should i pursue a career in nursing?

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hi, i'm currently a freshman in college, and i'm considering a career in nursing. I've been thinking about it since around april when i had to decide on a college choice. the college i really wanted to attend has a very good nursing program, but when i called to ask if i may transfer in they said i would not be able to because the program is too full, yet i decided to go there anyway since i wasn't entirely sure about nursing. well now its december and i'm still really interested in nursing, yet i know i will not be able to study it at the school i'm attending. i'm really unsure of what i should do!!! should i transfer so i can study nursing? i know it is a very difficult course of study, but i am a hardworking student and i've always done very well in school. however, math and science are not my strongest subjects and i know those are a very big part of nursing. i was actually taking inorganic chemistry this semester and i ended up dropping the class because it was too much work and i was struggling with my college workload. do you think this means i won't be able to handle the nursing curriculum? my mom is worried it will be too difficult for me (she suggested i go to law school) & the nursing program director at my school was really discouraging when she found out i dropped chemistry (i went to see -again- if i could get into the program, however it is filled to capacity with no hope of transferring even for next year). but this just makes me want to prove to everyone that i can do it. i really like nursing because i think it is such a worthwhile career and i really want to help people. i'm really shy and not very confident and i have the tendency to stress out, and i'm scared that will work against me in a hospital setting. i've been debating since april whether or not i should try nursing and i really don't know what to do i don't want to make the wrong decision :/ i guess what im really asking is do you think i'm cut out for nursing or is it not for me? any feedback would be greatly appreciated & thank you very very much for reading this :)

p.s. i have a few general questions about nursing:

1. do most nurses work in the emergency room at one point?

2. i heard you get use to the gross stuff is that true?

3. is it high-level stress all the time?

thanks again for any feedback :)

Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.
hi, i'm currently a freshman in college, and i'm considering a career in nursing. i've been thinking about it since around april when i had to decide on a college choice. the college i really wanted to attend has a very good nursing program, but when i called to ask if i may transfer in they said i would not be able to because the program is too full, yet i decided to go there anyway since i wasn't entirely sure about nursing. well now its december and i'm still really interested in nursing, yet i know i will not be able to study it at the school i'm attending.

i'm really unsure of what i should do!!! should i transfer so i can study nursing? i know it is a very difficult course of study, but i am a hardworking student and i've always done very well in school. however, math and science are not my strongest subjects and i know those are a very big part of nursing. i was actually taking inorganic chemistry this semester and i ended up dropping the class because it was too much work and i was struggling with my college workload. do you think this means i won't be able to handle the nursing curriculum? my mom is worried it will be too difficult for me (she suggested i go to law school) & the nursing program director at my school was really discouraging when she found out i dropped chemistry (i went to see -again- if i could get into the program, however it is filled to capacity with no hope of transferring even for next year). but this just makes me want to prove to everyone that i can do it.

i really like nursing because i think it is such a worthwhile career and i really want to help people. i'm really shy and not very confident and i have the tendency to stress out, and i'm scared that will work against me in a hospital setting. i've been debating since april whether or not i should try nursing and i really don't know what to do i don't want to make the wrong decision :/ i guess what im really asking is do you think i'm cut out for nursing or is it not for me? any feedback would be greatly appreciated & thank you very very much for reading this :)

p.s. i have a few general questions about nursing:

1. do most nurses work in the emergency room at one point? if they want to.or maybe during clincal rotations at school

2. i heard you get use to the gross stuff is that true? sometimes yes & no, its more of a desensitization. no one will ever truly accept the smell of vomit, pee and poo.

3. is it high-level stress all the time? depends on the area you are working. nursing has many different areas and specialties :)

thanks again for any feedback :)

i will tell you for a fact that math isnt one of my strong points but im doing very well in school. so dont let that discourage you. its hard to explain ,but when u are working towards something you love you find a way to over come ur difficulty :)

u could get your cna license and maybe get a part time job at a hospital to see if u like it.. or volunteer. put yourself in the environment. & take baby steps that way.

slowly but surely u will find out what is right for you :)

