What if nursing doesn't work?

Nurses General Nursing

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I hate to think like this but this has been a reoccurring question: What if I truly cannot be happy with an RN/BSN degree? I'm scared to go back to college for anything completely different. I was hoping to go back to masters school next fall to start working towards an Nurse Educator degree however I feel that business might be something that interests me...what can I do to follow this but not have a complete career change??

Thank you in advanced for advice/suggestions.

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What is there to be afraid of? If you cannot be happy with your work as a nurse, your choice is to accept the unhappiness or retrain for a line of work that would suit you better.

People change careers all the time. To make the change work you do need to have a level of commitment to make it happen, the courage to take a chance and a real plan of action.

Are you living in the in-between zone of unhappy with what you are doing, but not unhappy enough to change?

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Specializes in L&D.

Have you thought about massage therapy? If nursing doesn't work for me I'll just become a stripper. Lol jk

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What is there to be afraid of? If you cannot be happy with your work as a nurse, your choice is to accept the unhappiness or retrain for a line of work that would suit you better.

People change careers all the time. To make the change work you do need to have a level of commitment to make it happen, the courage to take a chance and a real plan of action.

Are you living in the in-between zone of unhappy with what you are doing, but not unhappy enough to change?

Pretty much just that honestly. I've only been a nurse three months but already I'm starting to fear that I may not always be happy with it. I don't want to be on my feet for the rest of my life. I think I'm going to try for another year and see how I feel after that.

After hearing about what my fiance does regarding programming I might just try that lol. But I would really like to try doing nclex prep/nurse teaching because I feel like I would understand that better.

I'm in LTC right now. I tried med/surg and I wasn't fond of it. I originally wanted to be a peds nurse with rehab care but im not even sure how to start tackling that or even if I would enjoy it as much as I think I would.

I start my LTC job by myself tomorrow and I'm just not feeling very confident about it right now and my family has noticed I've not been very happy being a nurse since I graduated.

Maybe things will fall out and I'll love it! But at this point I'm just a bit unsure. Blame age, inexperience...I just hope for the best right now cause I need it to work out until I can go back to college.

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Have you thought about massage therapy? If nursing doesn't work for me I'll just become a stripper. Lol jk

Unfortunatly I enjoy what I get paid as a nurse lol. I feel I am caring and compassionate enough but its the confidence and time management that's biting me in the rear right now and I'm very nervous that it won't ever "come to me" as people have told me time and time again.

I worked my bottom off on a medsurg floor at a hospital but they never saw me "get my own routine" so just kept putting me on orientation week after week after week and I just couldn't improve. Now I'm on LTC with 16-20 patients at a time but routine meds and patients...

I very much dislike being young and inexperienced. I feel like i ask questions that I should know the answers to.

Thank you for your comment though, the last part did make me chuckle! It's been a rough day.

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

Most people do not experience complete, 100% happiness with their jobs, or any other parts of life for that matter.

If you like business side, you might think about MBA and/or opening of your own home care agency. From what I see, there is an ocean of opportunities for entrepreneurial RNs with some experience outside of hospital, and the area will only get wider as baby boomers are aging and care is shifting from hospitals to ambulatory mode. You can easily get specialization as wound care working in LTC. You can learn how to put in PICC lines and work as infusion RN. And this is only a few options.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Pretty much just that honestly. I've only been a nurse three months but already I'm starting to fear that I may not always be happy with it. I don't want to be on my feet for the rest of my life. I think I'm going to try for another year and see how I feel after that.

After hearing about what my fiance does regarding programming I might just try that lol. But I would really like to try doing nclex prep/nurse teaching because I feel like I would understand that better.

I'm in LTC right now. I tried med/surg and I wasn't fond of it. I originally wanted to be a peds nurse with rehab care but im not even sure how to start tackling that or even if I would enjoy it as much as I think I would.

I start my LTC job by myself tomorrow and I'm just not feeling very confident about it right now and my family has noticed I've not been very happy being a nurse since I graduated.

Maybe things will fall out and I'll love it! But at this point I'm just a bit unsure. Blame age, inexperience...I just hope for the best right now cause I need it to work out until I can go back to college.

Three months and you've already ruled out a vast section of nursing? Three months is not nearly long enough for an experienced nurse to have a decent understanding of a specialty, let alone a new grad.

I don't mean to be harsh, but I think that the first thing you must learn is to slow down and not expect immediate gratification. And not expect yourself to be perfect, either. All of the time, effort and money that you have put into nursing school, and after 3 months you are questioning whether you will stick with it?

Time management skills and other efficiencies take years to develop. Please give yourself more time in this new position to learn and grow without second-guessing your entire life.

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Please don't go into nursing education because you are unhappy with nursing practice. Students deserve instructors who are knowledgeable, experienced, and enthusiastic about nursing.

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Three months and you've already ruled out a vast section of nursing? Three months is not nearly long enough for an experienced nurse to have a decent understanding of a specialty, let alone a new grad.

I don't mean to be harsh, but I think that the first thing you must learn is to slow down and not expect immediate gratification. And not expect yourself to be perfect, either. All of the time, effort and money that you have put into nursing school, and after 3 months you are questioning whether you will stick with it?

Time management skills and other efficiencies take years to develop. Please give yourself more time in this new position to learn and grow without second-guessing your entire life.

It could be too that maybe clinical nursing might not be the right fit but I can't think of what I'd like to do or even how I'd get into something beyond working on a floor or in LTC.

I used to want to work on a Peds floor with rehab care-specifically Shriners. I can do charting fine, and I am caring and compassionate enough. But something's not clicking quite right and I just hope it does soon otherwise that dream is down the pipes.

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Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you aren't getting paid. If you can't cope with it, you've got to go back to school for something. Nursing is so diverse that there has got to be something out there that will work for you. Give it time. And while that time passes, enjoy the money!

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This is not a question for an anonymous forum. This is a question for your college counselor.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
It could be too that maybe clinical nursing might not be the right fit but I can't think of what I'd like to do or even how I'd get into something beyond working on a floor or in LTC.

I used to want to work on a Peds floor with rehab care-specifically Shriners. I can do charting fine, and I am caring and compassionate enough. But something's not clicking quite right and I just hope it does soon otherwise that dream is down the pipes.

You're missing the point. You are 3 months - THREE MONTHS!! - into a career that took you years to achieve. You have no basis AT THIS POINT to even begin to determine what may or may not be "the right fit."

This sentence:

"But something's not clicking quite right and I just hope it does soon otherwise that dream is down the pipes."

makes me want to bang my head against a wall. Immediate gratification happens with ice cream cones or what you want for dinner. This is your career that you have invested years of education. For the love of Pete, at least give it a year!

And during that year, think about the rest of your life. Some things in life (the good things) take time! And effort! And TIME!

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