Need school/job advice, ladies :-)

MrsWoobie0328

*waving* Hi ladies---I'm sorry I'm rarely on this board, but I do lurk (lowers head in shame). 

Anyways---DH and I live on the west side of Indianapolis.  I am a former teacher, who taught for 4 years before deciding it wasn't what I wanted to do with my life (sucks, after spending 4 years on a private university education...).  I'm currently working in an exec admin position, but have decided that I really want to get into nursing--it's been in the back of my mind for awhile and just never really took the first step to do it. 

I'm taking some classes that I will need as pre-reqs for any nursing program, but am really hoping to get out of this current job (that is HORRIBLE) and into something part-time in a medical environment to really get some experience while going through school.

I've been searching, but can't seem to find any positions that are available for people without some type of licensing--I'm just looking for clerical or something along those lines.

Any ideas?  Anyone on here been through nursing school? Suggestions? Advice?

Thanks, ladies--this is totally long, and you deserve a big cookie if you read to the bottom :-)

Carmela752

I am a nurse. Feel free to email me at Loytj at aol dot com.

I'm heading outside to weed right now, but I can probably help you figure out some places/jobs to apply for.

sunnymel

I worked in college as a nurses aid. That's been years but then it didn't require me to be a CNA , I don't know if there are still hospital's out there like that. The hospital did their own training program. I would think once you get into nursing school, you could definitely get a job doing this. I thought I wanted to be a nurse, which is why I went and got the job. Good thing because nursing was not for me. It's definitely something you are born to do, you know. So now I work on the other side with patient satisfaction, no more bedside care for me. There are also jobs like admissions, unit secretary's, etc. I would search all of the systems in Indy- Clarion, St. V's, St. Francis, Hendricks....

Good Luck!

Mel

PUBoilerBride

Could you take the courses to become a CNA? I know my sister is an el. ed. teacher and she was looking into the course for this summer and I think she said it was only a couple of weeks long?

MrsWoobie0328

Definitely...if it's only a couple weeks long that's no biggie at all---where do I look for this? When I was looking before, I was finding things that were much longer---I obviously must be looking in the wrong place :-)  That's definitely an option for me!!

And I must say---you ladies are terrific!

kellyjo4.16.04

Just wanted to say good luck on your life change!  I wish I had an inkling of interest in health/science... I would take that route in a heartbeat! 

earthmuffin

Good luck!!! :-) I was also a CNA in college at a private facility so I didn't have to do the course but it helps. There are also admin type jobs in the health care or work at a public health agency doing HIV counseling and testing or health education type stuff..  I work in public health and a lot of the skills translate right into medicine... lots of overlap and will make you a better nurse! :-)

blondbomber23

Ditto the above. I work in healthcare also and the above suggestions sound great. Just the exposure would be helpful, so doing secretarial work or even some registration positions would benefit you. Even better would be something with patient contact such as CNA (assuming the course is short, as I don't think it'd be worth it if it was very long...since you're already taking other classes.)
I think that you're a bit limited since most things require a license or some type of training, but the above are good suggestions. Also, like I mentioned, sometimes just having the exposure is good.

indyrowergirl

A friend of mine that career switched from engineering to nursing worked as a floor secretary in the hospital that she eventually wanted to work at while she was in nursing school.  She got to meet the other staff (including nurses), get the "feel" of the place and make sure it was a good fit.  Plus, knowing people and having good recommendations helped her get a job there as a nurse after she completed nursing school.  Might be something to look into!

MrsWoobie0328

Thanks for all of the help, ladies!!!  You are all absolutely wonderful.  I've been applying for secretarial positions and things like that, which I think I'm pretty qualified for----I've done secretarial/admin assistant work for a total of 5 years out of the past 10---4 of those were during my undergrad.  I keep getting rejection letter after rejection letter....so, so discouraging!!!