CacaoHeart

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 wonde...

As long as you don't have hearing issues, most any stethoscope will likely be fine. Many nurses at work use the disposable contact isolation stethoscopes for everything. I have always generated excess cerumen/earwax, and found that even though I can ...

I graduated in May from an ADN program, having gone with the view that associates programs were cheaper and that I could go back and get my BSN online quickly after getting a job. While that is true for many people, if I were to do it again I'd try h...

I recommend going to their info session to be sure, though when I started 2 years ago the policy was that AP credit was calculated as a B, which was a little disappointing but was better than nothing. Provided she takes all the prereqs with A's in mo...

Last month I received an email from the NC BON with a copy of my license less than 45 hours after completing the NCLEX, before my quick results were even available. Needless to say I never bothered getting my quick results. It seems to vary a bit fo...

In addition to what others have said so far, in my area it seems that the BSN programs are more flexible and will work with students to make sure they make it through the program, with completion rates in the upper 90s vs 50-70%. Another issue is th...

It's been ~3.5 years since my last post on this thread but I thought it'd be useful to provide an update. I ended up switching programs which delayed my graduation by 2 years and continued studying nclex style questions throughout both programs. In ...

I started in a 4 semester community college program in which preceptorships were only for a lucky 20 or so of 60 students, with everyone else having regular clinical. I ended up switching to a community college with a 5 semester program and 120 hours...

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 ...

If you have trouble hearing patients speak, you need a hearing aid. If you only have trouble hearing through stethoscopes, look into electronic ones. If I haven't had my ears cleaned recently I have trouble doing manual blood pressures too. It is wor...

Snow tires would be my recommendation if wanting to pay for an improvement in snow driving performance. In practice I drive a front wheel drive (much safer on snow than rear wheel drive) Saturn sedan that I paid 3 grand for almost 10 years ago. I don...

I would not describe working as a CNA to be low anxiety, even when you have good management. I've been a CNA for 7 years now, first in assisted living, then home health, and for the last 18 months in a hospital while making my way through nursing sch...

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 c...

Delaying having kids. Reduced social life. My wife and I have been together 7 years, I'm 30 and she's 28. We're trying to wait on having kids until I'm done with nursing school, hopefully May next year.

Agreed. The program I first went into had only 1 official prereq, but then there were 10 courses that gave points toward admission depending on your grade, and if you didn't take most of them and get mostly A's you weren't getting in. This was only ...

I have a cardiology III and found that I still had trouble hearing well through it until I realized I needed to get my ears cleaned ;-) My doctor has me put a mix of half hydrogen peroxide half isopropyl alcohol in my ears once weekly. Go more than t...

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 a...

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

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

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 ov...

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 g...

In my clinical group, those of us who have worked as CNAs/Med Techs were seen as much more competent by our instructors than our less experienced classmates. There's so much that will be new to you in nursing school, why not have CNA level patient ca...

Some programs like Duke look at your overall GPA for all college courses you've ever taken. Others like WCU look at the GPA of your last 60 credits, which would be particularly beneficial if your earlier GPA wasn't so good. Some focus in on your nurs...

I've heard this from family members, coworkers, and even family friends that are nurses, with the reasoning of the latter being that if I'm sure I want to go for being a nurse practitioner and I already have a bachelors degree going to PA school woul...

I work 3rd shift as a med tech at a retirement facility and have a few hours down time during most 8 hour shifts where I can study if no emergencies come up. I'm in my 2nd semester in an ADN program and working ~30 hours per week hasn't been a proble...