First, let me address your questions. No, not all nurses work in the emergency department during their career. There are tons of options for work environments, and not every nurse wants to work in the emergency department. While in nursing school you may have a short rotation through the department, as it is a good place to pick up skills and learn to prioritize, but you don't have to work there. Yes, it is true that you get used to, "gross" things, however, each person has a different definition of gross. I don't mind blood, vomit, urine, feces, or suctioning a patient. I don't mind ventilator patients, critically ill patients, or surgical patients (I want to be a surgical/trauma ICU nurse when I graduate), I don't mind burn patients, trauma patients, or disfigured patients. However, I cannot stand patients with tracheostomies or colostomies. I will take care of them, I will provide skillful and compassionate care, but it takes everything in me to control the desire to vomit when I see these patients. I feel terrible for them, and I feel terrible that I am grossed out, but it's just my, "thing," so to speak. Every nurse has one thing, or more than one thing, that really grosses them out. You do tend to get used to things the more you see them, but some things will always shake you or gross you out. I worked in an emergency department for some time before applying to nursing school, so I really got used to seeing horrible injuries and dealing with severe illness. Yes, for the most part, nursing is high-stress all the time. If you want to work in an ICU, the emergency department, a cancer unit, or a specialized operating room (like an OR that only does open heart surgeries, or an OR mainly seeing brain surgeries, or an OR working with trauma patients) then the stress is even higher. With that being said, nurses on every unit are stressed a lot of the time. There are a lot of factors that play a part of this stress, and they include: dealing with patients, families, and physicians, trying to stay on time with medications, treatments, dressing changes, and other procedures, monitoring lab work, intake and output, vital signs, pain, and other data, charting and keeping up with everything that you've done, communicating with other members of the healthcare team (like respiratory therapy, physical therapy, dietary, occupational therapy, dialysis technicians, physicians from other services, the primary physician, etc), delegating to CNAs and LPNs (if you are lucky enough to have them on your unit), helping other nurses, and doing all the other duties you have to do during the shift. There is a ton of stuff to do, and very little time to get it done in. Without really knowing you, your personality, your work ethic, and your academic abilities, I can't tell you if you are cut out for nursing school. Nursing school is hard, I will be honest, but it isn't the most difficult thing I've ever done. I don't consider myself a genius, but I'm fairly intelligent (I'm making As in my nursing classes, and I pretty much made As in all of my pre-requisite courses, too). Nursing is something that takes a lot of time, a lot of dedication, and a lot of commitment. There are weeks when my clinical paper (the paper we write about the patient that we take care of in clinical each week) is 50 to 70 pages long. It takes days to write that kind of paper, and you don't get anything else done. There are nights when I'm up until 4 or 5 AM studying for an exam, and I am forced to sleep all day and screw my body up for a week. There are times when I spend eight to ten hours straight at the computer writing a paper, or in front of a book studying something. My point is this: once you start nursing school, the days of weekend partying, staying out all night, going to the bar/club/mall/movies, going out to eat, and having fun will pretty much end. All of your friends will be going out to catch dinner and the latest Twilight movie and you will be at home studying for an exam, making drug cards, and writing a clinical paper. All your friends will be out getting their nails done and shopping, and you will be completing a 13 hour day at the hospital. All your friends will be partying and hitting the club, and you will either be in bed because you have to be up at 5 AM, asleep because you've been up since 5 AM, at clinical on a night shift, or spending your night doing school work. Your social life will pretty much vanish, and you have to be okay with that. For example, my first clinical was on Saturdays from 6:30 AM- 7:45 PM. I had to be up at 5:20 to get ready and get to the hospital, and by the time I got home, all I wanted to do was sleep. My clinicals next semester will be from 6 PM to midnight, and I won't be home until 1 AM or later. When I get home, I will have work to do, and I will end up staying up all night and sleeping all day. In both scenarios, I have no contact with my friends (except those in the nursing program) and limited contact with my family. As far as being shy goes, that really won't hurt you unless you have extreme social anxiety. There are a couple of shy people in my class, and they do fine. As far as self-confidence goes, you have to have a little. You can't think that you are a know-it-all who can handle everything, because that makes you a dangerous nurse; however, you do have to give yourself credit for what you do know, and realize that there are a lot of situations that you can handle on your own. You also have to know when to get help, and when to try to handle something on your own. This all takes time, and you will probably feel totally lost during your first clinical experience. I had hospital experience before nursing school, and there were still a few times when I felt like I had just wondered into the hospital and started trying to impersonate a nurse with no training or knowledge. If you really want to be a nurse, then go for it. Find a program where you have a decent shot of getting in, see what their pre-requisites are, and apply. Nursing is a great field, and I wouldn't do anything else with my life. It is very rewarding, and it is a noble profession, so to speak. Nursing school is stressful, it is time consuming, and it does take control of your whole life. However, once you get through it you are a better person and, most importantly, a nurse. Good luck to you on your journey! Keep me informed as to what you decide to do and how things work out for you.

Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

^ i would love to read this reply but there are no paragraphs and its very hard to read.

SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS

1 Article; 1,406 Posts

Specializes in nursing education.

...the program is too full...i wasn't entirely sure about nursing. well now its december and i'm still really interested in nursing... i was actually taking inorganic chemistry this semester and i ended up dropping the class because it was too much work and i was struggling with my college workload. ...the program, however it is filled to capacity with no hope of transferring even for next year).

What do you like? Sounds like nursing is not in the cards for you? What do you enjoy doing? What classes are you interested in?

but this just makes me want to prove to everyone that i can do it.

