Would you recommend nursing to your daughter?

[burn out]

My daughter is 17 and graduating this spring and plans on going to college this fall. She has expressed a desire to go into nursing but I really have a problem encouraging her to do this. I don't know if it is just the mother in me that wants her to go on to something else or if I just don't want to see her emptying bedpans and taking the crap we have to. She is so young and shy I am afraid she will be eaten alive. AM I being to overprotective or should I be more supportive and encourage her even if I think it is a mistake?

[Nelly0602]

After reading through these posts and recently reading an article that said 50% of nurses were unhappy...I am just wondering, what are some of these horrible things that nurses experience. I have heard no respect from doctors, too many patients...but does anyone have any specific examples? I am a naturally hyper person who detests being bored, I crave social interaction, and I love challenging myself. I also desire a flexible schedule as I am a true "sprinter" and I like change (if that makes sense)I am trying to figure out if I want to leave my lonely,lots of driving, constant quota pressure 90k a year sales job that I hate to pursue nursing school. I guess the grass is always greener, no? *sigh*

[insightful]

I agree that nursing does have a lot of different types of careers. I am a nurse with 35 years of experience and have had several different careers in nursing from a school nurse to a hospital director. My problem with the nursing profession is still the lack of respect for the profession by non-nurses.

I have a Master's degree and often have doctors ask me why I was "just a nurse".....does that sound like respect for the profession? By the way, my response to this is that a nurse can never be too educated - a good nurse is an intelligent nurse.

So again, I still say that I would advise my daughter against the nursing profession. Nursing is very hard work, poor hours, poor working conditions, poor pay, and little respect.

[djc1981]

It's hard to swallow that everyone is whining about poor pay and what an awful job it is. Tell it to the single mother who is a waitress making minimum wage that. Two years of training and people easily bring in 50K+. Stop moaning about how hard your life is! You have it better than most people (ave. income in US is much less). People need to realize how lucky they are to have a higher education and comfy job.

[wilbur's mom]

I have raised two very self actualized daughters, both married. One a Language Arts teacher, one an office manager for a huge business. I am a nurse. It is NOT what I do, it is what I am and I truly love my job. I have been a nurse for 30 years and worked 2-3 perdiem positions for 20 years to be able to have some control over when I would be able to be home with my kids as much as possible. In a fleeting but very warm mother/daughter moment I asked them both why they had never considered going to nursing school. Their answers surprised me. Because I was "always working the weekends", because I "was never home in the night when they woke up and needed me", because I "was always working on Christmas or Christmas eve, when they wanted me home", because I "got called in to work, (on nurse pay with no benefits you can imagine how many days I went in for the "extra" :angryfire money), and wasn't home as they had expected 'cause I had said I would be home when they got home from school". And lastly, they said they saw how hard I worked, and how tired I got, for so little pay. I was just forced to give up a job I loved because our pay for necessary paperwork time was cut out of the budget, and we had been earning 22cents an hour less than the LPNs who worked perdiem. I refused to take it anymore. And it broke my heart, cause change is tough. And I ended up with a better job in a better place. So my answer, I did recommend nursing to my daughters, and would have to a son... but the evidence of so much of what is wrong... a critical nationwide nurse and nurse faculty shortage... is speaking for itself.

[silver0980]

My mother encouraged me to go into Nursing. I was originally an OT major. Looking back, i think the switch was a positive one. Do I regret it? No, i dont. But being a nurse is not without Sacrifice....and theres a lot of it.

My mother recently tried to convince my sister to become an RN. She is a massage therapist at the moment. I had to intervene, and told my sister absolutely not. ....the profession has become too brutal.

I'm tired....and its only been 5 years. I'm tired of working christmas, im tired of never being able to have a life because my hours are always changing. I'm tired of stuck up md's yelling at me for stupid things because they're on a power trip. I'm tired of all the back-stabbing crabby women I work with.

I have been Hit, bitten, bruised. My neck hurts because my pts in the icu are bedbound and 300 pounds. Proper body mechanics.....thanks. I wrestle these patients to stay in bed. I talk to the billion family members that walk in the door. I make sure the dr's are doing their jobs and treating what needs to be treated. And I am just exhausted by all of it.

As far as respect...i dont feel nurses have enough. We have loads of responsibility, and the overwhelming paperwork to back up every minute of it. Most doctor's do appreciate us, and most patients and their families too, but its the few that do not, that makes it twice as hard.

I recently had a patient who mouthed to me over her trach..."You dont care about me, you're just in this for the money." I looked at her and said , "i do care, and If all I wanted was money, i could certainly do a lot better than this."

Can i recommend it to others? depends on what they're looking for, but it takes immense strength of character. There is a reason there is a shortage. its going to take some changes to change that around, because i cant in good conscience encourage anyone to go into it.

