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

My name is Marc and I am thinking about nursing as a profession that will allow me to live and work anywhere in the world. My mother is a med/surg nurse and I've always been attracted to the medical fields. I'd love to work for the Peace Corps but they only hire nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, and medical doctors. Plus, those positions are VERY competitive so I'd need to get some experience in tropical medicine and further my education first. I wouldn't mind working for Catholic Relief Services or something like that. I wouldn't rule out missionary work either but I would want to help meet basic needs as opposed to trying to convert people. Maybe I could work in a refugee camp and eat only what I need to maintain my own health and ability to work for awhile. I was a Peace Corps volunteer so I can live comfortably on very little. Maybe I'll move to Amsterdam and live a good life there instead... I'm not married so there's nothing keeping me from going anywhere or doing anything except my own comfort zone. I'm 38 and considering a second career. Or is this a mid-life crisis? I'll probably be 40 when I actually start the second degree BSN program. Good luck to you and travel as much as you can. I travel with just a carryon for a trip of any length. I learned to do that as a PCV but the website http://www.onebag.com is excellent if you want to keep on moving. Life's too short to accumulate and drag baggage!

I drank a lot of chai with chapati (a fried bread very similar to a tortilla), a queen cake (scones?) or "biscuits" (shortbread or sugar cookies) while living in Kenya. Tea is one of Kenya's major exports along with coffee and cut flowers. Milk is always included and it is very fatty, usually coming from the cow that same morning. The tea is a very strong black tea. The island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania is a major producer of cloves and both countries produce sugarcane and process it into raw sugar. Nothing more was added there but nothing more was needed! Add to that the British colonial influence of tea at 10 and 2 and you had an interesting and tasty blend of many cultures and enough calories to carry you to your next meal. Yum! Marc

Hey! I'm just preparing to take on nursing as a second career and I'm glad to see this side of it. My thought is that you would not be the first to get a degree and then do something totally different nor would you be the first to leave a profession because you hate it. People do that all the time but people also stay in professions that make them unhappy. Looking at it as a situation that has you trapped will only make it worse but if you look at 2 more years as a bridge to where you want to be, then it's only a temporary sacrafice you're making. But if you knew in college that nursing wasn't right, do you now know that the contining education isn't right either? Life's too short to waste time. If your workplace is great and supportive then you've got a good thing. You have no guarantee of that in any profession or workplace. Ask yourself where you want to be and chart a path toward it. Treat it as having taught you something and use that in the future. I've been there and had a job that made me physically ill. It was a great job but my boss was an absolute ***. The best thing I did for myself was to leave it! I wouldn't be where I am today were it not for that experience and it taught me how to deal forcefully but professionally with a difficult boss. That was more than 10 years ago and I'm still in the same profession. We have to work together from time to time and he respects me. I still consider him a friend and mentor. Good luck! MJ

Hang in there, Mike! I know well what it's like to be a student and the demands it puts on your time. The good news is that it's temporary and May will be here before you know it. Marc

Thanks for the reassurance! I have a BS in biology and am about to begin a couple of prerequisite classes for a second degree BSN program that takes 2 years. Since it's been more than 10 years since I had some of the prerequisite classes, my advisor said I would be much more likely to get accepted if I got good grades in Human Anatomy and Statistics at the community college before applying. There's an anatomy class that meets on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. which fits perfectly into my work and church schedule. I haven't had either of these classes before but I have had Comparative Anatomy and Finite Math so I don't think they will be a problem. Plus, I'm a little more mature and focused than when I took classes before. Thanks again. MJ

I LOVE to eat, therefore I cook. Some of the best cooks I know are men. It's not really about gender. I like to grill with charcoal in my cast iron grill. Sometimes I'll smoke meat using wood chips (I like oak) that I've soaked, wrapped in foil and poked small holes to allow the smoke to escape. Sometimes I'll first roast corn in the husks while the grill is hot, then add the chips and when the smoking starts I add the meat, and throw in potatoes or sweet potatoes to cook as the coals are dying and the grill cooling. This makes for a very pleasant Saturday or Sunday afternoon and I have a great meal and leftovers to carry in my lunch. Most people overcook food or get in a hurry and cook food too fast. I guess that's a symptom of the world we live in. I also like using my slow cooker. The Barbecue! Bible is a great cookbook that talks about the history of cooking with fire and has recipes and methods for cooking just about anything plant or animal over heat. The recipes come from around the world. Let's eat! MJ

As a practicing and "devout" Catholic I believe in life from its natural beginning to its natural end. Modern medicine can keep a body alive indefinitely. Obviously, not all my views on this are in line with the Catholic church. I shudder at the thought of unskilled and untrained people performing abortions on women (or on themselves) or women taking medications or herbs to induce abortions at home, but that's another topic altogether. If I were in Terri's position I hope that someone would let me go Home and leave congressmen, perhaps even parents and everyone else out of it. Let my tombstone read "Gone to join the ancestors"! Death is a natural part of life and it's often painful. Life support as a bridge to better health is a good thing but when there is no hope of recovery, why prolong the agony? Celebrate life! MJ

I guess it would be more accurate to say that I want a career that will be rewarding and allow me to work anywhere in the world. I don't want to create the impression that travel would be more important than patient care! I hope that goes without saying, though... MJ

This forum is great. I haven't visited this website for a while and it's good to see this here. I have a BS in biology and have made a decent career in fish and wildlife management but have always been attracted to nursing. I'll start taking a couple of prerequisite classes at the local community college on Sunday afternoon and hope to begin a 2-year second degree program in a year or 2. I enjoy reading about everyone's views and experiences. Nothing I've read in any of these forums has caused me to doubt that nursing is the right direction for my second career. My primary motivation is travel, possibly international. I was bitten by the travel bug while a Peace Corps Volunteer 10 years ago. In addition to being male, I'm also Black. I wonder sometimes if this might be scary for a patient that is confused or someone that just doesn't like Black people. I read the comment that everyone that comes into the ER is happy to have help whether you are male or female. Do you think it will make any difference in general? MJ

Hi all. I don't know what area I want to specialize in. Only that I think I want to be a nurse. My mother's a med/surg nurse by the way. NP appeals to me because the Peace Corps hires very few RNs and having been a PC Volunteer, I've decided that I would like to gain the skills that would allow me to travel again and make a difference. That would be an option but I'm sure that those positions are extremely competitive, like Peace Corps itself. I would almost certainly need some experience with tropical medicine. I don't care so much about the money. I want to travel. At almost 40 years of age and with a great deal more maturity and ability than most students right out of high school, I'm glad that there is a 2nd degree program that will allow me to get me RN in only 2 years. There is something to be said for accelerated programs in cases like mine. I certainly don't discount the value of experience but I also don't have 4 years to put into another BS degree. This is a fantastic site and has been very helpful to me. I've been to the travel nursing forum, this NP forum, the volunteer and international nursing forum, and have learned something at each one. I'm becoming more convinced that nursing might be right for me. I'm starting pre-requisite classes for the 2nd degree program here in the fall. It will take me a couple of semesters to get accepted. It's been over 10 years since I took some of my biology classes. I trust my university's ability to train RNs in 2 years because on the NCLEX they pass over 90% of their students on the first try. Thanks again everyone. Sounds like nursing attracts a very diverse group like any other profession. I value your opinions and I'll be watching!