Basic Nursing Questions

[Khaos05]

Hey, I'm new to the forums and I have a few questions. I just changed my major at a 4 year college to nursing last year. I did a year of prerequisites and just got accepted to the nursing program there. After 2 more years I will have my BSN in Nursing. I hope to stay another 2 years and get my masters as a Nurse Practitioner. After that, here are my questions:

1. What can a Nurse Practitioner do vs. a BSN Nurse? I've heard that they can do more (i.e. prescribe meds except controls)

2. Would it help or be worth it to be an EMT during school as experience/fun? Kind of a dumb question I guess...

3. In a hospital setting, what do nurse aides do? I work at a long-term care pharmacy as a pharmacy technician now so I'm getting tons of experience and knowledge with a LOOOOT of medicine, but I would like to get into the nursing side as long as i'm not just serving food and that's it.

Sorry for the long post!

[cassioo]

Hey, I'm new to the forums and I have a few questions. I just changed my major at a 4 year college to nursing last year. I did a year of prerequisites and just got accepted to the nursing program there. After 2 more years I will have my BSN in Nursing. I hope to stay another 2 years and get my masters as a Nurse Practitioner. After that, here are my questions:

1. What can a Nurse Practitioner do vs. a BSN Nurse? I've heard that they can do more (i.e. prescribe meds except controls)

2. Would it help or be worth it to be an EMT during school as experience/fun? Kind of a dumb question I guess...

3. In a hospital setting, what do nurse aides do? I work at a long-term care pharmacy as a pharmacy technician now so I'm getting tons of experience and knowledge with a LOOOOT of medicine, but I would like to get into the nursing side as long as i'm not just serving food and that's it.

Sorry for the long post!

NP can have their own practice doing many of the things a family practie MD can do. There are different tracs for NP's ie family, women's health, geriatrics etc

EMT would be helpful if you want to do that they get that ER type experience and see a variety of things

NA in hospitals do many of the same things they do in long term care (depends on the hospital and state) They do those personal care tasks ie feeding & bathing, turning, ambulating, vital signs.

Many hospitals use student nurses in extern programs where you can do more then NA again it depends on the state and hospital they use. Some can give meds, start IV's do treatments it just depends.

Good luck to you.

[NavyJim58]

NP can have their own practice doing many of the things a family practie MD can do. There are different tracs for NP's ie family, women's health, geriatrics etc

EMT would be helpful if you want to do that they get that ER type experience and see a variety of things

NA in hospitals do many of the same things they do in long term care (depends on the hospital and state) They do those personal care tasks ie feeding & bathing, turning, ambulating, vital signs.

Many hospitals use student nurses in extern programs where you can do more then NA again it depends on the state and hospital they use. Some can give meds, start IV's do treatments it just depends.

Good luck to you.

Cassioo did a great job answering your questions.....I would just be careful about going the EMT route while becoming a RN.....if you do that you may stay an EMT and never become an RN.....i've seen it many times......EMT's on the whole (my personal opinion) don't respect nurses......they have a whole other culture.........just keep your eyes open on this one.....good luck

[Khaos05]

Yea, I just thought of the EMT thing because I want to do ER as an RN while getting my masters for nurse practitioner. I was also just wondering about the NA thing because i'm debating on whether to apply as an NA at the local hospital or remain at the pharmacy. I would love to do vitals, but i don't think i'd be too into feeding and that sort of stuff (which is why i want to get my masters as a NP and work in a clinic).

[benwa]

As a current student, I'd be careful about what kind of job u get. If u become an EMT, you will probably need to work 24hr shifts. Once school starts you will need all the time u can get for studying.

The NP role is like a spot inbetween a Physicians Assistant and the MD. They can prescribe meds and write orders and diagnose. Usually if they work at another MD's practice or a hospital setting, their Medical Malpractice Insurance is covered by either the MD or hospital. They will need to provide their own insurance tho if they are running their own clinic.

Your pharmacology background will be an immense help for you. You may want to stay there for awhile longer, but before you graduate i would recommend going into something more client care oriented and developing your bedside manner. I'm not saying that u dont have any, but it doesnt hurt to work on.

You say that u dont want to deal with the "serving food and thats it," well if u cant handle that for a little while, then u have no business going into nursing. Working as an aide for awhile can only help u develop more respect for the patient and teach you what it means to be their advocate.

[cassioo]

sometimes the nurses get to do the feeding, bathing, beds because not every unit in every hospital employees NA. We don't have NA's don't do feedings but do get lots of post ops into the showers and change lots of beds, empty caths, turn post ops. etc

[Khaos05]

i don't necessarily have a problem serving food every once in a while or whatever, but I guess I'm just ready to get into the field and be able to diagnose, give medicine, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong I don't expect to do that as a NA with no training or experience. I'm just saying that I'm ready to be graduated with my masters and get going I guess...

I was hoping NAs would "hook up" new admits to the monitors, take vitals throughout the day and stuff like that. I don't even mind doing baths and turning or whatever. Something about being a lunch lady gets me.

[luvanurse34]

Cassioo did a great job answering your questions.....I would just be careful about going the EMT route while becoming a RN.....if you do that you may stay an EMT and never become an RN.....i've seen it many times......EMT's on the whole (my personal opinion) don't respect nurses......they have a whole other culture.........just keep your eyes open on this one.....good luck

Every so often you take a risk when using forums, that you will get some bad advice. NavyJim you certainly have a right to your opinion, but I think the statement you made about EMT's was blanketed and down right ignorant. I worked as an EMT for 5 years in a high call volume setting and the only nurses that were not respected were the incompetent ones that didn't deserve it in the first place. I had many opportunities to work with them in the ER and also on mobile critical care rigs. As for getting "stuck" an EMT, that is up to the individual person. If you are motivated to be more, you will be more. On advantage to getting some EMT experience, is that the poster will have an opporytunity to see how patient care is conducted in a pre-hospital environment. That is, before the patient reaps the benefits of a resource laden hospital. Maybe EMS is some sort of another "culture", but walk a mile in an EMT's boots and try to understand the rawness of saving a life on the street before you form an opinion. :frustrated: