Any Nurses on Mamapedia??

love4mygirls,
Penny is right,Ive been C.N.A. certified for twelve years and the most ive made is in fact 18$ an hour.The positives of the position are the hands on training I get.I love working close with the patients but it has taken a toll on my body and I know alot more then some of newer nurses and make alot less!!!!!I also would like to go back to school and get overwhelmed and dont know where to start.As far as online courses I like Albright so far,check their website out and they will hook you up with online advisors and help you step by step!!Youll need to start your pre-reqs too,but the benefits are beyond any anxiety you have toward starting,trust me.Theres always a need for nurses and if working the floor is not for you,then getting your B.S.N. is great because you can then work the bussiness end.Case managing,supervisor,D.O.N ect....There are so many doors open to you in nursing.The pay is excellent too.My mother is an R.N. and she does home care,her hours are great(she makes her own) and the pay is great too.So,like I said,check out some online schools and hook up with an advisor,its scary,I know.My mom was an L.P.N until 2002,she graduated at the age of 40!!!!!If I can do it,you can do it!!(thats what she says to me)so I have no excuse!!!LOL...Good Luck...I know just how you feel

Go to a local university and talk to an education counselor. A counselor will have the info you are looking for. You need to know what programs are available close to you, daycare, (many schools have in house daycare) financial aid there are a ton of questions to ask. But the first place to start is with a counselor.

You can also find a job on campus. But often counselors will feel that work + parenting + marriage + school is a lot to handle. And too much for you if you want to maintain a decent gpa. You can go to school part-time but it will take longer to get through, it's often to better to go to school full - time and work part-time and cut back on expenses as much as possible.

Good luck and go for it.

You need to really NOT go the Medical Assistant route or LPN route. Both of those certifications will severely limit your income ability(probably never more than $17-$18/hr) and ability to move up in your field. An associates or bachelor's in Nursing (ASN or BSN) will both earn you the "RN" behind your name, and a starting pay of about $30/hr. These programs are readily offered at online universities (check out Indiana Wesleyan University online-they have a good all-online program), but they will cost you in time and money. Figure on about $30,000 for the entire program, and tons of hours of self-study. Nursing is a hard program, and you need to be a very dedicated self-starter if you are going it alone and online. It will be worth it though. There are a huge number of baby boomer nurses getting ready to retire all across the country, and nursing will experience a shortage unlike anything we've seen in 50 years or more.

hi, i am an rn student w/one more yr to go. i didn't go back to school till i was 28 and i'm 34(cough) now lol. good for you and let me tell you it can be done! i am in an assoc program and the prereqs included 2 semesters of anat n phys, chem, microbio, math and eng. the best place to start imho is a community college b/c thats where you can start doing ur prereqs. the program i am in costs about 5k, but if you qualify for financial aid, well basically its free. the hardest part (in addition to those fun science prereq's) is getting into the program. the best advice i can give to you for that is to get the highest grades you can in your prereqs and just stay determined. of course nowadays they say its more difficult to find an rn position and there is no such thing as sign on bonuses, but the economy is slowly getting better and there will always be a demand for nurses. if i had knew then what i know now i would've tried to become a cna before becoming an rn, b/c this would've given me so much experience and i think i would've felt much more prepared when i started clinicals.good luck!!!!
i edited this ques b/c i wanted to add that i worked full time when i did my prereq's (i took one night class per semester). the science classes are 3 hr lec and 3 hr lab per week. i never looked into the online rte but i know the programs i was applying for (community college and cal state) all required the science prereq's to have a lab (this couldn't be accomplised online). when i got into the nursing program i quit working. there are some that work while in the nursing program but its difficult and the school advises students not to. in my prog you're in the hospital 2 days a week and in class the other two. it doesnt seem like much but when you add in all the studying, its a doozy. i also wanted to add that alot of the students are mom's and i know one with 4 kids and another with 6. an instructor said that mom's make the best nurses b/c we are way better at multi tasking :) and when you have children, you sort have that natural ability to care for people. when working in peds, the moms have an easier time (imho), b/c we have already taken care of kids.feel free to email me if you have any ques.

You may be able to start taking general education courses online (English, math, psychology, etc.) but many of the classes you will need to even get into a nursing program will require labs for which you will need to be present (such as biology, chemistry, anatomy & physiology, etc). Many of your other courses will require working with simulators/models and others will include clinical hours where you actually follow a nurse preceptor at a hospital or health care facility. A community college for an associates in nursing might be a good place to start. Check to see what is available in your area, call the department of nursing, and see if you can come in for an information session. A college counselor or program adviser can lay it all out for you.

CNA = probably the quickest, but the lowest on the pay scale. Typically a certificate program, the program is usually short in duration.

LPN = licensed practical nurse (or, as some people say, lowest paid nurse). It's a rung below RN.

RN = registered nurse, obtained through an associates or a bachelors program.

Midwife = probably will require some sort of advanced practice nursing degree (which would have RN and bachelors as prerequisites, depending on what state) Well...a certified, licensed one...there are some programs out there that do not have strict requirements.

You may also wish to look into things like EMT-B (emergency medical tech - basic), EMT, CMA (certified medical assistant), OR/ER Tech, Scrub tech. There are many pathways from which you may choose, with different duration of program, salary, and outlook.

I'd look up which community colleges around you have a nursing or prenursing program. It will help to have a bachelors, or you might Ben need one nowadays. I'd be interested in becoming a certified nurse midwife if I did it!