kat1822

Thank you for your thorough reply, it was massively helpful. My husband and I have discussed this and for once he seems positive about this kind of nursing job for me. We are going to wait until this next baby is big enough to be with a caregiver. So, it will still be a couple of years. Thankfully, my husband also has a flexible schedule and our kids' school has aftercare so we've got that going for us, too. Thank you again!

Could anyone tell me about home health nursing? I know that it has flexible work hours and often requires quite a lot of driving (at least in my area: Tulsa, OK). I know the population can vary, from geriatrics to mental health and can include some less than savory home visits at times - But that's about all I know! A little bit about me: I've little work experience, but I'm keeping my license up to date with CEUs, and I consider myself to be a lifetime learner. I love nursing. I haven't worked much because my husband and I have been busy growing our family. I have 4 children aged 7 (almost 8 ) down to nearly 1.5 yrs. I'm due with our fifth, and possibly our last ?in June. I want to get back into nursing as quickly as I can, while also maintaining quality time with my family. Nursing is my passion, but my family is my priority. As a new grad, I worked on a stepdown telemetry unit. I liked the challenge of it, and I would say I excelled based on my weekly meetings with my preceptor and manager. However, I left because it was in 2020 (covid) and not being able to find reliable and consistent childcare for my 1 year old at the time was causing loads of tension in my family. The older two were in school so it wasn't so much of an issue with them. Anyway, I have read on forums that with home health nursing some nurses are able to fit their pts into the hours their kids are at school and to do charting/paperwork after bedtime. Is this true? What would my prospects be to enter into this branch of nursing with less than a year of bedside experience? How about starting a new job while I'm in my second trimester of pregnancy? Better to wait until after the baby is born and old enough to go with a caregiver? I should mention that I worked as a CNA in an assisted living facility for several years before I became a nurse, so I am familiar with the geriatric population and some hopsice. Thanks so much, looking forward to reading responses?

What was your experience in the online Frontier Nursing University MSN program? I've got a spreadsheet filled up with different schools and considerations (looking into the FNP route) and FNU seems like my best option so far. Now I need to decide if I want to actually commit. Please share with me your experience in both the didactic and clinical learning settings! Was staff helpful with finding preceptors? How much time would you say you spent studying? Thanks so much ?

Thanks, Journey. I have seen that their program has a decent reputation. I'll look into it. I appreciate the feedback ☺️

Hi all! Here's my situation: I'm a little bit educated... I have a Bachelor's in Anthropology and I went on to obtain an ADN, passed NCLEX first try, and continued through my BSN. I worked for only 4 months on a high acuity tele unit and left due to work-life balance issues. It was during June 2020 (covid) and I could not, for the life of me, find childcare for my 3 children - including my 1 year old. Anyway, I am now expecting my 5th (yeah you read that right) child, and I am yearning to be back in the field. I am highly motivated as a student, and I have about twice as many clinical hours as most students due to leaving a program at no fault of my own (the university closed), and taking student externships. I am very comfortable with new clinical settings, and I'm a pro at balancing family/study time. I was pregnant with #3 when I graduated with my ADN! In fact she was born exactly 1 week after my cumulative final ? School comes second nature to me now. I tend to be a type which wants everything done well and "by the book". If it's done a certain way, it's for a reason. If we're going to stray from that, it had better be backed by new evidence based rationales. I struggled in the fast-paced high acuity environment, not because of the difficulty or the pace, but because I saw the inevitability of corners being cut and patient outcomes suffering as a result. My dream is to be able to do "old fashioned" healthcare. Healthcare where you do house calls, see people in a small clinic, and give each patient the utmost care and consideration. I listened to a podcast recently about direct primary care physician roles, and it really piqued my interest. I also feel that healthcare in this country is on the verge of collapse... and I would like to do my part to reshape the current modalities of care. I'm a bit of an idealist... can you tell? Long story short, I would love any recommendations for the best MSN - FNP program (online) that would put me on the correct trajectory to my goals! Thank you in advance -Katherine

