Sippie

I think the OP should do what is in her heart as long as she is healthy. Maybe see her health care provider and get a thorough exam just to be on the safe side. Then, if she isn't in shape, try a walking program or join a gym, get enough sleep, and eat healthy and see if that doesn't help her with stress. Certain hobbies also can help with stress. Yoga is helpful for me as is gardening. I agree that she should either volunteer or work as a CNA/PCT first or while in school. It will help her network and also see what she is getting into. I volunteered in a really busy ER on the seedy side of town that got a lot of action. That led to a CNA job in that hospital which led to getting picked over thousands of applicants for a coveted Summer Nurse Extern Program which led to working as a nurse extern which led to job offers from that and many other hospitals before I even graduated. It also made me very very comfortable as a new grad. I ended up moving due to dh's job to the Midwest (from Phx) so even in a new environment where everything was different and the way they did nursing was different, I still had confidence that I never would have had, if I had not volunteered and worked before graduating. When I was in nursing school, there were 2 people who were "older" in my class. One was 55. Both were successful and got hospital jobs. There was also a student in the class ahead of me who was 65. She still got hired after graduation. This was a BSN program and the times were a little better for new grads getting jobs so that might have made a difference. Just another thought, the way many nurses are treated in America is similar to work conditions in some 3rd world countries. No bathroom breaks, food, drinks, way understaffed, working in unsafe conditions for nurses and patients. Then told to suck it up. Sounds like a sweat shop situation to me lol. We do get paid way better and have health insurance options. I guess that's the catch, but really, we need to band together and change this. Its really crazy if you think about it that nothing has been done already. I am guilty as anyone of going with the flow and saying, "Hey, I took care of 10 patients today! (Not counting the ones coming and going lol) and feeling proud of myself for making it through the shift and getting everything done on time somehow. How good was my care? These patients and the insurance companies are paying buku bucks to for a quality stay in a hospital ...way more than some super nice resort and all anyone cares about is how to give everything as cheap and as little as possible. Its shameful. OK end of rant lol.

Every new grad has feelings like this. It is normal :) Sometimes the thinking about it is much worse than the doing it. It is gonna be rough for the first six months to a year -at least, just realize that. Go to work everyday and think I am going to learn something new! You are a new grad and no one thinks you will be perfect. Sometimes we have super high expectations of ourselves even as new grads but you will not be perfect, you will make mistakes, and you will learn from them. You did the book work, passed your boards, but now you are going to learn to be a good nurse. I got my BSN RN in 1996 so I do know what I am talking about. It may even take you a year to be comfortable on the floor and no matter what area of nursing you go into you still have a huge learning curve that first year. One thing you can do once you get on the floor is to learn to prioritize and manage your time. Go slow at first and see what's what. Its kinda like typing, accuracy first then speed. Another thing is to keep a list and write down anything you have questions about, new meds, new treatments, procedures etc. Go home and look them up every night while it is fresh in your mind. Expect to 'study' a little when you are starting a new job. If you still have questions ask your preceptor.

If you do decide to report her to the board make sure to take a screenshot of her facebook page showing the RN after her name before you do the reporting. Submit this to the board if it is illegal in your state. If you don't have any proof then once you report her she will just change it on her facebook and you will look stupid.

When I first became a nurse (not in FL) we often had 10 patients on a super busy med surg floor. Half the time we only had one nurse's aid to help with 40 patients total, so basically all the aid could do was vitals and water twice a shift and we were left with total care of everything else. It was crazy and I believe, dangerous. Hospitals would tell you that the most you would ever have was 7 which was a total lie. I think 6 is a lot better, especially if one has a tech or aid to help out, but of course, less is always agreeable. The pay rate in FL is very low. Property is not too expensive especially if you want to live outside of town a ways. You can get several acres fairly cheap. If you want to live in one of the bigger cities in an apartment/condo or in a house in an HOA it is more expensive. A lot of the hospitals hardly pay extra for working any holidays. I think my dh's is down to paying only 2 now.

Its probably cheaper to offer these incentives than to hire more staff. There is no shortage of nurses in FL, they probably just don't want to pay to train new grad nurses. There could possibly be a slight shortage of EXPERIENCED nurses but it is probably still cheaper to just have your regular staff work extra during the busy season than to hire more staff.

