Getting into Nursing Just to Get a JOB!!

I love that post Virgo, RN, Its so true. I would rather have someone who knows what they are doing, than someone who just feels like they were "born to nurse" but are lacking the intelligence. I don't think anyone is a "born nurse". We all go to school, and yes, nursing qualities can be taught. I entered nursing school to get my R.N., and was not sure what I wanted to be, but chose nursing because there are always jobs available, and the pay is sufficient to support my family. No, it was not my "life-long dream", but who cares? I will be an excellent nurse anyway. I am set graduate in a few months, and I love nursing now.

Other field unite, unionize (which I'm not particularly advocating for...but that's another thread), and advocate for themselves without being of the "same" personality. We're a diverse bunch and that's a strength that should be utilized. Compassion and nuturing take on different forms based the parties involved. Culture, personal experience, personality, etc. look different coming from different people, and are interpreted differently by different people. Nurse A can be bed 1's favorite and bed 2's nightmare even if both patients are treated with the same amount of compassion. Nursing is a very difficult field to quantify because of this, therefore it's difficult for nurses to go to management and say, "I did XYZ and so I should get a raise." (as opposed to, say, insurance sales). Not every single person would be happy as a nurse, but those of us who chose nursing (for whatever reason, I'm in the "Do your job" mindset) would be happier and able to provide better care for our patients if we did a better job of banding together.
Nursing schools require good grades to get in (not amazing grades however), but that doesn't mean that all nursing school students should have a certain type of personality. There are tests that measure your personality objectively (http://www.careertest.net/cgi-bin/q.pl happened to take this today), but just because someone doesn't have a "nurse" personality doesn't mean they don't belong at the bedside as a nurse. Emotional intelligence tests are an interesting idea. I think a class or two in conflict management should be required for nrsg school. I think attempting to quantify someone's level of compassion or emotional intelligence is difficult, and requiring only those that "passed" in could be detrimental to a field that treats patients from all walks of life.

I am a male nurse , I do not believe many of us dreamed as children of being a nurse , but I have worked with many compassionate , empathetic male nurse . I enterred nursing , simply because that is where the journey of life led me , it has allowed me to live on two continents ,travel around the world , to have an income that supports my familly . So bottom line I view nursing as a job in which , I have to be pragmatic and balance , is nursing meeting my needs ? and am I meeting the needs of my patients ?, when I no longer can answer yes to both those questions I will leave nursing .

I personally never even considered the thought of being a nurse. I can recall being 4 years old and someone asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up and my response was a hair stylist. I cruised through beauty school and was a cosmetologist for 15 years. I still do hair in my spare time. My mom had been scheduled a simple tubal ligation, an outpatient procedure, she would be home by noon (about the time I would be getting up after working late night shift at a carry out and being in beauty school). Things didn't go as planned, there was some sort of problem in the operating room. She died on the table and they brought her back when they finally realized she had died. Yeah, it turns out the equipment wasn't up to par and monitors weren't working properly. When she came out of surgery, the doctor told our family that he wanted to keep her "over night" for observation. (A rational person would think that would mean that she would be fine and good to go home the following day, right?) Nope, she was moved to ICU and was on a respirator, had monitors all over the place, tachycardia (190-200 bpm) We demanded that she be transferred to a hospital that had a neuro intensive care unit. They couldn't life flight her because of an ice storm so they had to ambulance her there, about 45 minutes away. She remained in a persistent vegetative state for 17 years in a nursing home before she finally died and was at peace. During those years I saw many bad nurses and some good nurses as well. After seeing how literally stupid some of those nurses were I decided that I would go to nursing school so I could take care of her. Unfortunately two days before I started my final semester of the nursing program she died and it was only because of the education that I had been getting that I knew she wouldn't make it to see me graduate. I knew that she would die before I could start the final semester. The doctors and all who were in the OR that tragic day have long since quit, retired, or were fired from their jobs. The part that gets me is that because people are only interested in covering their own a$$es and they won't tell us what actually happened in the OR. I guess it's like going to Vegas right, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens in the OR stays in the OR. I was even told that in nursing school. I, for some reason that I don't even know, decided to look at my moms abdomen that first night after "surgery" when she was moved to the new hospital, and there wasn't even a mark on her. They tried telling us that the incisions were in her umbilicus. Ummm, hello that isn't even possible. In 1991 when they did that surgery laparoscopic surgeries were fairly new and even today I don't believe that a laparoscopic surgery can be performed through incisions only in the umbilicus.

Anyway, as Mother's Day approaches, I am reminded that I do not have one, incompetent people who were or were not called into nursing, surgery, anesthesiology took her away.

I agree with alot that was said in the previous postings, however, my problem is the waiting lists that are being created most recently due to the overwhelming number of applicants (people who have a "calling" or not) trying to get into nursing school. I am on a waiting list and have been trying to apply to other schools but am facing the same porblems, they want you to come in and test and then be placed on a waiting list because of so many applicants, whereas a couple years ago, it may have been nothing to apply and get right in.

Guilty right here. If McDonalds or sweeping floors offered the same job security, salary, and flexible schedule then I would be doing one of those instead.

I think the people who worry most about the intentions of those going into nursing are a lot of times people who didn't make the grade in the competitive admissions of nursing school these days. Personally I worry about what people do, not what they think or what their intentions are.

Me too. When oil went south in the early 80s I went into nursing because the training was free and I knew I would never be without a job and keep my fingers.

I recognize that nursing has made me into a more emphathetic, nice individual, BUT has also paid the bills.

Each to his own,however due to the high stress level,crazy patient acuity,physical demands,disrespect,no-so great pay,other risks it is hard for me to imagine why on earth someone with complete lack of interest,no people skils choose nursing profession,seriously.

I think it would be better to sit behind the desk sipping on coffee and flipping the pgs of victoria secret catalog.

Are you kidding? I'm sorry but you cant get brain stimulation from working at mcdonalds.

Nursing is hard and office jobs are not? I can tell you that a lot of people would disagree with that. There may be some easy office jobs out there, but good luck finding one, especially one that pays as well as an RN gets paid.