No I wouldn't recommend nursing

[manuelvillanueva]

It surprises me how many students are going into nursing. I had my BSN since 1992 and have worked in the hospitals since then. Nursing is back-breaking labor with the reoccurring role of cleaning poop. There is no way my back can last another 20 years until retirement. Pick something else to go into.

Manuel

[marie-francoise]

Regarding the advice to "stop the negativity" and just "leave your job already" - if all the nurses who didn't like their jobs left, we'd be left with darned few nurses.

Anyway, the nursing shortage is here for a reason. The larger, systemic problems have to change before the shortage is truly addressed.

Meanwhile, we will infuse more new grads without addressing the real problems in nursing.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Wow, it's hard for me to believe that this thread is 7 years old, but still going strong.

In other news. . .

[jlcole45]

Sorry everyone for the rant - but I really do get tired of the negative folks!

All it takes is that one bad apple to spoil the atmosphere of the whole unit. Don't you agree?

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

I only recommend nursing to mature individuals who don't have a problem with pride or the thought process "what do I get out of this deal". Nursing is a "calling". It isn't glamorous and it is selfless. For the most part, NO, I don't recommend nursing. But it isn't for everyone. A lot of nurses need to find a different job. I am looking forward to nursing being viewed as a profession...we need professional-thinking nurses only.

How can it be a calling when you are working to fatten the coffers of a large for-profit corporation and its' shareholders?

Working for Mother Theresa is a calling. Working for for-profit health care is a job.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

Here we go again with the judgmental attitude. Just because someone's unhappy doesn't mean they're letting it affect their behavior towards patients.

We're here to discuss our perceptions and experiences on nursing. Some will be positive, and some will be negative. You're free to ignore it if the negativity bothers you, but please don't assume that just because a person chooses to vent here, among other nurses, that they're doing the same thing in the workplace.

I saw plenty of people handling patients roughly, treating them rudely. I didn't let myself do that. I would hope that nurses in an anonymous setting like this would all give each other the benefit of a doubt, instead of jumping to conclusions like some in this thread have done.

Of course, I'm someone who DID change careers... and yes, I had to accept I'd be making less money. You shouldn't have to medicate yourself every day just to be able to get through another shift.

To anyone who's really unhappy and trying to figure out what to do: don't listen to any holier-than-thou nurses telling you you're selfish or a bad person for not loving your chosen career. If you hate your job, there are more opportunities out there than you think. Insurance companies, law firms, and medical supply companies are all looking for nurses to do non-clinical work.

I have felt hopeless, crushed, and used up by my nursing jobs in the past. Now, I'm happy. I've found a way to change my situation. So can anyone else, if they keep trying.

:pumpiron::cheers::yelclap::flowersfo:yeah:

[jlcole45]

What about changing the nursing profession for the better? So many nurses are unhappy because of the current working conditions and the frustration with not being able to provide the quality of care that patients deserve.

You are absolutely right. That's why many nurses have formed unions, or patient advocacy groups, etc ... Our profession should always be working towards improvements. That said, most people would rather sit back and complain then do something about it. And you know I am right here. It's easy to talk and a lot harder to act.

It takes a lot of energy to change - you know that first hand. Look at what you've done. You identified that patient care wasn't for you and you found a niche in nursing that works for you.

You made the effort to change and not to become one of those folks I referred too in my rant.

My point was that there are some people who are just too afraid or lazy to make a change and so they make the rest of us pay for it by being miserable at work.

And that's what makes me mad.

I'm not saying we don't all have bad days where we vent. But if every day is bad, then you have to make a change, either internally or externally. Life is too darn short to go through it miserable.

I am also not passing judgment on someone who has decided that nursing in general, or perhaps a particular type of nursing is not for them.

Who I am passing judgment on is the person who can't accept that they've made a mistake - then have the courage to make the appropriate change. There are so many opportunities in and out of nursing that no one should feel 'trapped' in one particular job.

