Hi everyone, I'm 30 years old, married with 2 kids (3 and 2) looking to pursue something in the medical field. I have an undergrad degree with a terrible 2.6 gpa but no science courses. I've always loved helping people which is why I went the social worker route. I've been one for 9 years now but I've always wanted to work in the medical field and working with people who often times are sickly it only brings that out in me more. At first, I was taking classes to get into the one year nursing program where if you have an undergrad degree, your able to get your 4 yr BSN in one year. As I've been taking courses I realized how much I enjoy learning about the body and how it works. So technically I'm only one class away to be able to apply for the RN program, but now I'm wondering if I should go for a higher medical degree. My sgpa is 4.0 right now which is great but my cgpa I feel holds me back. How did you all figure out what type of medical professional you want to be? Are you all becoming M.D/D.O's? Are any of you interested in Dental/Optometry? I'm having difficulty figuring it out. Also for those of you with families how are you managing to shadow people/volunteer? And what exactly would I be volunteering for? My biggest concern is that I pretty much refuse to quit my 9/5 until I've secured a position in a program. I've also read that the north east is the hardest place to get into a program which sucks for me because I'm in NJ. I guess overall I'm just nervous with the uncertainty of it all. How did you all figure things out? If I do purse the higher degree, then I would enter an official post-bac program at my university. Sorry for being long winded just wanted to get people's opinions/ thoughts on my situation and if anyone is in a similar one.
As an experienced RN, I will tell you right now, although some would say otherwise, a one year program to learn all that you should learn from a decent nursing program (that is, as compared with ones that have highest NCLEX pass rates and where students feel at least reasonably able to be competent as novice professional RNs) are programs that are BAD ideas IMHO. It is no wonder (b/c of such programs) that others and I are seeing a drop in quality novice performance in nurses.
It's not enough to get the title, and it's not enough to say b/c you have your share of non-nursing courses--especially without the core sciences out of the way--that doing them and then all the nursing courses will ready you to novice practice. You will be little better off than a medical assistant; in spite of you other undergrad coursework.
I have enjoyed many years of critical care nursing; but to be honest with you; if I had it to do all over again, to prepare for med school application and med school, I would have gotten a degree in biochemistry. I also would have desired to have taken extra coursework in microbiology, b/c that truly was interesting to me.
Get clinical experience by becoming a nurse tech/aide or emergency room tech IN A HOSPITAL. The busier the hospital and the more university based, in general, the better. There's other stuff like clinics and such; but a busy teaching hospital is where I would focus first. Doesn't have to be full-time, although the more hours, the better. I say this over volunteering, b/c although volunteering is important, limitations will be placed on what you can do, see, and learn, in general, as opposed to being a employee on the payroll.
IDK, you have to do what works for you; but don't expect to be adequately prepared to be a highly functional novice RN through a one year program. I
t will be all crash course learning, and you will be deer in headlights, and that shock comes easily enough already in the better, longer-term programs. Shoving it all in in one year is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of from schools. It's even dumber than CRNAs being required to obtained a doctorate of nursing practice (b/c it won't really change their level of functional practice). I'd only push for that if CRNA were going to full-time teaching in CRNA programs; but some stuff in the nursing profession totally befuddles me anyway-and that's after working in it for 2 decades, so. . .
Corrected.
