MaleRN2B

At 40 I've finally decided that I'm going to quit my job in 6 months and pursue an accelerated BSN. I've scheduled a visit at the state school about 30 miles from home instead of the larger university here because the focus there is still on clinical practice from "Day 1" vs. a major focus on research at the local school 10 minutes away. The other program is also 16 months instead of 24. This is a second career for me and I wasn't a great student of biology but I enjoyed it and didn't take the easy road of changing my major. I have a semester of prerequisite work to do and hopefully there I can demonstrate my commitment. Failure is NOT an option! I'm going to be a RN and hopefully a NP eventually. What about nursing and tropical medicine? Are any of you regularly seeing diseases and/or parasites in patients from other countries or travelers to other countries? I'm just curious. I know that England has a program for tropical medicine but most of what I've read about immigrant and ethnic health care has been on the subject of cultural competence and sensitivity in Minority Nurse magazine. I have always been fascinated with parasites. I had several myself - both internal and external - while living in the tropics! I had the good fortune of having a GP who had also lived and practiced in the same country where I had lived so he considered things that other doctors probably would not have looked for when I had minor health problems. I really appreciated that.

That's interesting information. Do you remember the swine flu in the 70s? It's another one that can jump species and infect humans. Marc

I got to do a happy dance and tell some of my co-workers "I told ya so" this morning when it was announced that the ivory-billed woodpecker is not extinct and was confirmed to be living in Arkansas along the White River. My only error was that I said it would be discovered in Cuba but it's discovery in Arkansas means it's not out of the question that it's living there as well. Oh, happy day!

I thought about med school too and I think that if you can figure out what role you really want to play in the patient's care, you'll have your answer there. It appears your initial instinct is nursing. School is just the preparation for where you want to be. It's temporary.

There really is a surplus of some animals because we have historically eliminated predators and upset the balance of things. We don't like coyotes, or wolves, or snakes or sharks and the list goes on. At one time farmers killed hawks, owls, and eagles on sight. All over the world, there is folklore about these evil children-grabbing, kitten-killing beasts. I hit a deer on the expressway a few years ago at 70 miles an hour and these collisions are becoming more common. Hunting them for food is far more humane than the inevitable disease and starvation that God designed to control overpopulation, but I don't want to get into a debate about the wrongness of hunting. I'm very fortunate not to have been exposed to too many of the kind of people you describe. People that aren't doing the right thing tend to stay away from us that work for fish and wildlife agencies for obvious reasons. They are truly in the minority. I have also worked as a naturalist for many years and stood among hundreds of thousands of migrating waterfowl and marveled at this and the many other wonders of nature. I just like to eat them too. Peace. MJ

Thanks for sharing. I'm currently an administrator with my state's fish and wildlife agency and we're looking at all the reasons people are giving up hunting and fishing. We have almost allowed a whole generation or two to become completely disconnected from farms and food. I respect and appreciate your post. MJ

I'd rather have a thrombose vein.

Thanks for the feedback, Pickles. I suppose that whether it's an Asian, man, woman, or Black person coming into the room, you have to place your confidence in their training and skills. A nurse is a nurse. It then becomes up to the nurse to reassure the patient. Thanks again. MJ

Isn't home birth great??? I filmed my best friend's 4th child being born into the world with family and friends waiting to receive him at home. I had watched the videos of her other 3 children being born in hospital and she told me what she liked and didn't like so it turned out to be a fantastic video. I ended it with the latch on to the breast and Mom feeding the baby. The whole experience was a beautiful one. I also convinced her that she shouldn't let a doctor take him into a room where she wouldn't be allowed to go so they could strap him down to a board and cut the end of his member off. She had allowed her first boy to be circumcised. The midwife uses that video to show her expectant mothers what they might expect in a home birth. I got in big trouble for leaving work to be there but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I'm not a nurse yet but am looking forward to it! Congrats on finishing your BSN and good luck on the NCLEX. MJ

I worked in an all female environment for 4 years and it's a fact that men and women are different. The dynamics are very different and as a male I was often stereotyped. With the exception of one who had had a baby, I was the only person on the staff who had been present at a birth. I did the video for a friend's home birth. I recall a woman once feeding her baby in the corner of a very crowded room and she was clearly uncomfortable. It was me that offered her a quiet place to sit in another empty room. I doubt my female counterparts even noticed but the woman was very grateful. I imagine it's the same for a woman working in an all male workplace. We're just different. Diversity in any workplace is a good thing. MJ

I LOVE cheesecake. Can I have your recipe?

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer from '95 - '97. It is a wonderful experience. I really miss it but was also glad to come home when I was done. I hadn't seen my family for over 2 years. Most "real" jobs overseas either pay you enough to come home every 6 months or provide that as part of the job. I would love to be a Peace Corps nurse and have the volunteers and staff as my patients but they only hire nurse practitioners, PAs and MDs. Sorry you got skinned by your former wife. Sounds painful!

I'm not a nurse but a biologist and my understanding is that avian influenza is the pathogen and SARS is how it presents itself. Apologies if I appear ignorant on the subject but it is of interest to me. I once thought about veterinary school and researching animal vectors of disease transmission. I suppose there are also other agents that can cause SARS. MJ

absolutely you want to use black tea. i'm sure chai was introduced into kenya when the indians came to build the railroads inland from the coast and it probably has local variations around the world depending on what spices are available.

Motherhood is a noble profession. If your future employer doesn't value that then it's really their loss. Just maintain your certifications. Marc