I'm looking for some opinions based on sound experience in the nursing community. I was going to apply to a few nursing programs this Fall for the following year, but recently had a conversation with an admissions advisor at what will remain an "unnamed" school. In any case, they said that in spite of the 14 As and 1 B I have completed for the prereq courses that I stand a snowball's chance in Hell of getting into a nursing program because I have absolutely no medical experience; for instance, volunteering, pushing a broom in a hospital, working as a "CNA", a receptionist, etc. They suggested I get a "CNA" and go in the trenches for a year, then apply. So....my questions.
Do you think this person is correct in light of the overwhelming amount of applicants for nursing programs?
I've read nothing but horror stories about CNA jobs. Duties entail the worst of the worst of the worst. Moreover, pay is not a living wage.
Most nursing schools only want the "cream of the crop" to pass so they will pass the boards (making that school look good). They don't want students that MIGHT pass the boards, but students that WILL pass them. In my school you can't see your final exam after you take it. Most of the students feel that they are being manipulated so a certain percentage fail. I'm wondering if this is true. Find out what the school pass/fail rate is! The instructors purposely don't answer questions, or have a rational reason why their answer on a test is the right one, but another one isn't. My first year clinical instructor was only interested in teaching one or two of the young females how to do things, and wanted all the others to just spend their time doing paperwork. Try to find out in advance which clinical instructors are good/bad. Mine was BAD. She even tried to fail me the last day of clinicals by making up outright lies.
I am hopeful to shed some light on things for you. What's stated below is the truth and what I have gone through in my twenty year career as a Registered Nurse.
Here we go. It's somewhat long, so please bear with me.
I went through something very similar to what you are experiencing now while in nursing school/training. I didn't let it stop me, even though the stress was unreal, and graduated.
Throughout my nursing career I've had problems with backstabbers, lies, things in my personnel file I never knew about...only to find out about them when the fecal material hit the oscillating wind machine.
I was never counselled on anything I was doing wrong. In fact, I was told numerous times how "wonderful" of a job I was doing, only to have that "bubble" burst the very next week (no joke) and suddenly I was the worst nurse they've ever seen on the floor.
I've had supervisors tell me whatever the nursing educator says to do is what they do and how they handle their staff! With the nursing educator present!!
I grew tired of the stress from: 1) Co-workers' backstabbing 2) Things being presented to you from your personnel file that you've never seen before when the "bubble" burst. Then when you state to your superiors you've never seen the items before, it doesn't matter. They're using it against you anyway as grounds to suddenly terminate you. 3) Patient to nurse ratios going up. It was six patients MAX per nurse. When I left the profession (this past summer 2009) there were hospitals expecting, not trying, EXPECTING you to take an EIGHT patient load to ONE nurse! ...and the list goes on about the stressors.....
After twenty years of trying to keep my head above water with all the politics, baloney, and down-right WRONG treatment of nurses by hospitals and the like, it all took its toll on me. I am no longer a RN. This is a sad situation because it was my childhood dream to be a nurse. Take care of people for the rest of my life. I truly loved it.
It's been six months as of this writing since I left the profession. I do NOT miss the nonsense.
What I do miss is the bedside care I gave of not only taking care of whatever was wrong with them, but also helping them feel more in control/comfortable of/with their care while they were in the hospital.
My advice? Go into something else. There are plenty of medical field-related positions out there. Become an Xray tech or phlebotomist or something along that nature.
I have a neighbor who is a phlebotomist at a local hospital. When I informed her of my recent "retirement" from the nursing profession after twenty years, she stated she's glad she's in the field she's in. Because she doesn't have to deal with the "horror stories" she hears while on the floor with the nurses.
I am in no way presenting a "bad face" for the nursing profession here. Because to me, it's not a profession anymore, it's a job.
If you're a great nurse who TRULY cares for your patients to the point where they ask for only you to take care of them when you're on duty, have great time management skills so most (if not all) of your work before lunch break is done and so forth......you're out/fired! Why? Jealousy from other nurses. It's true!!
Other nurses become jealous because you're making them look bad. So instead of "stepping up to the plate" they, in turn, do anything within their power to get rid of you. Up to and including your supervisor calling you into her office, pulling out a doctor's progress note with things written on it from your nursing co-workers of all the horrible things you've done. Next thing you know, you're out of a job.
NO JOKE! It DOES happen!
Nursing "profession" isn't about people who care about others. It's about clock punchers and watchers who are there to put in their time and go home.
Now most here may read this post and state I'm full of baloney. That what's stated here doesn't really happen and try to make it all warm fuzzies for you. Well, no lies are posted here. What I've said here is EXACTLY what has happened to me.
I'm not here to have folks play violins or throw roses for me. I'm here replying to this post because I care. I care about people and their well being. It's why I went into nursing to begin with!
Believe me, kamaboko, what I've gone through could potentially happen to you, too!
I'm hopeful you think about it all before things get bad or even worse for you in your efforts to become a nurse. Nursing is not what you may think it is.
Believe me or think I'm full of it. The choice is yours, kamaboko.
I've done my part to help "guide" you, as it were.
