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Quit Nursing School . . . taking questions

Okay, so I was accepted into the University of Kentucky College of Nursing, which is actually supposed to be a fairly good school. I quit after one semester for several reasons, which I've hesitated to talk about here because I have a LOT to say about it, and I didn't want to bore anyone. Up until now, any post like this could have gone on for multiple pages. However, I'm at a sufficient remove that I can be more brief:

The reasons I hated it include but are not limited to the following:

1. You have nearly zero decision-making ability as a nurse, but you are the first person the hospital looks to when they're trying to find someone to blame for something. Quick example - at the hospital where I did some of my practicals, nurse were often called in by the administration to explain to indignant administrators why certain patients had not yet been discharged. The real answer is, "I don't know. I don't have the ability to discharge anyone. That is the doctor's decision.", but the hospital wouldn't let you get away with that. They wanted a chance to write some notes in their files that they yelled at someone for a bit, threatened their job, that sort of thing, but it wouldn't do to ask a doctor to endure such indignities. This is very hard to deal with when you're used to working in a field where you make the decisions, or at least where your decisions matter.

2. There is WAY to much alternative medicine in that curriculum. Other schools may be better about this, but U.K. actually has a full-time professor with tenure whose specialty is something called "healing touch". This is a little like "laying on of hands" that crazy religious types talk about, but there's no touching and no invocation of religion. Instead, this person will wave her hands about you, chant softly, and try to fix your aura. She teaches an actual class you can take for credit. There is an actual, recognized nursing diagnosis called "disturbed energy field" - http://nandanursingdiagnosis.org/nursing-diagnosis-disturbed-energy-field/ . We had to sit through multiple lectures in our Intro to Nursing class about this and other alternative medicines, and let me tell you - if you challenged the validity of this crap (like I often did), you'd get into BIG trouble with the director of the program.

3. As far as bargle goes, I was pretty sure nothing would really phase me too much. Then I was asked to help change an eighty year old man's catheter. Finally, when we were taught how to clean tracheotomy tubes, I simply had enough. I can deal with blood, wounds, and gross smells, but I can't deal with trache tubes. There's something about them that frightens me on a deep, phobic level. I'm including in my living will that, if I ever have an injury or disease which will require a trache tube, I should just be put down.

4. This probably only applies to me, but I HATE, HATE, HATE scrubs. I hate how they look, and I hate how I feel in them. I always feel cold and vulnerable when I wear them, not unlike that feeling you have when you have that dream where you're naked in public. Ever have that dream? That's what wearing scrubs feels like to me, and that's not a good feeling for a twelve hour shift.

SO - I started looking for legal jobs again, and found the thing I have now. I'm working in the state public defender's office. The salary is not that great, and the location is terrible, because they put me in a very, very rural area. How rural is it? I actually have a case in which the defendant is alleged to be a cattle rustler. Even so, the work itself is generally very good and I'm very happy with that in and of itself.

Now, I just have to work on actually getting out of this state and back to civilization. I've had an interview at the Maryland Public Defender's Office, but they turned me down. I'm just happy that they interviewed me at all. I'm going to take the MD Bar later this summer (MD makes you take an abbreviated attorney's bar no matter how many years of experience you have), so maybe things will work out.

Comments

  • I hope things work out okay with the MD Bar, Joe.

    I've come out of months (maybe years?) of forum silence because I just have to know: Is the name of the crime really "cattle rustling," or is it grabs larceny or somesuch?
  • The proper name is "Theft by unlawful taking over $300.00 but under $10,000.00", but the theft was 10 cattle, so everyone calls it "cattle rustling".

    I just now thought of how funny it is that it was 10 cattle - he should have known that he couldn't hold 10 cattles.
  • Thanks! My curiosity is satisfied.
  • One cow isn't worth a thousand bucks?
  • Starfox said:

    One cow isn't worth a thousand bucks?

    The total alleged cost of the cattle is a little over $5K.

    I'm not really motivated to get an expert opinion because it's so far over $300.00, that I can't imagine how it would really help. That is, I can't imagine 10 cattle being worth less than $300.00.

    If you want to hear about stereotypes, I truthfully, honestly have a few sex cases where the defendants actually cannot understand that there is an age of consent and that, if your partner is less than that age, it does not matter if she tells you it's okay. It doesn't even matter if her parents tell you it's okay. It doesn't even matter if she's your Aunt and your mother tells you that her sister says it's okay.

  • What if you're both under that age? Then you can blame it on your parents?
  • SWATrous said:

    What if you're both under that age? Then you can blame it on your parents?

    Technically they're each assaulting the other, if I remember right.
  • It depends on the state. In NY, underage kids have to be less than 4 years apart. So, 17 and 13? Bad. 17 and 14? Legal.
  • HungryJoe said:

    The total alleged cost of the cattle is a little over $5K.

    Huh, I would have guessed 10 cattle was > $10k.

    On the bright side, if you're in Maryland, you could always be the attorney for someone like Stringer Bell.
  • Nice to know crime still relies on the old favorites. XD
  • My sister goes to UK. She wants to be a music educator though. I wonder if the same problems crop up at UofL's nursing school (considering I think we're rated better than UK's).

    That sucks dude, I dropped out from EKU back in 2009 because of financial concerns, but I kinda gave up on wanting to be a doctor as well. Hope you find something else you want to do.
  • edited March 2014
    Thank you, Mr. Draigo. I have found something else I want to do - I've gone back to just being a lawyer. It's pretty kewl.

    I have a bit of a question here, though:

    I wonder if the same problems crop up at UofL's nursing school (considering I think we're rated better than UK's).

