lyceeboo

Very nice. Thanks Brian, staff and mods!

Yeah that's strange but in 2009 I was told there is a building or a few buildings but that the classes are all online. When I call the nursing program later in the week I'll ask again. Still I'm very glad I got the BA at TESC.... and it sounds good since 'state' is part of the name of the school. I haven't decided between informatics or Health assessment as my first class in January. I went with the psychology degree first because I figured it would help with day to day work in nursing...Plus I had a lot of psych course credits from way back. Good luck!

Hi mjishernameo. Congrats on qualifying for the TE BA degree! That's exciting. :) My story was similiar to yours. After my ADN and numerous college courses over numerous years... To get a BA in psychology at TE in 2009 I only needed to take 6 hours online and 5 courses that I tested out of by exam. It was exciting to get credit for all the courses I took years ago and earn a degree. Now I'm looking into the TE RN - BSN program. Are you sure TESC is a B & M school? When I graduated in 2009 I was told by the head of BA advisement that TESC only exists as an online school. It was funny to hear that just as I was graduating because one of the reasons I picked TESC was that I thought it had a B & M campus. (Like you said, I figured some would think I had taken some of the classes at a state B & M school instead of doing it all online.) In any event, I think it's a great school. Good luck with your classes at TESC everyone! I hope to join you all in the RN/BSN program soon.

I agree but then that can be said about all countries that took over an aboriginal people. Most countries were taken over from the original inhabitants. Also I haven't seen the posts OP is complaining about either. lol @ Pat Paulsen comment. I forgot about him and the Smother's Brothers. ;-)

Agree. All those factors do exist in reality. (Imo) Some students on NA seem to think drowning out the voices of nurses who have experienced these things will somehow make the realities go away. I think it's better to go into things knowing what the problems are ahead of time. Then students can make informed choices and maybe avoid some of the built in pitfalls should they decide to forge ahead.

Calcium precipitates acid so yes there is a rebound effect of acid from Tums. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=18156 The Truth About Antacids

ha..some here must have taken similar psych classes or read some of the books we were assigned. from the laws of power by greene: law 4. always say less than necessary, when you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinx like. powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. the more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish (greene, 1998).

hehehe that's exactly why i've been a member since 2001 and only have 100 posts.

I can only speak for what's happening in my area. What GoLytely said about downsizing sadly holds true here. We have 3 nursing schools in my college town (and 4 other programs within a 100 mile radius) cranking out new RN's. Because the hospital's are cutting positions we have many new grads looking for work. At times it seems the 2 largest local hospitals hire the newbies and put them in a "sink or swim" situation way before they have the skills. The only shortage here is for experienced RN's in all areas of critical care. Yet I keep meeting people around town who say they're starting to take pre-reqs and planning on applying to nursing school. To me it seems nursing has never been good at synchronizing training and recruitment to avoid shortage/glut cycles. People hear there is a demand and suddenly there are government incentives to open schools and hire RN's from abroad. I think they need to look at the situation first. The main demand in my area is for experienced ICU RN's. Many of our new grads who aren't tied down are starting to think about leaving the state for better job opportunities.

Agree, as far as layoffs, seemingly capricous firings and nurses getting the boot - it probably depends on where you live. In my area there are 3 schools with RN programs and 2 large local hospitals. Hearing about a several new grads being fired after orientation has never been unusual because these hospitals have a large pool of ready replacements. The saddest thing happened last yr when one of the hospitals administrators claimed that they failed to anticipate some Medicare funding that wasn't approved. Seven newly hired RN's and 38 senior RN student "nurse techs" were let go during a massive cutback. Then 4 months ago the same hospital fired an RN who had worked in the ED for 21 yrs. (This nurse insists she was fired b/c she got sick and used too much of her leave time.) So maybe it depends on the area of the country and the competence, honesty and compassion of hospital management in your area. A lot of the new grads here are older/married/settled so they can't always pick up and move to cities where there are RN shortages.

Quote "I also explained that DNR/DNI does not mean we wouldn't treat her any differently, and we would still give her all the meds, abx, wound cares, etc, " Too bad the chief res and attending didn't automatically see this. The family and pt were simply putting an order in effect that will give them peace of mind. I like to think we all have the right to refuse CPR and intubation. The call to ethics was appropriate. I suspect many RN's have gotten on some one's bad side when advocating for our pts. Thanks for sticking up for this family.

And that's EXACTLY why NM/HS wouldn't pick up any pts. I've been in similar day shift staffing situations way too many times in various hospitals around the country. (9 ortho/med/surg pts)...I've NEVER seen a NM/HS help us out. It's been awhile since I've worked in TX, but I always felt "safe harbor" wouldn't actually provide much protection. But I think the charge should have filed the paperwork anyway. IMO -- The most obnoxious thing the NM did here was try to get the instructor AND worse yet THE STUDENTS to pick up pts! Excuse me, but you're paying tuition to learn. Students as free labor for hospital CEO's? No if I were that instructor, that would have made my blood boil too. Sounds like you have a good clinical instructor.

Just click on some one's name and a drop down menu appears that will lead to the private message function. The pm function differs from email. Pm is helpful to send a message to someone that may not be of interest to the general population of the forum, or to share specific info you don't want the public to see. If you give out information or even ask a very specific question on a public forum there is always a (slight) chance that a casual reader could misinterpret what you have written. Starfish80, Feel free to pm if you like. (I really hate to feel like I've posted info that can be misinterpreted, or that is misleading or incorrect.) Allow me to elaborate/clarify: I've worked as an "admit counselor" for a large national chain of in-pt EDU's. The reason I said it was "entry level with lower pay" is because I was a "counselor" in name only. I was not paid as a therapist and I was in NO WAY qualified to provide professional therapy. As an admissions counselor in EDU my function was more about making sure referrals met certain basic admit criteria. I was told specifically not to allow potential admits to use initial assessment meetings with me as "sessions". I should tell you that there was also some pressure on me to produce certain numbers. (Geez...At times I felt more like a sales person than a counselor.) I believe Thunderwolf and others who detailed the advanced requirements...(post masters with an additional 2 yrs of documented work in the field) needed to take the certification exams and become therapists, were correct. As one who has benefited from professional therapy during a bout with depression in my youth, I'm thankful for the standards of practice in place.:wink2: Good luck in school!

