kcsunshine

I know it will be mentally and emotionally exhausting, but I really feel like I can handle it. I want to help people, and I just feel like I belong on oncology. I really want to help no matter how hard it will be. Why do you say it wouldn't be your first choice? Because of this? Thank you for your response!

The pay cut mostly has to do with the fact that I have a supervisor position at my work. If I were to be a regular PNA I, the pay would be very similar. I've heard the same thing, that hospitals won't hire if you if you don't have experience, but I was just wondering if they mean RN experience or if they actually value CNA experience as well.

Hello, So after 6 months of applying, it finally happened: I got an interview for a job as a CNA on an oncology floor. I have been waiting for this moment since before I got my certification. Ever since I realized I wanted to become a nurse, I always had an interest in oncology. It is the specialty I am most interested in working in. I really feel like I have a lot to give these patients, and I want to make it my goal to make a difference in their lives, even if it's just by getting a smile or two out of them. I am thrilled with the thought of my interview, but I do currently work as a psychiatric nurse aide, and the differences in pay between the two jobs is quite a bit. I'm a supervisor at my work and would be taking a considerable pay cut by taking the oncology job if its offered to me. Like, I'm talking losing $600 a month, which is quite a bit for the measly kind of money I make. Its enough to dim my passion for oncology just a little bit. My question to you all is this: What do the oncology CNAs do at your hospital? I am currently finishing my prerequisites for nursing school and will be attending nursing school in a year. Do you think it would be advantageous for me to work on the oncology floor if that's what I'm aiming for when I get my RN? Is CNA experience really valued that much when searching for RN jobs? I'm trying to come up with reasons for why I should take such a big pay cut, and am wondering if I will get to be exposed to what RNs do and if I'll be involved with anything outside of typical CNA work like helping with ADLs, feeding, changing, etc. Any input would be appreciated!

Thank you for the response! I am currently in my second year of school, so I have wasted a few semesters if I switch to medical school, but at the same time, I haven't even turned 20 yet, so I am still young with no children, which means it will be much easier for me than most to set my sights on medical school. What hinders me from immediately choosing medical school is the debt and time commitment. As you pointed out, you can make more in much less time going the NP route. This sways me to the NP role, but if NPs in general regret their decision or aren't very happy with their role in the medical field, it would surely sway me to medical school. Money, in the end, isn't the most important to me, however. I realize I can make over 90k a year with both, and that's more than enough for me. I'm more worried about choosing NP and regretting it because I feel limited in my scope. Job satisfaction and time to raise a family are definitely the most important to me.

Hello, I am currently just a student finishing my pre-nursing courses. I am posting in this section because I know that, even now, should I finish obtaining my BSN, I would ultimately be interested in ending up as an NP. As of late, I've been questioning my decision to become a nurse, and have been contemplating going to medical school to become a physician. I work as a CNA, so I know what both nurses and doctors do, and realize they have two different roles. What originally drew me to nursing was the idea that I will get more time with the patients, as that is what I am truly after: patient interaction. However, my job as well as talking to current RNs has shown me that even RNs don't seem to get as much patient interaction as I want. My mindset with this is, if I'm not going to get as much patient interaction as I want anyway, I might as well go to medical school. I am very interested in pursuing medicine as well as research, and I ultimately want to end up with a leadership role in the medical field, which is why I feel as though I'd be happy with the medical school route. However, I do not work closely with NPs, so I am not very knowledgeable about their role in the medical field, and thus I cannot safely determine if I'd truly prefer becoming a physician over a NP. So now that you know a little background about me, I come to the reason I made this post: Do you NPs out there feel satisfied with your choice of going the NP route? Do you feel as though you have heavy pull in the treatment of your clients? Do you feel like you have a good balance of patient interaction and being a provider? Is it the best of both worlds, so to speak? Do you have any regrets about the path you chose? Do you feel like you have a good balance between work life and family life? I'd appreciate anyone who would be willing to take the time to answer my questions, as well as perhaps describe a general day at work for you. Thank you in advance.