I'm looking for some opinions based on sound experience in the nursing community. I was going to apply to a few nursing programs this Fall for the following year, but recently had a conversation with an admissions advisor at what will remain an "unnamed" school. In any case, they said that in spite of the 14 As and 1 B I have completed for the prereq courses that I stand a snowball's chance in Hell of getting into a nursing program because I have absolutely no medical experience; for instance, volunteering, pushing a broom in a hospital, working as a "CNA", a receptionist, etc. They suggested I get a "CNA" and go in the trenches for a year, then apply. So....my questions.
Do you think this person is correct in light of the overwhelming amount of applicants for nursing programs?
I've read nothing but horror stories about CNA jobs. Duties entail the worst of the worst of the worst. Moreover, pay is not a living wage.
Thanks,
K
I currently work as a cna and the job is not bad I also am starting nursing school in febuary. I have a question for you if youre not willing to do a cna job how are you going to do a nurses job? The nurses where I work do tatal care that includes cna work.
They told me that also when I applied. That was 20 years ago. I was an EMT which is not recognized.
I applied anyway and did get in imeadiately.:yeah:I also had good grades like you do, so it must mean something.
A suggestion might be to do your CNA after work and volunteer somewhere. My daughter volunteered at an alzhiemer day care one day a week and enjoyed it.
I get why they want you to work in the field for a year. It would be awful to get halfway through a program and then drop out.
I think purecntry09 has some good points... but honestly I think that needs to apply to any career you choose. My mother is a phlebotomist as well, and the nonsense she has to put up with makes me happy I'm not in her shoes. Others I know in various places deal with jealous people, immature people, rude people... are we sensing a theme yet?
There are rude/jealous/nasty people no matter where you go, no matter what profession. But there are also wonderful/smart/kind/funny people too! I personally refuse not to try a career just because there are lousy people out there - if I did I'd end up living on a mountain by myself somewhere.
I do not in any way flame what purecntry09 has said, because I'm certain that those things happened. I'm also certain that there are other working environments that purecntry09 could have moved to that would have completely changed the post above. If you have a passion for this, then go for it! If you find out it wasn't for you, then try something else. That's my (perhaps naive) opinion.
I think purecntry09 has some good points... but honestly I think that needs to apply to any career you choose. My mother is a phlebotomist as well, and the nonsense she has to put up with makes me happy I'm not in her shoes. Others I know in various places deal with jealous people, immature people, rude people... are we sensing a theme yet?
There are rude/jealous/nasty people no matter where you go, no matter what profession. But there are also wonderful/smart/kind/funny people too! I personally refuse not to try a career just because there are lousy people out there - if I did I'd end up living on a mountain by myself somewhere.
I do not in any way flame what purecntry09 has said, because I'm certain that those things happened. I'm also certain that there are other working environments that purecntry09 could have moved to that would have completely changed the post above. If you have a passion for this, then go for it! If you find out it wasn't for you, then try something else. That's my (perhaps naive) opinion.
You have some good points as well.
I did have a passion for this, which is why I went into the field to begin with. But to be treated so wrongly for so long (yes, perhaps I should've quit sooner.....blame my passion for helping people I guess) gets very tiring after awhile and change into a different career needs to happen in order to keep one's sanity. My two cents.
I have worked everything from corrections to PCCU to telemetry to med/surg. The only areas I didn't work were ICU, ER, and peds. So yes, I have worked and tried other working environments. It didn't change anything. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Don't get discouraged by what one academic adviser says. I have a BA, BSN and an MSN so I can say with confidence that academic advisers don't always have the correct information and some of them will tell you things based on their personal interpretation of fact. Submit your application with a strong letter of intent. If you don't get in this time around then volunteer in a health care setting and reapply until you do get accepted.
Specializes in Critical Care, ER, Sedation Nurse,.
I am appalled that schools would purposely fail students. That is terrible. I do remember some of my instructors seemed to be nicer to the students who seemed to represent their "ideal" of what a nurse should look and be like. Those who didn't meet there personal requirements didn't get the same attention from them. One instructor I had, well, we had to look up and write up a little blurb about our patients disease. I didn't have time, so I used one of my co-students cards, just copied it in my own handwriting. I got an A, my co-student, for the exact same paper, got a D. Talk about bad teachers. Most of the students who didn't fit their ideal washed out the first semester. It was obvious to me that they were treated different.
But our school was very upfront about the fact they taught and tested us with one goal in mind. Getting us to pass those boards. Their questions were along the same lines, asked in the same way as the board questions. I felt very prepared for boards.
I currently work as a cna and the job is not bad I also am starting nursing school in febuary. I have a question for you if youre not willing to do a cna job how are you going to do a nurses job? The nurses where I work do tatal care that includes cna work.
Hello,
You ask a fair question. My ultimate goal, as mentioned in a previous post, is to become a NP with a speciality in psychiatry. I have a history of panic and anxiety disorder, and have made my way through those horrific waters. Admittedly I am more of an academic, though very much enjoy being with people. So in answer to your question, I don't necessarily see myself in the long-term as someone working in a hospital setting, but rather more of a clinical setting.
msbabyblues
9 Posts
nursingstudentinnc--on her previous rant about lacking common sense and needing to have some (medical) experience before applying to nursing school