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Ask me anything about nursing


mursing

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Working on these floors, the only thing that's going through my mind is do I really need a 4 year bachelors degree to hand out medications, do bed baths and change diapers? I know if I said that to any nursing prof./nurse they would tear my head off and tell me I don't understand nursing but that is quite literally all I have done....

 

It's not glamorous, I know, but that kind of nursing care is what prevents hospital-acquired pneumonia and wound infections, and preserves the dignity of vulnerable sick people. I do think that something like a heme/onc ward would be more interesting insofar as floor work goes, and of course you could work in almost any kind of clinic. That's aside from the "excitement" of emerg or the unit. Cardio is okay but might be monotonous (the ward definitely is from my perspective!).

 

The competencies you've posted are at a first or second year level. What school do you go to? By third you should be learning hemovac drains, central lines, iv therapy, trach care, 5 lead EGKs etc. Also realize that most of what you learn as a nurse is on the floor not in school. I learned about ABGs and pressors outside of school.

 

I haven't seen many nursing students spending a lot of time learning about central lines or trachs, possibly because it'a a lot easier for placements on med/surg floors.

 

Anyway, what is a 5 lead EKG?

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You just described nursing perfectly. It doesn't get that much better.

 

 

 

You make it sound like these things are complicated.

You can master central lines and trach care in a few days.

 

Hemovac drains? All you do is empty the blood content and measure the amount... just like how you would measure the urine amount.

Nothing complicated about this. It's not like you insert/pull out hemovac drains as a nurse. It's the physicians who do this.

 

5 lead EGKs? All you do is place them on the right places of the body (takes a few minutes to learn at max).

If you are working in a cardiology floor, you are pretty much required to take continuing education courses related to cardiology (this is where you will learn about interpreting ECG/EKG readings).

 

IV therapy? Don't make it sound so complicated.

Giving IV fluid, med, lipid, TPN, blood.

Don't need to be a brain surgeon to learn this. I learned all of this at my job... pretty fast.

 

I just outlined a few things that a third year should be doing by now, not including specialty practice. Instead of lamenting your choice of profession maybe you should consider an alternative career. This whole thread has been you attempting to downplay nursing as unimportant and requiring little to no critical thinking.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

since you all familiar with the nurses working in hospital, you must meet some RN graduated from 2 year prgm.

how is those RN graduated from the accelerated program compare to normal 4-yearer?

are they under-prepared compare to 4 year graduates??

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Hey mursing, I'm a student in an Ontario BScN collaborative program in second year, I'm a little concerned about the full time credit requirement many med schools have (some allow one P/F credit) and looking ahead, my 4th year is mainly clinical placement =/ did anyone ever have problems with meeting the semester credit requirement? Thanks

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  • 1 month later...
Hi,

since you all familiar with the nurses working in hospital, you must meet some RN graduated from 2 year prgm.

how is those RN graduated from the accelerated program compare to normal 4-yearer?

are they under-prepared compare to 4 year graduates??

 

Those who did 2 year program seem to do just fine clinical skill wise.

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Hey mursing, I'm a student in an Ontario BScN collaborative program in second year, I'm a little concerned about the full time credit requirement many med schools have (some allow one P/F credit) and looking ahead, my 4th year is mainly clinical placement =/ did anyone ever have problems with meeting the semester credit requirement? Thanks

 

I only know 1 other person who applied to med from nursing. She didn't get in.

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I only know 1 other person who applied to med from nursing. She didn't get in.

 

 

I can't comment on nurses who didn't get in. But at my school (NOSM) we have about 6 or 7 nurses out of 64 students, which seems pretty high to me. As well as many other health care professionals, RD, PA, PT, EMT etc...

 

I'm pretty sure having a health care background is only a benefit.

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In my year as well, there are 6-7 students with a nursing background. And I know of at least 2 more of my past nursing classmates that got accepted to med programs, and as far as I know, they were the only other ones that have applied.

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  • 1 month later...

The job market throughout Canada is terrible. Toronto and the surrounding areas are notoriously competitive. Unless you have solid experience and numerous certs you're fighting an uphill battle. My facility is hellbent on replacing RNs with LPNs and aides through workplace optimization initiatives.

 

On the bright side rural areas are hiring, but rural life has it's own drawbacks. If you're looking for job security cross nursing off the checklist.

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Hey mursing, I'm a student in an Ontario BScN collaborative program in second year, I'm a little concerned about the full time credit requirement many med schools have (some allow one P/F credit) and looking ahead, my 4th year is mainly clinical placement =/ did anyone ever have problems with meeting the semester credit requirement? Thanks

 

You may have to take evening classes to make up for some credits (ie. to have a "full course load" - a lot of nursing classes imo award relatively few credits for the work required of that course especially clinically based courses. I know in my 2nd and 3rd year we were given 3 credits for our clinical courses which amounted to 14 hrs of clinical time a week - not including prep time and patient reports etc...). That is what I did. It is a definite pain but doable. Also, FYI most schools award credit for preceptorship, I was awarded 15 credits for my 5 months on the ward in 4th year.

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  • 8 months later...

I am a RN with two years of experience.

 

I'm leaving the profession as I am finally gonna become a doctor! :D

 

Education:

4 years bachelor's degree in nursing program

 

Worked in:

Emergency Room

Cardiology

Pediatric

 

Ask me anything related to nursing/nursing program!

 

Hi Mursing,

 

I'm a first year in an accelerated nursing program and had a few questions:

 

1. Do they look at GPA when hiring new grads, especially the hospitals in Toronto? Do extracurriculars help?

 

2. On average, what % of a graduating nursing class gets the Nursing Graduate Guarantee? Does GPA play a role in this as well, or does it mainly depend on how well you performed at your placements?

 

3. To become an NP after getting your BscN, do you need a masters and an NP certificate program? Or can you do a joint masters-NP program?

 

Thank you!

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