9 to 5
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Needing advice, especially from any nurses here (LONG)
Hey everyone,
First, thank you to anyone who is willing to read this and offer advice. As an FYI, I have also posted this on allnurses.com.
Anyway, I'm having a bit of a dilemma and I'm not sure the best path to take with resolving it. My ultimate goal is to some day work in the NICU.
Here's the background info that may be helpful:
I graduated with my ADN in 2006 and worked very briefly as a nurse extern in med-surg at a large hospital. The experience was really rough to say the least, I felt very unprepared, and ultimately took a job working on a dementia unit in a LTC setting for about a year. I was offered a job at a varicose vein clinic and was there about 2 years. I loved the job, but left for reasons related to conflict in morals/ethics with the Dr that owned the clinic. I took a job as an RN case manager March 2010 and have been there since. I love my patients (though, they're actually called "members" since it's a community based program), however I'm bored and I can't see myself doing this forever.
When I originally thought of becoming an RN, I always pictured myself being in the NICU, but didn't pursue it after my rough hospital experience, because frankly, I was scared of the huge responsibility and lacking confidence that early on in my career.
Now that I have built up confidence after working in "the real world" for several years, I would like to pursue my goals. I know that (or at least think, based on some google searches) I would need to go back to school for my BSN. I also realize that being certified as a NICU nurse requires an additional exam and so many hours of working in an acute care setting.
My issue with getting started is this: it's been so long since I've had direct hands-on experience that 1. I don't know if any hospital would actually even call for an interview and 2. I'd like to have a refresher course if possible to brush up on my clinical skills.
I feel like starting in L&D would be helpful and relevant, but am I crazy to think this is even an option considering my lack of recent acute care experience?
I've checked into the refresher courses in the area, which appear to market towards people whose licenses have been inactive for awhile. All the courses seem like there isn't a lot of flexibility for people who need to work full time during the process.
I'm willing to do whatever it takes, so long as I can keep my current, full time position.
I'm just so lost and feeling a bit discouraged. Any advice or ideas on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!
First, thank you to anyone who is willing to read this and offer advice. As an FYI, I have also posted this on allnurses.com.
Anyway, I'm having a bit of a dilemma and I'm not sure the best path to take with resolving it. My ultimate goal is to some day work in the NICU.
Here's the background info that may be helpful:
I graduated with my ADN in 2006 and worked very briefly as a nurse extern in med-surg at a large hospital. The experience was really rough to say the least, I felt very unprepared, and ultimately took a job working on a dementia unit in a LTC setting for about a year. I was offered a job at a varicose vein clinic and was there about 2 years. I loved the job, but left for reasons related to conflict in morals/ethics with the Dr that owned the clinic. I took a job as an RN case manager March 2010 and have been there since. I love my patients (though, they're actually called "members" since it's a community based program), however I'm bored and I can't see myself doing this forever.
When I originally thought of becoming an RN, I always pictured myself being in the NICU, but didn't pursue it after my rough hospital experience, because frankly, I was scared of the huge responsibility and lacking confidence that early on in my career.
Now that I have built up confidence after working in "the real world" for several years, I would like to pursue my goals. I know that (or at least think, based on some google searches) I would need to go back to school for my BSN. I also realize that being certified as a NICU nurse requires an additional exam and so many hours of working in an acute care setting.
My issue with getting started is this: it's been so long since I've had direct hands-on experience that 1. I don't know if any hospital would actually even call for an interview and 2. I'd like to have a refresher course if possible to brush up on my clinical skills.
I feel like starting in L&D would be helpful and relevant, but am I crazy to think this is even an option considering my lack of recent acute care experience?
I've checked into the refresher courses in the area, which appear to market towards people whose licenses have been inactive for awhile. All the courses seem like there isn't a lot of flexibility for people who need to work full time during the process.
I'm willing to do whatever it takes, so long as I can keep my current, full time position.
I'm just so lost and feeling a bit discouraged. Any advice or ideas on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!
Re: Needing advice, especially from any nurses here (LONG)