I'm not sure how to describe this idea I've had, because I've never heard of anyone doing it. Basically, I'm not working as an RN currently because I'm raising my 4 children (7, 5.5, 3, and 10 months). However, I recently had the honor of helping to look after a friend of mine who just lost her baby at 23 weeks. It was the most rewarding experience I have had in a long time. It felt wonderful being there for her in her most vulnerable moments of grief, a shoulder to cry on. A point of contact for her at any time of night. I felt like I was filling in the gaps that were left by the short staffed nurses who cared for her. She and her husband had been so overwhelmed they didn't know what to ask until they were home, and I was there to help them figure out a plan of care going forward. Ultimately, I felt like something inside of me ignited. I realized "this is what I want to do". I don't need an income because my husband makes enough for us to live on - so I don't want to monetize this type of service; however, I want to be "formally available", in a professional capacity, to people in my family and close knit (although large) church community. I think this is the key for me to use my nursing passion because a big factor as to why I don't work as a nurse is that it's not cost effective to hire out childcare for 4 small children. Childcare is so darned expensive! I digress... My questions are the following: 1) Is this a feasible idea at all? 2) If so, how can I spread the word that I'm willing to provide my personal assistance to those in need in our community free of charge (besides word of mouth)? 3) Liability? 4) How can I brush up my general nursing knowledge to make sure I'm in tip-top shape for something like this? CEUs, or something else? I'm not sure what the rules are. I saw somewhere in the forums that you can't "turn off" your RN license, so I understand that whatever care/advice/etc I give, I must stay within my scope of practice. I plan on reading the nursing practice act for my state. I'm not sure what aspects of this prism I've failed to touch on - very open to any ideas or suggestions! Thank you all - if you've made it this far you deserve a gold star ? -Katherine BSN RN

Hello all. I just want to start by saying thank you, to each and every one of you, for the selfless, hard work you’ve been doing these past 2 years and beyond. Your dedication is unmatched, and I have nothing but respect for everyone who is out there serving the community. I’d like a little advice. I started my first RN job in June 2020 but unfortunately did not make it off of orientation before leaving. I worked nearly 4 months, and was just taking 4 pts on my own on a stepdown tele unit. By "on my own" I mean pretty much completely on my own, except when I was doing something new like argatroban or hanging blood. It was challenging. I appreciated that part of it, at least. I had to leave because my husband and I were unable to find adequate childcare (we had 3 children aged 5 and under including a one year old), even with me working only 2 days a week and it was causing extraordinary tension in my marriage. We now have 4 children, 3 of whom will be in school soon, and because the pandemic will be /hopefully/ easing up a little bit soon due to herd immunity in our area, it may be easier for me to find childcare for the baby so I can work at least part time. I am considering a higher acuity level - stepdown ICU, or the equivalent. I enjoy critical thinking and I am very much a “by the books” kind of person. I like understanding disease processes thoroughly so that I can better understand the tx. I'm not sure why I feel so strongly like I need to get "out there", when babies are only little once. I know that going into the field right now will be very stressful, from a staffing point of view and also from people being burnt out from all the ***. I would be brand new and fresh working alongside veterans with serious ptsd from things I can't even dream of. Pondering aside, does anyone have any recommendations on how I can brush up my knowledge before I get all my ducks in a row, childcare-wise, to start work in a setting like this? Or to increase my likelihood of landing a job, especially with relatively little experience? I should mention I also finished my RN to BSN in July 2020. Thank you

Thank you for your understanding. I completely get that hospitals wouldn’t want to do this for liability reasons. I knew I was overlooking something! Despite always saying “wow they’re growing so fast!” it still feels like it takes forever for children to grow!