    US News and World Report ranks UK's Nursing School at #21 nationally. It ranks UofL #64, quite a bit lower ranking than the "Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing". http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/nursing-rankings

    Perhaps I'm unfamiliar with this use of the phrase "better than". Is #64 better than #21? I was always taught that 21 > 64, but I'm old, so things might have changed while I was taking a nap.

    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • I was talking out my ass then I apologize.
  • I was talking out my ass then I apologize.

    No apology needed.

    I actually thought about applying to the UofL Nursing School, but applied to UK. The main reason I chose UK was that they had a DNP program and UofL did not.

    I think a lot of that wacky alternative medicine at UK is the result of the proclivities of the Director of the BSN Program. However, that nursing diagnosis of "disturbed energy field" is recognized as a valid diagnosis by NANDA.

    Y'know - getting a little down a divergent path here - one of the things that I constantly heard at Nursing School that became a pet peeve was the phrase "evidence-based practice". Everything they said was preceded by some explanation about how whatever procedure or theory they were about to teach was "evidence-based". I always thought, "Well, I HOPE that it's evidence-based. In fact, I was kinda hoping that I could take that for granted. Are you telling me that there are some nursing practices that are not evidence-based? Oh yeah - all that aroma therapy and stuff you like to talk about is not evidence-based, I suppose."

    Actually, that "healing touch" woman always said that her healing practices could not be measured in any way and so were beyond being evidence-based, as in that they were somehow more reliable than evidence-based practices, because her results were based on the faith and belief of the patient and the practitioner. Just the type of bullshit you'd expect to hear from someone like that.

  • edited March 2014
    Are the holistic healing classes the nursing school equivalent of basket weaving 101?

    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • The bit where the white haired dude waves his hands over the guy in the bed? That's exactly what that one professor taught a class about.
  • HungryJoe said:

    I was always taught that 21 > 64

    Oh dear...

  • edited March 2014
    image

    Anyways, welcome back, Joe. I respect a man who takes risks.
    Post edited by Andrew on
  • edited March 2014

    HungryJoe said:

    I was always taught that 21 > 64

    Oh dear...
    . . . as in de rankings of de skewls and such, you know?

    Alright, I guess it does look stupid, out of context. Ya got me.



    Post edited by HungryJoe on
  • This question is 0% judgement and 100% pure curiosity, what made you take the leap from law to nursing in the first place? (pardon me if this was explained prior and I missed it).
  • Matt said:

    This question is 0% judgement and 100% pure curiosity, what made you take the leap from law to nursing in the first place? (pardon me if this was explained prior and I missed it).

    It was partly mid-life crisis, partly post-divorce despair, partly vague dissatisfaction, and mostly very, very bad advice from friends who would say things like, "You're so kind, generous, and caring - you would make a good nurse.", and "Wow, I hear that nurses are highly in demand and that male nurses are especially well paid." I didn't understand until later that the people who said this were the same people who thought it was a good idea for Chevy Chase to have his own talk show.

    What? Too old a reference?

  • While your attempt at a new career didn't work out, I'm actually jealous that you were even able to try. While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck. If I were to try to change careers, I would have to leave the city, give up my whole life, etc. I just can't intentionally go down that road, but if I were forced into it I would have the excuse to just run away to the tropics.
  • Welcome to the world of golden ankle chains Scott.
  • Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

  • Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

    I do a fuckton of shit. None of it is real. None of it pays.
  • Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

    Yeah! Like, start a radio show.

  • Rym said:

    Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

    Yeah! Like, start a radio show.

    You guys always talked about that! You should start a podcast or something! Get your foot in the door.
    Apreche said:

    Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

    I do a fuckton of shit. None of it is real. None of it pays.
    Right. Look for ways to make it real. I'm giving a talk about Egyptian brewing at a local museum in 2 weeks. Will it pay? No, but it will help create noteriety and may pave the way to getting paid some day.

    Or it won't pay and I'll keep doing it because it's satisfying.

    There are ways to get career satisfaction while working a stable but boring job.

  • Rym said:

    Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

    Yeah! Like, start a radio show.

    You guys always talked about that! You should start a podcast or something! Get your foot in the door.
    Apreche said:

    Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

    I do a fuckton of shit. None of it is real. None of it pays.
    Right. Look for ways to make it real. I'm giving a talk about Egyptian brewing at a local museum in 2 weeks. Will it pay? No, but it will help create noteriety and may pave the way to getting paid some day.

    Or it won't pay and I'll keep doing it because it's satisfying.

    There are ways to get career satisfaction while working a stable but boring job.

    Public speaking, you say? Hmm, I don't know if that's a thing I can do.
  • Apreche said:

    Rym said:

    Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

    Yeah! Like, start a radio show.

    You guys always talked about that! You should start a podcast or something! Get your foot in the door.
    Apreche said:

    Apreche said:

    While I'm in a really stable situation that many people would love to have, I'm also stuck.

    Do what I do and tackle hobbies in a semi-professional fashion. It may not lead to something lucrative, but you can do something "real" on your own time.

    I do a fuckton of shit. None of it is real. None of it pays.
    Right. Look for ways to make it real. I'm giving a talk about Egyptian brewing at a local museum in 2 weeks. Will it pay? No, but it will help create noteriety and may pave the way to getting paid some day.

    Or it won't pay and I'll keep doing it because it's satisfying.

    There are ways to get career satisfaction while working a stable but boring job.

    Public speaking, you say? Hmm, I don't know if that's a thing I can do.
    Cheer up, bucko! Keep at it and you'll get better one day!

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