Would you want your child to become a Nurse???

[myownboss]

I received an email notice from allnurses saying that I haven't logged onto the site for a long time which is true because I've been busy working a full-time job at one hospital and per diem at another. It was then I decided to take the opportunity to start a discussion that reflected a recent conversation I had with co-workers one night: would we want our children to become nurses? The response was a unanymous 'Hell NO!!' We generally were hoping that our hard work would allow our children to something 'better' and less stressful. Don't get me wrong; we enjoy our jobs and are grateful to be able to work with patients etc, but more and more, it seems like it is becoming more about saving money and charting 'correctly' to prevent law suits. At one hospital where I work, they fired the CNA's and the RN's have to do everything; that is, in addition to RN duties, we have to do I/O's, turning, cleaning post-poop, VS, EVERYTHING!!! At the other facility, as soon as humanly possible, they flex CNA's so that we end up having to do CNA-type stuff, in addition to the fingersticks, etc. Then they wonder why they have so much trouble getting people to come in when other nurses call off for 'sickness'. Also, it seems like management comes up with more and more ways to make charting more time consuming to protect the hospital from 'frivalous claims' from patients and family, etc. Of course they have staff who are paid to sit on their butts for 8 hrs/day and look for nurse charting errors, etc. They are now threatening write-ups for 'improper' charting. I told my co-workers to expect to be counseled sooner or later because we are human and dealing with 4-5 patients (in CA) AND their families. Nursing does not seem to be about patient care anymore; it seems to be about how to get the patient in and out as quickly as possible (unless they have good insurance), before they get a UTI, fall, or skin breakdown. So I ask each of you: Would you want your child to become a nurse as nursing stands now (at least in the med/surg/tele settings)????

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Sure, if that is what my child wants. I find nursing to be a wonderful career. Not without toils and troubles like most jobs.

I might suggest job shadowing first though.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

My oldest child is 12, and a while back was asked about being a nurse when she grows up. Her response: "Ummm...not gonna happen." She also says her grandma is always telling her she needs to be a doctor. "Ummm...not gonna happen." Right now she waffles between aerospace engineering and fashion design. My 9 y/o son gets this terrified look on his face if he sees a drop of blood. My 7 y/o screams if she sees one!

My 3 y/o says, "I go with you and help the hurt people. I give them medicine and Band Aid and check-a tem-per-ture." It did my heart good!

I want my children to choose paths they're passionate about and are consistent with where their talents lie. If one of them decides to be a nurse, I'll support her/him completely. At least living with me, they'd be going into it knowing full well what to expect (to the extent that one can). They know it's hard, sometimes thankless work, and that it's not about wearing a pretty white dress and cap and fluffing pillows.

[suanna]

All Depends- Do I like this child? or Do they deserve serious punishment for something that I wasn't able to complete while they were still small enough to spank/ground?

[ak2190]

Nope. I firmly believe that my children should be able to make a decent living without breaking their bodies and minds trying to fix the unfixable. One or the other is bad enough. You don't need to break both.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Yesterday on the Kindergarten playground I was standing between two young boys on the swings, one being my nephew. They were discussing amongst themselves what they wanted to be when they grow up. My nephew kept saying "CHP!!". And the other boy kept saying "A farmer!!". I asked them why and my nephew said "I want to be CHP so I can be with my Daddy when I grow up and work with him". (His Dad is a CHP). The other boy said "I want to be a farmer so I can spend time with my kids". (His dad does farming but has a second job as well).

Do you think I talked to them about how dangerous being a CHP was? Or how no one can make a living being a small family farmer anymore?

No, I'm not going to rain on anyone's parade.

Why be so vehement with kids? Let them have their dreams. Then when they get old enough to make a choice, help make it an informed choice.

Not all nursing jobs are horrible.

[ceccia]

I think my kids can make more money doing work that is easier and without the hassle I deal with daily, plain and simple. I don't want my kids to be disrespected.

exactly my feelings. hell, i think *i* deserve better as well! certainly my (hypothetical) kids, i would want better for them than being crapped on everyday (literally and figuratively).

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

Nope.

I would (strongly) encourage them to look at fields completely outside of healthcare. If they still were set on medicine or nursing, then I'd be behind them.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

My mom is a nurse [retired now] and she really, really tried to talk me out of health care. I started as a CNA because I was a low income single mom without great prospects and the nursing home that hired me paid for my training and paid me a whole $6.80/hr to start. It seemed like a fortune to me then. Mom was supportive when I decided to go to nursing school five years later, she apparently decided I had spent enough time in the trenches to know what I was getting myself into.

Many years later I still enjoy most aspects of my job, but nursing has changed so much that I am truly glad my children didn't choose this.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Not all nursing jobs are horrible.

Absolutely. This bears repeating.

I've never had a horrible nursing job, and I've had half a dozen jobs in my almost decade in nursing. And I'm not a Pollyanna, either. I'm pretty grounded. But I haven't had the experience that so many here describe - maybe it's the specialty I chose, I don't know.

[anon456, BSN, RN]

I just talked to a person at work last night who left a job of high prestige and has an advanced education. She's starting over from scratch and is currently a CNA working her way through nursing school. She says the reason she left her old job as a teacher, and then a school administrator, is because she could never leave her work at work. She was required to put in many hours at home grading papers, planning lessons, and later, dealing with required school activities, parent conferences, and that sort of thing. I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher and she loves her job but says she works way more than 40 hours a week, and during the summer she takes on extra work to pay the bills.

She said that nurses leave work at work. You clock out and go home, no papers to grade, no lessons to plan. Although we as nurses always have to work on continuing education, it's not even close to the having the blurred boundaries of work/home that other jobs have. My spouse, who is a salaried worker, brings his computer home and sometimes works for hours at home to get a project done. The higher ups don't care that it's taking more than 40 hours/week. If he does not make the deadline he will get fired. We have had vacations ruined by this. When I worked a similar desk job I remember going in on Christmas Eve one year to finish something that was delayed because of unexpected events that were not my fault. But the product was still going to be rolled out by New Years Day and it was up to me to meet my deadline on my part of the project.

So for all the bad things we talk about nursing, at least we have jobs where we can get paid a good salary, and it will always be in demand, and we have a good reputation in society, and use our brains every day, and we can clock out and go home and leave work at work. If we don't like our current job there are many other places to apply once we get a couple years of experience. If we don't like the area we work in we can make big changes while holding the same degree (for example leaving hospital nursing and doing community health, instead.)

To answer the OP's question if my child wanted to become a nurse I would say yes. I would be proud of whatever my child wanted to do, as long as they were able to get a job, contribute to society, support themselves ,and find happiness in life.

[mikethemurse, BSN, RN]

I am a second generation male nurse, my father has been a nurse for over 38 yrs, and I know (he is a man of few words) that the proudest day of his life was watching me graduate from nursing school. I have a young son now myself, and every time he plays with his toy medical kit, fixing pretend boo boos I can't lie, it makes me feel good. So to answer the question, yes I would support my son in being a third generation male in this profession, in fact I would be very proud, (I would rather he not have to work so hard to make a living as a lawyer, or hedge fund manager or the like, lol). I think we all just want the best for our children as many have already said. But it would be cool if my son wanted to be a nurse like dad and grandpa!