you'll be fine

you'll be fine [2008-02-05]
you i just went back last year for RN with associates. i have 4 kids although older than yours. school schedule still allows enough time to get in full time MT work. i work ic so no set hours. good luck.

Yes [2008-05-11]
Excelsior College in New York is the largest nursing program in the US. It is a distance education program and limits its admission to LPNs, paramedics, and other very specific persons who have had substantial supervised clinical experience and instruction. You can get your RN this way; they also have a RN-BSN program and some MSN programs. Go to http://www.excelsior.edu for more info. Some states (California and Maryland) do not accept Excelsior grads; a few other states have some other requirements for RN grads to meet besides just the degree. Most boards of nursing accept it just fine as is. HTH!

you'll be fine [2008-02-05]
you i just went back last year for RN with associates. i have 4 kids although older than yours. school schedule still allows enough time to get in full time MT work. i work ic so no set hours. good luck.

At my nursing school (sm) [2008-01-21]
we had a class called Metrology. I've not heard of it elsewhere, but it was absolutely required at my school if you wanted to get through the first semester of nursing courses. It was a 0.5 semester-hour weed-out class. The whole premise of it was calculating drip rates, converting medications from apothecary and household measurements to metric, etc. Most other schools integrate this into its nursing courses rather than have a separate course. If you can figure drip rates (it is a little bit of algebra, but it is pretty straightforward), you will do fine.

Research [2007-07-16]
I have done a lot of research on other careers. I'm in my mid 40s. How much time are you willing to put in? What hourly wage to you need to replace? To become an RN may take you 3 or 4 years, depending on whether you have had prerequisites such as chemistry before. Since you have been out of college for a while, you'll have to take a math prerequisites, and possibly other classes. That's why even an associate RN degree can take so long. What department do you see yourself working in? Are you prepared for the long hours, short staffing and call of hospital work? Or do you want to work in an office where you could have actual weekends and holidays off? If you want to work in the operating room, many hospitals are using surgical techs. You may find a 1- or 2- year course for that with fewer prerequisites. They don't use as many RNs there anymore in some places. Do you want to work in labor and delivery? Some places are using RNs and surgical techs there too. As a surgical tech, you can make $20 and more right out of school if you are certified. If you want a pleasant office job, many offices now use medical assistants. The money isn't like what an RN makes, but it might compare with what you make now, with very pleasant work and weekends and holidays off. If your MD likes you he/she is going to reward you to keep you IMO. There are many other allied health positions to consider. And if you really want the RN pay without the weekends and call, consider becoming a dental hygienist. Great pay. I've looked into vet tech, but the pay is very low for what looks like a very challenging education.

nursing [2007-04-16]
I was working as a CNA 32-hour weeks and going for my RN prereqs Mon through Fri. I too wanted to get my RN as fast as possible for the salary aspect of it as opposed to bridging over from LPN. In retrospect, I wouldn What I observed watching the RNs really surprised me. I saw paperwork taking precedence over patient care and the nurses were becoming madder and madder about it. We CNAs were doing more and more of what nurses used to do while they unhappily sat with the paperwork.We barely made a little more than minimum wage while they got the big bucks. We knew the patients better than they did. The patient load per nurse and CNA was too high because of nursing understaffing. What kept us going was the fantastic feeling you get when you help someone who is suffering. The job has to be done from the heart primarily if you want the best benefit of it. When I saw how frustrated and disillusioned the nurses were because of all the red tape for the slightest thinginstead of patient care, and how they were run ragged because of understaffing,I began to look intotranscription as my main job with CNA on the side because I truly do love hands-on care.On someaccounts, I make more per hour doing transcription than an LPN with a lot less hassle. RN might pay more at first as opposed to transcription, but the burn-out rate is high these days and the constantshift changes can do a real number on you. There-- I think itturning to transcription and she quotes their replieswhen asked why. You might want to check that out.I agree with what they told her. You might also want to try doing CNA for a hospitalbefore you make a major leap.Donyou your information -- get in there and try it youself for a while and see if it is what you want. You may thrive on itor you may hate it. I found that on the jobwas SO different than what I was being told in school.Talk to the nurses themselves. They aremore than happy to share their thoughts with you and give you advice when they have the time. As for the respect factor of LPN to RN -- where I worked the nurses were very supportive of anyone who did this, as that is how many of them became RNs.While there were some power-plays at times, all in all it was like a family. If there was real trouble in that regard, I never saw any. As a matter of fact, I was advised by the nurses to do the LPN first and bridge over because I The only nurses I saw who were not liked and respected were the lazy ones who just wanted to take breaks and leave as much of their patient care as they could to the CNAs. Good luck to you whatever you decide! We sure need more dedicated nurses!

Need advice on becoming RN [2007-04-15]
I am currently an MT who made $300 last week typing my butt off. I am seriously thinking about going to school to become an RN. My cousin got a job right out of school making $18/hr. As much as I love this job, I am tired of typing for peanuts. This company I am working for hired me 2 years ago and started me at 7.5 cpl. They just told me they would raise me to .08 cpl in 6 weeks if my accounts are all maintained within TAT. Thanks for the $20 more in my paycheck. That Enough of my griping. I just need to get different opinions on this. I understand it can take a litte longer getting into the actual program after your prerequisites are done, but my sister is going through our local community college and said I should do my LPN first, work until I get into the RN program. I really do not want to go through 10 months of schooling for one license and then have to do more later on. I Do I have a better chance of getting into the RN program if I was to be an LPN? I would like to hear as many opinions and advice on this as possible. Thanks!

I wonder if you can test for the RN program sm [2007-04-15]
In my state, there are RN programs that I believe allow you to test to see what you If I were you, I would contact that local community college and ask questions. The other thing is you must do clinicals, but I wonder if you could do like part-time transcription and go to school at the same time? I would look into it if I were you. I think you Good luck to you!

Stethoscope repair [2007-03-02]
Hello~ Ia respiratory therapist. He has a LIttman Cardiology III stethoscope and the tubing broke. Can he replace ONLY the tubing? His earpiece/part and the chest piece (not sure what it I They start around $65. I did fine only one site that sells JUST the tubing and it Seeing as money is tight right now, the $20 is a lot more doable. But what I wonder is, how do you get your earpiece/portion into the tubing? It looks like it would be hard to shove it in there yourself. Is it easy to fit the pieces back into just the tubing yourself? I really appreciate any help!

I had A&P from 1987 and was admitted to BSN program last year. They said [2006-08-25]
it was up to me to refresh my AP if I felt I wasn't prepared. I didn't refresh and I did just fine in the physiology class.

changing careers [2006-07-11]
You'll be fine! I just went back to school to finish my pre-reqs and get into nursing school. I'm 30 and I have a 2-year-old. But, I really feel as if I am much more mentally prepared for studying and concentrating on classes, etc. Sometimes I think that being older (mental maturity as well you know) helps in that you actually WANT to study and are able to really focus on classes. You'll do great! I know where you're coming from though. I am waiting to get in right now myself. I hate waiting lists!