Yeah, they have them fairly regularly iv heard.

Luke
My blog on getting rid of fruit flies

Originally Posted by oldntiredRN

Higher education is nice but it's not free- show me the money to pay for it.

Currently, I hold a staff position so it could be said that I am a bedside nurse. In 42 years I have never gone to work thinking that it was only for a paycheck.

In 2009 I overcame the many concerns I had about returning to school (fear of failure, fear of financial difficulty, concern about not being in school for decades) and enrolled in an on-line RN-BSN program. I found the experience to be both stimulating and personally rewarding. However, after completing four classes, I was forced to re-evaluate this venture. The classes called for paticipation in threaded discussion 3/4 times a week in addition to research papers. While I was able to do this, I could not compete with my classmates who responded to every comment several times every day.

I am widowed, live alone, and work full time. My diet deteriorated, my home was a mess, and I missed family gatherings. I found myself wishing that I could work part time in order to provide myself with the balance that I felt I needed. Unfortunately, part time work is not a financial option for me. Reluctantly, I decided that balance in life had to take priority.

I experienced a sense of relief but also of failure and disappointment. I continue to hope that one day I can again pursue a BSN. I appreciate this opportunity to air my feelings of frustration and disappointment and I'm open to suggestion.....!

For someone who brings home 30,000 bucks a year; pays a mortgage; lives on one income and literally lives from paycheck to paycheck to paycheck; I say good for you. You must have someone who helps with the bills, because these nursing schools sure don't. Oh, and by the way, I work 40 to 60 hours a week and don't get paid for the extra because I take so many phone calls from home.
30 years of nursing----great career, but no BSN!!!!!!

I've been a nurse for over 20 years and until 2009 was an ADN. The single top benefit of completing the BSN for me (at age 45) is that it has renewed my hope that I'll be able to work well into my 60s and it helped relieve the severe burnout I was experiencing. You guys have it all wrong--you get the BSN for YOU not for your employer and not for any nameless academic out there. AND I pleasantly discovered that once you are enrolled there is scholarship money that is honestly really easy to obtain, not to mention I bet most of you have jobs that will reimburse at least a portion of your expenses. Now I'm working on my MSN while still working full time in real world nursing and YES there is money out there and unless you want to be jockeying care for god knows how many patients when you're 60 and have a bad back I suggest you all plan ahead and get prepared for something less physical down the line...it isn't about not liking the bedside, I've done the bedside since I was in my 20s--it's about at some point NO ONE can continue to do physical bedside nursing and unless you want to retire at 60 or go on disability and really learn what poverty is you better think of learning as a process that continues forever, for YOU not for anyone else.

It seems to me that the PTB in nursing academia, nursing leadership and nursing policy makers would be more productively spending their time, energy and resources on figuring out how to solve the nursing unemployment and under employment problem in our country. Then once the nursing manpower was back up and running to a more resonable level thatmore realistically addresses our country's healthcare acuity and healthcare needs, then focus on shoving advanced (expensive) education on us. Look at the health care needs of this country in accordance with the Dept Human Services proposed action plan and goals for healthcare reform, get our nursing workforce back gainfully employed, then focus on advancing nursing education. Why frustrate those who can't afford education now(2011) and don't have any economic chance of an advanced education, why create more student loan debt in this country. In the 30 something years I have been in nursing, I have alway known nursing in general to put the ice cream in the oven and the car keys in the refrig. and wonder what wrong with this picture. Makes no common sense to me. This is perhaps on of the biggest reason the nursing membership at large has no faith in it's leadership. No common sense.

Right On oldtiredRN!!!!

Sounds exciting. Are there future symposiums planned?

Originally Posted by oldntiredRN

I don't see any big hearted philantrophist doling out tons of cash to pay for our tuition, or give student loans to those of us who have filed banckruptcy. We are not exactly on the top of the credit lending list. Especially in the year we are in now 2011( for those in the academic nursing world who are not oriented to time) I'm not confused and disoriented. I'm poor and pissed.

I have been out of school for my RN now for almost a year and there are few jobs out the who take new nurses without experience. That does not include clinical either. It is not the level of degree that is the issue. Health and Human services are still pushing the "Nursing Shortage" reason for why our patients are lacking adaquate health care while the main reason is that staffing is kept as low as allowed by law to keep the profits up. I have school loans coming in and no money to pay for them. This is going on for those with BSN's also. No experience....no hire. No one wants to pay to train a new nurse. The whole education scam is just making the banks and lenders rich and us who are wanting to put our dreams to work are the losers. When I do hear of someone getting a job they are maybe making 20 dollars an hour with nurse to patient ratio of 1:40, 12 hours, and part-time without benefits. This is what legislation turns their head to.

I don't see any big hearted philantrophist doling out tons of cash to pay for our tuition, or give student loans to those of us who have filed banckruptcy. We are not exactly on the top of the credit lending list. Especially in the year we are in now 2011( for those in the academic nursing world who are not oriented to time) I'm not confused and disoriented. I'm poor and pissed.