Not a very good rationale IMHO.

i really like nursing because i think it is such a worthwhile career and i really want to help people.

And there are a lot of other ways to help people, and a lot of other worthwhile careers. Whatever you enjoy and do well- that is worthwhile.

i'm really shy and not very confident and i have the tendency to stress out, and i'm scared that will work against me in a hospital setting. i've been debating since april whether or not i should try nursing and i really don't know what to do i don't want to make the wrong decision :/ i guess what im really asking is do you think i'm cut out for nursing or is it not for me?

You could be cut out for nursing, but you don't sound passionate about it- see a career counselor. Do some volunteering and some soul-searching. You have a great opportunity now to test different ideas and classes.

p.s. i have a few general questions about nursing:

1. do most nurses work in the emergency room at one point? no, I never did.

2. i heard you get use to the gross stuff is that true? yes and no.

3. is it high-level stress all the time? no, not all the time, but a lot of the time.

^ i would love to read this reply but there are no paragraphs and its very hard to read.

Sorry, I was in a hurry to write this (I did it on my five minute break while studying for a nursing final) and it never occurred to me to hit enter and make a new paragraph. I guess all this studying has removed my command of basic English sentence structure lol. Unfortunately, it's been longer than five minutes, and I don't have a premium account, so I can't edit the post.

deez

20 Posts

My first question to you would be do you have interest in learning how the human body functions? If you have absolutely no interest in studying such things, nursing school will probably be a struggle….to say the least. No matter what you go to school for you have to have some interest in what you will be studying. So ask your self what it is that you enjoy learning about and go in that general direction.

Chemistry is something that you do have to understand when you are in nursing. This is probably why your nursing advisor was discouraging. You need to understand certain concepts and formulas from chemistry that will come back to haunt you when you are in A&P, pharm, med surg etc. Chemistry can be an intimidating class when first starting out. Your best bet would be to take this with some other easier courses because it doesn’t always come easy to most people. It does take a little bit of work. Having a great teacher always helps. You can always look into getting a tutor. Most schools offer them for free.

What Penumothorax said about you getting your CNA license and putting yourself in the environment is great advice! This will tell you more than anything if this is what you want to do for the rest of your life.

As far as math goes-I too have never been great at math. I still graduated with my BSN and cant say that the math held me back in any way.

What mattmrn2013 had to say is all very correct. I probably would have given a similar answer if I was still in school. Nursing school can be a bit overwhelming at times. However, take most of what was said with a grain of salt. If someone would of told me all of that before I started, I may never have started. Yes, it is true that all nurses are stressed for the very reasons that are listed. But it is more overwhelming reading that than it is going through it. You will learn how to manage your time. Like any job, it has its good days and its bad.

It is also true that you wont have much, if any, of a life while in school. But each semester prepares you for the next. Im not sure how we do it, but most of us make it through. Personally what got me through school were my nursing school friends. Its great to get together to study and work on your clinical work together. That way you can get stuff done and not feel like you’re going through all this alone. Chances are good you will make a couple of new best friends in nursing school. No one will ever understand what you are going through like them.

Best wishes in whatever path you choose! No matter what you decide to do its going to take hard work and dedication. So make sure that it is something you enjoy J

purple23

11 Posts

thanks for all your help everyone!

Bob_N_VA

306 Posts

Specializes in Cardiac, Rehab.

It sounds like you are in a similar situation to my stepdaughter. She said she wanted to be a nurse but was not accepted into the program at her school so she was taking classes in anticipation. Her grades never approached the point where she would be eligible for the schools program and we suggested that if she was serious about being a nurse, she could look at alternative programs such as community colleges or hospital based. In the end, it was more about staying at her school with her friends than being a nurse. She is now majoring in social work. Truthfully, she would have had issues as a nurse in terms of organization and time management, not traits that she has familiarity with.

And I'll tell you one other story. When I was taking my first college class in twenty something years (A&P 1) at the local community college, one of the other students was in her early twenties. After a while we got to talking and she was also looking to go back to school for Nursing. She was living on her own with a BF, trying to get by on a bartending job and pay for the pre-req classes that are common when you try and get into a program She had a BA in psychology and told me at one point, that her parents asked what exactly they had spent 100,000 dollars for her college on? So my point to you is this. Decide on what is more important, getting a degree where you are at or becoming a nurse. Sure you can do it later on, but it won't be as easy as it would be right now and will inevitably cost more.

As for whether its right for you, only you can say for sure. Your heart has to be in the right place. Basic courses in chemistry and biology will help and nurse math is no great shakes, general algebra is adequate. Yes, you get to deal with gross stuff but as others have said, you get used to it. Give yourself some time to grow up and grow into it. Volunteer at a hospital over the summer or over winter break. Listen to your parents, they are probably much smarter than you give them credit for. Good luck, you'll figure out what is best for you.

Bob

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