Hi Starfish08! Welcome to allnurses. And congrats on earning your BS and on starting an RN program!!! The BS and your LPN/RN background will mean a lot of job security. :-) It seems like you should be able to use the RN & BSHS to get your foot in the door of an EDU or CDU. But you might have to start in an position such as "assessment" or "admissions counselor" or even direct care nurse. I've seen positions as "admit counselors" offered to people with 4 yr health related degrees. Often a BA in psych or BSN is preferred. Please note that these jobs are entry level and often pay less than you could make as an RN in direct care. Here are some additional ideas: Look around at local in-pt as well as out-pt (partial hospitalization, day care and clinics for behavioral health/addictionology) and see what credentials their RN's hold. Also I learn a lot about what degrees, skills and certifications are marketable by reading want ads and career builder.com. Anyway, I just sent you a pm if you'd like to exchange ideas on options in this area. I'm in a similar situation as far as further education and career transition. Good luck!

Hi and welcome to allnurses. You've asked a good question. Wish I could help but I have no experience with online course work. Do you know what online degree options are available for nurse hopefuls? It seems like it would depend on your starting point. ie, current level or education, experience in a medical field, work experience, age etc. In my case- I graduated from an ADN program in 1996. Nursing school wasn't easy for me...but I benefited from face-to-face interaction with instructions and classmates. In my opinion once someone had an LPN or ADN, online classes for higher degrees would be doable. (I'm currently looking into online degrees BA, BSN or BS and I'm asking myself the same questions you have.) Good luck.

lol! I musta missed that one and I totally have this problem. Funny stuff. Congrats on scoring the pens. ;-)

My finances were tight when I was accepted into an ADN program in '94. I signed a contract with a local hospital like mom2michael mentioned. They gave me a total of $2,000.00 spread over 2 yrs. Upon graduation I would repay it by working full-time as a staff RN for 2 yrs. Anyone who didn't graduate or decided not to work for that hospital had 6 months to pay the 2K back. I was really grateful for any tuition assistance. When I graduated I needed to move out of state for family reasons so I paid it back.

So beautifully written...Using quotes from the Living Will as if the dying patient is speaking directly to family and nurse. And she was. Thank you for sharing this.

In the 9 times that I've been mandated to sleep at various hospital and medical facilities due to snow, hurricanes, floods etc, I've never heard of anyone being paid for more than the shifts they work. I wish they would pay for the whole time we are there. If you have to do the night shift it can be rough because it's often impossible to get any sleep during the day..in a room with people coming in an out. I pray that this isn't another Katrina. Good luck to us all.

Sorry that you're encountering this Dianne. :redpinkhe:redbeathe:heartbeat Wish I had some good answers about why this occurs. (All I can think is maybe the regular staff is burning out from all the general bs and stuff acute care RN's have to contend with on a daily basis.) I've never done the travel RN thing but have worked in many hospitals that depended on travel staff. Especially to fill night shift openings. Sometimes these travelers have asked me basic questions, ie where to find something... or could you please show me how to use some new device....Several times the travel nurse then thanked me (emphatically)...and it seemed as if they were just grateful for any helpful or kind response from staff. Geez, if nobody can take a second to help....then we need more staff. Like I said, I have no answers. Maybe if all RN's were just treated a little better by management.

interesting to see the other side of this. thanks for chiming in mba2brn. i've pretty much burned out on the profound stress of acute care rn jobs. 12 hr shifts can easily run way over. not no mention the life and death responsibility with little real authority. geez i was hoping another degree, cm job, or license in sw would be my ticket out. guess i'll do more research.

Was trying to shoot you a quick reply with good wishes but I hit the "thanks" button instead. No I don't work Psych Case Management but it sounds like it could be a great job AND provide an excellent background for an eventual MSN in mental health. I hope you get the offer.

Hi Crazy4Kids! I hope you get some feedback because I'm thinking about doing and RN_-BSN program too. So far I think Thomas Edison State University online beats USM's RN-BSN online. TESU would require a few less classes and their BSN transitions into their MSN degree. Do you live near the Hattiesburg main campus?

One of my first jobs in nursing was as a staff RN on the night shift of an Ortho/Med/Surg floor. Ironically we did a lot of back surgeries and took care of the pts post op. Many of these pts were obese. We were told we should have 4 ppl every time we turned the back surg pts. Obviously they had to be turned every two hours and at night we often didn't have enough staff to have 4 ppl during each repositioning or q 2 hr turn. I usually went home in the am with an aching back. One night a heavy man wanted help to the BSC. I knew that after back surgery he didn't have the strength in his legs to hold up much of his weight. I asked him to give me a second to get some lifting help. All of a sudden with no warning he sat up and put his feet on the floor while leaning on me. He almost fell on top of me. With all of my strength I held on to him until I was able to slide him off of me and onto the floor. Since then I live with low level chronic back pain that flares up when I lift anything heavy or when I do a twisting movement.

Thyroid storm. Hyperthyroidism or too high a dose of synthroid can look like the nurse is on amphetamines. Hypothyroidism with it's mental sluggishness can look like someone is on sedatives. I've never passed out or fainted before last Monday. I fainted at a friend's house. Went to the ER and I was severely dehydrated from a recent bout with diarrhea.