vpace91

Hi, so I live in PA, and currently work for LVHN in the Lehigh Valley. I want to go to nursing school and the ADN program would make the most sense for me financially at this time. But our hospital is a Magnet hospital, and I'm not entirely sure what that all entails but I guess a certain percentage of the nurses habe to have BSNs. I look at job postings and they usually say they require you to get one "within 4 years of hire" or something. My question is, what does this mean for 4 years in the future? Since I am not able to start school right away, and very well may be just finishing my ADN at that time. Will the Magnet hospitals switch to only hiring BSNs, or will they keep this program where they give you a grace period? I'm so confused... Sorry for any typos; I'm on mobile and the site is very finicky!

Currently an MA, and I love it, but my dream is to be a nurse. The local community college has an ADN program that is supposedly "nights and weekends", but upon investigation I realized that their idea of "nights" meant "having to be on campus at 2:30 pm". I usually work 8-5:30, so that's an obvious no-go! My office also doesn't do part-time positions- I asked. The only other option would be to bypass the ADN and go straight into a BSN program (a few of the universities in my area offer ones that start at 5 and my manager is more willing to work with that). But honestly, I'm afraid if I stayed at my job I'd end up exhausted. Everyone says working 40+ hours per week is a bad idea in nursing school if you want to make good grades. Should I quit? I know a lot of people prefer to work as CNAs, PCTs, or HHAs while in nursing school because those jobs offer experience ​and flexibility. The pay would go down, sure, but I'd also save an arm and a leg on tuition since I'd be going to the community college. It seems like a no-brainer when I type it out, honestly. But I think that perhaps one of the reasons why this is such a difficult choice for me, is because when I envision myself as a nurse, one of the environments I imagine is a physician office setting. It's always been a good fit for me. I love Family Med and the bonds you form over time with the patients. So part of me doesn't want to throw away valuable ambulatory-setting experience. Any advice welcome!

I'm currently a medical assistant but I want to get my LPN. I was looking up LPN positions in my area to find out how the job market was, and I noticed that some physician offices hire LPNs. But the job descriptions seem to list many of the same things the MAs do. Is there no extra responsibility? I live in Pennsylvania, and I don't know about other states, but here MAs are allowed to give injections, draw blood, etc. I've never worked in an office that had an LPN so I don't know what they do in that setting. (And no, I'm not trying to start any MA vs. nurse debates! I'm not one of those MAs that refer to themselves as nurses. I hate that as much as you guys do! lol)