It won't be easy and expect to work as a tech or something patient care related while you are in school. Also shoot for a BSN if you wanna come to FL because many to most hospitals now want Magnet Status here and this is the trend. So they are gonna only be hiring BSN. Some are already requiring ADNs to go back for a BSN if they want to keep their jobs. So its not gonna be fast either. It is competitive in FL but it is that way everywhere now. I know BSNs who worked while in school and are now going for Masters degrees because they still can't get jobs as a nurse here in FL. They did everything right but the market is slow. Gone are the days when the recruiters were calling your house asking when you were graduating and taking your boards because they needed a warm body to work pronto lol. There is no nursing shortage right now but there may be when/if the older nurses decide to retire. Many cannot due to the economy and losses of savings, spousal jobs, retirement plans, etc. and they don't have to because the law is on their side as long as they can work competently.

If you don't like your current position and it is not safe then by all means leave but don't give up nursing. I worked a job once that had 10-11 patients total care on a very busy med surg/ tele floor. I felt it was seriously unsafe. We were 'supposed' to have nurse's aids but they would quit all the time or not show up for work etc etc. If they didn't we were just stuck. It happened all the time. When I interviewed for the job they told me I would have 7 patients at the most. NOT!! That hospital had such a high RN turnover and even the RN travelers (which they used a ton of..surprise surprise) left before their contracts were over half the time. I stuck it out for a year only because we moved there from somewhere else and my dh also worked at this hospital and I had 3 kids. If I didn't have kids to support I prob would have gave my 2 weeks and left sooner.

I think this is the original research paper. It is on the JAMA website. Dig around a little and you can see that 87.1 % of ebola patients in this study presented with a fever. MMS: Error

I think if ebola really begins to spread in the U.S. we need to have free standing ebola clinics or even free standing emergency room/hospital ebola clinics that are not attached to the main hospitals. This would help keep pregnant women, babies, children, elderly and anyone with low immune systems etc from being so at risk. It seems that the pregnant women cases I have been reading about in Africa are really a sad affair. The mothers bleed to death after delivery, the babies are born early and dead etc. Especially horrifying. Ebola really needs to be in a whole separate building instead of inside the general hospitals.

I was thinking the same thing and have been wondering if the fiance of Duncan has come down with any symptoms yet? I haven't seen anything saying one way or another. It seems like she would have been most at risk because she was caring for him when he got symptoms and sleeping in the same house or possibly bed (?) and handling contaminated items. If she doesn't get ill then perhaps getting sick easier from the later stage or after death is true.

Sad about the nurse who is now ill. Prayers to her and her family. CDC is saying there was some apparent breach in the 'protocol'. It will be interesting to see what exactly happened. It does seem like a lot of healthcare workers are catching ebola even though they are wearing protective gear and taking precautions. In Africa, maybe they didn't have all the stuff they needed and had to clean and re use things quite a bit which I could see leading to accidents. Here in the U.S. they should have appropriate gear that was hopefully disposable and being incinerated.

In order to go to medical school you will need a Bachelors Degree and also to complete the specific pre req's for the specific medical school/s you are trying to get into. It doesn't seem to matter what your major is as long as you get really good grades. The pre req's are usually Biology 1 &2, Inorganic Chem 1 & 2 , Organic Chem 1 & 2, Physics 1 &2, Sometimes biochem. will be required. I have seen different math requirements- some want calculus 1 &2 and some have less math requirements. You also need to take MCAT. The specific pre req's are what prepare you for MCAT so take it soon after you complete your pre req's. You can go the MD or DO route. Lots of nurses become doctors and with the "non/not-nurse shortage" and many nurses getting their BSNs with bleak job outlooks, I am willing to bet that there will be many more BSNs applying to med school. I have seen many recent inquiries on RNs becoming doctors on the SDN and old premeds forums etc. Having actual patient care experience is a plus on med school applications. A lot of pre- med students have only volunteered in a ER or some become EMTs to get a little hands on care for their applications. A nurse has more responsibility and higher patient care skills. If you can get your RN and work a little bit it will benefit you as an applicant whether you go MD or nurse practitioner. If you already have a BSN and don't have the pre req's for med school it is harder to get financial aid to cover that so you should definitely work them into your original bachelor's degree if you can. If you are unsure about the path you want to choose, you can always try shadowing a MD or Do and a few Nurse Practitioners to see what their jobs really entail. As long as your Bachelors program is at an accredited US college/university the credits should transfer. Be sure to check with the Professional graduate program/s that you are planning to apply to. Some of the community colleges are now becoming state colleges offering 4 yr degrees etc. but their tuition is still lower than some of the traditional universities so they are a good place to do those extra pre med post bacc (pre req's) especially if you are having to pay for them without the help of financial aid etc.

You don't say how much experience you have so kinda hard to say for sure. Different hospitals pay a little differently as well. In general FL pays way less than Calif. However, Fl probably costs half as much to live here depending on where in CA you live... Fl is considered Poor Man's Paradise

I haven't seen the scribes in the ED but I swear there might have been one at my last eye doctor's appt lol. She followed the physician around and wrote down everything that happened and everything that was said. I should of asked lol. Do scribes ever work for regular doctors outside of the ED as well? I was aware of scribes due to the talk from the med students on SDN that have done it.

