ChrisH

As I understand it, quite a few men are nurses nowadays. My cousin (a guy) was just accepted into nursing school. I'm sure they have size 38 scrubs. I'm wondering if they have scrubs long enough for me. I'm 6'5".

youneek28

Chris,

I have to agree with cargo in that I have never heard of needing clinical experience to get into any nursing program. I have known many nurses in my day and was even married to one once upon a time, all say to go for the associates program over the BSN. The reason is that you are given more time to spend on clinical aspect of the job instead of some of the management side for thing. A RN is a RN regardless of your degree. Most hospitals don't pay any more for the BSN. On top of the two year schools are somewhat cheaper to attend than the 4 year. Also most hospitals/employers will pay for your BSN once you have been there for a period of time. The only exception I can see in this is for that fast track program some schools offer.

Cargo,
I have looked into the accelerated programs but in Georgia the fast program they have is 16 months. Which is still not bad but I need to work a little, and these programs seem to be life consuming for the time you're in school. As I said above, Im looking into the 2 year programs for the cost of it. The pilot thing killed me on student loans so I have to be a little frugal on my next degree. Do you fly for an airline in Texas???

Lear,

5.4% of all nurses are male. If you know the pilot world, being a white male is not exactly the minority. The nursing thing will at least give me the chance to sleep my way to the top of the medical ladder. Don't really have that opportunity with the airlines.

youneek28

There is a good forum for all nursing related things at allnurses.com - #1 Nursing Community for Nurses They also have it divided up by state. Just type in your state in the search function

cargo hopeful

I agree with youneek about the whole male nursing thing, you will be a minority. I think that it looks good in your application. Now I know that schools are not really supposed to accept or decline someone based on their sex but there is no way being less that 1% of your class is going to be a setback on your application, if anything it’ll encourage the school to have more interest in your application because of their need to be diverse.

It’s also true that hospitals really don’t pay any more to someone who has a BSN than to someone who has an ADN (Associates Degree in Nursing). RN is RN and pay is same. The only difference is if you want to make a career out of it, then the hospital might require you to get a bachelor in nursing to hold a nurse manager position. And like youneek said, the hospital itself can pay for that degree if you agree to come back and work for them for a certain amount of time.

Also for those interested in traveling (since most on here are used to the whole traveling thing) you should really check out travel nurses. The benefits are outstanding, free travel, free lodging, and you make almost (and sometimes) double what RN’s are making. Seriously the opportunities in nursing are endless!

TonyMontana

I've said all along that we have agency nurses bringing home well over $100k, and the tax advantage that they recieve makes me jealous. Male nurses are well recieved, I work with a couple when I cover E.R.

There's no difference in pay for the BSN-once you get the RN behind your name-you're all set. I recommend you get a years experience in critical care (pref E.R., ICU is where the biggest b!otches in the hospital usually work) and then go agency.

There are so many ways you can go-I know one guy who's a Rig Medic offshore for A big oil company 2 weeks on. 2 weeks off, then on his 2 weeks off-he picks up local agency-he told me he makes around 125K.

You'll always have a good paying job. When flying picks up-IF it ever does, you can go back if you so choose. Big difference is-next downturn won't scare you at all because your next job is a phone call away.

That's living life on your terms.

Learflyer

Tony, what is "agency" and "local agency?"

youneek28

I believe it is you working for a company that hires out nurses. You don't actually work for a hospital, you work for a company that gives you an assignment to go to certain hospitals. I don't know the length of these assignments but I think they for a shorter period of time. The down fall that i've heard is how every hospital is different and things are done certain ways. It might take a while to learn differences which can make you less productive. If you change hospitals every other week it can become a bit confusing.

As for the traveling nursing, again my ex did this. You can sign up for one of the many companies out there. You tell them where you want to go, and it can even be in your home town. They set you up with a job for a contract length of anywhere from 3 to 12 months. My ex was paid 37 an hour plus a housing stipend or the company provided you with an apartment of your own. This was a few years back so it might be more. The downfall here is that she worked in a shady hospital because none of the local nurses wanted to work there. She worked in the ED and got some great experience from this. ( NOTE: I hate my ex wife)

As Tony said you do need some experience before you can do this type of work.


Hope this helps

TonyMontana

Yea, it's usually a 13 week contract, however, some of our agency people have been there for 2 years. Every hospital in the United States uses agency RN's.

For Ex.

www.fastaff.com


Don't worry about different facilities doing things differently-it's kind of like changing aircraft(aircraft swap)-and I know we've done that a thousand times.

You carry your core skills with you to each facility. Skills that you know you can depend on, and always choose the safest path for the patient everytime.

You'll do fine.


Oh, BTw-get yourself a good CPA too. The tax advantage is awesome.

HercDriver130

Just another perspective....

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RXS676

I'm just a little confused about the timing here. If you started med school applications immediately after 9/11, you couldn't have started med school before 2002. Wouldn't that only make you a third-year resident at this point? Your various posts make it sound like you already had an established practice of your own; you've mentioned your "payor base" as early as March.

Medical school requires one year each of chemistry, organic chemistry, biology and physics. Some of those can be taken concurrently but chem and o-chem have to be taken sequentially. I don't even see how you could have started med school by 2002 if all you had on 9/11/01 was "some online coursework in science."

Even if you had your prerequisites completed by 9/11/01, how did you take the MCAT in time? The MCAT was offered only twice a year, in April and August, back then. All med schools require the August test for admission in fall of the following year. If you didn't decide to take the test until 9/11/01, I don't see how you could have started med school earlier than 2003. You would have graduated in 2007, and in private practice by March of 2008? How many doctors graduate from medical school and make $300K nine months later, with no residency?

Not trying to be skepitcal, just interested in the details of how you accomplished so much in so little time.