<p>I admit I was rather poor with words..... will add -many young people want to go into medicine and practice. They only know about being a physician.</p>
<p>Exploring nursing and the many options available - nurse practitoner, nurse midwife, nurse anesthetist etc ... opens many eyes to see an alternative.
Perhaps this was their goal all along and just didn't know it was there.</p>
<p>I might add - there are also many specialties available. Some nurse practitioners specialize in pediatrics and others acute care.</p>
<p>The point is - the options are varied and reaching the goal - i.e. actually working in the field is much quicker with nursing.</p>
<p>I was excited to find this thread. My daughter is a h.s. junior and recently said she might be interested in nursing. (She's been working in a local community clinic) She resolutely resists most discussions of career or college (Mom, I'm still in high school; I'll get to it, don't worry) and I learned in the process with her brother that keeping the duct tape on my mouth is actually a good choice. (Thank god for this board so I can re-direct myself...)
Anyway, I am a big fan of the LAC for undergrad--and my kids seem to want to stay in the western US--so are there any good nursing or combined tracks west of the Mississippi that have a liberal arts foundation?</p>
<p>With the current shortage of nurses another consideration is that many hospitals will offer college loan forgiveness for a committment to work for "x" number of years at their hospital. Not a bad deal at all</p>
<p>mmaah---while not west of the Missisippi, I think Case Western has a combined LAC to BSN program. I took a similar route at Case---I earned a BA in Psychology and BioChemistry at a LAC and then went to CWRU for nursing...
It was wonderful preparation for what has been a very fulfilling career--</p>
<p>Another plug for Case Western. All BSN students receive the "Bolton Scholarship"
Here is the scoop:</p>
<p>Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing Scholarship
The Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing offers scholarships of $10,600 or $15,800 to members of the entering freshman class ('07-'08) in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. It is renewed at the same level each year (maximum of four years) that the student remains in the B.S.N. program.</p>
<p>A BSN degree does have a liberal arts core. Some require application into the nursing program after sophomore year is concluded, so most of the coursework in the early days will offer a wide spectrum of liberal arts selections. For anyone on the fence about nursing who might start out in an LAC, I would suggest taking a look at the prereqs for the BSN programs. That way, your kids can take a year of chemistry, for example, rather than a science that is not required & will not be counted towards nusing program admission. This is something to consider for h.s. course choices, as well. If the schools you have in mind accept APs for the science & math core, you're golden. My BA in English did cover most of the nursing core requirements, but my sciences were the "wrong" choices. My year of physics, for example, was not applicable. I wound up taking a year each of chemistry & A&P before starting the nursing program. Also, I'd recommend a course in comparitive religions for two reasons: 1) You never know if your kid will wind up pursuing nursing at a Catholic college, and this will be a requirement. 2) In nursing, you are involved with total strangers in an amazingly personal way. A basic understanding of faith traditions other than your own is very, very helpful.</p>
<p>mmaah -- Read my post earlier in the thread. I'm just doing preliminary searches for my sophomore D, but I have located liberal arts based programs at Illinois Wesleyan, St. Olaf, and many of the Catholic colleges -- Marquette, Creighton, Loyola Chicago, St. Louis. I'm sure there are more.
I want to thank everyone who took time to post on this thread. All your thoughtful responses, especially from all the working nurses, are so valuable. I'm going to print this out for my younger D.</p>
<p>This may not mean much, but both of my cousins did great in high school and both attended a state college for their nursing degree. Not only did they receive almost the same education from someone who went to a name school, but they didn't have to pay as much for tuition and are now working as first year nurses in one of the finest hospitals in Boston with a great salary.</p>
<p>I know name schools always seem like this big thing, but I know my cousins got a lot out of their state school and are flourishing.</p>
<p>There is a HUGE nursing shortage throughout the country.
I'm a laboratory professional at a large teaching hospital in northern NJ.
The HR dept has never been able to find enough qualified nurses.
There are large sign on bonuses for new nursing hires, many opportunties for advancement via career ladders, great pay and flexible shifts/schedules.
Yes, a very challenging profession but also great prospects.</p>
<p>I've been a patient in the hospital where I work and have always been impressed and thankful for the caliber of care the nursing staff provides. The nurses here are very 'empowered' and the MD's servant thing is not very evident.
Many nurses here serve on hospital wide committees along with physicians and help shape infectional control, administrative and patient care policy.
An exciting field!</p>
<p>I can only add a consumer testimonial here. Four years ago I was in a major Level I trauma center while a family member was being cared for. I grew to revere the trauma nurses, who were incredibly knowledgeable professionals with huge, challenging, technically complex responsibility. There was 1 nurse for every 2 patients. They were among the most intelligent and compassionate healthcare professionals I've ever met (and 50% male, BTW).</p>
<p>two plugs for Vanderbilt School of Nursing and University of Virginia's School of Nursing...great things at both places and good quality of life in both towns</p>
<p>Congrats on your D wanting to go into nursing. As a physician, I interact with all types of nurses everyday, and I applaud someone as obviously intelligent as your D pursuing nursing. Nursing, like teaching, has been hit hard by the expansion of opportunities for women, and though it is recovering because of the huge demand and salary improvements, there is still a lot of room for people of energy and smarts.
She should be able to get a substantial merit scholarship, if not a full ride, and should definintely give some thought to what she wants from her career. Getting a 4 year degree in nursing upfront gives you more flexibility. There are so many postgrad opportunities and varied types of practice in nursing - it can be a great career.</p>
<p>Nursing is an entirely different profession than medicine. Studies have shown that registered nurses spend only 10% of their time completing "doctor's orders" (ie medications, treatments et)
The remaining time is spent performing patient assessments, giving direct care, patient education, interacting with an interdisciplinary team on the patient's behalf, planning for discharge and home care needs, interacting with community resources on a patient's behalf.</p>
<p>Just to give her another option no one has mentioned....physician assistant.
My son learned about this from a physician who told him not to waste time with medical school. We've found a handful of schools that offer a masters' degree after 5 years.</p>
<p>We need more Certified Nurse Midwives!!! She should check into that. Mine was hosptial based and very autonomous-- could do anything but a C Section.</p>
<p>Interesting what hasn't come up is how some Dr's treat nurses. A good friend of mine at age 40 decided to go back to school to get her RN. She had many friends who were Dr's or spouses of Dr's. My friend was shocked at the negative reaction she received from them. She found little respect for her decision. In the end after taking a few of the prereq she ended up entering a MFCC Master's program instead.
The nursing program she was interested in was similar to Mimi's wife. It is actually quite difficult to gain admittance.</p>
<p>And on the other end of the spectrum from the nurse midwife is the geriatric nurse, or geriatric NPs, fast-growing specialties that will only grow as the baby boomers age.</p>
<p>On a lighter note, in no way meant to be disrespectful, Gaylord Focker in Meet the Parents give a moving account of why he chose nursing over being an MD (I don't want to say medicine, because to me nursing is medicine.) His MCAT results were sterling, but he decided he wanted to work more with people.</p>
<p>Robert de Niro's character comes to accept, and I'd say, respect this.</p>
<p>I have students who want to be nurses and those who want to be doctors. Gender doesn't seem to play much of a role anymore.</p>
<p>BTW: Salaries listed made me want to cry. College professors are seriously underpaid!</p>
<p>Nursing is not medicine, though. Two very different fields that work together closely (although some MDs DO treat RNs poorly.) An oversimplified way to view it is this: Docs treat the disease; RNs treat the patient. A medical diagnosis & a nursing diagnosis are very different, but the actions that follow from both are necessary to treat the patient.</p>