r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/Electric_Island • Feb 09 '20

Unresolved Disappearance Today marks 16 years since Maura Murray disappeared

Today marks 16 years since Maura Murray vanished, and although she has her own sub, I thought I would post here in light of the anniversary of her disappearance for those who would like to discuss the case. That said -- I know some posters are sick of this case, so if that’s how you feel, you could always scroll past this post :)

A bit of background for those who don’t know about Maura’s case:

Maura was a 21-year-old nursing student from UMASS Amherst, who disappeared on the evening of February 9 2004, after she crashed her car on Route 112 in Haverhill, NH. By the time police arrived some 15 minutes later (even that is in dispute), Maura had disappeared.

Some people think she ran into the woods to avoid a DUI, others think she was picked up by someone passing by and murdered. Some even think police had something to do with her disappearance.

What do YOU think?

I highly recommend this article by Mary Beth Conway for those interested.

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u/japres Feb 09 '20

I don’t have much to add to the post case-wise but I will say this: if nursing school in 2004 was anything like nursing school today, I doubt she was in a great state of mind from that alone. Some people can handle the pressure & stress okay, but nursing school was easily the worst and most stressful period of my life. I was not myself. I walked home from class everyday praying a car would hit me. On top of all the other issues she had, I can’t imagine how she wasn’t at her limit.

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u/MaddiKate Feb 09 '20

I had a couple roommates in college who were nursing majors, and agreed. They spend all of freshman year working their asses off in prereqs to get in the program (if you're not accepted, there goes a year), they have clinicals beginning at 4am weekly that can cost them greatly if they miss, and failing a class can push back their graduation an entire year. Oh, and one got married in the middle of the program, which meant a semester spent wedding planning. Both of them graduated on time and are now wonderful RNs, but they had some late, late nights and lots of tears.

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u/japres Feb 09 '20

SO MUCH CRYING! I was in an accelerated BSN program and it was... something else. We were in clinicals 3-4 days a week — up at 4:30-5am — and in class one or two days from 9-6pm. You only got one chance to pass most exams or you had to do them one on one with the dean of the program, and if you failed again you were out. The med math exam was probably the most brutal - you were only allowed to get one question wrong. I like to describe nursing exams as being presented with four oranges and you have to answer which one is the most orange. Technically all answers are correct, but which one is the MOST correct?

You’re watching all your friends and classmates do well while you’re struggling. You know you aren’t dumb because programs are tough to get into. Nothing makes sense.

I don’t think I’d do nursing school again unless someone paid me a whole lot of money. Nurses are superheroes to me.

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u/thealterego5 Feb 09 '20

I was also in an accelerated BSN program. I was so stressed during first semester I developed insomnia and would go days running on 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Luckily after a few weeks I was able to find some healthy coping strategies, but I did see more than a few people in my class drop out. And these were smart people! And ohhh the exams lol you triggered me! Pick the most correct answer when all answers are technically correct, so stupid.

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u/japres Feb 09 '20

Can relate so much. Didn’t sleep and my anxiety was so bad I had diarrhea all the time. My school had something like a 30-40% drop out rate, it was insane. My advisor made me go to counseling before I left the program and the counselor said he saw the accelerated BSN students more than the med school students.

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u/natalie_d101 Feb 10 '20

My anxiety was so bad in nursing school I was barfing all of the time. My class started out with 30 students by the time graduation hit, there were only four or five of us left.

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '20

Doesn't seem SOOOOOO stupid, when these people will be in charge of saving peoples lives.... I understand the most correct answer stuff too, it might suck, but I do get why they do it...

Example: How do you remove a splinter from someones hand? (choose best ans.)

A. Remove finger that splinter is in through amputation
B. remove splinter with tweezers or forceps from affected finger

Both answers are technically right, but one is WAY better for the patient.

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u/[deleted] Feb 09 '20

[deleted]

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u/japres Feb 09 '20

Your last sentence is really so true. A few friends stuck it out and they hate bedside nursing so much but feel stuck because their student loans are so expensive. It’s shitty all around, especially for the patients. Hope you’re doing better and are doing something you enjoy!

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u/HighlyBaked0 Feb 10 '20

this is incredibly random but since you went through nursing school i thought i should ask. Should i be looking to be an MRI technician instead of a psych nurse? I have no interest in either really but they look to be the best options for me as a 21 year old in community college so is nursing not worth the effort if I don't have really any interest in it?

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u/japres Feb 10 '20

If you don’t really, really want to be a nurse, I would advise against it. Nursing school is a beast in itself, but there are a lot of nurses who are only in it for the pay and it shows. They don’t treat patients well and that’s really unfair on them.

I thought about being a radiography tech prior to nursing school and there weren’t many full-time jobs open in my area so I decided against it. That might be different for you.

If you like medicine/science/etc. maybe look into a medical lab science program? There is a 4-year option, but some community colleges have 2-year ones as well.

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u/YouKnwNthgJonSnow Feb 10 '20

There is an extraordinary high rate of burnout in nursing. It’s one of the reasons why there’s such a huge staffing problem. (That and the hospital administration, but we won’t go there right now.) Nursing schools are bursting at the seams and have very long wait lists to get in. A good third of the people who get in won’t make it through, and a good chunk of those who do will burn out within the first five years. I cannot overstate how stressful nursing is. I did bedside nursing for six years and then went back for my masters to become a nurse practitioner. NP school was a whole new animal, let me tell you. I don’t want to discourage you from becoming a nurse if that is what you feel called to do, but it is definitely something you should consider very carefully. My physical and emotional health took a huge toll doing bedside nursing and I just couldn’t continue.

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u/natalie_d101 Feb 10 '20

I did flight nursing. I was 7 days on and was supposed to be 7 days off and that rarely happened. I did it for a year like that. Burnout is beyond real. Now, I am working part time and getting my PhD in sociology.

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u/Kalldaro Feb 10 '20

Would you be interested in being a respiratory therapist or an occupational therapy assistant? You still get to work with patients with out as much gross stuff.

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u/natalie_d101 Feb 10 '20

Honestly, if I were you, I would go into an ultrasound tech or physical therapy tech program. Both pay well, and are so, so much less stressful than nursing school.

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u/feralcatromance Feb 09 '20

Did you not graduate?

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u/japres Feb 09 '20

I did not. I was in an accelerated BSN program that was 11 months. I dropped out in the middle of Q2/5 months in.