LilacHeart

If your goal is to become a nurse, don't waste your time becoming an MA first. If you end up going to school full time for nursing later on, you are not going to have time to work as an MA anyway. I graduated from a 2 year community college MA program in 2010, a one year specialized phlebotomy program in 2008. Both gave me skills that would definitely help in nursing, but if your idea is to work while in full time nursing school, it's not a very practical idea. I was accepted into an LPN program but changed my mind literally 3 days before school started. Why? Because my ultimate goal was RN. Again, why waste my time and money on a lesser program? BSN was what I was after. If your goal is to be a medical assistant then that's great. If nursing is your goal, I would have to say "why bother? You will make just as much working as an administrative assistant, upscale store clerk, etc., as you will as an MA (maybe even more). You could work one of those jobs part time while in nursing school and not have the same level of emotional and physical stress you will have as an MA trying to go to nursing school. I don't mean to discourage you, but i'm just letting you know my experience from a practical viewpoint.

If you don't want to work LTC, then I'd go with the Surg Tech. Actually, sit back and imagine yourself doing both. They are quite different. Which excites you most? If working surgical really excites you, then that is what you should go for even if there are fewer job openings. Quite frankly, there are also less people to compete with for those jobs.

If your heart isn't in nursing then you should put it on the back burner for the time being. The time spent in school will demand a great deal of dedication from you and there will be times that you want to throw in the towel due to exhaustion, frustration, etc. If your heart isn't in it you likely won't stick it out through the rough times and you could end up dropping the program and having spent all that money without anything to show for it. There's not a darn thing wrong with being a CMA. I am and I'm very proud of the education I've had and of the work that I do. If you are excited about being a MA/Phlebotomist, then follow your heart and go for it! If you want to become a nurse later you can always go back to school at another time and follow that path. Who knows? Your employer may even give tuition assistance depending upon where you work. I know this is a nursing forum, but this section IS for CNAs and CMAs, therefore I can say here that being a nurse isn't the be all/end all. Medical Assisting is a very rewarding career choice. And salaries vary depending upon where you live and upon the facility. I live in a pretty economically depressed area of the country, yet there are still PLENTY of MA positions out there and I've been offered everything from $8.00 per hour (uh, no) to $16.00 with full benefits (including laundry service for my scrubs and a uniform allowance!). Just accept the good job, turn down the others. Good luck to you. Follow your passion!

I detest Spragues. They hurt my ears, lots of artifact noise, poor sound conduction, etc. I currently have an MDF that gives me excellent sound. My favorite is a Littmann Cardiologist III. Saving up for one.

The same way I study everything else: Read it, write it, say it. I first read the material, then I write it, in this case also sketch it, and then I record the information. I then listen to the recording (I put it on MP3) while doing housework, cooking dinner, driving....especially when driving on my way to school. Especially on test day! :)

I agree with MrsCuoco that writing them out will aid in the learning process and help the information to "stick". I already had to do drug cards in Pharm when I was in school for my CMA, and although we were allowed to print them if we chose, I elected to write them and was glad I did. The info. really stayed with me. Even after graduating, getting certified and working in various practices over the years, I adopted the drug card model each time I was a "newbie" on the job and kept notes on the doctor's preferences regarding the drugs he/she most commonly prescribed, general notes on how each doctor preferred their surgical set ups, etc. Of course I didn't need the cards for long, but it was a great way to make sure I got it right the first time when starting with a new practice. Those drug cards are fabulous!

32 is incredibly young. There is no reason you should think you are "too old" to start a nursing career. Even if you can't get started with prerequs until you're 33, do that for a year, then follow it up with 4 years of school, you'll only be 37 years old and be a RN BSN! I can't help but smile when I read all these posts of people in their 30s who think they are "older students". I went back to college in my 40s, now am starting nursing in my 50s and there are always people in my courses who are older than I am. Think about it. At 37 years of age you will still have about THIRTY years left in the workforce! There's no reason not to spend that time as a well paid nurse instead of poor and unhappy. You CAN do this !!!!

Thanks for your kind thoughts. :) I'm glad that you have the option to go either LPN or RN first and that your budget is sufficient to handle what may come. Since the money end is handled, follow your heart. Congratulations on being accepted in two programs!

