Shrimpy & Rebecca
Find a Conversation
Shrimpy & Rebecca
| Fri, 02-01-2008 - 11:18am |
Question for you, since you both are nurses (even if formally)- anyone else in this field, please feel free to jump in....
I have a friend who is thinking of taking the nursing (4 year RN) course, but they wanted to know what it was like.


Hi Alison,
I'm a nurse and I graduated from a 4 year program.
I come from a 'medical' family, with nurses, pharmacists, etc.
Wow Soonee- your story is scary! **shudder** to think of a nurse like that...
Alison, I went to a university and got my BSN too. But now I'm working with a 2-yr college with the ADN program (associates degree) and I have to say- it really does depend on the school and the program! This ADN program is tough!! It just seems to be tougher than what stories I heard about the ADN program in San Antonio- where I was going to school to get my BSN. Students down there were always comparing one school's classes/curriculum with the other, so you hear all SORTS of stories.
But anyway- most good nursing schools will require you to keep your standards high. And they DO make it tough- and going through nursing school is pretty much a full-time job. I know of some people who try to work full-time and go to school- and it's hard. Just because the classes and clinical time take up so much of your week- that there just isn't much time to work full-time unless you work nights (and don't sleep) or do like I did- pulled a 48 on the weekends (as a paramedic- when I could still catch some sleep at nights), and did nothing but school on the weekdays. But it's VERY time-consuming, and requires alot of self-discipline to keep up with the load of the material.
The ADN program here takes 5 semesters (2.5 yrs) and they weed out ALOT of people in the first 2-3 semesters. I don't think they make it tough on purpose JUST to weed people out... I just think the nature of the course weeds people out if they can't figure out how to manage their time or prioritize. You have to really WANT to be a nurse to put up with some of the stuff. I don't think of it as a simple profession that anyone can do... I think of it as a calling. You have to WANT to do it, or you'll get discouraged and burnt out. The people who go into just for the money... get burnt out quickly.
~shrimpy
~shrimpy
"A man who wants something will find a way; a man who doesn't will find an excuse." ~Stephen Dolley Jr.
~<