It sounds like you just had a bad case of nerves. It does seem like you have a good preceptor. You will do better as you gain confidence and get used to how things are done. Getting a job in ER right out of school means they must have seen something in you that told them you would make a great nurse. Just take it a day at a time and don't beat yourself up. Someday you will be an expert and have a student that is nervous and insecure and you can tell her about your experience.

I went to school in AZ but we moved right after graduation due to hubbys job. So I licenced in the state where we moved to (NE) but took my actual physical boards in Wyoming because it was the closest testing site to where we lived in NE. Haha pretty confusing but yes you can do that.

I've been married for 26 years. My dh might offer his opinion but in the end he would support what I want to do because he loves me. If he didn't support something I really wanted to do, I would just do it anyway lol and he pretty much knows this by now. If he wanted to leave me for it..so be it. I would support his career goals even if I didn't think they were the best choice. Being married or engaged is about compromise and respect for the one anothers dreams in life. You can give your opinion but as far as telling someone not to do something then that is just gonna make them want to do it more...just ask any teenager lol. Don't live your life according to what other people want you to do go for your dreams.

I think you need to sit down and make some personal goals. Where do you want your nursing career to go..What kind of patients do you want to work with... What kind of work makes you happy? Then make it happen. Sometimes being able to step outside of the day to day stuff and look at the big picture (how its helping you achieve your goals) helps you deal with the bad side of things. There is always gonna be some d**che bag who wants to make everyone else miserable. Completely ignore them. I would just go about my business and be super nice to everyone else. If you have to interact with this person be super nice to them too then go about your business. If this place is really getting to you and you can't deal with it, go somewhere that will make you happy.

Do you want to stay in nursing? The thing is to look at the big picture. What do you want to do...what are your long term goals? If you want to be a nurse you don't have to stay on the floor. You can be a nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist, chief nursing officer, you can do research or teach etc. Lots and lots of options. If you want any of these you need a BSN and then a MSN etc. You didn't mention whether your RN program was ADN or BSN. For a BSN, you may be able to get your pre reqs in at a community college and then transfer to a university. Much cheaper. That is what I did. I got a degree from an expensive university very cheap that way. Plus this university even had a transfer scholarship program. If you had a good gpa and transferred with a certain amount of credits you could get a half paid scholarship or 3/4 paid scholarship depending on your gpa. Are there any LPN to BSN or MSN programs anywhere near you? That might be another option. More education helps you fly above the **** in your life lol. If you already paid for an ADN seat and got into the program then go for it- you can always continue the pre reqs for BSN as you go along in the ADN program (take additional math, statistics, etc). From RN (ADN) there are some RN to MSN programs out there. This could help time-wise if your goal is to do something that requires an MSN. You have a lot of solid experience and have a lot to bring into an RN program whichever route you choose. School is harder with kids but it makes life more interesting lol. I had 3 in my BSN program and back then not too many people had kids especially at the school I went to. I was sure popular when it came to the PEDS course. Everyone had to do a home assessment on a kid. Guess who they all asked lol. Maybe if you could cut back your schedule a bit and once you are a student again things will be better. If work really affects your learning and frame of mind, I would probably get a different job while in school. If you want to stay in a hospital then I would transfer to a different floor or find another hospital to work at so you can keep your foot in the door to acute care. If you want to work outside the hospital, then maybe find a home care position. Remember your goals and adjust your work and education accordingly. For now: Work is just work. The prize is your goal. Education is the way to get it. Family always comes first :)

I would try and do some certifications. Certifications are a way to show you go above and beyond the basic training and are staying current. You can also earn CEUs for some. You can do Stoke Certification through the National Institute of Health online. Just go to their website. Professional Education Center I think it was only $10 when I took it. ACLS is another good one although it does cost more. You might check some of the hospital websites and see if there are any education courses. You could also call the nursing educator/dept and see if they would let you take a course for a fee. Usually it is the bigger hospitals that have them. Some hospitals offer them for employees free but will charge for the general public (nurses that aren't employees). A friend of mine did an EKG course that way. She also did a pacemaker course. Another tactic is try to volunteer. Okay I know its time consuming but it can help you get your foot into the door. Make friends with the nurse managers and swallow your pride and tell everyone yes I am already and RN and I am looking for a job and really want to work here! lol Volunteering can be 4 hrs a week in the ER or where ever... pretty minimal. You could still do this in a hopital even if you were working at a nursing home or home care etc and wanted to just get your foot in the door at a acute care hospital. Once you have volunteered for awhile, go introduce yourself to HR in people wearing your volunteer uniform. Ask them if they have any entry level RN positons available. Tell them you are already an RN and have a BSN, already passed your boards, etc etc. You love the place where you are volunteering already know the policies and want to work there. Keep checking in with them - in person.

