Got No Job? Come be an RN ! - Page 22

[QUOTE=jelptex;4659676]Can anyone tell me why (in this MISERABLE US economy) an experienced RN cannot apply for work as a CNA in order to feed themselve/family?[/QUOTE

I agree, hospitals rather you work as a waitress then utilize your many years of experience. I was an LPN, moved to Utah obtained my RN license and they would not allow me to get an LPN license because your not allowed to have a both an RN and LPN license so I could not apply to any LPN jobs.

My first semester we had 50 students. only 20 went on to next semester, because they realized how hard it is just to get through school... i think that this is a good example of weeding out the ones not commited.. if someone is willing to go through that much school i think they should get the benifit of the doubt that they are there because they want to be, not for the money....

On the flip side the reason i choose to be an RN is because of personal expierences i have had with nurses, on more then one occasion i have had ones that just make you miserable.... when i had my first and second child the times that should have been the happiest was made miserable because of the way i was treated.... I choose to do this because i belevie that no matter what you are being treated for the one person who has the biggest impact on your recovery is the nurse, and personally i would like to weed out those who have burnt out and are miserable.... or those who just dont give a crap and have no compassion. i can see your compassion but.......

As a student i dont beleive that the only problem is those who choose it for money.... there are those who came in for the right reasons and just couldnt hack it, but need the money......

sorry one more thing..... My cna prereq and my first semester was in a nursing home.... I hated it, i did not like seeing the way some pts were treated and i didnt like the thought of just being dumped there to die so to speak. but after a year and learning that at 23 i have a really pleasently good nack for working with the elderly, ii think i wat to specialize in hospice when origianlly i was interested in OB.. nothing ever stays the same and people are always changeing, things happen that make people detached and things happen that make a person care more.... and the problem does not only lie with new grads.... what about the burnouts?

like i said earlier i choose this profession for a selfless reason but i have other agendas as well, and feeding my kids is one of them..... for everyone who judges nurses who look uninterested how do you know that that is how they really are, i heard one of you say that they feel like they are in an acting role and can be who the patient needs you to be..... well how do you know that those who look uninterested arent acting as well as a defence mechanisim? maybe they care to much and dont want to bring how they are feeling to there family? or maybe they just dont want to burn out and instead stay detached so there judgement does not get cloudy? who knows because unless you walk in there shoes you do not know what that persons motives are or why they do it. you can only speculate which is exactly what you are doing, nursing judgement does not include being judgemental against nurses..... I have had alot of medical problems and from expierence as the pt i have noticed that those with the higher calling are the ones who burn out and give horrible pt care.......mainly because they dont leave work at work.... i dont care who you are, everybody has the right to choose which ever career they want for what ever reason they want.... and if they are taking care of there pts to the best of there ability then who is to judge them? and if you wanna be with others like you for the higher calling and the passion and your not worried about they paycheck go work at a free clinic for little to no pay, to help those who cant even afford quality medical care and prove yourselve.... until then stop being judgemental and trying to call people out until you have walked a day in there shoes and actually know what you are talking about.

as my instructor says,"worry about yourself and what you are doing not what others are doing, its your licenss and no one else can loose it except for you"

You are experiencing the school v. real world shock. I hope you can hang on your commitment to selfless ideals and still become employed. Know your limits and stay within them. Best of luck.

On a related note: Maybe some of the rot in the hospital/health care system is starting to come to the surface? Dr. Mark Midei Faces Suits Over Cardiac Stents - NYTimes.com

funny, some of the best nurses i've ever been around will tell you they are in it for the money..or buying time for something else. i talking really sharp nurses that have helped save many a near dead pt. i guess some folks just have the knack wheather they are in it for the right reasons or not. go figure...

