Survey: Would you encourage your child to become a nurse?

Never
I would encourage soemthing like computers or engineering
not enough pay and respect.
In fact I so much as would not even halep them attend college for nursing.

In August I completed an 8 wk refresher course to make my LPN license active after being out for 6 years. I had such high hopes about returning to nursing. Then, in my second week for my clinical rotation I worked with my instructor for 5 hours on a post-op unit, took an hour break, then went to class for 4 hours. On the 2 hour drive home I cried I was in such physical pain. My neck, back, knees, feet... you name it, it HURT. In five hours I sat down once for about 5 minutes. My instructor walked a mile-a-minute and I once joked to her and asked if we could stop for fluids. I had to steal away just to grab a sip of water! Mind you, I am no couch potato... I run a very busy and demanding assisted living facility and sometimes work 16+ hours there, plus singlehandedly raise two very active boys! I grudgingly finished the course knowing that there was no way I was going back into hospital nursing.

As much as I hate nursing for myself, I would encourage my daughters to become nurses if they showed an interest. The profession does have problems-true, but don't they all. I was told by many people as a child the 'it takes a special person to be a nurse' I believed this then and i still do, and if the two special people I've had the privledge of raising wanted to be nurses, I say we will be a better profession because of them and 'God bless us every one'

My mother is a nurse, and discouraged me for years from going into the proffession. After several false starts in college pursuing other degrees and a few dead end jobs later, I'm everything she wished I wouldn't be, an RN! Admittedly I'm very new to the field, but loved most of my clinicals, and am looking foward to a long career in nursing. I think it's just in some people's blood. My mother is beginning to realize this, and is now O.K. with it. And yes, I would encourage my children to be anything they wanted to be.

If one of my sons wanted to enter nursing school, I would not try to prevent it. My boys know what kind of hours I put in and how tired I can be at the end of the day. But they also know that I get great satisfication from seeing patients get better. I love to see what medicine and nursing can do for people. Plus, there are so many avenues of nursing you can choose today. I agree with the poster who said that better things are coming for nurses due to the nursing shortage we are experiencing. Nurses are going to be in great demand, and we will have the bargaining power for once. We just need to stick with it a little longer. As the part for no respect, I really sense the opposite. Sure I get the "I could never be a nurse because of all the disgusting things you see, do" but I also the the opposite response. I have had more people tell me they admire me for being a nurse because they know they couldn't deal with what comes with nursing. My own husband has told me that and he operates a dairy farm in which he treats a lot of the cows himself!! There are pros and cons to every job. Some teachers now are afraid to go to school because the kids are toting guns and knives. I think policemen and firefighters are self explainatory. So, it just depends on how you look at the situation.

Hi everyone,

I will encourage my children(4 of them)to be whatever they want to be. So far, none of them have expressed a desire to become a nurse. If one of them does, I will encourage them. I love what I do, and have always wanted to be a nurse. My thoughts are that you could made a great deal of money, but if you don't like what you do, then why bother? While I would like more money, who wouldn't, I lvoe what I do. And while some nights suck, this happens at every job. I rather be paid what I'm paid and enjoy what I'm doing, and that's what I try to instill in my children. Enjoy what you do cause you gotta do for a long time.

Have a good one,
Sue

Yes, I would encourage my children, as well as others, to become nurses. Nursing is a very noble profession, but if all you "see" in nursing is "negativity", then nursing is not for you just like any other profession. I went through college to become a nurse while raising three daughters, and today one of them is a nurse. Two out of three of my daughters became medics in the military, got out, and continue to work in the medical field (the one of the two is the nurse I mentioned). My third daughter is in college now, still contemplating med school as she goes along. I've worked many different hours, shifts, and days as a single mom, but enjoyed them all. For the past four years, I've been on somewhat of a "medical sabbatical", have written two books, and am looking to submit manuscripts and articles to different editors of nursing magazines for publication. I am also activating my nursing license to return to school, possibly become a nursing instructor (I taught nursing assistant students before and loved it). Nursing is wonderful! It's not the caring of patients that becomes tedious (to me), but the glob of red tape, hospital policies and regulations, JACHO, "paper pushers" on staff constantly pushing paperwork at nurses to have filled out by a certain deadline (usually to "protect the hospital and not the nurses who are actually caring for all the patients), and a few of the doctors nurses have to work with who think they created heaven and earth, so have the right to "dehumanize" nurses. I have granddaugthers now who are very little now, but if they wanted to become nurses one day, they will have my blessings, but I will fill them in on the hard work required. If your number one asset as a person is to "help others", then you have the type of character to work with people. If your number one asset is based on "$$$$", then nursing is not the business for you. In nursing, "people compassion" must rank above "love for money". Just my opinion, and let me now say, I certainly respect each opinion posted here, and can readily see why each person perceives nursing the way they do. The same experience may affect people in many different ways, that's what's so nice about being who we are. No one else can duplicate each individual "you". A "copy" is never the same as the "true original" in anything, so just teach your children to do what they love, and to love what they do based on "their own inner feelings" about their chosen path in life.

I don't have any kids right now. When I do I would not encourage them to be nurses but I would support them in whatever they desired to do. I have only been a RN for about 6 months and I am already thinking twice about whether this is really what I want to do. My college life has been nothing but stress and books. And now that I am working part-time while I go on work is just as stressful. My mom used to work as an LPN and I've been around the medical field a lot growing up but I never thought it would be this hard and stressful. For the responsibiltiy we have and the work we do, we deserve a lot more money. But money isn't the only thing, respect is lacking also. People don't realize what all nurses do. Becuase of all this nursing would not be the top profession I would want my kids to choose.

I would,

#1) if they were the type of person/character to make a good nurse.

#2) let them know the good, bad and ugly about the profession... no fairy tales.

#3) make sure they could learn about any profession/trade they are interested in to make an informed choice.

When I went into nursing 24 years ago I had high ideas of helping people. I had been in the Army as a medic and felt that I could make a difference in the health care a saw being delivered. After 24 years as a nurse I have come to the conclusion that If the Administration has set low standards for care, that is what will altimently be delivered. A good nurse soon gets worn down and has to take short cuts or suffer the scorn and riticule of fellow nurses on the ward. The administation writes you up as not being a Team Player and fellow nurse will not work with you becouse "You take to long and spend to much time comforting you patients, just give them the meds and let someone else deal with their problems". I did not want my daughter to have her enthusiasm dampened by some of the Head Nurses I have had to deal with.