Rjschultz801

I am 33 and have been a pediatric oncology nurse for 2 (nursing for 4 years) years I love my job mostly because the population I work with is AMAZING. I recently started looking into going to acupuncture school but am having mixed feelings about it (I would like to be able to work for myself at some point but it's looking like a difficult profession to make a good living in. From what I have been researching I would make about what I am now or less, which is not enough to live on). I do think as an acupuncturist I would feel better about what I'm doing and maybe I could stay on PRN at the hospital.... I like ideas of working in alternative medicine and believe it is more in line with my personal views. I am wondering what other Alternative medicine career options there are out there that I may not be aware of. Any input or ideas would be appreciated. THANKS :)

I started on a pediatric oncology unit out of nursing school. It was overwhelming at first and everyday on my way in I was nervous I was going to make a crucial mistake and harm someone but thankfully that never happened and I now LOVE it and actually enjoy going to work. I agree with Manal Al Humaid ask questions whenever you are in unsure or have any doubt. I would ask questions of the people on my pod and when I felt like I had asked them to many questions I would go ask nurses on other pods (I still ask questions every day). On our unit we start out taking pts that are not getting chemo such as count recovery (AML treatment at our HS is about 10 days of really intense chemo and then the pt stays till the get an ANC. These kids can be very stable but turn BMT class. I now see that your post is from October, how is it going? For me it really did take almost a year for me to feel comfortable and not be scared to go to work.

I'm in pediatric oncology and have never heard of them. Has anyone heard of them being used in the pediatric population?

Hey there cindyloowho. Wondering how the job search went and if you are enjoying working in CO. I have been working on a pediatric inpatient oncology unit for the last 2 years and have also started working in the outpatient clinic at Primary Children's here in Utah. I am thinking about moving to Denver in the next year or two to go to acupuncture school but would want to work in peds oncology for the 4 years of school (OUCH, I know). Wondering if anyone can tell me about peds oncology opportunities in the Denver area. Also wondering what pay ranges I may be expecting.

I am just wondering what other units do as far as time lines go when it comes to getting chemo trained and bmt trained. I got chemo trained after 6 months on the unit and it well be 1.5 years at the time of the bmt class as a new grad. Does this seem fast, slow or average?