[teiladay]

100% ABSOLUTELY NOT !! * Unless * it was nursing as a Nurse Practitioner in a nice outpatient clinic (or the like) or Nurse Anethetist. Those nursing jobs are about the ONLY type of nursing that I would recommend.

To be honest, I'd recommend my son or daughter(s) to go to medical school, before I uttered the word "nursing". It doesn't make sense to me to encourage a child to take up a job where you're on your feet putting up with crap (literally and figuratively) for 45k.. when they could have their education work for them and have more options (both professionally and monetarily) as a physician commanding 250k and upward per annum.

Heck, even an MBA grad from a so-so school, sitting in an aircond. office, working 9-5 daily typically makes more than a nurse working crazy hours, putting up with patients... and I'm suppose to recommend that over other occupations that pay more, are probably more fulfilling, and have better hours? (shaking head "no")

I also sure as heck wouldn't recommend a job to my daughter that I wouldn't think of recommending to my son. And my son (nor daughter) will be doing bedside nursing in this lifetime if I have anything to do with it..

I think *most* (obviously not all) males wouldn't think of entering the nursing profession's traditional nursing jobs, because they quickly do a pay vs. how-much-bs-i-have-to-put-up-with analysis, and quickly come to the reasonable conclusion that not even remotely considering bedside nursing is a no brainer.

Recommend to my daughter or son, to get an RN so she can go the anesthesia route if they didn't want to spend the time in med. school? You betcha!

Recommend to my daughter or son, to get RN, continue through school and get NP and head for the nearest clinic in the Valley? You betcha!

Recommend to my daughter or son, to get RN, to work at the community or county hospital to make 45k per year, crazy hours, have basically no autonomy or professional "say-so", and have to put up with self important, crabby nurses who feel they know as much or "almost as much" as a physician... (((rolling eyes)))..

Not in this lifetime! Hell would freeze over twice and turn to ice cream before I'd let that happen to my kids!

Thats just my take, my view, and my decision. I respect however whatever decision, and scholastic training, you have and or provide for your kids.

[nurseinlimbo]

sgts

the problems I have had with management include being passed over for a position when I have worked in a facility 3 yrs prn, and a brand new hire, not even orientated, got it. That has happened here twice since I started, once to me. Another manager was directly involved in the bullying and encouraged staff to do so.

Manager of the OR called me in once a week to let me know what a poor job I was doing, which was certainly not conducive to a positive learning environment in a very diverse and complicated learning curve. Set me up with scenarios she knew I would fail in, and then would belittle and degrade me.

Current manager in LTC fudges paperwork when people get hurt on the job so that they do not qualify for compensation, but then brags about the "683 days with no lost time" record. We all work OT whether we want to or not, and she doesn't even try to hire staff. Often books 2 RNs by mistake and then sends one home without pay. I could go on and on.

I haven't met a single manager yet who I would say operates in a neutral, professional objective way.

[mamalle]

no, sad but true... I will not for either of my children

[rninchrist]

YES!!!!!!!!!! I would and have recommended NURSING for both my children......the first one wants no part of it..........the second one wants to be a doctor.....go figure....she is still young......11 years old.

But, seriously.......I recommend Nursing as much as I recommend parenting....LOL!!!

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

If my children wished to pursue nursing I would gladly encourage and help them achieve their goals. There are a lot worse things in life to be and there are a lot of jobs with far less security, pay, and benefits. I am still a new nurse, but I am a middle aged person. I have worked many jobs in my life and nursing ranks in the top third of my experiences. If my children want to pursue higher education I will jump up and down, as it stands now they are lazy teenagers, I can't imagine them picking up their laundry, much less a college application. I have days where I want to quit nursing, but I think part of that is my emotions/exhaustion and another part is the steep learning curve of being a new grad in intensive care.

I am having a good experience with my nursing job. I am at a pedi hospital with a low turnover rate that is about 95% staffed. My employers go out of their way to let us know they appreciate us, they have given us movie tickets during times of high census, gift certificates for coming in during inclement weather, and trinkets here and there as little thank yous. Many of the nurses in my unit have been there 20+ years and they think that the new nurses are too chewy to be edible, so no eating of the young.

I know from talking to other nurses and reading on allnurses that I am lucky. I know that there is a nursing shortage for a reason.

[Nani1234]

I would recommend nursing to my son and daughter alike. The opportunities are amazing whether a nurse stays at the bedside or chooses to take a different path. And talk about job security .... It's distressing to see so many negative responses.

[sunshines66, BSN]

I do not have children but a younger cousin was interested in going into nursing. I talked to her a lot about what nursing really is and thankfully she decided not to pursue nursing. I do like being a nurse but I think a lot of the crap that goes into nursing on a daily basis, can turn someone off easily. If she would have chosen nursing despite what I told her, I would have tried to be supportive and help her any way I could.