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babyrn and other rn's
So I have been thinking of going back to school for nursing. This would be a complete career change for me as I currently work as an underwriter for home/auto insurance. Considering how expensive Mercy is and how much salary I would lose by not being able to work full time for 20 months while I'm in school, the fact that starting nursing salary is like 20% less than what I currently make, and the fact that I have 2 small children, I am having a really hard time making a decision one way or the other. I have been considering this for several years now but especially since I had my first daughter. I would like to be in labor/deliver, mother/baby, MTT, etc. I really don't get any personal fulfillment out of my current profession and feel I would get that from nursing but don't want to make a decision I will regret..
Can you give me pros/cons of nursing, especially working in a hospital? (I really have no desire to work in a clinic setting). I am okay with the goofy hours I think because I figure if you work three 12's it still gives you plenty of time with your husband/kids on your days off. Any pros/cons of working in the maternity areas? Also, did either of you work as a CNA while attending school to help bring in a little income (and pay back your loans since Mercy helps with that if you work there for a certain number of years)?
Thanks!!
Re: babyrn and other rn's
I'll try to answer best as I can as H went through Mercy's program. He initially went to school for Computer Programming and then decided he didn't want to that as soon as he was done with school. Go figure.
What you could possibly do, is get a job with Mercy as a CNA (which you would have to take a test and get licensed for) or any other tech position, and they will pay a part of your tuition, BUT you have to work x amount of years for them.
As to pro/cons of working in a hospital, I can't help you there. I do know from a family standpoint, yes it was nice to only have H work 3 days/week, which left plenty of other days open if he wanted OT (and if it was available). However working with scheduling for days off, calling in sick, etc. was a biitch. H also got "cancelled" a lot which = you don't get paid if you don't work.
While going to school, he did work at ChildServe as a CNA part time and it worked for him. I highly recommend you work PT at the most while going to school.
It was very strenuous on our relationship for some reason (and we didn't even have kids then!) A lot of people are going to school for nursing now, but see what you can research on job outlook when you graduate.
Good luck!
As someone who has a bachelor's degree and went back to school I will say this : My associates in Nursing was way harder than any of my classes in my bachelor's program. I often comment to the girls in my classes, I don't know how you do it with kids. There are hours of clinicals, claswork, and homework. Many have to leave the house in order to study.
When I decided to go back to school I was working in business america in medical sales. I made great money but cried before work every day. Then we had our 4th round of lay offs and my neck was on the block. My husband was so supportive of my going back, and it's the best decision I've made.
I worked "prn" so as needed at the hospital while attending Mercy's program. DMACC's wait was a year, and I would have just started in Fall of 2010, and I"m graduating next month. So the benefit of a year of missed wages out weighed the more expensive tuition. But by working PRN I was committed to only working 20 hours a quarter, could make my work schedule as busy or as not busy as I wanted, they worked around school, and am considered now an internal applicant while applying at the hospital for RN positions. So I do think that worked in my favor as there aren't a ton of nursing jobs out there. There is a nursing shortage overall.. just not in Iowa.
The other thing to think about as well - labor and delivery, Mother/baby, and MTT are areas that a lot of new graduates want. So you need to think, if there aren't any of those types of jobs available when I graduate, would I be happy being a nurse in another area such as cardiac/ICU/Pediatrics etc.
My advise is this: apply to DMACC and MCHS. They won't really even talk to you about what you'll need requirements wise until you have all transcripts submitted. Each college is so different about what they require before admission to the RN program. I felt like it was a lot of hoop jumping. Then what I did, was took the pre-reqs I was missing at DMACC (less $$) which was only like 3 classes plus CNA certification. That way I could then only take RN classes (which for the first year means part time tuition = less money spent) while at MCHS.
Wow I rambled... let me know if I can answer any more questions for you.
As far as pro's and con's to working in the hospital:
the pro's for me are: fast paced work evironment, 3-4 day work week, rewarding work, very diverse ways you can go with nursing (education, working on the floor, management), job security, and I work with a lot of very nice people. It's also so nice just having scrubs and knowing I dont have to be all trendy at work.
The con's of the hospital: holidays (even tho you make double time it still sucks being there on Thanksgiving), weekends (I only have one a month, but still not great), it's hard physical labor when working with adults, ... and that's really all I can think of.
