What can I do while waiting for RN school?

pickledpepperRN · Mar 30, 2006

I took a medical terminology class. It really made nursing classes easier.

Editorial Team / Admin · Mar 30, 2006

hello and welcome to allnurses.com

i moved your thread to the pre-nursing student forum for a better response.

enjoy the site.

stpauligirl · Mar 30, 2006

Hello everyone,
I hope someone might have a suggestion for me. I have all my pre-req's done and am pretty confident I'll be accepted into a nursing program for the fall, but meanwhile I have six months off and not much to do!
I do have an expired cna license, but it would cost $1000 to retake the program.
Any suggestions for how I could spend my time that would be helpful toward gaining nursing experience?
Thanks,
Tofutti

Volunteer for the Red Cross in hospitals

jen7393 · Mar 30, 2006

Volunteering is a great thing to do, if you can afford to. A local nursing home would be a very rewarding place to donate your time.

Lovely_RN, MSN · Mar 30, 2006

Double check your states requirements for re-newing your cna certification. I was certified in 1998 and I haven't worked since 2000. Everyone was telling me that since I had worked less than 72 hours in the last 2 years that I had to re-do the course. I went to my states website and I found out that I need to take the state exam again but that as long as I had taken the course after 1989 I didn't need to take the classes all over again. Saves me about a thousand dollars

tofutti · Mar 30, 2006

Thanks for all the good ideas everyone.

Falon, I owe you big time! I called my state board of nursing and they said my cna is good until 5/2007 as long as I put in 400 hours. I thought it expired 5/2006! Our states rules are complicated, it expires on your birthday and so the duration of your certification varies for everyone.

Thank you for the idea to look into that!

Now to find someone to hire me when I haven't touched a patient in 18 months?...

Tofutti

RNin2007 · Apr 1, 2006

Thanks for all the good ideas everyone.
Falon, I owe you big time! I called my state board of nursing and they said my cna is good until 5/2007 as long as I put in 400 hours. I thought it expired 5/2006! Our states rules are complicated, it expires on your birthday and so the duration of your certification varies for everyone.
Thank you for the idea to look into that!
Now to find someone to hire me when I haven't touched a patient in 18 months?...
Tofutti

That would have been my exact suggestion...to do some CNA work, glad that just might work out for you. During my first term of clinicals...the handful of students that were CNAs definitely had an advantage over the other students. One girl in my class put in a Foley cath on her very first clinical day (she'd seen it done so many times...). I'd say that would be a great idea, and I doubt you'll have a problem finding someone to hire you. You'll still get an orientation, and it's sorta like riding a bike...you'll be back into the swing of it in no time.

~J