Do You Regret Nursing School?

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Hi everyone

After earning a BS in another field, I decided to give nursing a try and went back for my BSN. After one year, I dropped out due to burnout working as a CNA and hearing negative comments about nursing. All I ever wanted to do in nursing was become a NICU nurse. I am in grad school for physical therapy now, and I wonder if I made a mistake. I don't want to go back to nursing school only to decide it is not for me...again, seeing as I would be losing a lot of money.

So, my question is, does anyone regret becoming a nursing student? Looking back on their schooling choices, do you wish you pursued something else?

Specializes in Adult Med-Surg, Rehab, and Ambulatory Care.

More than one person has posted my thought: I don't regret it at all, I just wish I'd done it sooner!

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Yup, I sure do. Not because I dislike the job, but because there aren't any jobs and it will only get worse. I'm too intelligent to believe the lies about it being a cycle-thing.

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Specializes in acute care.

Nope, I wish I went to Nursing school sooner because I probably would be at my dream job right now. Even though my current job is not my dream job, after getting that coveted one year exp (and my one year is quickly approaching) I have a better chance of getting closer and closer to my dream job.

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I refuse to be in denial and wait around for a dream job. I guess I'm more of a realist.

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I'm in my fourth semester, graduating in June, and plan to enter an RN-BSN bridge program right after while (hopefully) working. I don't regret it all, in fact it's the best thing I ever did with my life. There is nothing I'd rather do than be a nurse. I know it's been hard for new grads to find jobs, but I'd much rather be an unemployed new nurse looking for a job than what I was before (a corporate zombie with an unrelated BA degree). I did not take on any debt or financial hardship to go to nursing school, so that may play a role in my lack of regret, but there are precious few things in my life besides nursing that I've ever felt so sure about.

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Yup, I sure do. Not because I dislike the job, but because there aren't any jobs and it will only get worse. I'm too intelligent to believe the lies about it being a cycle-thing.

Why do you assume it will only get worse?

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Specializes in acute care.
I refuse to be in denial and wait around for a dream job. I guess I'm more of a realist.

Life is what you make it. Negativity never got me anywhere. And the reality? If there were no dream jobs in Nursing, there wouldn't be a massive amount of new grads now. And yes, the experience that I'm getting at my job is bringing me closer to my dream job.

No one is telling you to wait around for a dream job, I didn't wait. I snatched up the first job that was offered to me, and I'm so glad I did.

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I've noticed a pattern whenever I've polled people as to whether or not they love nursing. Those who "love what they do" as you put it never seem to be direct patient care staff or floor nurses.

Perhaps it's a matter of perspective. My husband is an RN on a cardiac med-surg floor and he regularly states that he loves his job. I am confident that I will too because I thoroughly enjoy clinicals. We both used to do factory work before getting laid off and returning to school to pursue nursing. Maybe when you've worked in factories for years, you can appreciate something intrinsically rewarding like nursing a little more. ;) It really bothers me to hear nurses paint everyone with the same brush: "All direct patient care nurses do not like their jobs." It's something I see on here all the time. How can they speak for everyone?

What I don't understand is why, if floor nurses hate their jobs so much, why they don't move on and do something else? No ill patient wants a grumpy nurse caring for them who obviously doesn't want to be there.

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I've noticed a pattern whenever I've polled people as to whether or not they love nursing. Those who "love what they do" as you put it never seem to be direct patient care staff or floor nurses.

Could the pattern you've noticed also be attributed to folks who love nursing pursing further education and leadership roles in nursing?

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.
I've noticed a pattern whenever I've polled people as to whether or not they love nursing. Those who "love what they do" as you put it never seem to be direct patient care staff or floor nurses. They are always CRNA's, clinical specialist this or that, research, education, case managers, drug reps, etc.

Yes, if I took home a 6 digit figure and never had to deal with conscious sick patients or their psychotic families, I'd love my job too.

But that's not really being a nurse now, is it?

Of course if you count new grads who get their dream job in ER or NICU, they love direct patient care until the hollywood drama fades and reality sets in.

And those nurses who say "don't do it" aren't necessarily "burned out" they may just have the experience to know what it's really like.

It's pretty sad when you see a lot of nurses who have been doing it for less than 5-10 years and would not recommend it to others.

Don't get me wrong, I do NOT regret nursing school or my decision to enter nursing as my ADN affords me a better financial lifestyle than many bachelors and even master's degree prepared people in other fields. But it comes with a price.

I still enjoy taking care of people and feeling like I've made one small difference in someone's life every time I clock out. If I didn't, that paycheck wouldn't be nearly worth the crap you go through to get it. Walmart would be better.

Money isn't everything and I would be a fool to tell people to go into nursing because the pay is great and you are guaranteed a job right out of school.

Too many people focus on that instead of why there is a nursing shortage to begin with or why a person in this field with an associate's degree can make a lot more money than people in other fields with more education.

I agree with some of what you wrote but am unsure of why you don't consider nurses with higher educations aren't nurses. In my opinion when someone does love their profession they are going to probably be more ambitious want to be as involved as possible in nursing which includes furthering their education. I think with nursing it's easy to go into with unrealistic expectations and then become disapointed if its different then what they thought.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetery, gerentology.

I do not regret nursing school. In 2002 I was very depressed and I prayed asking God to show me what he wants me to do with my life for a few days. Then one morning I got up out of bed and I saw a job magazine laying on the kitchen table, when I opened it all I saw was nursing jobs page after page. I knew right then that was my answer. So I called a college to find out how to become a CNA. I completed that then went onto completing pre-reqs for the ADN program. I was not accepted into a program so I decided to enroll in a Practical Nursing program. I am now a LPN and close to finishing my ADN program through Excelsior. Hoping to be a RN this summer. Through all this was not easy cause Im a single parent and working too. But I know being a nurse is my calling and I love it. I can't wait to be a peds nurse someday.

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Folks come on!!

You are quoting me on something I wrote over 6 years ago in 2004!!

Surely there is a statute of limitations somewhere in cyberspace that allows for years of experience and/or maturity. :lol2:

And how many of you who quoted me were even nurses in 2004?

Anyway, all kidding aside, yes after 6 more years of experience I would rephrase and change some of what I wrote if this were a new thread today.

Today I would change the part where I stated that "But that's not really being a nurse now, is it?" part because nursing is much more than bedside direct care. I'll give ya that.

And to the poster way back when who corrected me on clinical nurse specialists being involved in direct patient care, yes, I was wrong for that comment as well.

But nowhere did I state that nurses with higher educations aren't nurses. I was referring to their specific job titles and duties, not level of education. Sorry if I was not clear on that.

I disagree with the poster who stated that I painted all nurses with the same brush. I stated "Those who "love what they do" as you put it never seem to be direct patient care staff or floor nurses."

I stated "seem to be" and I never stated "all" nurses in any way. This was based on my own informal findings in the workplace, and by the way, in 2011, I still find it to be true.

Not all, but yes, the vast majority of med/surg floor nurses that I interact with today in 2011 are still unhappy with their jobs, based solely on informal conversations with present and former co-workers in my current and previous employers.

Today I work in the Recovery Room which of course is a direct patient care position. The vast majority of staff in my unit are happy with their jobs overall and seem to love what they do.

In 2004 when I wrote the original post, I was working in the ICU where I saw a lot of burnout and unhappy nurses, second only to the burnout and frustration I saw working med/surg in the years before that.

I don't blame either group for their frustration given the working conditions in those areas.

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