Working 3 12s a week is really nice. I work every third weekend and they try to clump your 3 days in a row so every three weeks I get an 8 day stretch off. You will probably have to work night shift for a while. On my floor we work every other holiday. You get double pay for holidays you work.
As far as the maternity floors, they can be nice to work on and they can suck some days. Your patients are generally healthy so that is kind of nice. A lot of people think my job is just sitting around snuggling babies but it really isn't, some nights are crazy busy. Just this Monday we were so busy I didn't get a single break in 12 hours (I had to ask a coworker to fill my water bottle just so I could have a quick drink of water!)
I didn't go to school in DSM so I can't help with that. I did work as a CNA while I was in school. If possible, try to work as a CNA on a floor you would like to work on as a nurse, it might help you get hired as a nurse once you graduate.
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I also have a Bachelor's degree and then went back to school for nursing at Mercy. I agree with pretty much everything the other Mercy student post wrote. I work PT at Mercy (24 hr/week) and have no children. I am stretched pretty thin most weeks. Aside from scheduled clinical and class times, there are multiple other 'events' and mandatory things to do. Also factor in the time you will need to study, listen to online lectures, do practice questions, write papers, etc.
I'm not trying to be negative, but before you start the program, I think you should know it will take more time than you ever thought possible especially since it looks like you have small children.
I am a Mercy Scholar (I believe this is the loan repayment program you are referring to). In order to utilize this program, you must work at least 24 hours/week, and be employed with Mercy 6 months before applying. If you're accepted, then Mercy pays 50% of your tuition, and you agree to work for them for (I think) 6 months for each semester they pay for. I also have to pay taxes on the money they give me, so my paychecks currently take a hit.
On a positive note, I am nearing the end of the program, and I feel I am going to be very happy with the choice of nursing as a career (my other degree is in finance, turns out that's not for me
There are jobs in tons of different areas, we can move pretty much anywhere, and the feeling of helping people is fantastic. Good luck in your decision!
I also have my Bachelor's degree and then went back to school to get my nursing degree (RN) I will agree with the PP it was way harder than any class I took for my Bachelor's. When I decided to go back I thought, "oh I have my bachelor's, nursing school will be no big deal." I was so wrong. I got married, and two weeks later started classes, I will say that I pretty much gave up two years of my life to get the degree. Between going to class, clinicals and studying, you don't have much other free time, as I studied all the time. You also have to get a certain percentage to stay in the program. I went to NIACC, so this may not be true for all programs, but it was a higher percent, I just can't remember what it was right now. Besides studying for the classwork portion, you spend a lot of hours at clinicals and doing clinical homework, like writing care plans, med sheets etc. When I started class we started with 50 some students, and we graduated 21, only 10 or so of the graduating class were from the original class of 50 students, so they do a lot of weeding out. A lot of the people I went to school with did have kids, and I also often thought I didn't know how they did it with kids.
I worked as a claims rep for an insurance company prior to starting nursing school, so it was a complete change for me. But I felt when was there that my heart just wasn't in it and I really wanted to try nursing. I worked as CNA at a nursing home all through high school, and part of college and I feel that that was really helpful for me too, because without some background knowledge, I know a lot of people felt lost during their first semester of nursing school. But, anyway, now I love my job and being a nurse, and would never regret my decision to quit and go to nursing school! That being said, however, it is a lot of work, and not easy. You work hard, but it is rewarding. I agree with PP too, that when I was working in the hospital, ( I work in a clinic now) but I often times wouldn't hardly get a break, let alone get a drink of water. It was probably good though, because I never had time to go to the bathroom! Staffing in hospitals, at least ours here in Mason City is getting very lean, with very few CNA's and nurses taking on too many patient's. 3 days a week/12 hour shifts were great, but you do work every third weekend and every other holiday which stinks when everyone else is with their families. I also felt really burnt out also on my days off from working so hard on the 3 days I was there. I also rotated day and night shifts so that was hard on a person too.
Anyway...SO SORRY for the book, but just wanted to give you some thoughts. I say if you're unhappy with where you are now, and think it is something you would like I say go for it! It will be a lot of HARD work, but worth it in the end if you like it. I would just say think hard about it before you make your decision to make sure it's what you want!