I don't want anything to come across the wrong way here; I don't mind being busy. I don't mind being stressed beyond belief. I know there are bad sides to this job and I embrace that. My concern is not that I'll be busy or stressed per say, just that I won't get as much patient interaction as I'd like, because patient interaction was why I chose nursing over anything else in the first place. I think I will go post in some of the sub speciality forums that I'm interested in like one poster suggested and see what they have to say about the matter.

I had never thought about hospice nursing until about a week ago when I met a family friend who worked in that field. It is definitely something that has interested me since then, particularly because of the time I would hey to spend with the patients. I hadn't thought of home health nursing, however. That really would be in line with what I'm looking for. I've just heard some bad stories about it.

Right, and I understand that. I didn't go into this thinking everything was going to be nice and rosy. I don't know, I guess I just thought there would be more time for patient interaction then there actually is.

Hi! To start off, I am currently a pre-nursing student who is about to finish up her prerequisites. I was originally aiming to get into nursing school next spring. I have worked as a psychiatric nursing assistant for about 3 months, I have many family members who are nurses who I have talked to, and I've even shadowed a nurse in a hospital. I've been wanting to become a nurse for a few years now, since I started high school, but honestly, I just don't know if its for me anymore. I love working with patients; I really do. It's the reason I chose nursing over med school. I wanted to have more patient interaction. However, from what I've seen from working daily with nurses and shadowing nurses at other hospitals, I feel like even nurses don't get that much patient interaction. Because of administrators not hiring enough staff, everywhere I go, it seems like nurses are pushed to their limits, and their patient interaction time suffers because of it. They are spending over half of their time doing paper work, and when they finally have time to be on the floor, they are usually so short staffed that they have to rush through things and patient time suffers because of it. I don't know if this is the type of career that I'd like. It seems to be such a problem, particularly in my and my family's area, and my mindset is that if I'm going to be spending half my time doing paper work, and not seeing patients as much as I'd like, I might as well go to med school. I am extremely interested in learning about medicine. I work with doctors as much as I work with nurses, so I know the difference between the two. I am not going into this blindly. I do eventually want to have some provider power, even if I get my BSN and accomplish that by becoming an NP. I guess the point of this thread is to just get advice from others who are in or were in my same situation. To those who chose to go on with nursing, do you regret the choice? Are you happy with your choice? Do you feel like you're making a difference? Were there other paths you wished you would have taken? I'm contemplating switching my major to psychology and going to med school, and with each day I go to work and see the nurses I work with running around and rushing, that idea becomes better and better. Any advice or opinions would be very welcome.

Record yourself saying your notes and listen to this recording while you're walking, exercising, sleeping, etc. Rewrite your notes. Writing things over and over really helps me solidify things into my memory. Buy a white board or chalk board and give mini lessons to friends or family members. Being able to teach concepts to someone else means that you know the material pretty well. I know that I'm set when I can go to a study group and answer every question or problem that my peers have. Which brings me to my next tip, which is forming a study group with some of your peers. This is a serious life saver for me. You can quiz each other and if anyone has a question, chances are, someone out of the group will know the answer to it. Make flashcards, so that way you can quiz yourself when you're not in a study group. You can also carry these flashcards around with you and use them whenever you have any free time or down time. I didn't know how to study going into college either. It took me two semesters of C and B averages to finally get my technique down. But now that I use these tips that I listed above, I'm making perfect scores on all of my A&P, chemistry and math tests.

This. We can't give you names of places because we don't know where you are. A simple google search will give you the information you need. If for some reason you can't find this information on the nursing school's site, email their admissions office, or if they list an adviser's email, email them.

Well if there is a specific program you are looking to get into, they will have a specific chemistry they want you to take. You need to get in contact with all of the programs you are looking at. Talk to advisers from each. Or simply look at their prerequisite lists. A lot of times you can just google "School name here nursing prerequisites". All of the colleges I've looked at want either introductory or general chemistry, which are both more like the math intensive ones.

What cities and locations are you hoping to go to school at?

