Any nursing students on NT?

[solarius49]

Any insight you can provide?  Im not great at math, will that hurt me?  RN vs BSN? just any information that you can provide on your experiences would be great

 

[what up]

My advice - go into physical therapy

 

[pr0phecy718]

Originally Posted by What up

My advice - go into physical therapy

But O.P, do you what you really truly want to do

 

[solarius49]

Originally Posted by What up

My advice - go into physical therapy

I've heard that its a good field, but its just not something that interests me, at all

 

[what up]

What about nursing interests you?

 

[solarius49]

Well originally I wanted to be a paramedic. I honestly am interested in trauma medicine, which is something that I have a good amount of experience with. I love helping people.

 

[DPancakes]

Ever consider med school?

 

[solarius49]

Originally Posted by durty pancakes

Ever consider med school?

thought of it, but at 26 yrs old, another 7+ yrs old school aint doing it.  Plus trauma medicine is what im really interested in, a nursing degree would be more suitable

 

[1985 j madness]

Whatsup man. Im in a BSN program right now. Its a 2 year program which I had to complete all my prereq's prior to admission. Thomas Jefferson University in philadelphia. Anyways I have about 2 weeks left till my first year is over. Went by really fast, learned a lot of great skills. My path was PT originally but somewhere along the line it changed. People always say nursing has a way of choosing you. Anyways my first year wasn't too bad. I have a 3.75 gap as of right now which will probably stay around the same after this semester. The information is pretty straight forward as far as disease processes go but you just have to put your time in to study go to class and google what you don't understand. As far as math goes, we had a 3 week "med calc" course which was basically conversions kg to g ... basically cross multiplying and crossing out. Simple as hell. Haven't touched math since. Clinical sucks because you aren't an RN yet and have to be supervised to do pretty much everything but "absorbing" the hospital atmosphere is cool. What I mean is seeing what the doctors plan of care is and what meds the pt is on and looking at their diagnoses and tying it all together is interesting IMO.  Anyways hope that helps.  And the best part of nursing I would say is the fact that the options are pretty endless. I am trying to maintain a high gpa for admission to CRNA program, thats my new path. Ask any other questions bro 

 

[solarius49]

^^^Thanks dog, that was alot of good stuff, really encouraging. So I should definitely go for the BSN as opposed to the quick path to the ASN degree?

 

[1985 j madness]

No problem. As far as an associates degree pathway. Never that. That type of degree/diploma/certification is on the way out. A BSN will be mandatory in the future so I would most def. suggest going the BSN route. If you already have a degree there are programs that are 18 straight months for BSN as a posed to my 2 year program with breaks. I am 25 y.o. btw and please don't think you will be "old" for school there are some OLLD people in my class. For whatever reason they decided it was time for a change haha. Only reason Im saying that is bc I felt weird prior to starting like I was too old to go into nursing but in fact I'm young to my class

 

[solarius49]

Aight man good looking, whats been the hardest part of the program for you?

 

[what up]

Just being real with you, as a RN it's pretty hard getting involved in trauma without years and years of critical care experience.

I would first ask that you separate these two things: trauma medicine and trauma nursing. At most your role will be to facilitate/circulate in the O.R. You'll be responsible for securing the patient to the bed, charting, getting the surgeon/scrub equipment and supplies they need, and making sure the machinery is functioning.  If you want a more "hands on" role, I would say you need to get an advanced practice degree.

I'm currently training in the O.R., if you have any questions just shoot me a PM.

 

[franco23x]

Dad is a registered nurse, been doing it for 20 years will ask him some questions.

He works in radiology any specific questions you want me to ask?

 

[solarius49]

Yeah, just what would he say is the hardest part of his job

 

[dajoka004]

Originally Posted by What up

Just being real with you, as a RN it's pretty hard getting involved in trauma without years and years of critical care experience.

That's simply not true at all. I'm sure institutions vary in their preferences, but our (UVa) STBICU nursing staff is at least 75% under 30s. Most of our ICUs have similar numbers. 
Nurses who have been working for decades and have families to take care of, don't typically want to work the grind of 12 hour shifts in an ICU setting. There are plenty of recent graduates who will chomp at the bit for that job.

 

[franco23x]

Originally Posted by solarius49

Yeah, just what would he say is the hardest part of his job

Well he just went to bed 

I know for a fact he is always under stress and pressure and dealing with idiots (other nurses) throughout the day.

Also responsibility to follow everything through and do everything 100% and not messing up. 

 

[solarius49]

Yeah, everyone I've talked to said that most of the newer nurses get the grinding ICU work

 

[1985 j madness]

Tests are damn easy. Probably because I study like avg 10 hrs for all my tests. Some concepts are somewhat tougher to grasp ex. Heart Failure. Learning different dysrhythmias and being able to look at a cardiac strip and think 'this person is in A.Fib or is having multifocal PVCs'. Yea cardiac was the hardest for me but its important for obvious reasons (almost half your patients will have heart issues). Also just finished 7 weeks of OB where I was in the room helping deliver babies. If your not into that like most guys then that will be rough. It wasn't too bad for me looking back on it. 

 

[what up]

Originally Posted by DaJoka004

Originally Posted by What up

Just being real with you, as a RN it's pretty hard getting involved in trauma without years and years of critical care experience.

That's simply not true at all. I'm sure institutions vary in their preferences, but our (UVa) STBICU nursing staff is at least 75% under 30s. Most of our ICUs have similar numbers. 
Nurses who have been working for decades and have families to take care of, don't typically want to work the grind of 12 hour shifts in an ICU setting. There are plenty of recent graduates who will chomp at the bit for that job.

I'm not sure which part of the country you reside in, but managers likely won't give you the time of day unless you have experience.  Most hospitals don't have the money to train anymore.
And you use "under 30" as some sort of cut-off?  I became a nurse at 23.  By 27-28, I'd have years of critical care experience and be "under 30."  

 

[solarius49]

Im kinda confused as to how one would gain that experience

 

[1985 j madness]

Just so you know it is possible to start straight out of school and jump into Trauma/ Critical care units. Will it be harder/ more stressful then say starting out in med serg? Yeah of course, but you have a mandatory 6 months of 'probation' at most hospitals where where your hired you won't be out on your own officially until they feel you are ready. If thats the field you want to get into what better way of getting experience then being surrounded by it from the beginning. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it

 

[what up]

Where did I say he can't do it?

It's true, you can luck out and get hired on as a new-grad to work in the ICU. I'm just saying that you'll need to work your +++ off finding such a program.

I had to start out in med/surg before advancing further. That was my whole point, if you're set on trauma, more likely than not you'll have to work for a few years before you're in that kind of a setting. And you'll probably be thankful you're not thrown right in. Most new nurses need to develop time management/prioritization skills before they deal with ICU's/trauma.
You'll come across this if/when you're looking at job postings.  They'll want experience but aren't willing to give it to you.  Vicious cycle that get's really frustrating.  I might sound like Debbie Downer out of anyone that's replied to this post but it also seems like I'm the only one that's gone through this.  

 

[1985 j madness]

Wasn't trying to come at you bro just wanted to let him know it was possible. Applying for an externship to a CCU and being "friendly" with staff is a great way of creating an in for yourself. I agree with you- you have much more experience then me but on a path to CRNA I will be trying very very hard to start out in CC. I feel as tho med surg is somewhat of a waste of time if you will.

 

[solarius49]

Naw man i respect the honesty