Hey all,
I am a senior nursing student and I am in my last semester of classes and I will graduate in April. Everything has been going okay in school so far, and I am doing well, I just feel that nursing is not what I expected it to be. I have always thought of it as a very prestigious career, but know I have almost the opposite view of it.
I had an on campus job which I enjoyed, and was involved in a lot of on campus organizations (student government, started a Dean's Advising Board, taught a review class for microbiology, etc) and am still somewhat involved. In July, I got a job as a nursing aide in a nursing home, and then in August I got a call from a hospital to become a nursing assistant on an acute rehab unit. I went PRN at the nursing home, and am now working at the hospital PRN also. I HATE IT! I hate every minute of being there. I hate 12 hour shifts, I hate the staff, and I just hate the entire environment in general. As a matter of fact, I already know I do not want to work at that hospital when I graduate, because I will be moving after graduation so that I can live closer to my fiance (we have been long distance for 3.5 years). But I feel obligated to stay there until I graduate, so I have a little experience to put on my resume when I graduate. My biggest fear is that I will not find a job after I move. And just recently, the unit manager has been forcing me to work a lot of nights to cover for a person who is on sick leave until he hires 2 new part time night shift people. And I HATE working nights. I also hate working weekends. Which of course, nurses have to do.
This whole job experience just has dashed all my hopes of nursing. All of a sudden I am tired all the time, have no motivation to study for school, I cry all the time (before work, before clinical, when I drive back to campus for the week after being back "home"), and I feel like I am on the wrong career path.
Has anybody else had a similar experience? I just don't know what to do anymore