ThatBigGuy

Nursing school prepares you to take the NCLEX. L&D is a large part of the NCLEX, and therefore your nursing program spends a correspondingly large amount of time teaching it. That's really all there is to it. I struggled in my L&D class with a lot of the same thoughts you're having, but powered through and passed. I've not since touched a baby or a fundus in my career, but I did pass the NCLEX in 75 questions on the first attempt.

Go for the nursing degree. You're going to make $75k a year working ~36 hours a week. I'm in Texas, I made $91K last year, although I did grind out OT shifts when I was able. You'll work less, get paid more, and have higher upside potential, all while having a more flexible schedule and more time with your family.

Many good specialty running stores will have equipment to measure your foot pattern and gait, and can help point you to a few shoes that will match with your feet. New Balance stores offer this service. If that doesn't work, ask your PCP for a referral to someone who can custom build you some orthotics. Setting yourself up for 20 more years of pain free productivity will require an investment of time and money in the present. I have Achilles tendonitis. I'm also >260lbs. I've found that foam-soled lightweight running shoes work best for me, but I buy three pair that I rotate each shift, and replace approximately every 6-8 months. I also do some light stretching during my shifts, and work on general mobility exercises on my days off. I've found that if my lower-back-to-feet muscle chain is flexible, my Achilles tendons are less sore as well.

The average student loan carries a 7% interest rate and takes 20 years to pay off. That means your initial $130,000 debt will have cost you $240,000 once it's paid off. This degree will cost you $240,000. You will pay $1000 a month until 2038. I would suggest looking at more affordable options.

Invoke Safe Harbor if you feel like an assignment is unsafe. Whether or not you should have the skills to care for this patient is irrelevant in the moment. You first give your license protection, then go give the patient the best care you can. If the review board later finds that you should have had the skills to care for this patient and discipline or fire you, then so be it. Just remember, you can't retroactively call Safe Harbor. I would have been on the fence myself, considering the patient's condition. However, the lack of communication and support from my coworkers and charge nurse would have knocked me off the fence and squarely in Safe Harbor territory.

The first thing your son needs to do is make sure he has bulletproof documentation from his doctors, which you sound like you guys have. Might it be possible to add a third, perhaps some sort of specialist in immunology to have the most complete case you are able to have? You can probably be exempted by the university with a doctor's note. You'll probably be able to do the same with a future employer, although with perhaps a more thorough evaluation. The trip line is the nursing program itself. They will have requirements more stringent than the university or a future employer because of the requirements placed on them by their clinical sites. Clinical sites offer the schools the opportunity to send students as a favor, with very stringent sets of rules and guidelines. It's a facility's worst nightmare to have a sentinel event happen involving a student. The liability is through the roof. With that in mind, go directly to the source: the nursing school admissions director. Your son has an uphill battle that starts with the nursing program admins. It would be best if your son does this himself, with your support rather than vice versa. He'll get a more receptive response from administrators. Also, let him have his own All Nurses account. This is a great opportunity to grow.

I'm a guy. I wear a cheap, narrow, stainless steel ring from Amazon while I work. Cheap (like $6 cheap) means it's easily replaceable. Stainless steel means I can bleach it if needed. Narrow means I can dry my finger off well, and have had zero dermatitis issues. I've never had it come off in the many years I've been wearing it. Silicone rings gave me dermatitis. I leave my real ring at home.

Looks for second degree BSN programs. They will give you credit for some/most/all of the general core curriculum you have with your first degree (history, sociology, English, etc). You'll have to complete the nursing program pre-reqs before entry into the program, usually 1 year full time, but each program differs. Once you complete the pre-reqs, you'll apply for the BSN program. If you apply for an ASN program, it will take the same amount of time to complete, but you will only retain an ASN rather than a BSN. You'll have to try an ASN-to-BSN program and hope your sociology degree classes transfer in. Your best bet is to apply to all the second degree BSN programs you can find. I did this, and received my BSN in three years total (1 year pre-reqs, two years BSN program). You end up with the BSN, and don't have to worry about dealing with a bridge program.

I would encourage you to finish the RN track you are on. This is the quickest way to earning a paycheck and eliminating your burden on your saint of a mother. Once you have become an RN, you can start working with children in 1 of 100 different ways. You may find a niche that fits you even better than you thought the speech pathology would. You'll definitely have more flexibility and options as an RN. If you do decide that speech pathology is absolutely where you want to be, then you can start earning your masters part time while working as an RN, funding it as you go. If SP ends up being your life's passion, you'll have reached it with the least amount of strain on your mother. No matter what, getting your RN will create a flexible foundation for your future, regardless if you choose to go back to school.

I would factor in the cost of your extra wear and tear on your car. A general rule of thumb is a mile costs approx. $0.55/mile, not including gas. This take into account tires, oil changes, general wear and tear, depreciation, etc. If you only work one shift a week, the difference between the two jobs in car cost will be ~$1700/year. That doesn't include gas, which would put the difference over $2000 a year. If you work 2 shifts a week, you're looking at $4000 in vehicle costs. If you want to do this for a year or so, then I'd say other factors might weigh more heavily (I loath floating to med-surg). Of course, the longer you stay, the more the costs add up, and the heavier that decision would weigh on me. On the other hand, I love driving. Music and podcasts are therapeutic after a tough shift.

Is the $10,000 contract prorated or to be paid in full should you not complete the two years? If it's prorated, I'd jump at that opportunity. An ICU residency is worth its weight in gold. I wouldn't worry about the OT pay as a new grad, because the ICU residency makes up for it. On the other hand, if you want out, $10,000 is nearly 30% of your yearly salary when taking into account taxes and benefits. I can do anything for a year; the same cannot be said for two years.

You would have to take another 119 credit hours and maintain a perfect 4.0 in order to achieve a cumulative 3.5 GPA. A more efficient and affordable route would be to go back and re-take the classes in which you got the worst grades.

My family looked at several places to live in our travels so far, both Seattle and NM were on the list. We chose NM. We lived in southern NM for 5 years. It's an amazing state, full of interesting culture and history. If you are outdoorsy people, you will find that there is more than 10x the amount of public acreage in NM than in Texas. The cost of living allowed us to maintain a middle class lifestyle on one RN income. The food is beyond superb, better than any Tex-Mex you can find, specifically the red and green chiles. You are within an afternoon's drive from hot springs, waterskiing lakes, hiking national forests, snow sports, desolate wilderness, cultural hotspots, and legitimate history. There is a lack of professional sports, although you can make a weekend trip to Denver, Phoenix, or back to DFW for those things. Your husband should find massive job opportunities with his Spanish capabilities. However, he will not be paid well, and will be dealing with one of the worst performing student populations in the nation. You will find plenty of opportunities yourself, and your combined incomes will be allow you to live in any city, Santa Fe included. We were intrigued with the culture and diversity of Seattle, along with the weather as well. However, we would have needed to become a two income family to live in the areas we identified as right for us. That was our deal breaker, so we moved to NM. We are no longer in NM due to life, but we have often considered moving back. We miss the food and geography, but what we miss most is the pace of life.

As the only male on my unit, I often "take the charts back to PCU" around 3am. I think they're on to me.

You need a higher GPA, because JHU requires at least a 3.0 and probably only accepts those with 4.0 GPAs due to the sheer number of applicants they receive. Just to get your GPA up to 3.0, you need another 50 hours of classes at a 4.0 GPA. You have a great mix of extracurriculars, but your GPA is prohibitively low. You will need to cast a wider net and apply to many, many different programs in order to increase your odds of acceptance. You also need to consider retaking the classes with the worst grades in order to improve your GPA.