Questionable Future

[MaraG.]

I have been working as an LPN for almost 7 years now. I've enjoyed it and found great reward from my career. I applied for the RN program and was accepted 4 years ago. Long story short, we started a family just before I was offered a seat, so I was unable to start classes. Now, 2 kids later, I have a seat, paid my deposit and I am ready. However over the last 6 months, I have not enjoyed my job at all. There are so many contributors. We have increased acuity, increased chemo administration which increases workload for the ward, increased patient load, increased care for patients (its not uncommon to have 3 total care/over head lift patients in your assignment) and pending staff mix changes coming. (The employer is reducing the number of RN/LPNs on the ward and replacing with Care Aids- pt load looks like it will increase from 4:1 to 9:1 on days and 5:1 to 12:1 on nights) I have not enjoyed my job for months now. I find it stressful and unsatisfying. The work environment is pessimistic and like a pressure cooker. Everyone is in fear of losing their job, including nurses with 30+ years of service. All of this is making me question my career path. I love the science, I love the problem solving, the interaction with sick people, helping, and learning. I am not sure I want to work in acute general medicine anymore. I used to love it, everyone different. Nothing is the same, one person CHF, the other pneumonia, pancreatitis, and lung cancer. Kept me on my toes. I am looking at maybe a specialty? Or community nursing? Maybe research? Any words of advice or ways I can get the most out of my schooling/practicums? (BTW the practicums/preceptorships are in question now with the staffing changes in our area. Looks like not enough nurses to facilitate students learning on the ward)

[Sippie]

Do you want to stay in nursing? The thing is to look at the big picture. What do you want to do...what are your long term goals?

If you want to be a nurse you don't have to stay on the floor. You can be a nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist, chief nursing officer, you can do research or teach etc. Lots and lots of options.

If you want any of these you need a BSN and then a MSN etc. You didn't mention whether your RN program was ADN or BSN.

For a BSN, you may be able to get your pre reqs in at a community college and then transfer to a university. Much cheaper. That is what I did. I got a degree from an expensive university very cheap that way. Plus this university even had a transfer scholarship program. If you had a good gpa and transferred with a certain amount of credits you could get a half paid scholarship or 3/4 paid scholarship depending on your gpa.

Are there any LPN to BSN or MSN programs anywhere near you? That might be another option. More education helps you fly above

the **** in your life lol.

If you already paid for an ADN seat and got into the program then go for it- you can always continue the pre reqs for BSN as you go along in the ADN program (take additional math, statistics, etc). From RN (ADN) there are some RN to MSN programs out there. This could help time-wise if your goal is to do something that requires an MSN.

You have a lot of solid experience and have a lot to bring into an RN program whichever route you choose.

School is harder with kids but it makes life more interesting lol. I had 3 in my BSN program and back then not too many people had kids especially at the school I went to. I was sure popular when it came to the PEDS course. Everyone had to do a home assessment on a kid. Guess who they all asked lol.

Maybe if you could cut back your schedule a bit and once you are a student again things will be better. If work really affects your learning and frame of mind, I would probably get a different job while in school. If you want to stay in a hospital then I would transfer to a different floor or find another hospital to work at so you can keep your foot in the door to acute care.

If you want to work outside the hospital, then maybe find a home care position.

Remember your goals and adjust your work and education accordingly.

For now: Work is just work. The prize is your goal. Education is the way to get it. Family always comes first :)