goomer

Whoa.....you just may have made my day here lololol Are you telling me that I only need to have had 320 hours at least working as a nurse with my current license in order to qualify for a license in AK??? If this is true, it could be a game changer! I could have sworn they wanted those 320 hours to have been done within the past three years....based on what I read. Perhaps I read it incorrectly?

I'm seriously looking to break into new avenues of Nursing after having spent most of my experience in the ER, where things can get really dicey really fast. School nursing is an option for me, so I was wondering what the pay differential is? On hospital wages, assuming you are not the only wage earner in your household, working two 12s a week should be enough to have the bennies of extra cash all the while not feeling like you're killing yourself from being on your feet all the time.

My interview to get into medical school (I was going to become a doctor before I became a nurse) went pretty well until I burped at the very end of it. That burp came out of nowhere! My interview panel started laughing like crazy though. They thought it was great! I was accepted to that medical school, actually, and ended up doing three of the four years. Nevertheless, I about wanted to DIE when that burp happened.

You sound almost exactly like me...off the market for about 4 years because I had my son....only had gotten a couple years in before that doing mostly ER.....and having spent the past 4 years out of the workforce getting my MSN degree only to find out it isn't helping. How many success stories are out there? I just got OUT of school, and the last thing I want to do is get back IN to school for some refresher course....it seems the MSN ought count for something? I am totally willing to enter a nursing residency in order to break into a new specialty area, however....as long as they don't require me to work full-time.

This happened to me. It really made me become jaded and less trusting of other nurses, quite honestly. The way it happened to me was just beyond ****** ** in the worst way. I have heard nurses are kinder to male nurses, though. I wonder what the male nurses have to say about this lol

....you can't for the life of you remember what day of the week it is much less the actual DATE ....the sun comes out and you feel like making a run for the hills because you can't handle the bright light anymore ....if you're out on a day off during the day and you can't believe how many freaking other people are on the roads, in the stores, etc!! ....you've memorized all the foods in the vending machine, and you still hate all of them, so you go hungry or hope someone has brought in the munchies ....one fan no longer does the trick for the white noise....you now have on the order of two or three sound machines going at full blast to help you keep from wanting to murder all the idiots during the day who have not a care in the world for those who have to sleep for work ....my personal favorite.....when you get angrier than hell at people who think those who are up in the middle of the night must be some kind of weirdo or degenerate.....that is....until THEY land their butts in YOUR ER in the middle of the night. Guess we night people are pretty important after all, eh? Tried and true nightshifter here

I am seeing a lot of posts on here that sound so familiar. I have just gotten my MSN this past summer, all the while being at home with a baby/toddler/preschooler. My son is now in kindergarten and while I have kept my Nursing credential active, along with the ACLS/BLS certs, the fact I have not had an active nursing shift since my agency went under some years ago has put me in that stale category. I am more than willing to shift out of ER into ANYthing else practically, but right now there just don't seem to be a lot of jobs out there at all! We want to relocate to Alaska, but in order to do that I need an AK RN license, which apparently can't be done without 320 contact hours within the past three years, of which I do not have. It seems that Masters I worked so hard for is turning out to be useless, and like another poster mentions, having been out of the loop for several years, I don't really know anyone any longer. Who you know is usually the best indicator of your likelihood of getting picked for the interview and whatnot. Because my son is in kindergarten and I am alone with him for much of the time, a lot of those travel options are out. I just don't know what to do....this is extremely disheartening!! I feel everyone's pain right now.

Thank you for your replies. I am actually wanting to break out of ER and go into something else. Not sure how to do this, though. Having just gotten my Masters degree, it would seem less necessary for a refresher course? I don't even need to work full time. Part time would be fine.

Hi everyone! I need your help! Hoping like crazy there are some knowledgeable Nurses on here who can help me with my problem: I received my RN in 2005 and spent the next two years working mostly in ERs either as a regular employee or agency nurse. My son was born in 2007 and I haven't had a shift since he was less than a year old. My state license is active as are my ACLS and BLS certifications, but at this juncture, no one is willing to hire me on as agency or regular staff because I haven't worked actively in the past couple years. If this helps, much of the past four years were spent acquiring my Masters of Science in Nursing. I've had that degree since June, but the degree isn't helping me at all. How am I supposed to break back into the workforce if no one will give me a chance? I am more than willing to switch specialties and take up residency training in that specialty. The problem is, I am severely out of the loop. My family needs the extra money pretty badly, and I would be happy with part-time work. What are my best options? Somebody please help!! Thank you so much.

Nightshift in the ER isn't slower on the most part, and you don't have as much support around. This was my experience, anyway.

You need a Masters Degree in Nursing to become a Nurse Educator