Change of direction??

dframirez · Nov 18, 2002

I'm 2 classes away actually 5 credits away from getting an associate's in office system technology (fancy word for a secretary ha! :chuckle ) Anyway I decided that being a secretary is NOT for me. I hate being still all day in one desk. I feel like I'm missing the action somewhere. I also feel like I need more responsibility. This job is just too boring (psstt! I should be doing work instead of online) repetitious work I do not like. I have been thinking about nursing for a while....a long while...at first I didn't think about it seriously because of the thought of needles, but now I love watching ER and all these medical programs that I thought hey! this doesn't gross me out like I thought! I guess I didn't realize back then that what grossed out other people did not necesarily mean that it would gross me out and that I wouldn't be able to handle. Ever since I had my daughter I have been fascinated with the whole experience of having a baby. I would admire the nurses that worked in the ob unit and I wished I had someone to show me how to breastfeed. Even though I do not work as an ob nurse I can tell you that I already love it. Geez...After 3 years in college, I can finally say that "I now know what I want to be when I grow up!" lol :chuckle

I start my pre-req courses this spring...I'm excited!

2banurse · Nov 18, 2002

Thank you DFRAMIREZ, it is nice to know that others also feel this way. It's not like our learning the other areas are going to go to waste, we actually may have an advantage when it comes to the nonclinical duties we will have as nurses.

Good luck to you too!

ptnurse · Nov 18, 2002

You two sound like a younger version of myself. I was accepted to nursing school right out of high school, but I was not ready yet either. Went to college and got a business degree. Worked several jobs and was never really settled or satisfied. Got the nursing bug again in my late twenties and went back to school. Been nursing 13 years now. In nursing you can just go in lots of directions. It can be very exciting. However nursing is also in crisis mode now too. The stories you hear on this bb about short staffing and how dangerous it can be are true. There are true challenges to being a nurse. May I suggest that you consider completing your present majors (since you are so close to completion). Then go for nursing. With your previous degrees in place you will be more employable while you are in nursing school and you will have something to fall back on when the pitfalls of nursing send you back to this bb to rant and rave about the world of nursing. Do not wish to scare you about being a nurse. I would not do anything else for a living and I have not even thought of going back to the business world that I left. Just want to be honest about the job and offer you one humble opinion.

2banurse · Nov 19, 2002

Thanks Ptnurse, I do still plan on applying for graduation in May for my AA in Accounting, but I will also put the application in for the nursing program. Should I not get in the program next fall, I'll just go to the university and start working on my BA until the following class starts.

defib queen · Nov 19, 2002

I was one year from having a teaching degree in elem. ed. I had just become a mother and everyone said (everyone being parents, husband, in-laws who were teachers) "be a teacher, it will be great, you will be off when your daughter is off, and you will be close to her." The problem was, I always had wanted to be a nurse. I think I was "called" to be a nurse the way some say they are called to be pastors and whatnot. I knew I would be an O.K. teacher, but never a great teacher, it just wasn't there the way I knew it would be as a nurse. Not that I think I'm a great nurse, but I know I can be and really want to be. That's the difference, do what your heart tells you to do, do what will make you happy and keep your interest. I have been a nurse for four years now, some days I get really tired and fed up with the bull-crap we nurses face, but overall I do love what I do, and can't really see myself doing anything else. Good luck in your decision. I hope you come to nursing, we really need you.

dframirez · Nov 19, 2002

I'm still going to stay with my decision to become a nurse. Although I've heard horrible things being said here about nursing. I will also follow on the advice to finish my degree, but I will do so at a slower pace(so I'll be done at the end or middle of summer). It'll make me proud to graduate with honors as I have a 4.0 GPA. I'm glad that even though I choose to be a nurse these past 3 years have not been a waste as it will help me in my nursing career.

Good luck to you too 2banurse!

defib queen here I come!!!

mattsmom81 · Nov 19, 2002

"Horrible" things being said about nursing?

It's a demanding job and we encounter many horrible things but the job itself is not horrible (in most cases.) Wouldn't you prefer to go into nursing with eyes wide open?

Gotta admit I've had some horrible shifts over the years but I kept going back because the rewards are many IF your heart is in it. :)

As far as change of direction: I started out with a premed scholarship but chose to party hearty and lost my money...LOL...I was 1 of 4 kiddos and didn't feel right about asking my Dad to foot any college bills, so I enrolled in a less expensive diploma nurse school where I could live and work on hospital grounds and support myself through college.

It was a good decision. My biggest regret in nursing is I did not see my fallibility...I pushed myself too hard and injured myself too many times as a nurse. Facilities and doctors have grown used to 'pushing' us (with much success) over the generations.

Setting healthy boundaries and practicing saying 'no' should be a class in nursing school, IMO. Facilities today will push a human being way past safe limits if they can get away with it.

SmilingBluEyes · Nov 19, 2002

Got an AA in business, heading for a computer science bachelors when I decided it was not for me......nursing school was my true desire....but one I denied til I felt I had to try. No regrets here.

RN2B · Nov 19, 2002

DEFIB QUEEN...

Your post is me made over! I am also 2 semesters away from graduating with my degree in elem. education. I am now having second thoughts about my direction in college. When I was 22 I enrolled in a local jr. college for the ADN program. I was taking my first A&P class when I found out I was pregnant. My husband and I both thought it would be best for the family if I pursued a career that would be more condusive to famliy life. Well, four years later I am at a crossroads again, not that I don't love kids, I just think the prospect of teaching kids the rest of my life seems boreing! I also have a great intrest in anything medical. I have always had an overwhelming fear of contracting a fatal disease from a needle stick. I think this obsessive fear has kept me from pursuing my dream of becoming a nurse...silly huh? I come from a family full of teachers who love their "time off" but they also sometimes dream of doing something else....the grass is always greener!!! (haha)

defib queen · Nov 19, 2002

RN2B, I have found that with 12 hour shifts, I actually get more time off to be with my family than my teacher relatives do. Plus, I am not stuck at home evenings and weekends grading papers and creating new assignments.

I love kids too, even though I cannot ever see myself in a classroom situation. I still get lots of opportunities to teach children, although it is usually about illness and injury care. I have to say, the teacher training I had comes in handy, not just with pediatric patients, but for all the patient teaching I do, and I do a lot in the er. good luck, and I really hope all of you who are still deciding do come to nursing. I really cannot think of a more fulfilling profession.