I too don't see any sense in my persuing a BSN at this point in economic time 2011- I too live paycheck to paycheck. When i say I live paycheck to paycheck I mean filled bankruptcy to keep my home, grocery shop at walmart, discontinued my TV, use only the lights in the room I'm in. I have a 50,000/yr nursing position- which means my take home is around 30,000. I know I'm not alone in the nursing world in this situation- read sosme of the other site's blogs about nurses that have had tofile banckruptcy and can't get decent paying jobs. Nurses who where once earning their true worth. I'm talking about experienced older nurses, yes, RN's and LPN's. I talking about nurses who now have to settle for what they can get- usuallly meaning low wages, just to heat their homes and put food on the table. I'm talking about nurses who do not have health insurance with this new found poverty- yes, let's call it what it is- P-O-V-E-R-T-Y.-
The "NURSES" in academia don't know about this standard of living. They were street clothes- suits, cary brief cases, don't touch a poopy patient and have health insurance for themselves and their loved ones. They don't have a few teeth in their mouths that need pulling and cant afford it becuse it is more critical to keep the mortgage and rent paid. Yes. I said critical. I am sick and itired of hearing all this BS about getting your BSN- lovey, I'd like a mink coat, but I don't see that happening.
How many MSN's are going to line up on these hospital floors for report in the beginning of a shift, take a team of patients who balk, complain and bad mouth their nurse all day and all the other abuse that goes along with being a bedside nurse. I had one newly minted MSN 30 something yrs old- 2yrs of nursing experience tell me- I didn't get a MSN to whip butt!! She now has a 80,000/yr desk job in a office building- not even near any hospital and never lays eyes on a patient. Dream on academia- these advanced degrees don't get advanced degrees to take care of patients- they get these advanced degrees to get away from patient's, nurse managers and CEO's!! Keep the propaganda and brain washing coming- you may get a few nitwit nellies to swallow the bull. But us old gals ain't buying it.

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I am a manager in a nursing unit and value my staff very much. I don't know that it's fair to say that management works independently of staff in general. Many nursing managers care a lot about their staff. I want to point out that I have been trying very hard for a few years to teach my nurses about health care trends and health care reform and how it affects them, and not many of them are interested. Most of my staff feels that the only thing they want to concentrate on is the quality of care they give. And I applaud that. However, the budget, health care policy, health care reform, all of that affects and will continue to affect the quality of care that we can give as nurses. I also took an informal survey of how much my staff knows about health care reform and health care trends and most of them know very little if anything. So when politicians say they are speaking for the public, who are they really speaking for? If our own people in health care don't know what's really in the Health Care Reform Law, how much do you think the public knows? There are three million of us nurses, if we got behind an aspect of the law that we liked or that we didn't like, we could make quite a statement. But we can't do that until we learn what it's all about.

I feel investing in your education is more than worth what you will receive as having an advanced degree. It's your future and it will pay off especially if you are specialized.

Since I am a new nurse, I will keep the points of your article in mind as I begin my professional career. Thank you for the helpful tips and strategies; much appreciated!!

I am a Chinse nurse.In our hospital we have two kind of shifts.One is 9 shift,the otrher is 17 shift.

I agree that the debt is the most daunting part of trying to go back to school. Having 10+ years clinical experience, I have focused on BSN programs that do not have a clinical requirement, but are also reputable and respected. (I have an ADN) A highly respected local nursing school recently announced the type of program I have been looking for but the cost is quite prohibitive. I am still paying off loans from my ADN program! And I'm expected to take on even more debt? I still have kids at home and live paycheck to paycheck like I'm sure many of you are. I would LOVE to get my masters and become a nurse practitioner and educator, I just can't afford to do it. I've also looked at case management certification and legal nurse consulting, and again, the cost is too prohibitive. I know there are SOME funds available for continuing education, but it's not enough to 'make it worth my while', I would still have to take on student loan debt that I would be responsible for paying long after retirement----doesn't make much sense to me (and I don't expect to be able to retire until age 70+ as things are today, and I am just shy of 50)

I am not afraid of going back because of failure. I have a Bachelor's degree already and 3 Associate degrees. I hated most of nursing school except for the clinicals. Based on what the patient's mention when completing patient satisfaction cards, all apprieciated the care and attention their nurses gave them. None said anything about how glad they were that their nurse had a BSN, MSN. I read so much about nursing shortages and low retention. With many RNs being pushed into going back to school, pushed into more debt and being told they will not be able to promote w/o an advanced degree is there really a question about the matter? I do not understand why my skills are good enough for my patients now, but will not be by the 2017 (when the cahnge is proposed by the hospital I work for). There must be a dollar sign attached to the bottom line. In the end THAT's what hospital management really care about. Call a spade a spade, please.

Mobile Vans sound like a great idea! Baltimore is not so far from my are of Harrisburg, Pa. I do believe the programs can fit ino the emerging Home care models with great saving in Heath Care Dollars.
I wish I hadknown about the Symposium and will be looking for the results.