A little background: Last year I worked for almost 4 months on a stepdown tele unit. I could not continue even part time due to personal circumstances. At this point I'm in a bit of a tricky situation... I can't commit to a job right now because I'm 6 months pregnant with my fourth child. I don't want to consider a formal job again until this baby is at least a year old, maybe older and we have a reliable childcare situation. Obviously I would like to keep my skills and knowledge up to date and also I know many units are desperate for more hands. I miss nursing in and of itself quite a lot. I need something to keep me motivated and fulfilled. Right now this pregnancy feels like an unending abyss. Being home with the kids all the time, I can feel my brain cells dying by the second. I love them to death but being a stay at home mom is no joke. I worked as a student extern while I was quite pregnant with my second so I know it's physically feasible for me. However, I have never heard of an RN working on the floor just as a volunteer. Could anyone shed some light on this? Is it even a possibility?

Alright so I'm a genius. It struck me like a ton of bricks tonight as I was pining to be back in the action of the medical world. I specifically enjoy hospital nursing the most. What if I volunteered? Is that even a thing - RN volunteer at the hospital? This option seems to fulfill many of my criteria: Keeping me mainly at home, keeping me on my feet and motivated towards something (right now this pregnancy seems like it's going to drag into the abyss forever), keeping my knowledge and skills up, looks good on my resume for a long non-working lull. I'm sure I'm overlooking something though. ?

Thanks so much! I didn't mention before, but I finished my RN program one week before I gave birth to my third. I had high blood pressure at the end (go figure) and was hospitalized the night before our cumulative final. I negotiated with my doc to get out of a 24 hr urine screen so that I could go take it... she was very gracious but gave me strict instructions as to when I needed to seek care. Love my doc... she's delivering this one too. Anyway I passed my NCLEX when baby girl was 3 months old. What a whirlwind. My husband is so supportive and wonderful, couldn't have done any of it without him. At this point all I have is my husband. Maybe my aunt on occasion. My mom told me she won't babysit me or my sister's kids "just" so we could go to work. My in-laws live in England so that's obviously not a thing. Daycare is not an option for us, just due to our personal preferences.

How can you read my mind?! One of my toxic traits is wanting all the answers right this min. Haha. Thank you for your balanced perspective on this issue. I'm so glad to hear that you took time off for your children! That's how parents create the best future for the world - putting in the hard work to raise them the best we can ? Thank you for your services as both a parent and as a healthcare worker! I'm going to tuck that thought into my memory file when I start to worry about whether or not I'll be hire-able in the future. Even if I have trouble, a little bit of volunteer work and refresher courses will make me hire-able again. That's part of the beauty (and tragedy, I suppose) of the field - the system always needs us. Thanks again

This is honestly the most helpful comment yet. Thank you for affirming my decisions and giving me some practical advice; that's what I was hoping to find by posting here. I think my only hesitation regarding specialized certifications would be that although I've narrowed my interests down quite a lot I could still mistakenly choose the wrong specialization. I'm going to do some digging into this to further consider my options. I may even be able to find some time this Summer to volunteer in some of these areas. Food for thought. Thank you again!

Theoretically speaking, even I do not think going straight into an NP Program and then job is ideal without nursing experience. Going from the student role to floor nursing taught me that there is an extraordinary learning curve to be a good nurse, no matter how wonderful your grades were in school. But I was asking to get a feel for others' opinions on that matter. Thanks for sharing! Since I don't have a definite end goal (although palliative care and/or hospice are definitely on my radar), NP would certainly not be the way to go at this point in my journey. Maybe one day when I've got both feet into clinical practice and know where my "niche" is. Also, perhaps not! Having a few children has taught me that sometimes life laughs at our best-laid plans, anyway ?

That's what I did when my last was born. Looking back, it would have been feasible if we could find childcare and if the unit hadn't been so, frankly, not a good fit for me. Next time I start I'll go somewhere with a lower patient acuity to start with. I was running argatroban and heparin drips with 4 patients of my own 3 months into my orientation. My time management was not honed enough for that! Thank you especially for the "not everyone needs to have a badass nursing career". I totally agree with that! My interest in NP, while it's only tentative at the moment, is due to my personality more than a desire to be badass or have "done it all" (hopefully that wasn't the impression I was leaving). Anyway, thanks again for your balanced view on this. This may be our last child or second to last child, depending on what we can handle. I'm confident I can keep my license alive until we're done having very small ones at home!