Question by Ashton: College’s for nursing, help?
Okay, so I’m in 8th grade & have been thinking about careers, colleges, ect. I would really like to be a nurse, preferably a trauma nurse. I also really have this love for Notre Dame. So I was wondering if Notre Dame was a good place to go for nursing, also what college has a great nursing course/ school. I know I’m only in 8th grade, but with me going into my freshmen year next year I would like to start getting an idea of what I’m going to do & all that. So please help me. Thanks

Best answer:

Answer by Kevin
Ashton,

Hello. My name is Kevin and you may call me “Mr. Kevin.” I’m a critical care nurse and I used to be an Army Nurse. But we have something in common because I always liked trauma nursing too!. But if you want to do this job then you better love blood, guts, car wrecks and people who get shot, stabbed and pushed out of windows…

So, do ya??

I hope so because it’s a very exciting place to work and we need young people with lotsa energy and enthusiasm who won’t fall down and faint when the mashed up bodies roll through the front doors. You know what else? When you get home at night from working, you always have something exciting and bloody to talk about during dinner. Problem is everyone at the dinner table keeps telling me ~ “Dad, please shut up and eat… you’re gonna make us sick…”

But my kids are all squeamish, not tough like you and me

Anyway, Notre Dame is a very good school and you’ll get a great basic nursing education there. But honest, it’s not terribly important where you get your BSN (don’t pay too much, it’s not worth it!) however what you want to be sure and do (if you’re honestly interested in trauma nursing) is go to a nursing school that is associated with a hospital or medical center which actually has a trauma unit. All hospitals do NOT have trauma units so if your school doesn’t do clinical there then how are you to ever SEE one!? So, every nursing school is affiliated with a medical facility and some will have trauma units and others may not. Why do nursing schools and hospitals associate with each other? Because we new nurses need really fresh bodies to practice on… silly! So here’s what you can start to think about now ~

A four year nursing program is not an unfair challenge, it’s only (4) years to get your BSN and after that you get 1 year of surgical, emergency room or telemetry experience before applying to a Trauma ICU for the job you really want. Remember, get at least a year’s experience doing regular floor nursing, emergency room nursing or telemetry nursing because it helps you be a better trauma nurse (trust me). Most hospitals and medical centers will schedule you special critical care classes, sponsor you for advanced certifications (like ACLS) and then put you in the Trauma ICU or Trauma unit to work with an older more experienced nurse (like me!) I’ll show you how to do stuff, we’ll do stuff together and then I’ll watch you when you try to do it by yourself. I like explaining things to new nurses and I’m patient but if you’re gonna be lazy and want to take smoke breaks then you and me won’t get along very well… grrrr

Basic Nursing ain’t rocket science and I only took one math class during the whole 4 years. You will however learn a lot of biology, chemistry and human anatomy. You’ll also learn a lot of medical terminology, disease conditions and pharmacology. You will approach all of this from a nursing perspective and finally apply what you’ve learned to a sick human being lying in a bed (throwing up or bleeding) needing a strong person to nurse them (that’s where you and me come in…)

If you’d like to get an early start then start learning about the body ~ the names of bones and muscles, what all the organs and organ systems do and medical terminology prefix and suffixes. Like for example, words ending in “ology” mean “the study of” i.e. biology, theology, pathology, hematology. Bio = life, theo = God, patho = disease, hema = blood.

Medical terminology is really learning a bit of Greek and Latin so that will be your “second language” besides English. Other people learn Spanish or French. Nurses learn Greek and Latin so we can speak to each other in “medical” talk. I hope I helped answer your question and remember, I was once in high school like you’re gonna be pretty soon and today, 20 years later, I have no regrets at all.

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Question by Ashton: College’s for nursing, help?
Okay, so I’m in 8th grade & have been thinking about careers, colleges, ect. I would really like to be a nurse, preferably a trauma nurse. I also really have this love for Notre Dame. So I was wondering if Notre Dame was a good place to go for nursing, also what college has a great nursing course/ school. I know I’m only in 8th grade, but with me going into my freshmen year next year I would like to start getting an idea of what I’m going to do & all that. So please help me. Thanks

Best answer:

Answer by Diane A
You should learn how to do research: go to the Notre Dame web page (nd.org) they tell what is needed to get in and how the test scores are etc. Then see if they have a school of nursing. No school of nursing? Then you can not become a nurse there. However, there is NO need to spend thousands & thousands of dollars becoming a nurse-the employer will not care in the least. Find a state college with a school of nursing. They generally provide the best education for the bucks. Good luck with you research & career.

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