[marie-francoise]

Sorry everyone for the rant - but I really do get tired of the negative folks!

All it takes is that one bad apple to spoil the atmosphere of the whole unit. Don't you agree?

It's the squeaky wheel that is heard, that changes things, that points out when things are awry.

Continued, forced positivity in the face of problems will not promote change. Rather, it promotes stasis and the continuation/exacerbation of current problems.

[jlcole45]

I didn't say that having a positive attitude = acceptance of problems.

I also didn't say that one shouldn't speak up. What I said was that you can't just talk and not act and expect anything to improve.

Staying in a job you hate, complaining, but doing nothing else promotes stasis, mediocrity, and misery for your coworkers.

[Stringer]

For those out there who are so negative --- IT'S TIME TO CHANGE YOUR JOB OR YOUR CAREER!

By being negative all the time, you do nursing, your co workers, and your patients great disservice. And I don't care about your personal reasons for staying in a job you hate - either suck it up or quit and find another career. We all have a choice.

If you go into work every day hating your job -- don't you think that others can sense that? YES THEY CAN!!!

I am damn sick of chronically negative co workers. Seek out help, get on antidepressants, do something! I don't need your negativity, this job is hard enough without it

Not only does it put a negative spin on my day, it also effects patient care.

We as nurses, have the power to negatively or positively effect our patients out comes. If you walk into a room, don't smile or greet your patient, then handle them roughly, and don't respond as needed - don't your think that could be harmful??? Of course it can.

Just put yourself in their place for one second and maybe you'll get a clue about how your negativity effects others.

It's not a matter of a few bad apples that, when thrown away, will save an essentially healthy barrel full. The dimensions of this thread suggest a broader disease for which those who suffer from it--caregivers and their clients--haven't yet found an effective management strategy, let alone a cure.

Leaving one's position or profession can involve long and complicated decision making processes. Those decisions can affect family and friends in positive, negative, and unintended ways.

Those who are probably in positions where they actually can effect change find little financial incentive to do so.

Our clients, whatever our institutional and personal pathologies, need human beings that can somehow negotiate the health care miasma and still deliver, at least some of the time.

In the real world, we really can't afford to lose the complainers, but you knew that already. Complaining can be a short term emotional fix sometimes. I do worry about the chronic nature of the problems in health care, though. You just happen to pick the complainers as the object of your personal complaint. I suspect you don't feel optimistic about real solutions this side of continued systemic deterioration or you wouldn't need to vent on other nurses. I don't either.

Contentment in any context, especially in refractory situations, has always been an inside job. The nurses who seem able to maintain consistent and real positive attitudes--I'm not one of them yet--seem to accomplish that through means that are mostly unrelated to job conditions, like personal and spiritual fulfillment.

I can still be heard recommending nursing on occasion. Such conversations are always bracketed with a lengthy explanation of conditions.

[ryerye]

every profession will go smoothly if your interest lies in that field... period...

i have been a computer analyst and programmer for 7 years... it took me that long just to realize that i really don't belong to that area so i took my second course in nursing and voila! here i am...

my best friend for 17 long years is still on the field of computer programming and is still enjoying the work there... its not merely a question of whether you're good at it or not... skills can be learned and in my case i learned everything i need to know as a computer analyst..

money is not an issue either.. working in the computer industry can be very rewarding in terms of salary (even here in the phils)... but how come i finally decided to cross the line and entered nursing?? others may call its a calling... well whatever it is i would just have 1 final advise...

just follow whatever your heart desires... coz every nature of work demands its workers to have a sense of passion and not merely knowledge in the field...

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

every profession will go smoothly if your interest lies in that field... period...

:rotfl:

ummmm.......not.

[Stringer]

"Preemies don't eat corn!"

LMAO!

Would this talk of variety and choices be a good time to jump in with a discussion of the relationship between multiple marriages and multiple nursing roles? (Just kidding)