I'm newly registered to the forum, though I have been reading it for months now. I am finishing my last pre-reqs (Anat, Phys, Chem) and then I have an approximate 2 year wait to get in to a nursing program. I am unsure what to do until then. I have money for school, but I don't know if I should take something else, find nursing study books and materials and get waaay ahead on the classes I'll have to take (provided I could find said books and materials), or what I should do. Any ideas that may help aid in my upcoming studies, clinicals, tests, etc? Maybe another area of study that can add to the RN degree I will be getting? I already have a BA, so I'm not starting from scratch. Thanks for any help---I'm going a little crazy trying to decide what to do with my next 2 years!! :uhoh21:
This thread made me paranoid that my college nursing program would also have a wait, I called and sure enough they do! I found another school that has "only" a one year wait but that still sucks. I wonder why the waits are so long, is there a shortage of nursing instructors or something?
Why not take a course to become a nurse aid or PCT? What better way to prepare yourself for clinicals? Many hospitals will hire a CNA and train them to PCT and you can do caths, draw blood and do some other interesting things.
i already have a BA so maybe the EMT course or something similar is an option. I'm REALLY glad I posted! There's no way I could have come up with all these ideas, and in just afew minutes!
Melissa
I am in my first semester of nursing school and my 6 months working as an EMT has already really helped me out. According to my clinical instructor I picked up some great assessment skills. I want to warn you that this job is very physical, you pretty much spend 12-24 hrs (depending on the company you work for) picking people up. You said you were pregnant and I don't know if you would want to be doing a lot of heavy lifting. I wouldn't you to waste your time and money on a course only to find out that you didn't want to physically do the job.
Volunteering sounds like a really great idea though. And learning a second language, particularly one that is predominant in your area will be invaluable during your clinicals. I'm still kicking myself for taking a "fun" language (italian)instead of a practical one (ie spanish).
This thread made me paranoid that my college nursing program would also have a wait, I called and sure enough they do! I found another school that has "only" a one year wait but that still sucks. I wonder why the waits are so long, is there a shortage of nursing instructors or something?
Yes, instructors are in short supply. Clinical space is also an issue. No matter how many instructors you have, you have to have somewhere to place the students in clinicals.
Alpha13
134 Posts
This thread made me paranoid that my college nursing program would also have a wait, I called and sure enough they do! I found another school that has "only" a one year wait but that still sucks. I wonder why the waits are so long, is there a shortage of nursing instructors or something?