julz68

You could also look into hospitals that may have tuition reimbursement. Mine did. I worked as a CNA there and they paid for most of my tuition. After graduating and passing NCLEX, I was hired as an RN under a contract that I would work x amount of years.

Maybe it's a Midwest thing. That's how my hospital works too, and I'm in Iowa. :)

Btw...I did the nights and weekends route too...worked out wonderfully!

I did it with 4 kids and working full time too. Graduated December 2012, passed NCLEX February 4, 2013 and started working on a busy medical floor that March, where I currently am today. Yes it can be done! :)

It also depends if you are an RT or RRT. RRTs makes as much as RNs or more at the hospital I work in.

You could use some of the classes you've already taken to go into a different medical field. My daughter always thought she wanted to be an RN just like her mom, but once she got into it, she decided it wasn't for her. She took a different avenue and decided to get into the RRT program instead. Most of her nursing prerequisites went towards that as well. She just finished her first year and absolutely loves it. There's also radiology, PT, OT, etc... Good luck in whatever you decide to do and don't give up.

I can tell you, you won't be disappointed! And you can't beat the price for the quality! I absolutely LOVE mine!

Update: I purchased the MDF...used it for the first time last noc at work and it is amazing! Better than my Littmann Lightweight!

This one

The MDF MD One

I have a Littmann Lightweight, Maxiscope and just bought an MFD yesterday. The Maxiscope is very comparable to the Lightweight in terms of sound and clarity. The only thing I didn't like is that it's very heavy. And if you're going to wear it around your neck for 8 to 12 hours, your neck and shoulders get pretty sore. I ended up having to leave mine at the desk a lot after assessments were done. The MDF that I just bought sounds as good or even better as a Littman. I compared it to my Lightweight AND my daughter's Classic II SE. It's not as heavy as the Maxi, but definitely heavier than the Lightweight. Hope that helps

Oh, and it also comes with lifetime free replacement parts! You can't beat that!

I just bought a MDF stethoscope, which was about $50 from Amazon. I compared it to my old Littmann Lightweight and oh man...it was much louder and clearer than the Lightweight! I'm very happy with my new MDF...plus it comes in so many different colors.

I read some reviews of the MDF on Amazon and many people said that it was just as good or even better than Littmann

I've always used a Littmann lightweight and was going to upgrade to a classic II, but had heard from a coworker that MDF stethoscopes are very comparable to the Littmann at half the price. Has anyone compared the two? What do you think?? Thanks

All of the nursing schools in my area do require you to have your CNA before you get accepted. I worked as one for many years before I became an RN & I feel it gave me an advantage over the others in my clinicals during school. I only say this because it seemed that those of us who were CNAs, were a lot less intimidated by patient care and procedures during clinicals.

The ones I work with do. Almost all ancillary staff will help us out if it's within their scope of practice. Just this morning while I was passing my morning meds, a phlebotomist asked me if it was OK to give one of my patients a cup of coffee and make her some toast. I've also seen RTs, xray techs, take patients to the bathroom for us if we are busy. I really like the team work we have where I work.

I'm kind of feeling bad about this. I work on a Medical Unit at my hospital and one night last week, I found out a patient I had the previous night requested that I not be his nurse again that night. We can have up to 6 patients a piece on our floor with no CNAs. We do "RN total patient care". The previous night, I had 6 patients, a very busy group. One was ETOH detox where I was doing CIWAs every hour, two patients were actively dying, and two LOLs that had to use the restroom every half hour....but this one patient was very irritated that I didn't answer his call light fast enough and forgot to get him his ice cream he wanted. He was my most stable patient. I feel bad, but at the same time, I was irritated too. I can't be everywhere at once. Just had to vent. I'm sure this happens a lot to others as well.

I made more than that as a CNA! Twice that now as an RN. Holy cow!

Great job! Pretty cool accomplishment, huh? We used hot dogs back in school too for TB practice.

We have a script to follow as well during our bedside report. And a couple months ago, they added something new. We have to write on the white board the TIME we will be back to check on them! We do hourly rounding and before we leave the room we have to say, "Is there anything else I can do for you while I have the time?" If not, then we say, "I will be back at such-in-such time to check in on you." And write the time on the board when we will return. According to management, this is supposed to reduce the amount of call lights. If they need something that can wait a bit, they can look on the board and think, "Oh, Nurse Suzy will be back at 8pm." This works less often than not. Most patients will call because we aren't there exactly at the time written on the board. They get angry if we are 5 minutes "late". It just gets frustrating when the higher ups think of more crazy things to add to our routine for "patient satisfaction."

One night, I was having a problem inserting a Foley on a female patient. For the life of me, I could not find her urethra! After many of us tried, we called the nursing supervisor. To our surprise, she got it in. The patient's urethra was below and to the left of her lady parts! I know everyone is a little different down there, but that was a first for me!

Our hospital encourages costumes for Halloween. I just wear themed scrubs though. I think it's too hard to do your job effectively wearing a full costume. Years ago, when I worked at an LTC, one of the male CNAs dressed up in a full Grim Reaper costume, sythe and all! That was totally not a good idea. He scared the crap out of a few residents when he went in to wake them up for breakfast. Some thought it was funny. I did not. That year I did wear bunny ears with my scrubs, which the residents loved. This year I have Halloween off, so I will be dressing up and going Trick or Treating with my kids :)

I will try that! Thanks! :)

...send family members a sympathy card when their loved one has passed away? I had a very young patient last night who was very ill. Over the entire shift, I spent most of my time in that room taking care of her and also being a comfort to her family. They were a very loving family and we bonded over that 12 hours. When I came back to work tonight, I learned that the patient had unexpectedly coded and died an hour after my shift was over. I feel horrible and want to send my condolences. Is it appropriate, as a nurse, to send the family a card? Has anyone else done so?