Chris Said:

How should I go about if I want a career in both accounting and nursing?

We Answered:

You may want to try something in health care management. It's not nursing, but it is health care, and the part of health care that somehow comes out without their salaries being decreased.

Or public health degree. You could work for the state, probably move right up to the higher echelons with that back ground. Or open a job hunters company, or even a medical staffing agency.

Accounting and nursing are pretty different.

What's the use in getting a nursing degree if you are not going to like it. Better see if you like hands on with people first. Volunteer at a hospital or nursing home, or get a nurses aid job there. They can train you in a day to do what they need you to do.

Nurse management on the floor still has to jump in. Takes a few steps upward before you can get away from the hands on part.

May want to go to your counseling department first and ask them to run A STRONG INTEREST INVENTORY on you. That will tell you, which fields, people with personalities like yours, enjoyed and succeeded at most.

I believe there are some few souls whose GPA is almost 4.0 that colleges let take double majors and a minor simultaneously. Unless you can handle it, wouldn't it be better to stack the cards in you favor and go slower?

I believe college credits have a stale date to them if they are not saved in a degree. Not sure what it is now. Used to be 10 years.
So keep that in mind.

If money and need for the sector are what's motivating you, have you considered getting a PA, Physician's Assistant degree? Doctors seem to respect them more. You could branch off running your own defibrillator/pacing interrogation company.

Then again, if you do become a nurse, go for the 2 year degree to get you out there with the same nursing knowledge, unless you want to teach nursing then it has to be at least a 4 year degree.

NO NO WAIT, I'VE GOT IT NOW. Call Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, ask to speak with the director of admissions for the nursing school. THEY hava a ton of programs that will let you enter their nursing programs at an advanced level if you already have a bachelors degree and come out with a masters in nursing...probably management...right up your alley I think.

If you do this then call financial assistance to see if there is any free money out there to help you get this degree. In fact also go onto NIH's website. I think that if you agree to serve in an under served area, or like on an Indian reservation, they may pay for the whole thing and give you a stipend!

GOOD LUCK!

Norma Said:

Is my math good enough to pass the NLN Nursing entrance exam?

We Answered:

NLN Nursing entrance exam

Cynthia Said:

Second Career in Nursing?

We Answered:

There are even programs that will take someone with a bachelor's degree in another field & graduate them with a master's degree in nursing. Worth investigating.

Mike Said:

Interested in nursing as a second career but previous college grades were not too good then?

We Answered:

Your best bet would be to contact one of these accelerated programs and speak with their admissions counselor (or similar). I suspect that the age of your last college classes may be a factor, however, as most medical type education requires the science classes to have been in the last 5 years (as technology changes so much). You might also have some difficulty keeping up with the program with such dated knowledge, unfortunately. If you are in a hurry, you might look into starting in a LVN/LPN program and eventually upgrading to RN that way. You also could just get the associate's RN (AA degree) since you have a bachelor's already; which would be fine depending on your goals.
I would start at the community college getting any updated pre-reqs done as fast as possible as well, even while you are trying to decide what nursing route will work.

Sonia Said:

Nursing as second career?-RN?

We Answered:

I am an "older" nursing student. Start with the federal financial aid program. Many other programs are based on their criteria. Also check out Johnson & Johnson's nursing site. It is one of the best. Three good links are below. I hope this helps.

Courtney Said:

Considering a "second" career in nursing-- advice appreciated by RN's or those in the field?

We Answered:

1. It's hard to say. Some nursing programs offer evening courses and clinicals, some only during the day. The earliest lecture course I ever had started at 8am and courses would run until about noon, 2-3 days per week. My clinical days were only once per week and I had to arrive at the facility at 6am and we'd be done by 2:30. That's just the nursing courses, if you don't complete your general ed. courses ahead of time then you'll be trying to work those into your schedule too. So my recommendation is to try to get all those non-nursing courses out of the way before starting the actual nursing program. It will lessen your homework load considerably too.

2. In clinicals you start off functioning at the level of a nursing assistant, learning how to do basic patient cares. You move on to working on full assessments of the patients and care planning, documentation. During all this you also learn skills like catheter insertions, injections, hanging IVs, administering medications, etc. You learn all these skills and get time to practice in a practicum lab at your school, and if you get the opportunity to try them out on "real" patients during clinicals that's great, but you might not have that opportunity depending on your patient assignments during clinicals. I never inserted a catheter on a "real" person until I was licensed and working as an RN because I never had a patient during clinicals that needed one. A lot of your "real" hands-on education comes during orientation at your first nursing job. Usually for clinicals you're expected to go to the clinical site the evening before, to get your assignment, look up info on the patient in the chart, write down all their medications, and then you go home and write up papers on things like your care plan, their medical condition / diagnosis, their medications.

3. That depends on where you live and intend on working. Some places it's rather easy. Other places it's hard and you might have to just take any job you can get until you can apply into your specialty of choice once you have some work experience and seniority. I knew 100% going into nursing school that I wanted to work in L&D. I couldn't get a job there as a new graduate, so I got a job doing cardiac care and hated every moment of it, but I sucked it up and put up with it, and in the end all that experience was very valuable, and after about a year I did get into a position in L&D.

4. Assoc. Degree RNs don't make significantly less than BSN RNs when it comes to working in a regular staff nurse positions. My hospital only pays BSN grads $1 more per hour above the ADN grads. Starting wages could be anywhere from $25-$35 per hour. Many nurses don't work full-time because hospitals often give you full benefits packages for working as little as half-time status. You shouldn't have trouble getting a job with only the ADN. It's really the RN license that matters in the end. Even if job listings say "prefer BSN" you should always always always apply anyway, because they cannot always hold out for a BSN grad.

Good luck!

Joy Said:

Is it advisable if I take nursing as a second career now that I am 36 years old?

We Answered:

Yes if it is something you want to do. The nursing school I attending mostly have people your age attending. Deffffffinately not too late. They make good money and you get the satisfaction of helping others.