Of course, not everyone has savings (meager or otherwise) to live off of while attending full time school. I was accepted to begin nursing school (was to start today *sob*). Hubby and I had the money figured out so I could go through the accelerated program and be done in 11 months. It was going to be a tight squeeze, but we could do it. Times have been tough and all our savings, retirement are gone, but nursing was going to both fulfill a personal dream of mine and help me to get a higher paying job in the future, thereby easing our finances in years to come. Then hubby had to go into the ER.... Suspected aneurysm or bleed. Many tests later, with nothing found, he was released (thank God he's okay!), symptoms have abated and he's back to work. Our health insurance is a bare bones plan that we have to pay for 100% on our own. We now owe thousands and I mean Thousands with a capital "T". I had to cancel my enrollment this semester so that I can work to try to pay off all those medical bills. My heart is broken regarding nursing school, and I don't know how quickly we'll be able to bounce back financially for me to re-enroll. The school was so nice and everyone was so kind and concerned about my hubby. Of course, having him is the MOST important thing in the world to me and giving up a dream is better than losing him or having him disabled any day. I say all this to the OP because I understand your trepidation. If this had happened further down the road I would have had to drop out of school and I would have owed a big student loan with nothing to show for it. You say that you "can't afford" to be out of work for 2 years. Have you budgeted it out, or are you just estimating? My advice would be to work out a 2 year budget plan. If you have a little nest egg, make sure you have budgeted for the unexpected emergency that may come about (could be in the form of car repair, unexpected health costs, etc.). I didn't have room in my budget for the unexpected, therefore I literally could not afford to start my program today. If you can work it out, then I'd say to go for it. If you look at your budget and see that the LPN route is what you can actually afford, I would say that getting your LPN first, then gaining employment as an LPN and then working toward your RN is a perfectly wonderful way to go. The experience you gain as an LPN will only serve to make you a better RN. Whichever way you go, LPN first or straight to RN, I wish you the best of luck. Figure out the numbers realistically, then go for your dream and don't look back. Either choice, you'll be a NURSE before you know it! Congratulations!

Agree! Nurses have been too busy worrying about what OTHER people think of them rather than looking after themselves.

Well, gee. I have never enjoyed any of the following: Weekends without work All breaks at work, including your lunch breaks (What's a lunch break let alone a bathroom break???) Paid vacation Sick leave (with no pay) Minimum wage 8-hour work day 40-hour work week Pensions (A thing of the past) Workplace safety standards and regulations (broken all the time) Employer health care insurance (I WISH! I have to purchase my own, 100%) Collective bargaining rights for employees Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) (HA! The law exists, but as an over 50 person, I can tell you age discrimination happens all the time) Compensation increases and evaluations (i.e. raises) (Only if we bug for it enough. No thanks to unions) Privacy rights Employer dental, life, and vision insurance (Nope. None of these either) Pregnancy and parental leave (mmm... maybe, but only if unpaid) Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 - requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work (Please pick me up off the floor - I'm laughing and crying)

I don't know your geographic location, but recently when researching what nursing school I wanted to attend I phones the DON at various LTC facilities and hospitals in my area (Michigan). I was told more than once that for MY area: 1) Oakland Community College turned out the very best nurses. 2) That Oakland Community College turned out better medical students across the board than any other school in SE Michigan (including nurses, medical assistants, respiratory therapists, etc). 3) That the community colleges in the area (Oakland, Macomb and Wayne Counties) ALL turned out better nurses than the universities (Oakland University specifically mentioned). This is just what was told to me by the DONs in the area (who were quite happy to speak with an aspiring student btw), not my personal opinions. HTH

In my MA program we did give each other injections in Pharm. We started out by giving ourselves subcutaneous injections which got everyone over any needle fear right away.

Wow. I'm sorry they treated you this way. I'm disappointed that your manager removed you from their area instead of correcting their behavior because they haven't learned a darn thing! As a CMA myself, I would never dream of being disrespectful toward a nurse or other HWC. In fact, I've experienced the other problem; nurses treating me like garbage because I'm "only" a CMA, giving me the tougher patients, the messy cases, etc., and then laughing about it just to be mean. Funny thing is, I respect them and the higher education they have and would have loved to have had a friendly working relationship with them (one in particular who was actually abusive). I never strutted around the office flinging my stethoscope or played nurse (I've read this description applied to all CMAs on this forum by some nurses and it is both hurtful and inaccurate). As a CMA I am a trained and certified HCW (2 year associate's degree in community college plus a 1 year phlebotomist program from an accredited college and certification). I hear what you say about worrying about finding another job in this economy. I've been accepted into a PN program and already worry about what kind of job I could get. Perhaps you can continue looking for a different job while working at your current one? I hope things work out better now with the change in work area.

In the quest to become "magnet", hospitals have tossed out the nurses who truly felt called to bedside nursing and remain there: The Career LPN. The LPN who loved her job, didn't mind "the mess", and thrived on giving bedside care has been told she's not "enough" and relegated to working in LTC, HHC or prisons (not that there is a thing wrong with any of these, but the hospital option is pretty much gone now - but the hospitals will have the need!). LPNs need to be brought back into the hospital systems.