Does anyone want to be just a "nurse"?

Iluvhospice · Mar 27, 2004

Hi all, just curious if anyone is stopping at adn level to be a general nurse. Seems like everyone wants to be a crna or something???

Hi Ben,

At this point, I'm planning on stopping at "just" being a nurse. I have no higher aspirations - and, at 41, I don't really feel like continuing on. At one of our ADNSA meetings, they had guest speakers who spoke about this issue. The speakers were supposed to talk about the need for continuing education, but interestingly enough, both of the nurses who spoke were ADNs and they stressed that more important than education was character and commitment. I should mention that they were both in director or nurse-trainer positions.

Who knows? Maybe someday I'll find a need to continue on - but I doubt it. Best of luck to those of you who care to... we're all needed somewhere.

S.N. Visit, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2004

I'm going in with the intentions of stopping @ "just being a nurse". Who knows what the future holds :confused:

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2004

I dunno. At 49, really, I do consider my body in the equation of how many bedside years I have left. I'm thinking that there are at least a couple of options open to me in the event I just can't do it anymore. I can combine my paralegal skills with my nursing experience to consult on malpractice cases. The ADN might be sufficient for that. There's also home health nursing. That's not so stressful. My instructor insists that I would be wasting my assets by stopping at the ADN but I'm not biting right now.

RedSox33RN · Mar 27, 2004

I'm 36 (although *I* still consider that my extremely late 20's :chuckle ) and would love to become a CRNA - eventually. But if God's plans are for me just to become an RN, then I will be happy with that also. I'm just looking forward to that RN after my name, and doing what I've dreamed of since I was 22. :)

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Mar 27, 2004

Back in '97 when I graduated from my ADN program, I figured I'd go back for a bachelor's within five years. In the meantime, I went from bedside nursing to management to clinical instructor to consultant.....all on my "little" associate's degree. Now I'm back at the bedside (of my own volition) and when I turned 45 earlier this year I finally realized that my lifespan IS finite....and I don't want to waste any of it stressing out over organic chemistry or statistics.

So yes, I plan to stay "just" a nurse, although I'll probably go into discharge planning when I'm too old to run the floors any more. If there were a four-year program close to where I live, if I weren't still paying off student loans, or if I were more motivated, I'd think about it.......and then I'd go for a master's because I'd want to teach. But there's no real economic incentive to go back---I've nearly doubled my starting wages in 7 years' time as it is---and once all my kids are launched in a few years, I'm not going to want to work full-time any more anyway.........so what on earth would I even DO with an advanced degree?

This is one of the few true regrets I have about my life so far.....I wish I had started my career earlier, instead of waiting until I was almost 40 years old to get going. But there's no undoing it now, no going back......only forward. And the fact that the foreseeable future does NOT include more formal education is actually OK with me.....after all, being "just a nurse" was what I really wanted all along. :)

jaimealmostRN · Mar 27, 2004

I can honestly say that the only (career minded) thing I want to do with my life is be an RN in a critical care environment. Having said that, I am in my early 20's. But for the next, oh say, 25 years I know I'll be sticking by the bedside. Although I am planning on getting my BSN thru distance-learning, I feel a getting a CEN or CCRN is more to my personal interest. On a similar note, my class spent a week in open-heart recovery and I LOVED IT!!! So interesting and so, dare I say, FUN!

shyne · Mar 27, 2004

I'll probally stick with nursing for a few years and then go to PA school after that.

Love-A-Nurse · Mar 27, 2004

i have other goals, however, graduating in less than two months is just about all i can think about at this time! :)

LesJenRN · Mar 27, 2004

A nurse is a nurse. The choice of obtaining a BSN or ADN does not make one "just a nurse" or "more of a nurse". It depends on what direction you want your career to go. There are many certifications out there for those who want to specialize....CEN, CCRN, etc. I do wish that I had kept going and obtained my BSN in the beginning, but as already mentioned, it can be completed down the line. Most NPs I know, worked for awhile before deciding to go back to school..... Sometimes you dont know what you want until you get out there and experience many things.

HannasMom · Mar 27, 2004

I'm 52 years old. Someone may think I'm just an LPN. But I am a nurse and I care for 27-30 resident each night shift I work. I make decisions, I supervise the CNA's on my floor, I do treatments, give the residents their late night meds, chart, call doctors, find someone to come in for a call-off, collect lab specimens, do CBG's, etc.

I do want more, I'm taking microbiology this term, so I can enter a LPN to RN program within a year...hopefully. Then I seriously, later on would like to become a Legal Nurse Consultant. I have thought about this for some time. I want a job which is an important part of nursing, yet I can have my own business and maybe even work out of my home. (I would love that). I had a business before I started nursing, I painted murals and floorcloths, so I have experience running a business. Now, I want to paint for fun and stay with nursing, but in a different avenue. No one is just a nurse. We all play an important part in this world. We all touch a life in some way each day. The people we serve also help us in some way. I love nursing, it's a passion for me. Even if I would remain "just an LPN". :nurse:

suzy253, RN · Mar 27, 2004

As a 51 YO freshman student I definitely plan on just an RN. It's been my lifelong ambition and I still can't believe I'm doing it....and succeeding! Quite proud of myself and some of my fellow students, being younger of course, are quite in awe of me themselves. It's been a wonderful experience so far and I look forward to getting my RN (I'm in a diploma school) and getting out there in the real world!