CacaoHeart

CacaoHeart's Latest Activity

1. 

   wife due soon, should I defer RN-BSN program?

   CacaoHeart posted a topic in Online Learning

   I began applying to online RN-BSN programs before my wife became pregnant and now that she's due in March I've been accepted to my top choice program that would start in January. It looks like I can readily defer starting to next August but I'm wondering how much that will help. Either way I'll be taking paternity leave for a little while and then back to working full time. When I start the program it will be part time and completely online. I'll need to start on my BSN within the next 3.5 years per my employment agreement and finish within 7 years. If you were working full time and your spouse was about to have a baby, would you wait 7+ months before starting back at school? I'm not sure if school will be easier with a 5 month old or not, but want to make sure I can provide my wife with all the support she needs in the first few weeks post delivery. It may also not be all that great for my grades to be attempting coursework while tending to a newborn. I'm curious what experience others have to share.
2. 

   First Choice Nurse; Second ???

   CacaoHeart replied to AllieSparksRN's topic in Nursing

   Join a circus troop as a partner acrobat. Lifting people up in the air, and also playing on aerial silks/flying trapeze. For now I help organize local circus meetups as part of staying sane in nursing school ;-) One friend recently left a six figure job to focus on becoming a professional performer. Other jobs I'd like to try if money not a concern: doula, massage therapist.
3. 

   Nurses: You've Been LIED to about your Back and Body Mechanics

   CacaoHeart replied to Lynda Lampert, RN's topic in Nursing

   I'm happy to see other long term weight lifters on here. I'm a 30 year old student nurse (having worked as a CNA for 7 years now) and have been lifting weights since age 7. Hearing NPR talk about the high rate of back injuries in nursing renewed my commitment to continuing my program of squats, deadlifts, and overhead press, along with rock climbing, yoga, and partner acrobatics, a sport that involves lifting friends in the air. Tendon/ligament strength can take years to develop. At work I do my best to always get help as needed, have the bed at the most optimal height, and use whatever equipment is available, and I'm hopeful that building strength in more ideal conditions will help protect me for the moments at work and in life where form inevitably isn't perfect. Even as a 185 pound male weight lifter, I feel a need to do everything I can to make sure my back is protected. Maybe more so, given that people may try getting me to lift more for them. I'm actively looking at what nursing career options will be most sustainable for my body. Many of my hospital coworkers are getting injuries from pushing computers around 12+ hours per day for charting/giving meds.
4. 

   How old were you when you started Nursing School?

   CacaoHeart replied to NursingStudentMomof3's topic in General Students

   I'm 29 and have ~8 months left. At clinical some of my classmates were regretting having waited so long to start nursing school. Both were in their early 20s ;-) Another classmate is 59 and seems happy with all the life experience he's had. As long as you have the energy to keep up and move forward you're not too old. Many of us may wish we'd started earlier, but all we can do is make good decisions going forward.
5. 

   What do you so to relax from nursing school?

   CacaoHeart replied to Dancingqueen94's topic in General Students

   Crossfit, partner acrobatics, and aerial silks. Moving my body gives my mind a good restart.
6. 

   New Grad Job Market: A Game of Chance

   CacaoHeart replied to sourapril's topic in First Year

   You say you have not landed a job in an acute care setting, what about other settings, such as home health or retirement centers?
7. 

   New Grad Job Market: A Game of Chance

   CacaoHeart replied to sourapril's topic in First Year

   If I understand you correctly, it seems that while you realize that experience is what counts, each time you've started to gain experience after finishing a degree you've then switched careers so that you have to go through the initial hurdles all over again. From what I've seen so far, it's not simply CNA experience that counts, it's working at a place where management will like you and then offer you a position as an RN when you graduate. All the people I know of that just graduated from my school and left with job offers already secured received their offers from their current employers. Not all students can maintain a full time cna job all the way through nursing school, but holding a PRN position at at least one hospital and building a relationship with management could go a long way.
8. 

   How much do they let you customize your program/select your clinicals at your school?

   CacaoHeart replied to priorities2's topic in General Students

   No choice. We can't even trade sites with classmates. You may end up with a site 5 minutes away or 45. We might be able to opt out of precepting, but that's it. The first semester is the only time we have any say in what our schedule is, when we're given 4 options. After that class/clinical times change at will with sometimes only a few day's notice and we simply have to hope we have enough notice to work the rest of our lives around the change. It's been ok for me so far.
9. 

   Guys, do you take this personally?

   CacaoHeart replied to bethannie's topic in Men

   I'm fine with individual patients having their own preferences. It's more problematic when males are excluded without the patient ever being asked. As an undergrad, before I'd gone on to nursing school, I tried signing up for the volunteer doula program at the hospital that was affiliated with my university since I was interested in nurse-midwifery but was told only female volunteers were accepted as doulas. It seemed that if I wanted any real world experience I'd have to wait until nursing school, so I finished my (liberal arts) bachelors degree, got my CNA license and started work, took the remaining prereqs, and now I'm making my way through my first semester of an ADN program, with plans to do an RN-MSN bridge program. Who knows, maybe a year from now when I do the labor and delivery rotation I'll find it's actually not my thing, but will get absorbed in the intricacies of working in an ICU.