ImLovingIt

Define "everything out there." Do you mean everything in a hospital except the ED and med/surg? Or have you tried outside the hospital too?

In some areas, an associates degree will not be enough to get a job in a hospital. However, I did an associates degree and then did WGU's rn-to-BSN program in 6 months. Working the floor is hard --physically, mentally and emotionally. There are older nurses in the hospital, but it's dominated by the younger set. If job flexibility is your goal, I am not sure nursing in a hospital is going to get you to a more flexible job. It's holidays and weekends. It's likely not going to be the day shift. Your schedule is dictated by the hospital (I know my schedule 6 weeks at a time, so planning 2 months in advance is an educated guess at best). If you are making good money now and enjoy your job, I'd say no way. I'm not seeing a life long "I want to be a nurse" in your post. I advise you to talk to "real" nurses in your social circle to get a better idea if this is for you. Nursing sounds great, but it has very high turnover and addiction issues, so....

Yup. My place has the same policy. 2 years before you can socialize with a former patient.

So, a former mental health patient you took care of less than a year ago figured out your name and how to contact you, you agreed to meet and what appears to be a very short time frame, you decided you were "meant to be"? There are so many red flags. And I think, deep down, you know this is a bad idea or you wouldn't have posted...At a minimum, check your employer's policies. I suspect dating former patients is not allowed for a certain period of time.

Does your hospital give out your contact information to everyone else in case someone needs a replacement? I would be livid if my employer was so cavalier about disclosing my phone/email.

I forgot to put the call light by someone who came back from surgery tonight. I'm a nurse with 2 years experience. It happens. You fix it and move on.

If it was as easy as you describe to get a job offer in a nursing home, chances are pretty good you can easily get other offers. If they are treating you like this now, it's only going to get worse. Move on. It's their loss.

Talk to the schools you are interested in. You will need to take several prerequisite classes, so you will likely be 18 by the time you will be in clinicals.

Hmmmmm.....waking 5-6 patients up. That means taking 5-6 patients to the bathroom and a couple pain pills. No problem. Then, add the bed alarms, telephone calls, beeping IVs and other interruptions....I see a discussion with your NM in the near future on your lack of time management due to all the OT you are logging.

See page 20 of https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5516.pdf#page18 Basically, recommended is 0, 1, 6 but the minimum is 1-2: 4 weeks, 2-3: 8 weeks, and 1-3: 16 weeks. I read it to say that as long as the minimum wait times are achieved, all is good.

First, if you want to raise your GPA, the most impressive thing you can do is take graduate level classes. Taking undergrad classes isn't going to be as impressive. Second, nursing school tends to have a tougher grading scale. For instance, my school was 93-100, A; 85-92 B; 78-84 C. Third, many people who do well in school struggle in nursing (not everyone, but plenty 4.0's go away after a semester of nursing school). Basically, it's 2 years of classes that are unlikely to get you where you want to go.

$80K is way too much. I completed my ADN from a community college for less than $15K (I think it was less than $10K) and then got my BSN from WGU for less than $3500. Also, I looked up Arizona College. The BSN program is new and currently unaccredited. Do not spend $80k at an unaccredited school!!!

After just a couple months on the floor, I've developed dry, red, and itchy skin. What have you used to soothe your skin? I'm looking for suggestions! The lotion aisle has so many choices!

And whatever you do, don't go to an overpriced for-profit nursing school. Medical school is expensive. Spend your money on that, not nursing school.

I got a job in a TCU, finished my BSN in under 4 months and applied (and eventually got) an acute care job the day I finished. I am sure I could have finished my BSN in half the time if I needed to. You could probably even do flu clinics while you finish your BSN. it doesn't have to be a FT job. Just suck it up and get your degree done. It isn't going to go any quicker than through WGU. And if you do a "traditional" program, are you going to not work for 12-18 months?