Hello from a new member.

[beyondx4]

Hi everyone. I'm so glad I'd found this forum and would like to introduce myself. My name is Dennis and I'm a Chinese/American who've recently got accepted into an RN program. I was a network engineer in silicon valley who really never had plans to enter the healthcare profession until I was injured and had to stay in a hospital. There, I spoke to many nurses and was inspired by a male nurse who took care of me. I felt like I really wanted to do what he did (I've always thought that the nursing field was restricted to females). When I was back working with computers, firewalls, and routers; I suddenly looked at what I was doing and felt so lonely and depressed. I realized I'm just not happy working with machines and constantly stressed out in an environment where people are constantly competing against one another (I'm more like a team player). Due to practical reasons, there was no way for me to get out of what I was doing. The opportunity came when my company had financial troubles and I was laid off after 3 years there. Even though there were alot of objections from family members, I came and spoke to my college counselor about their nursing program and how suitable it would be for a male. I was highly encouraged by him. I then made my decision. After a year of doing the prerequisites, I'm finally accepted to start this Fall. I think it is God's will that I should become a nurse because entrance into the program was EXTREMELY competitive (all 30 students accepted got a GPA of 4.0) and I was able to push myself to make the grades. In some ways, I also felt really bad because I had a nice female classmate in Microbiology who had a GPA of 3.8 and was not accepted (she called me and cried). I just hope that I'll be able to cope with nursing school. I'm a very active person, so ideally, I'd like to be the type of nurse who might travel around in a community and take care of people of many different backgrounds and ethnicities (I can speak English, Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Mandarin). If anyone have had experience with this type of nursing, I would greatly appreciate any tips or opinions you may have! Thanks alot.

-Dennis

[Old_School]

Hi beyondx4 welcome to the forums. Congrats to you getting a slot in a nursing program. Did I take it from your post that you want to be a community health nurse?

O_S

[beyondx4]

Hi O_S,
Thanks. I'm very excited about the program and at this point not sure how many males are in my class, though I've noticed that there were a good 30-40% of male classmates in my prerequisite courses whose goal were to become an RN. This was thanks to our nursing counselor (a male RN) who've educated and encouraged male students that the nursing field is highly suitable for a man. I'm not sure if it's exactly a community health nurse that I'd like to be, but I remembered when my grandfather was ill, we'd normally have a nice RN who would come by our house a few times a week to follow up on him. She would sit and chat with my grandfather for a bit and then check on his blood, etc. I think I'd be highly interested in doing such a job, as I could travel around and get to know and intermingle with different patients everyday. Once I'm done with my BSN, my ultimate goal would be to choose a specialty I'd love and complete an MSN program while working. Any opinions are highly appreciated. Thanks.

-Dennis

[Old_School]

OK, that makes sense. You're talking about home health care. I think you might be having an idealized view of this field though. I would keep it under consideration while in school, but as you rotate through the different clinical areas; keep an open mind. You might find something there that will interest you more.

With your comuputer background, please look in the specialty boards under Nursing Informatics. Us non-computer types could really use some of your insight. Thanks.

O_S

[Brian Mac]

IF you are a RN you will want hospital work, home care on the side