Racer1986

I am wondering about this as well. We have a 6 month old that my mother in law (late 60s) cares for on the days I work. Through the Summer and fall, I cared for COVID patients sporadically. My hospital had a COVID unit so those patients didn’t usually make it up to my ortho unit. Now, with the exponential increase in cases and my hospital’s inability to staff a COVID unit(they’ve now given up and are spreading positive patients all over the hospital), my wife and baby have gone to live with the in laws for the time being. We rely on my in laws for child care and cannot in good conscience continue to put them at risk. Is anyone else doing anything like this anymore? I know it was common in the Spring, and things are so much worse now, at least where I am.

Thanks for your response. It sounds to me like what you are doing is definitely not being too worried. I’m sure it is terrrible to have to distance from your husband... it is awful for me to not be able to be physically close with my wife during this last month of pregnancy and feel the baby move, etc., but I keep telling myself that the ultimate goal here is to have a healthy family when this is all said and done. I think distancing at home is totally appropriate, I just hope it is enough.

I know everyone has their own unique situations...mine is that my wife is 8 months pregnant and has asthma, although mild. I work on an orthopedic med surg floor and have been taking care of COVID rule outs intermittently since we stopped elective procedures. Yesterday I was pulled to our hospital’s COVID unit as half of our unit is now shut down indefinitely. I know this is going to be happening much more frequently and I’m now going to work expecting to care for positive COVIDs. My wife has an acquaintance who has offered us the use of her family’s travel trailer for me to isolate myself. Currently, we have a fairly good system going in our house where we are basically living apart under the same roof. I am limiting myself to a bedroom and bathroom and she has the rest of the house. We don’t currently have any children, so that helps. The RV would come with some headaches, as we would have to have it pumped every couple of weeks and I’d still have to either do laundry in the house or go to a laundromat. But obviously it would add another layer of separation. We are not sure what the right choice is. Anyone else facing similar issues? What are you doing to isolate from those with whom you live and do you feel like it is enough to keep them safe? God bless us all! Thanks for any insight.

Hello, I am making a career transition to nursing (will be starting my ADN in January) and am looking to go ahead and begin working as a CNA in order to get my feet wet. I have asked some questions on this forum before, and I really appreciate everyone who takes time to help out on here. It is unbelievably helpful... Ideally, I'd like to be in a hospital, but I understand I may need to start out in a long-term care facility. I'm just a little unclear on a couple of things: 1. I've found a CNA training course that works well for me schedule-wise, but the textbook used has "long-term care" in the title. That has me concerned that would not be best for me if I hope to work in a hospital eventually. Is anyone aware whether some CNA/nurse aide training classes focus on long-term care whereas others do not? 2. I've also heard that some hospital/facilities offer their own on-the-job training and don't require a CNA certification. How common is this and should I be looking for jobs before jumping into a CNA course? 3. I've also thought about becoming a home health aide. Would that require a CNA certification? How likely would I be to get hired doing that as my first healthcare job? Any other thoughts on pros/cons of that versus being a CNA in a hospital or LTC facility for someone who eventually hopes to be an RN? Thank you all so much for your help! Hope to be able to pay it forward someday.

Thanks so much. I will definitely look into the PRN option as the flexibility sounds wonderful. Glad to know I have options...perhaps I can start off in a care facility and try to get into a hospital after a year or so. I'd love to be able to be a CNA somewhere where I could later work as an RN. That sounds like the perfect situation. Too bad I am not in Iowa or Nebraska :-)

Thanks everyone for your replies. This site is a great resource... The PRN suggestion definitely gives me something else to consider, however, I'd like to be working as close to full time as possible in the months prior to actually starting school. If I go the CNA route, coming in with no previous health care experience, is my best bet going to be a long-term care facility? Will hospitals be an option or will they want experience? Any other options I'm not thinking about that should be on my radar? Again, thanks so much for your help!

I will be starting an ADN program in January. This is a second career for me and I will be quitting my 8-5 desk job in order to pursue it. I'd like to go ahead and begin working full time as a CNA this fall so I can get into a hospital/care facility and get experience, then I'd like to continue working part time once I start school. I'm wondering about the best way for me to go about this. If I am applying for a full-time job as a CNA, would they consider me knowing that I will be starting school in four or five months and would need to drop down to part time? Should I apply for part time jobs instead and see if I can pick up extra hours while I am not in school? Any advice from anyone who has more knowledge of how to best go about this would be appreciated. Thanks for your help!

Racer15, was that recently? Do you know if your classmates had similar experiences? I had thought the market might be better in western Kentucky as opposed to the bigger cities...

I am embarking on a career change into the nursing field and am trying to decide between attempting to get into a competitive second-degree BSN program or jumping into an ADN program instead with the hope that I could get a job and do a bridge program to BSN while working later. I feel like this may be the best plan for me as I hate the thought of taking a bunch of pre-reqs and then not getting into the BSN program, whereas with the ADN, I can jump right in. However, I need to feel confident I can get a job with an ADN. I would be looking either in the Louisville area or the Paducah area in western Kentucky. Anyone have knowledge of the current job market in those areas and know whether hospitals are hiring ADNs? Or do they want BSNs? Thanks for any thoughts.

Interesting thought. I hadn't realized that was an option. Thanks for your help!

Hey everyone, I am a 28-year-old married male looking at transitioning from a career in journalism/publishing to nursing. It seems to me that my best option would be an accelerated BSN program as I already have a Bachelor's degree in journalism. My wife could support us while I was going to school, so I am thankfully in a position where I could quit my current job to focus 100 percent on the program. However, I know some of these accelerated programs can be very difficult to get into. I completed my undergraduate work with a 3.39 GPA and I'm not sure there is anything about me that is going to stand out in a field of applicants who are coming in with better stats than me. So here's my question...I am going to have to take pre-reqs before I can apply for an accelerated BSN program, so let's say I go ahead and do those pre-reqs, apply to the accelerated BSN and don't get in. Could I then apply those pre-reqs toward work that I would do in an associate's program and work toward my ADN? Would I have any other options? I guess what I don't want to do is waste time/effort/money going for an accelerated BSN if I would have to start over at square one to go toward an ADN. Perhaps it might be better for me to start off in an ADN program from the get-go? I greatly appreciate any thoughts and/or personal experiences anyone can share on this. I am in the beginning stages of trying to figure all of this out...