Iowa because my daughter was having a lot of problems in school. I felt at the time that being a good father was more important than my new career. When I went back to Iowa, I worked on an Ortho unit there as well, but it was an incredibly toxic environment, and we parted ways after 3 months. Since I had already started working on my BSN, I went ahead and concentrated on finishing that before moving on. I also worked a few PRN positions during this time, but I got some really bad assignments that honestly almost got me out of nursing entirely. Got some good advice to use my 25+ years of IT experience and get into Informatics Nursing, and I was lucky enough to find a position back in North Dakota, and I have been working on my MSN in Informatics at the same time. Which leads us to today. I am a few months away from finishing the MSN and I already have my Informatics Certification. I am completely lost as to what to do next. Where I am working now there is no upward mobility and they don't really care about the Master's degree or cert. While I am grateful for the opportunity they provided, I do still want to learn and grow and do more than I am doing now. This leads me to believe it is time to move on, but my question is WHERE? I feel like the events that occurred early on are a problem as most places seem to want 3-5 years of clinical experience anymore, even with the Masters and Informatics Certification. I also don't have enough experience overall to be considered for a leadership position, even though I have lots of leadership experience in IT. I am also considering another Masters in IT and maybe a DNP in Informatics as well, but I am holding off until I figure out what I am doing. All in all I feel like I am underbaked, but I also feel like my IT experience should mitigate a lot of that. Anyway, that's the circle my brain is spinning in right now, hence the need for advice. Anyone have any thoughts of what I should do next?
5. 

   Please delete this

   tenjuna posted a topic in Job Assistance

   Please delete this, I posted in the wrong place SORRY!
6. 

   Sick of floor nursing, what now?

   tenjuna replied to r0seRN's topic in General Career

   You could look and see if Clinical Informatics interests you. I was in Ortho for a year and a half and it almost completely killed my desire to be a nurse. I switched to CI and couldn't be happier.
7. 

   So is there really a nursing shortage?

   tenjuna replied to VegGal's topic in Nursing

   I was a new grad 2 years ago and after 2 months of nationwide searching I had to move to North Dakota to get that coveted first job. The jobs are out there but usually the requirements are more than a new grad can handle. The job I took I was in over my head from the start, the nursing program I went to simply did not adequately prepare me. It took some soul searching to even decide to stay in nursing and even then I switched to nursing informatics and am pursuing a DNP just to leverage the money I've already spent getting here. The jobs are out there, but that doesn't mean that it'll be a good job for you. Do your research and stay in school as long as you can, you can thank me later.
8. 

   People really do ask you for medical advice! Wow...

   tenjuna replied to tenjuna's topic in General Students

   So I'm about to finish nursing school, and in the last year the number of times I have been asked for medical advice has gone up exponentially. I forgot about this thread until running across it just now, and I am sitting here shaking my head with all the stories I have already, and I'm not even working as a nurse yet. I had a family member come to my house in the middle of the night a few months back banging on my door like I was a 911 operator screaming at the top of her lungs for me to wake up. I open the door and she is standing there with a hand on her eye screaming that she can't see. So instead of calling 911 or going to the ED she instead decided to come to my house to ask me to shine a flashlight in her eye and see if I can fix it. What? Seriously? GO TO THE FREAKING HOSPITAL! She had a detached retina. You can't make this stuff up. She turned out ok after surgery, but I am never ever going to let her live this down..scared the heebie geebies out of me.
9. 

   PLEASE HELP Before they kick me out!

   tenjuna replied to FutureRNKat's topic in Student Assist

   Hah! I had the exact same thing happen to me...I thought I would be the nice guy and help out the poor-old 19 year old with 3 kids who was always too busy to keep up. Until I heard about all of the partying and whatnot she was actually doing. I stopped enabling her, and she failed miserably. Not to mention my grades went up since I was concentrating on me again. Lesson learned.
10. 

    I do not <3 OB...anyone else?

    tenjuna replied to tenjuna's topic in Male Students

    Just to follow up on this I took the earlier given advice to utilize the time to learn whatever I could. As it turned out,on subsequent clinical weekends I got a different set of staff, and the nurse I was assigned to was simply amazing. Not only did I get to see and do much more than I really thought I wanted to, I ended up enjoying it and got to learn more than I thought I would. Ended up with a B in the class, yay me :-) I love this site, amazing how an anonymous post can change your outlook on things...
11. 

    How many men in your cohort?

    tenjuna replied to Caribbean Character's topic in Male Students

    2 out of 36, and we are both the old fogeys (42 and 44) - how's that for non-traditional!
12. 

    Is everybody ready for fall'13? Good luck everyone

    tenjuna replied to Futurenurse75's topic in Pre-Nursing

    This ^^^ I took A&P, Micro, Sociology, and Nutrition all in the same semester. Halfway through the semester I was told by one of the teachers that their department doesn't know how I managed to register for those classes at the same time since it's specifically not allowed. I guess they were even more puzzled as to how I was getting A's in all 4 classes lol. Seriously though I remember it being 16 weeks of nothing but reading and note taking all day every day. It's obviously doable, but you really have to have your game face on for it.
13. 

    Help! Ready to quit nursing school

    tenjuna replied to Lslater82's topic in General Students

    If nursing is your passion and you let outside factors make you quit, I guarantee you you will end up having major grudge against said outside factors. In that same vein I have found living my life and making my choices based on whatever other people may or may not say or do is bad juju. It's only 18 months, make it work.
14. 

    I am psyching myself out... someone smack some sense into me

    tenjuna replied to madelynsmom's topic in Pre-Nursing

    You're psyching yourself out...calm thy nerves heh. I was 20 years in between classes, and I can tell you it was a bit intimidating at first, but very quickly found it to become familiar routine. I'm a single dad of 2 teenagers, and class plus full time job was doable during pre-reqs, but became difficult during the first year of the program, and has gotten easier since. It's all doable, everyone needs to be patient and understanding for sure though, without that support it will get to be very stressful. Good luck!
15. 

    How Not to Get Taken Advantage Of

    tenjuna replied to DisneyNurseGal's topic in General Students

    Best answer: NO! Their retort: Your volley: Tough t***y said the kitty but the milk tastes fine! Seriously, I go through this all the time...if you don't want to help just say no, no need for complex reasoning. People give you the cold shoulder for it so what? They will get over it. Sorry this is a huge pet peeve of mine, I have no sympathy for slackers. Of course, people in honest need of help are a different story and will get it.
16. 

    Best men's watch for male nurses

    tenjuna replied to binggrad's topic in Male Students

    I would have to agree with Gshock.