I think it depends a lot on what area you live in. In certain places, there is just too many CNAs and not enough hospital jobs available. I was able to secure a job in a hospital, and am still getting calls to this day from hospitals, and I don't even have any experience. However, the area I live in has many hospitals and also has new ones as well. CPR is good, however, is it a Basic Life Support certification? Hospitals prefer BLS certifications over regular CPR certifications, because it is more healthcare oriented. The fact that you have experience is definitely a plus. Don't be discouraged by what people are saying. I've heard the same things as you, but it turned out wonderfully for me. Go apply to jobs. The worst they can do is say no or not call you. However, don't be picky when applying for jobs. If you see a CNA/PCA/PCT job open at a hospital, even if its a floor you aren't excited about, apply for it. Apply for every position you can. It will increase your odds.

I haven't started training yet. I start on Tuesday. I will keep you updated when I start, however. I believe most of the training we will be doing is defensive training for emergencies, and how to calm patients/residents down in difficult situations.

Thank you all for your unique perspectives! It has only made me more excited to start my job. I will be starting training on Tuesday, and I am so excited to take this first step into the nursing world! I realize it will be very demanding work, especially mentally and emotionally, but it will also be very rewarding, so I'm ready for the challenges I will face.

Taking two sciences together really isn't as hard as it seems. I've done it every semester so far, and this is my third semester. I'd definitely go for A&P 2 and Micro together. It will be a full semester, so you won't be as rushed, and since those are the only two classes you'd be taking, it really won't be that bad. You'll have plenty of time to study between the two of them.

What I do is record myself or my professor saying the material, then I take the recorder to the gym, plug in some headphones and listen to my material as I'm working out. It kills two birds with one stone and you retain things easier if you study while your body is in motion.

Yeah, I'm bad at over thinking, case and point. ^ Thanks for the help! I'll try not to over think too much. :)

So as far as this goes, I'm done then? There is no other possible way to factor it completely? I've been thinking this whole time that there's another step, that I just didn't see it.

Well of course no one will do it for me, that would be silly, and it would also frustrate me even more. It's really upsetting me that this problem has stumped me so much. I've taken out 6 for the highest multiple, and I think the lowest factors for the exponents would be x^4 and y^2.... So right now, I'm left with: 6x^4y^2 (9x^5y^4 - 6y^2 + 5x^2) From here, I'm totally drawing a blank. I think its the x^5y^4 that's really throwing me off.

So I am taking an online course for college algebra, and I am doing an assignment right now for skills we need to know to do well in the class. Factoring completely has come up, and I know that I know it, I just can't seem to remember it right now, and it's really frustrating me. I've looked on Khan Academy to try and get some help, but I still just can't seem to get a few problems. Does anyone have any idea on how to go about factoring this problem completely? It's been killing me for days. 54x^9y^6 - 36x^4y^4 + 30x^6y^2 Any help would be greatly appreciated.

No problem. :) Listen ESPECIALLY when you're exercising or walking. Your brain retains information easier when your body is in motion.

Flashcards. Peer tutors. Find a classmate who gets it and become their study buddy. Record yourself saying the material and listen to the recordings while driving, walking, sleeping, exercising, etc. Buy a dry erase board and pretend like you're teaching your own class. Being able to teach the subject to someone else reinforces the lesson in your head, and also makes you understand and memorize it so much better. Nothing is too extreme when it comes to learning chemistry and biology. Khan Academy is also a great internet source for learning chemistry.

Anything is doable so long as you put your mind to it. :) Math and biology sucks when you put it together in one semester, but I'm currently working on a semester with 2 maths, a biology lecture and lab and a chemistry class, and I'm staying afloat decently easy. My advice is to keep a planner and keep your days planned down to the hour if you can, especially if you work. My hourly planner is a life saver. As far as statistics goes, it's a lot less math than you think. Statistics has a lot to do with how you word your answers and the vocabulary you use. If you're better at English and writing, I've noticed that you generally do better in statistics than you would in let's say a college algebra class or something like that. Its very wordy, and you can do a lot of the work on your calculator or excel through programs. I found it to be pretty easy.