saphira

No! It's not too late. I started nursing school at 33, got my ASN. I am now 38, just graduated Magna Cum Laude from a BSN program and in 3 years will be an Adult Nurse Practitioner. In 3 years (as someone put it), I'll still be 41, but I'll be 41 with something in my hands I can enjoy and be proud of for the rest of my life. It's worth it... So, you want to go to nursing school? Go...

I worked on a Geriatric Psych unit. We had one lady who seemed to be making progress and then all the sudden get worse. One day she came out of her room, went up to the GN I was orienting and said, "Dan, take me to your leader. Take me to your leader." All day. The next day it was "Take me to your phone bank and turn it on." Then there was the guy I took care of when I first started working as an aide. It was the night shift, I had been an aide for a few weeks, never done the work before. The only thing I knew about this guys besides his age (early 90s) was the he was on a ventimask. I walk into his room, his roommate's sleeping (hearing aides out), so I walk around the curtain and see this little old guy buck naked, urinal spilled in the bed next to him, mask off, masturbating. He grins at me and says, "Dolly, I'll give you $1,000 if you get into bed with me." The only thing I could think of saying was "I think you should put your mask back on." Two years later, as an new LPN, I walked into my new job onto my assigned unit. The same little old guy walks down the hall, looks at me, keeps going, then comes back a few minutes later and says, "Dolly, I'll still give that $1,000."

I am getting my BSN through Stonybrook University (SUNY system school) and their online program. Great program, good instructors. Everything is online except the one time I had to videotape myself and send it in. I'm going to do the FNP the same way.

SUNY (State University of New York) at Stonybrook. I'm enrolled now and it's all online RN - BSN. No clinicals. Must be licensed in the state in which you practice without restrictions. Can also be a GN, but must be licensed without restrictions within 6 months of program start... Isabel.

YUP!!!!!! It's a violation and illegal. And you should tell your friend to report it. Did she save any of the written/text messaged stuff? If she did, she needs to take that to them, too.

Heck, I'd look for a new employer. But if you're hesitant to do that, I'd absolutely transfer. You're not supposed to be counted as staff for orientation (or at least, any of the places I worked didn't). The hospital hired you presumably to train you to do a job that needs hands on time. Pulling you to work as a CNA undermines that and--one thing to really keep in mind--even if you are working as a CNA you are likely still responsible for the level of care of a novice RN. In NYS, when I was an LPN I'd occasionally be pulled to work as a CNA and the state practice act said that was ok, but I would still be held to the level of care at which I was licensed. So, once the facility got that in their hot little hands (courtesy of a little birdie) they stopped doing it. Whatever else you do, keep your head, ask for a witness to any meetings (seriously--is there an Employee Liaison or someone like that who can go with you, most facilities have them) that touch on how you're doing. If you can't do that, document everything in writing in the meeting and tell them you're doing it. I've been there--and the documentation helped. But I still quit. Isabel, RN

I know St. Joseph's Hospital up in Syracuse, NY has a weekend only program. You graduate with an ADN and can enroll in a 4 year program. A nurse I worked with graduated from there with her ADN and was (still is) an amazing nurse. She recommends the program highly. I think it took her three years. I'm not sure about weekend BSN programs, but many programs will arrange clinical on the weekend and do a lot of online coursework. Isabel, RN

What a loaded question....the job I just took and started on the 12th will be wonderfully supportive, but then again it's a state facility and unionized with all kinds of benefits and they're begging people to stay and paying premium rates for upstate new york for it. The place I just left ate nurses alive and the nurse manager didn't help either...I got all this **** and then got told "well, if you screw up it's your license, not our problem." I quit as soon as I could find a job I really wanted. Isabel, RN

New grads in Binghamton up to Syracuse make between $15 and $19 base an hour. Depends on the facility and whether or not it's unionized. Nursing homes and doctors' offices pay less than hospitals. I started at $18.49, but they gave me credit for my LPN work. Otherwise I'd have made $18.13 per hour. I don't know how comparable that is to Rochester, but you should be able to find salary information by searching the web. Isabel, RN

