Would you encourage someone who was considering nursing school?

It takes a caring, competent individual to be a nurse. If someone considered going to nursing school, I would only encourage them wholeheartedly if they felt that was their calling. I have no patience for people who are in it "for the money." Nursing is not "just a job," it's a career.

Your are so right, especially in the critical care areas.

What NA?

This is the problem with the profession. We are not respected as being professionals with a set of skills that are worth reimbursing. We wouldn't tell a lawyer to disregard money? Good pay attracts the best. That's been proven. The historical roots of the nursing profession in the realm of religion is part of the problem. We are expected to be martyrs. We 'shouldn't' be in it for the money. Why can't we be in it because we enjoy it AND because of the money?

Keep your teaching liscense current. It comes in handy later. One of the hardest positions to fill is a nursing instructor. Your nursing degree plus your teaching certification, especially secondary and beyond, will work for you.

As an educator going into nursing at a rather mature age, I can tell you than many nursing instructors do not see themselves as facilitators of the learning process. For me, it was more or less, here's the material. Learn it yourself and then see if you can guess what the focus will be. Very poor teaching strategies in general.

Nursing is a job. A nurse is a professional with a set of skills and many experiences for which he/she should be well compensated. That does not make that person 'in it for the money'. There a very few of us who can call their jobs their vocations instead of their jobs and careers. There is a big difference here. A vocation is VERY different from a job or a career. Also, 'the calling' for this profession brings to mind the aforementioned religious roots of the profession. This is propaganda, pure and simple. Corporate America, and nursing is part of corporate America, would not look at a group of chemists and ask, 'Who among you is called to this profession?' If you believe all that, I've got some waterfront property in Arizona to sell you.

I work on an adult rehabilitation unit, which primary gets neurologically impaired patients many of which are confused. Consequently I often run into sitters and volunteers on my unit looking to enter nursing or healthcare in some form. Those entering nursing I often encourage if I feel they would fit well in the field. I do tend to go out of my way to help introduce them to the wonderful world of human excrement whenever possible. I consider it a little hazing to see if they have what it takes to get to the serious stuff down the line. Getting past the gross parts helps people see the bigger picture and focus on the patient. Also it's fun to watch them squirm a little. :-)

For example I had a patient who was a moderate TBI and would paint with his feces if you didn't watch him closely. So I enter the room with the call light on, the sitter looking to enter nursing informs me in a shocked stammer, that the patient is playing with his own poop. I look to my patient who has succeeded in painting himself, the bed rails and linens fairly completely a nice light brown. Obviously this sitter wasn't being as attentive as she should have, so I think what a better time to test an individual! I get setup with supplies and inform the sitter to glove and gown since this will be very messy. She gives me a look of such horror and I must say I look no small enjoyment from her reaction. We then proceeded to clean everything on the bed and patient, which took easily 45 minutes. Intermittently she would make faces and once or twice a gag. I took the time to teach the sitter about the importance of skin integrity, infection control, and other safety related issues pertaining to this patient. Despite her current, sweat soaked (oh the joy of TBI's on contact isolation with poor thermoregulation) and filthy condition she soaked it up like a sponge. Later that night she even came up to me and apologized for her actions, and thanked me for showing her the importance of her role, and how she can help her patients in the future.

So I suppose even those that may be in doubt can be redeemed, all they need is a little encouragement and education.

Going to nursing school was difficult and tremendously rewarding. Being a nurse fed my soul and opened my world to being surrounded by brilliance. I have let my license lapse, for which I am sorry, and aim to get it back.

Nursing is a great job but a micturatingly poor career. Pay compression (for those of you who don't know what that means; a 20 yr nurse with a BSN gets the same pay as an diploma nurse 1 yr out of school).

Next, there is absolutely no seniority and measurable progression towards higher responsibility or advancement (pay). It is very political and unless you've done your 20 years only to be overlooked (we've all seen it in our own units-the likely candidate we wanted as the manager was overlooked for someone outside the facility...this encourages job hopping). Every mgmt job I've had, they've said they sought outside leadership versus promoting from within. Add on the one's they fire just before retirement to save money and you've seen enough. Just catty politics, really. High management side is very different; shrewd, cunning business people who also have been taught to respect nurses less than say an EMT.

I took a few years off, worked for a bank and eventually opened my own company and I cannot tell you how happy I was to have found employment outside the field. For the first time I was able to go to Asia 5 times in just over a year spending nearly 5 months, also going to Central America and Puerto Rico...just because I could! What facility with their generous 10 days vacation would allow that or pay enough to make it possible? I learned most others touring different countries were anything but nurses. They had retirement benefits, profit sharing and were enjoying their 40's and 50's (yes, many other professions enable you to retire that young if you've had enough).

Unfortunately the economy shut the fun down so I'm back to my "job" while looking for a career. Likely PhD is in the works cause there's no other escape from the pay compression. Nurses deserve more respect, benefits and stability than they get. The working conditions of some places is deplorable.

Add a large non American-imported work force while US nurses still are seeking jobs at the same time they're giving away visas for RN's from abroad and you've got a mess.

I would highly discourage anyone considering nursing as a career. Job yes but career no.

All of my high school classmates have their salaries progressing far past mine through the years with killer benefits and every nurse I know hops from job to job looking for that home with a lucky break until they retire.

Other professions can change their work environments and certainly do but they're not so legally bound balancing that tight rope of max pt load and safe, adequate care faced by lawsuits and swing shifts where statistics swoop in and start showing swing shift-errors when your brain is thrashed day/night/eve shifts in a single week cause there's no progression, no fairness.

Someone discouraged their son from going to law school in an earlier post for nursing. In 20 years, tell me which will be more rewarding, respected and what will they have to show for it? Be your own boss with no financial worries, set your own hours or have a boss who may/may not be OK, work days/nights/evenings with a huge caseload and be legally bound to providing safe and competent care while they swing your schedule to hell and back and throw your sleep cycle off so you don't know which way is up....or be an attorney.....hmmm....

I've had some awesome jobs in the past but leave that position for any reason for any length of time and start back from square 1 in most cases. The only way out is to go for that advanced degree...Masters or PhD. Those are really the only ways one can be guaranteed out of pay compression. Some place across the way has better benefits and pay and people leave without a second thought. Happens all the time.

No other job works at such an intensity for so many decades with such little and unpredictable compensation.

Nursing-good job, nonexistent career. It's unfortunate.