I just found this blog so haven't read all of the comments.
When I was younger (and stupider) I really thought there was no higher calling than being a Registered Nurse. I was proud to be in nursing school, but the reality of nursing and shiftwork put a strain on my young brain (I was too young when I first started & on my relationship then) so I quit.
Years later I thought I was mature etc & wanted to go back to finish my degree. I just HAD to, to prove to myself I could do it. I pondered over this a lot b4 deciding. I talked to a family member who was a nurse, her sisters too, to everyone about it. Everyone - and I do mean everyone - said nursing will be a great career, you will earn good money, you can do extra study, u can get a mortgage and a new car, etc. But doing nursing & being older is very hard. My last 6 week clinical (with no pay at all and shiftwork AND working as well to support myself) very nearly killed me. I was sick for about 2 months afterwards, sicker than I've ever been, and my endometriosis flared up which was awful to say the least.
I think the public have this wonderful vision of nursing, though most don't want to do it. They think we get fantastic money (my own Dr said this to me not long ago), that we all have mortgages, new cars, live in trendy apartments & are all wonderfully caring human beings!
I used to quite often get called a 'bum wiper' - that was how nurses were perceived. I probably would have enjoyed nursing more maybe if I had finished it when I was younger, but who knows? Now, I just feel like I wasted a lot of time and I have no life due to shiftwork. I can't get permanent work at the moment, HATE dayshift more than any other shift (even nightshift is better), my shifts get cancelled, and I am renting. I am in debt up to my eyeballs, can't pay my bills, and have cut down as much as I can. I will have to move AGAIN to try & get permanent work, which I don't know how I will afford as our gov't does nothing, NADA to help out with nursing shortages in the outback. Maybe I will just sell my car.
So I'm glad someone still gets a buzz from nursing. Cos I wish when I was young that someone had sat me down & convinced me not to spend my hard earned savings on a degree that has basically done nothing for me. And now I'm getting bored with the whole nursing thing - a lot of it is just politics and kowtowing to rich patients. All I can see for my future is getting more sore feet, more aches in my joints, and still having no life whilst kowtowing to some of these pathetic, overweight people who need a good kick up the bum, even though I currently work at a pretty good hospital.
I am getting out in the next year and studying something completely different. I'm going to study something I WANT to do, not what I feel I have to do.
I would really strongly recommend to any students reading this that you DO NOT choose nursing as a career. It is NOT guaranteed work, and getting experience is extremely difficult in Oz at least. Choose something else with a wide scope of practice, & try to train for as many different jobs as you can.
Please, please don't do nursing. I really do not think it is all worth it, and it's overrated by many people who aren't even nurses, and by some who are.

These are such incredible words..I do not know who you are, but captured the essence of my feelings. As I read it, I felt goosebumps to hear another person express so perfectly and capture the true meaning of a nurse...

Music to my ears!
I am new to allnurses.com and I am currently working on my pre-req's to enter a nursing program. And to hear you speak the way you do regarding your career, motivates me! Can't wait to start nursing school- although haven't found a school yet. But i am looking forward to helping people! I love good customer service and I love helping people. Awesome post- and don't loose faith, I'm sure people using nursing as a quick fix offends you, but don't forget their some of us that are good out there!

Greeting from Chicago!

Happy Holidays!

I.Avitia

When I was first considering nursing school, my nurse friends advised me to go into "computers, or something," instead. Of course, I didn't heed that warning, and now I'm a nurse, and we've gone to computer charting, and I'm spending half my life on those $%%^&**#@! machines.

Nothing in the quoted post is untrue. Every prospective nurse should read it, or one of the many, many posts like it. I don't concur with the closing advice (Please don't do nursing) but I can't deny that it is both a wonderful and a horrible career. All jobs have downsides. That's why they are called work. If it was all fun, all the time, we'd have to pay them to let us do them. But the downsides in nursing can be heart-breaking and soul crushing.
There will be times when nothing you can do is good enough. There will be times we doing good enough means fighting the system, the docs, and even the patient, and when you manage a good outcome in spite of all the forces arrayed against you, no one even notices. There will be times when everything goes exactly as it should, and the patient dies anyway. There will be times when everyone blames you, and times you blame yourself. There will usually be more things that need done than you can do, and someone writing nasty letters because you were slow to fluff their pillow, or didn't do it cheerfully enough.
Nursing is hard. The pay is so-so. Flexible hours mean you get to work Christmas. There actually is more security than in many fields, but the opportunities to lose your job and even your license are myriad.

There are, of course, rewards. If you choose, you can get your week in in three shifts. The pay is better than a lot of jobs. Sometimes you can make a real difference in someone's life. Sometimes you can make a bad time a little better. Once in awhile, you can participate in a miracle. I've said repeatedly that I don't think nursing has to be a holy vocation, but I think you do need to evaluate carefully whether these intangible rewards are important to you, because, as the OP states, if you're just in it for the money, there are better ways to make money.

Oh, and if you're really lucky (like me) you get the privilege of working with people who do a hard job every day (or night) because they love what they do. Which is no small thing. I've said I'm a life-long bachelor because I've always been attracted to strong, intelligent, independent women (who won't put up with my crap), but at work I am surrounded by strong, intelligent, independent women (and a few guys) and when I go home, I can throw my socks on the floor if I want to.

Nursing is (can be) a great career.