That's true--there's a push to phase out advanced practice nurses to have them get DNPs or Doctorates in Nursing Practice. This would be for new advanced practice nurses. Any nurse graduating before the DNP becomes the standard would be grandfathered in. The DNPs will have patient care and treatment as their focus and will be NPs, Nurse Educators, etc. That's different from Nurse PhDs who are supposed to be more focused on research. I enrolled in SUNY Stony Brook's online BSN completion program and they talked about it at orientation. They are moving to a DNP in a few years as the terminal degree toward the NP. You'd pick up the MSN along the way. As for people not having psych problems and psych nurses being phased out---right. Sure. And people all over will all suddenly be mentally healthy.

I'm starting a job in a psych center this coming Thursday. They hired me in part because I had a year of med-surg under my belt as an RN and 9 months in LTC as an LPN. They wanted someone with good basic assessment skills. It probably helped that at my current job the floor I'm on also got all the non-medically cleared psych patients. But...get a year in even if it's part time as a med-surg nurse. The assesment skills are invaluable and if you decide to get out of psych nursing later on, you'll have those skills to back you up.

When I did my psych rotation, we wore nice slacks, modest shirts and blouses, sweaters, sneakers or other comfortable, closed shoes with nothing more than a 1 inch heel. Worked well. I graduated in May 2005 and that psych rotation was my last one of nursing school. Now I'm starting there as an RN after a year of med-surg. And I was told jeans and a nice top, sneakers or closed low heeled shoes. I'd avoid clogs. No lab coats. Otherwise, khakis and a nice (modest) top should be fine.

Nope. I went back to school at 33 after having gotten a BA in Romance Languages and an MA in Comparative Literature. I taught for a few years in my 20s, did some other things after I realized I hated teaching, then said "Ok, I'm going to do it." My husband was wonderful and supportive. My class had students in their mid-50s in it.

I graduated from an ADN program in May 2005. Fortunately I went to a good program that tried its hardest to give us a variety of experiences. Unfortunately, I ran into a lot of experienced nurses who did not want to deal with me unless I was doing scut work and emptying bedpans. On the plus side, I also ran into a lot of experienced nurses who loved to teach and loved the students and were willing to let me do what my little sign off card from the school said I could do. If it was signed off, many of those nurses would watch me do it once and then let me do it. Those nurses always got thank yous and hugs. And they're the nurses who students routinely went to with questions. I worked as a nurse's aid from the time I began prereqs (in the year before I actually started nursing school) and the first year and a half I was in nursing school. After my third nursing course I took my LPN boards, passed, and worked as an LPN for 8 months till graduation. Both experiences were good. What I found was that as I gained experience both as a student and as an LPN that I got more out of clinical. And as an aide, the nurses on my floor were willing to let me watch and help with procedures, dressing changes, etc. I even got to help in a few codes. Nothing that would break the law or the State Practice Act, but I saw a lot. As a nurse, I wish I had only 4 patients. Right now I work on a busy med-surg floor, I'm night charge, and I have an average of 7 patients a night in my own group. Most nights I have those 7 patients and have to oversee the staff and a total patient load of 31. And many nights I'm the only RN on a floor with PICCs, Mediports, and Central Lines. I love being a nurse--I have no time to be a nurse. I'm a traffic cop. I'm switching jobs because of that and going to in patient psych nursing. I'll be one of two RNs on the floor for 30 patients, but I won't be managing acute care. I'll be able to spend one to one time with patients and discuss comorbidities and management of physical illnesses. And I'll have time to volunteer at the free clinical and do primary care. Nursing can be frustrating, the system is broken, many nurses are frustrated with the working conditions and many are leaving the field. Many student nurses hate nursing school because too many nurses do eat their young. The best advice I can give you is "Remember what you don't like and how you'd like to be treated and then fight for it. And treat the next generation of students like you wish you had. Join nurses associations, fight for better patient care conditions. Don't give up." And also "There's lots of different routes to take with an RN. Find one that works for you, even if you have to move around a bit."