- Has anyone here gone to nursing school right out of high school? What was your experience?
- I would like to go into Pediatric Oncology. Possibly later on in my career I may go into Nurse Management, I'm pretty sure I don't want to be a Nurse Practitioner though. My plan was to graduate with my BSN. Is this the best thing to do?
I went to nursing school (college) straight from high school. Because I was able to CLEP all my English, Math, and also Introduction to Psychology, and Intro to Sociology, I was able to start clinicals the second semester of my freshman year.
(I was able to take psychology, sociology, and anatomy in high school
)
You have the advantage of being familiar with the hospital environment. Lots of us were absolutely scared to death on our first clinical rotation. Some of my classmates had never even been around a sick person - lol!
My experience was just fine, though, and I never felt "less prepared" that someone who waited until they were older. (As a teacher, though, I did find that overall, older students were more serious about their studies, but young students can do just as well, if they are committed to their goals.)
The nursing shortage was not then what it is now, but I was still able to graduate and choose from many possible jobs. In my interview, I basically told my soon-to-be boss what hours I wanted and when I wanted to start. (In a nice way, of course - lol)
Starting with your BSN should be fine. I think Pediatric Oncology is a very rewarding area, although very emotional. Staff nurses bond very strongly with patients and families. Most kids do very well and end up having parties for their last chemo treatments. Others of course, sadly, do not do so well, and the staff shares their family's grief.
If you want to go into management, you need a good foundation as a staff nurse. I think managers who have never worked "in the trenches" have unrealistic ideas about how things really work. Also, if you're working, most places have tuition reimbursement. You can work for a couple of years, then go back to school part time for your Masters, on the company's dime. I didn't pay a cent for my Master's.
You don't have to be a nurse practitioner - that's only one of many areas you can get a MSN in. You can specialize in adminstration, or be a nurse clinician. However, you might discover after working, that you'd like to be a pediatric hematology/oncology nurse practitioner. They work with that population as both inpatients and outpatients, and do lots of teaching. Whether as a staff nurse or an NP, your personal life experience would bring a lot to your care, as the parents (and the children) are so desperate for hope when they're first diagnosed, and you would be that hope personified.
Don't worry about being bored in your CNA class. You will have the HUGE advantage of not being intimidated by medical terms or equipment, but you will still find it interesting, I believe. Plus, working as a CNA will be a great way to "get your foot in the door" of a hospital, and find out more about where you'd really like to work. Also you may even be able to get tuition reimbursement after 6 months of employment, depending on how many hours you work.
Good luck! You'll be a great nurse!
I'm so scared!
I'm embarassed to say that my cell phone had more than the underside of the desk (which had little). I should have tested money.
)
) and a few other things like that. Most of the BSN classes were advanced nursing care. For example, for my Associates, I had Fundamentals of Nursing, Adult Health, Pediatrics, OB, Psych, and Advanced Adult Health (plus all the regular acedemic courses -anatomy, microbiology, pathophysiology, etc. ). My clinicals were all on regular in-patient floors except advanced adult, which was a step-down ICU. At the BSN level, we had Critical Care Nursing (clinicals in ICU), Advanced pediatrics (clinicals in step-down ICU), Advanced psych, Community health, Management and Leadership, and then we could take an elective/independant study of our choice. 
I just got into a BSN program and will start in the fall.
