csrn2011

One 8 hour shift sounds practical. I work weekend option - 2 12 hour shifts. 1st semester I also worked 2 10 hour shifts. Last semester I had to cut back on my PRN position where I work 10 hour shifts. I think by my final semester I may have to quit my PRN position all together because I will have so many clinical hours to complete

Check into all of your local school programs and options. My school has an accelerated BSN program for students who already have a bachelors in something else. It's 16 months and you finish with a BSN. Check with your local hospital(s) also. My hospital paid for my BSN, while I worked for them with an ASN.

I left dialysis full time because of the crazy hours. It wasn't just that we worked 60-70 hour weeks but then we would work some 30 hour weeks. I hated that too because I didn't want to use all my vacation time to make up the hours. I still work PRN in an acute unit and they are about to trial a second shift that comes in at 10am and works until 10 pm.

It depends on the area of the country too.

Do some research and you'll find that there IS a shortage

Not really. Yes they are and do downsize but there's still a need. Between obamacare (more people with insurance = more people seeking care), an aging population (again, more people seeking care) and an aging nurse workforce (people retiring) we do have a shortage that's just getting worse. With most (>50%) new grads coming from ADN programs, they're not going anywhere anytime soon. It would mean moving all nursing programs to 4 year universities and it's not possible at this point.

It can here also but the patient has to be on telemetry.

Ask your manager if you can spend a few hours working with same day surgery. In my hospital that's a normal part of orientation because they start a lot of IVs there so you get a lot of practice. Other than that offer to try every time a patient needs one even if it's not your patient. The best IV nurse I know said once that the people who are most successful try the most!

In my experience managers in other departments want MS experience. There's a lot to learn in MS and it's a great place to develop skills. If you jump right in to a speciality you only develop skills for that speciality and then you're stuck. I learned that from experience. I went right into dialysis after RN school and I couldn't get out of it because dialysis was my only experience.

Everyone wants to start in their speciality. Work a med-surg floor for a couple of years though and you'll be able to go anywhere!

K+ can run at 10 mEq/hr. In my facility you can't piggyback electrolytes. They have to run them with fluids at the y-site. If it's running in a central line the patient won't feel it.

I think I read that there are only about 30 diploma programs in the US now.

Have you looked in to a radiology tech school? A lot of the pre-reqs are the same and they make good money.

I wore my regular Urbane bottoms with a maternity t-shirt and a scrub jacket all the way through my pregnancy. I didn't want to pay for maternity scrub tops that I was only going to wear for a few months.

My baby just turned 1 and I pumped until his birthday. We take a 15 minute break in the morning and I pumped then, at my lunch break and I would take another break in the afternoon to pump. It can definitely be done. Just remember that they have to give you breaks to pump, it's the law!

I did a lot of research for a paper about ADN vs BSN last semester and associate level and diploma degree nurses are not going anywhere anytime soon. There's too great of a need.

I worked in an acute unit full time for 1.5 years and I work PRN in one now. In an acute unit no one will be scheduled to run on Sundays or major holidays but there will be someone on call in case of an emergency. Someone will also be on call every night. In my experience you either work a lot of hours or not many. Very few weeks do you work 40 hours. You do get to learn about peritoneal dialysis and therapeutic plasma exchange which is pretty cool.