I'm really scared

[superherobrin]

I recently got on this forum in December, really anxious to start the nurse assistant program through a local hospital. Well, it starts next month and now i'm absolutely dreading it. I want to make a change in my life, career wise, and I want a job that I feel helps others and makes some sort of difference in the world, but i'm so scared that it isn't something I can handle.

Currently, I work as a pre-school teacher, and it's fine I suppose, but it's not really something I enjoy. I have some mean kids ( mean parents as well ) and the pay is absolutely sad, no matter how many years and education I put into it, i'm still making less than 16,000 a year =( . Still, no weekends, I guess that's a plus. What i'm trying to get at is, is this career worth it? Do you feel fulfilled, or are you miserable at the end of your shift, hoping for something else. I don't want that feeling anymore. I'm constantly sick to my stomach thinking of ways to improve my career, and I know college is the best way to do that, but until I find something i'm comfortable with and make at least, we'll say 9 an hour, I just can't afford it. I'm miserable doing what I do, but I don't want to go ahead and attempt something i'll feel the same in. I know that none of you can decide how i'm going to feel, but you can help me decide on what a day in the life of your job is, what patients are like, and what the other nurses treat you like.

In my job, co-workers treat each other like crap, absolute crap, no matter the training, experience, etc. It's a bad environment to work in, and I want something I feel good about.

Please, any advice would be so greatly appreciated. I want a career where I feel proud of myself most of all, and I hope this may be something that can help with that =)

Bri

[Big5-Oh!]

Bri,

A job is a job. There are always going to be parts you like, and parts you don't like.

The secret to finding out what to do, in my opinion and my opinion only!, is to decide if the parts you like outweigh the parts you don't.

What are patients like? They're people! Some are great; they can be kind and funny and upbeat and cheerful and caring and spiritual. Some are a**holes; they can be cranky and mean and hateful and needier than you think they should be. Mostly they're all just scared. Because they're sick, and some of them are dying, and many of them are in a great deal of pain - physically or emotionally or mentally or all of the above.

Some days you will be able to remember this and you'll be a good nurse. Other days, you'll have your own worries and bills and sick kids and laid-off husband and nagging mother-in-law and flat tire and the computers won't be working in the lab and you'll forget that the patients are scared and in pain, and you won't be as good a nurse as you ought to be. You won't be as good a nurse as your patients deserve.

But if you decide to do this job, do it because you want to be the nurse that the kindest, funniest, most cheerful and non-demanding patient in the world deserves, because really, truly, they all deserve that nurse.

And if you really, deep down, honestly and sincerely want to be that nurse, then this could be the job for you and I wish you all the best.

If you're mostly interested in just securing a steady paycheck and benefits, work in a grocery store because people always need food and the customers there almost never puke on you or ask you to change their poopy (adult!) diapers.

Don't do this for money, honey.

Is that the kind of person you'd want taking care of your loved ones?

Good luck with your decision.

p.s. go to a community college, talk to a counselor, and take a couple of career assessment tests. You might be pleasantly surprised, and the cost should be zero to very little.

[ahjo7676]

well i berely passed my state test and have yet to work. but i know from doing my clinicals at the end of the day i felt good about myself. its nice to see the impact u can have on someones life, im sure u get that in teaching. I got into being a cna cuz i love to help, in some cases the patients, residents completely depend on you and if u have a big heart and can handle hard work this is the job for u. Cna is a stepping stone for many, dont stop there. the possibilities are endless

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

Honestly, all your issues with pre-school teaching are the same things that CNAs have to deal with:

Mean kids and mean parents? As a CNA you will deal with mean residents and their a-hole families.

Crappy pay and little to no opportunity for advancement? Yup- unless you decide to go to nursing school and your facility offers tuition reimbursement.

Weekends and holidays are a must in healthcare. Overtime usually is too.

Coworkers treating each other like crap? Oh yeah.

The job is stressful, gross, and physically demanding. You will be overworked. You won't get to spend that much quality time with residents because you'll have way too much stuff to do. You will work with other CNAs who are stressed out, burnt out, not nice, or plain lazy. Some nurses will treat you like you're less than the dirt on their shoe. Others will look down on you for having such a "disgusting" low-class job. It's hard work and you won't always feel like you're doing any good in the world. You'll get attached to people and watch them die. There will be some residents who will physically or verbally attack you or just plain drive you up a wall and there's nothing you can do to make them happy.

Personally, despite all those negatives, I love being a CNA! I love elderly people. I really like most of the residents I take care of. Even on the worst night I still get a few laughs out of the funny things the demented ones do, and it's so nice when someone tells you that you take such good care of them, you're their favorite CNA, and that they love you. And not all the coworkers are horrible. You end up developing a camaraderie with most of them.

A few years ago I was working retail, and I HATED it, but if you asked me if I'd be doing this I would have said no way could I ever wipe someone's butt- and if I'd read all the negative stuff I wrote above I would have run screaming. But I'm glad I did it. I make more money, AND I no longer hate my job! I'm not trying to scare you away, but I think people deserve to know everything they're getting themselves into... it's no walk in the park, but it might be worth a try. You hate your job now, so what do you have to lose?

[Dorali, BSN, LPN, RN]

Here is a link from my local community college. You answer a couple of questions about things you like and don't like and it throws some suggestions for future careers at you. I just took it in less than 2 minutes. Maybe this will help get you started in the right direction.

Career Finder

Good luck in whatever you decide!

Dondie

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

^I just filled that out and guess what was in my results? "Geriactric Tech!"

[FutureNurse23]

I would have to agree with Big5-oh. I couldnt agree anymore. You have good and bad residents. Yes some nurses look down on the CNA's. You have nurses who think they are better than you and are cliches with other nurses. Also you have nurses who are encouraging to you in supporting your hopes of becoming a nurse. The pay for being a CNA at times sucks. Especially, when you have no experience or less than a year of experience. Tell me about it I just took a job with a big paycut, ugh. But truely the importance of me being a CNA isnt for the pay. Its for the valuable information I learn that will be vital to me being a nurse. Also depending on shift and a new grad you honnestly could be making more in a wharehouse and possibly it being less physical. At times, I wish I would of went to school to become a Medical Assistant to support my hopes of being a nurse. Even though its hard to go to nursing school with hours of working in a clinic. And yes you get attached to residents. Sometimes you may even have to go to the restroom and wipe away tears from a resident passing away. Nursing is a career in which only the strong last. Its hard emotionally,physically, and at times it can be mentally challenging. I say if you can handle pre-school kids though you can handle the elderly. I never wanted to work in geriatrics. But, I found ways in being able to bond with the residents. And when I left my 1st job as a CNA I actually cried. I got hired to be a flight Attendant but thats another story,lol. Nevertheless, I wish you luck. And dont forget we are all scared at times. But new events never defeat us! And every CNA was scared at first. Day by day you get better!

[rancelumsden]

I sure can't improve on some really good responses you got.

For my part, I liked the hospital much better than LTC. More complexity to the job and at least in my case, got along well with the nurses (I barely ever spoke to a nurse in LTC).

But, of course, I'm not you and you'll just have to try it and see. The weekend/holiday thing is unpleasant. I did get used to it after a while. Actually, there were some nice things about working the weekend.

[superherobrin]

Thank you everyone, those were definitely the kind of responses I was looking for.

I'm still unsure of my decision, of course one day won't decide for me, still scared of course, but your honesty made it a lot easier for me to think and clear my head.

So, thank you again, hopefully next month i'll be asking questions about my classes...anyways, we'll see!

=)