RN Nursing- Should I?

Paris · Apr 26, 2002

Give it a try.

MollyJ · Apr 27, 2002

Hi Paris,

If you just read a lot of the threads you may well get a sense of what nurses do.

I also would recommend http://www.nursingprofession.com a web site put up by the national league for nursing.

Nurses are educated at the 2, 3 or 4 year level and Registered Nurses primarily assess, plan, implement and evaluate the care of patients/clients experiencing deviations in health in a wide range of phenomena. Nursing can occur at the bedside of acutely ill patients but also in the community. One of the advantages of a good nursing program is that it should equip you with a broad range of knowledge to function at an entry level in a wide range of settings.

In the hospital environment, typical nursing activities include:

*Assessing the current status of a patient (physical, mental emotional etc) in order to provide patient specific care

*giving medicines and titration of medicines in certain environments (some patients will require minute to minute management of medicines in order to maintain homeostasis)

*providing for functions they can not provide for themselves including turning, toileting, feeding, airway management;

*Providing a safe environment

*teaching the patient and his family about his disease and self-care

*wound care

*evaluating and recognizing critical parameters and working with physicians to intervene appropriately on them

*the ability to multl-task

*safe administration of medicines including oral, iv and intra-muscular injection routes

*the ability to accept and work with a wide range of personalities and to communicate effectively

*the ability to take on responsibility (gradually acquired in school)

*willingness to be highly accountable

*joy of working with the human animal

this is a partial listing.

I have been a nurse for nearly 24 years. I have been able to work in a variety of settings and meet some really neat people. Nurses are pretty nice people and you better hope they are since hospital nurses spend more holidays with their work colleagues than their families.

I personally recommend the BSN for maximum career mobility but you will find that that is highly debated in literally hundreds of threads.

Good luck!

susanmary · Apr 27, 2002

If you are in high school, see if your guidance counselor can set you up at various hospital(s)/unit(s) to job shadow nurses. There are so many different types of nursing -- you need to check out the options before you rule nursing in/out. Follow a school nurse, visiting nurse, hospital nurse, etc.

Do you like science? You'll be studying alot of it. Are you committed? You will need to be to succeed in school and in nursing.

#1 advice I can give you is to job shadow, talk to nurses you know about the pros/cons -- but ultimately, you need to follow your heart and do what is right for you. Best of luck to you.

NurseDennie, BSN, RN · Apr 27, 2002

At the risk of being vain, take a look at my web page. It kind of gives you an idea of what that ONE type of nursing is.

Hope you'll go for it.

Love

Dennie

nursing 101 · Apr 27, 2002

your web page is nice, nurse Dennie...

Gave me a real look at things...

Paris · Apr 29, 2002

Thanks for the advice. I'm finnished High School and currently working at a Law Firm. What is job shawdowing nurses? How do you do that? I'm starting school this summer to get a start on my pre-recs. Thanks for the help!

:)

Cindy_A · Apr 29, 2002

Paris,

I think it would be a good idea to be a CNA. I think that really helps, because many things you learn in the first year of nursing are CNA skills. Plus, I think if you don't like being a CNA, you won't like being a nurse.

Paris · Apr 29, 2002

What is a CNA?