To Tired To STAT? Try School Online!
After my latest Travel Nurse assignment in North Carolina ended, I thought about what and where I was going in life. The answer was that I wasn't really doing anything except moving around, albeit slower than before. I suppose age is a factor but I would really hate to admit that.I decided to look into going back to school. Why not? Everyone is doing it these days. If you have a two year ADN you might be interested too, so I will share what I found out. I was much easier to go online than I thought.
I enrolled in the University of Phoenix and am now 3 weeks into getting my BSN degree. I want to teach part time, hopefully in a nursing program in Florida somewhere. I also would like a little extra something on my epitaph when I go to glory. "At least she got that degree!" they will say at my funeral. I am sure I won't really care, but maybe my family will.
I called the University and got a very good rep at the Apollo group, his name is Nick. Maybe you can ask for him by name. I don't know if they are on commission or anything, but Nick is my guy. He put up with all my dumb questions, arranged my student loan and did everything for me. Patiently walked me through the whole complicated process. I like Nick. What ever he is paid...it isn't enough.
So far, I have been doing well except for having to learn MS Word. I hate Bill Gates. I really, really like Nick, but I despise, yes, even loath.. Bill Gates! My MS 2003 word won't run a lot of the 2007 files and I have to get them converted. There are so many buttons that it is just impossible to keep up with and now all these "Hanging Indents" proper spacing, headers footers, references, proper APA formatting, whoo boy!
MS WORD has been much harder than the actual school work. There are two or three different ways to do the exact same task and the instructions show one and then the other just to confuse and confound you. How did we all get through life with just a typewriter? Good Grief, I barely even understood Word98!
My husband says it will make my life easier to learn the program and quit fighting with the computer. That Bill Gates is not evil, he gives millions to charity and that I must adapt! Why O why can't he be just a little more like Nick? Nick Wouldn't say that. Nick at least pretends to understand!
I fear that health care today is more and more about money, credentials, and regulations, not the art of nursing . I have always said if you want to know if someone is giving good "Nursing Care" simply reverse the words. A "Caring Nurse" is the one that can give good "Nursing Care". These days however, it is often more about the bottom line. There are a more Nurses with a workman's eyes, blank, cold eyes. Oh they can do the work, but you can tell their heart's really not in it. The are not "there" like they would be if the patient was one their loved ones or close friends.
These "work nurses" are there mostly for the paycheck. I always wonder what happened? Maybe it is the years of being required to focus on mandates, over documentation requirements, to cater to and meet demands of ancillary health care departments, struggling to obtain and maintain equipment and supplies necessary to patient care. Most nurses don't start out that way in my experience.
So my thinking is, if nurses can obtain higher education, this will strengthen and broaden their influence and power in the healthcare community. Nurses have been patient advocates since the beginning, so an increase in influence will result in improved patient care.
So I am back in school! A junior even! If your thinking about going, I highly recommend the University of Phoenix. They really have their act together when it comes to this online education Thing. If you want , just check back and see how I am doing, I will let you know the good, bad and the ugly. Bill Gates If your out there, I hate you.
