Looking into the future

Apr 08, 2008 22:48

So the EMT gig is going well. I've only been there about a month or so, and already I'm starting to look at/plan for the future. Which is turning out to be a very stressful thing. I want to take the IV tech course (and pass it this time) and become a Nursing Assistant (its a prereq for every nursing program I've found).



See, I like being an EMT and I think its a job which will serve me well the rest of my life. But being out in the field is not something I realistically can or want to do for more than 5 years. After that, things like a roof and walls are going to seem pretty nice. Plus I am *very* limited in what I can actually do as an EMT-Basic. So, I'm starting to think about where I want to be in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, etc.

The short answer is that I want to move up in the health care field. Specifically, the idea of being a nurse is very appealing. Being an ER nurse would be fairly awesome. And possibly spend some time as an ER tech before becoming a nurse. If I pass the IV tech class (and esp. if I have the CNA behind that) I can get a good paying job at an area ER and get even more experience. ER tech pays a better than EMT and comes with better schedule, walls and a roof.

Now here's where it all gets tricky. Tricky in like 12 different ways.

First, I work 24 hours, then have 48 off. That means that I can't say "I'm off every Tuesday evening for the next 4 months so I can take a class then". Which makes trying to schedule classes pretty frigging impossible. Fortunately I've found an IV tech class that meets on Wednesdays this fall. And because my special day off always falls on a Sunday or Wednesday, that means I'd only have to find a few trades in order to make it through that class. But the CNA thing is harder. The basically want you in class monday through friday for half a day for 3-4 weeks, then clinical hours. And thats just impossible to the point of being silly for me. I know for most people they'd be able to find a way to make that work, but I can't even do it with trades (long story) assuming I could find the trades.

Second, my less-than-steller career at UWM. Basically my GPA from UWM is so low, that no accredited school would look at my nursing application after they saw it. Literally, I am about 0.6 GPA points from the minimum a decent school will ask for. And going back to UWM and retaking some of the many, many failed classes isn't an option. Scheduling it would be impossible, it would cost several thousand dollars, I have no interest in those subjects anymore, and just being back in the UWM neighborhood puts a bad taste in my mouth. Not that I don't love the school, but I can't go back there. So how to I fix this? Well, basically two options present themselves. Option one is to lie and claim I've never attended another university. But, if anyone ever finds out, it would be grounds for dismissal, academic discipline, expulsuion, etc. So we'll put that on the back burner.

Option 2 is to try to retroactively drop somewhere between the last 1 and 4 semesters I attended UWM. Thats when the grades really started to tank and thats where the most F's are on my transcript. If I can retroactively drop an assload of classes, then my GPA would pop up to an acceptable level and I could seriously start considering nursing. Now, why the fuck would they let me do this? I can make a very convincing argument that for that time period I was suffering from untreated severe depression, untreated ADD, untreated and undiagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). And I could try for an argument that I had some variant of PTSD related to my failures at UWM which created a self-fulfilling prophesy and lead to one failed semester after another. All of these are things that I *think* I can get my therapist to attest to and write letters on my behalf about. I know UWM has a retroactive drop policy that allows for this sort of thing, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be to pull off. Or really how its done.

Third problem is that I'm not sure where I want to end up or how to get there. The idea of ER nursing or ICU nursing is appealing. ER nursing much more so that ICU, but whatever. Well, how do I get there. The first step is almost certainly to get my associates degree in nursing, probably from WCTC. And an ADN is enough to become an RN. But should I get a Paramedic license first and get more experience? Or just do the EMT-IV thing and then take a big jump up? How will that decision affect me? Do I need or want to then go for a Bachelor in Nursing? What kind of base skill set is an ER going to demand? What kind of skill set is a good ER (busy level 1 or 2) going to require? How do I get that? Do I really want to be a floor nurse my whole life or might I want to teach? Do I really want to work in an ER my whole life? All of these questions and more are plaguing me.

Fourth is somehow the dumbest and simplest of them all. I'm very unsure of myself and my goals. What if I'm wrong? What if in a year, I say "I'm sick of patients, I'm sick of sick people, I don't enjoy this job and I need to move on"? I'm just so unsure of where I want to be and how to get there. What I really would like is a chance to sit down with a cool ER nurse for a few hours and pick her brain. Ask for advice, tips, stories she's heard or seen, and anything else. Its the story of my life, I have a vague destination in mind, and no clear path infront of me, so I'm too scared to actually take a step forward. The journey of a thousand miles on starts with the first step if you move your feet.

So, where am I at right now? I'm confident that getting the IV tech and CNA classes done, passed and behind me are good begining steps. So, I'm looking into it. I'm going to try to visit UWM tomorrow to grab a copy of my transcript and possibly ask about the retroactive drop policy. I've called my therapist to make an appointment and I'm gonna ask her.

And for now, thats it. I need to remember right now I have a good, solid, full-time, paying job to rest on. And that any career move I make should wait until after I've had 12-18 months of experience running as an EMT.

So, thanks for reading. I'm gonna catch some Zzzz's soon and then go run errands and then go shooting tomorrow.

K

rambling, future, emt

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