Most likely they will still make everyone get or already have a BSN and not offer to pay for it. There is a glut of nurses with BSNs already and no nursing shortage so they can just pick and choose. If they want Magnet Status they will just pick the BSNs and the others will have to pay for their own or get fired or not hired. Unfortunately most hospitals will do what they want for themselves and not the employees when it comes down to $$.

There are some Bachelors to RN programs out there. Do a google seach. There are also some BA to MSN programs that don't require nursing experience like this one Pre-Specialty Entry | Master of Science in Nursing | Vanderbilt University School of Nursing I am not sure about financial aid but usually if you already have a bachelors it is hard to get aid for another bachelors unless you are going for teaching. I did a post bac program after my BSN and had to pay out of my own pocket for everything. If I had done a Masters it would have been covered by financial aid. So it might be better to try to go the Bachelors to MSN route but you will have to talk to the financial adviser at the school to see exactly what the financial aid would cover. You may have to do some health science related pre reqs for these programs but would be a huge shortcut for you since the ADN is also going to have pre reqs. The trend for hospitals hiring now days is to hire nurses that at least have a BSN because they want to keep or get magnet status. They are even making ADN employees go back for their BSN to keep their jobs etc. I really think you will have a broader range of possibilities with nursing than respiratory but totally up to you. They are both worthy professions. See if you can shadow someone and see what they are both like. Another idea...if you haven't finished your bachelors maybe once you figure out what Bachelors to MSN program etc that you want to do, if possible, try and squeeze in some of those science pre reqs in. That way they will be paid for with the first bachelors.

When I was a student (long long time ago lol) I worked as an aid in an acute hospital on Friday and Saturday 3-11 shift. I was going for a BSN at the time and the hospitals would let you work as an aid once you finished med surg in your curriculum. To get the aid job, I volunteered in the ED for about 4 mos. to kinda get my foot in the door. The nurse's aid job helped my beat out hundreds of applicants to a student nurse externship once that opened up. All those experiences helped me land my first nursing job and I had recruiters calling me when I graduated (I know this doesn't happen any longer but it will help you get a job vs the applicant with no experience- and no, they won't consider your clinicals to be experience). I really honed my foley skills as an aid and depending where you work and what they allow aids to do, you will be able to excel in some of the more basic skills of nursing. Another tip, go make friends with the HR people in the hospital you are working in as an aid. Don't be shy. Talk to everyone. I worked as a Resource Pool aid. This means I floated between Telemetry, Med Surg, and Oncology. Sometimes I floated to another hospital in that chain. I talked to the managers on all these units and did a good job when I was there. Main Idea: If they like you they will want you to work there as a nurse. It is so competitive now days that sometimes just knowing someone and having friends is the way to get hired later as an RN. So to answer your question, no you don't have to be an aid before nursing school, you can work on getting a good gpa and then do the aid thing while in school. If you need to work anyways and the pay is better than what you would make otherwise, then yes you can go ahead and be an aid while doing your pre reqs. Either way, it will help you. P.S. I had a newborn and two toddlers in nursing school. You can do it! I thought poor me until I met a girl with 5 kids and doing well lol. One girl a semester ahead of me had 4 kids and did very well. All about time management and a good support system.

Think of it this way: What will happen if you do nothing? With life saving activities, doing some type of cpr is probably better than none lol. I get that you want to do everything correctly and you are scared. This is normal for a new nurse. What you need to do is jump on each and every opportunity to do CPR that you can even if you are scared ****less. They are all learning experiences and as you gain more confidence and skill the fear will gradually leave.

When I was young, my mom was hit by a drunk driver. She was in the hospital and she was in coma for quite a while. She had a traumatic brain injury and is still not the same. She remembered a lot of stuff that was said to and about her when she came out of coma. People still, to this day, say stuff about her. She has had to work jobs that were beneath her even though she had been in college getting As for engineering when the accident occurred just because of how people perceived her in that day and age. People assumed that she was/is slow and dumb (walks slow, talks slow) but tell you what, she can do calculus in her head at the speed of light and has a very high IQ so she is not dumb!!! Truly dumb people will show their true nature by the way they treat others. I have been a nurse for 18 years now and I absolutely can't stand when health care professionals are rude to patients. If one makes a habit of rudeness, sooner or later someone like a family member etc is going to catch them at it and file a complaint.