Yes, there are so many options

Nurses Career Support

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Yes, I'd recommend Nursing as a career; there are very few careers that allow the flexibility and options that Nursing does. First of all, there is the satisfaction that you are helping people. Then, there are hundreds of specialties to choose from, if you find that you don't like one, just transfer to a different one until you find the one you like. Salary isn't the highest, but is not the lowest either. Hours can be flexible, casual, part-time, full-time and everything in between. Of course, not everything is perfect, but no job is?

Just my $0.02

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Brian Short

WORLDWIDE NURSE: The Internet's Nursing Directory

wwnurse.com/

I would advise any one considering nursing to think hard on the topic. I have been a critical care nurse for three years now and I find patient care compromised for the dollar on a very consistant basis. To top it off some nurses are some disempowered that patient advocacy has become a myth. I have wanted to be a nurse since I was seven I love the caring for the patient. It is just so compromised in todays healthcare environment.

No Way, No How, Are you kidding, nursing as a profession? Like the saying goes if I knew then what I know now. Now don't get me wrong nursing has had it's shiny moments, but as the saying goes"it was the best of times, it was the worst of times". I have been a nurse for 3&1/2 years now, what a trip. My husband was considering a career in nursing, recently he decided to change his career path. He decided that one of us needed a low stress job, because i had enough for the two of us. I don't mind the long hours or the back breaking work. What I do mind is the indeciviness of management or insurance companies who don't understand nursing or sick people. let's not forget the Doctor's who proceed to tell you how inconvient you calling them in the middle of the night is; never mind the patient is going down hill fast. Yeh- that's nursing got to love it...

I would recommend nursing BUT, not unless you can glean satisfaction from your own actions and are self-motivated, because it's rare you get a pat on the back or a merit raise.

I would recommend nursing at this moment in Ohio, because everyplace is offering sign on bonuses, great wages, and various shifts in all types of units.

One good thing about nursing, if you don't like bedside nursing, you can work in a clinic, an industrial site or prison, or you could teach. If you don't like hands-on nursing, you can be management or do QA/QI or UR. You can be a school nurse, a flight nurse, an Indian Reservation Nurse. You can travel nurse, legal nurse consult, political nurse activist, and on and on and on. There IS something for everyone. Especially if you want a JOB. but if you want a career and some substance in you life, I think nursing was a good choice for me.

I found that after reading the previous posts, that I could agree with at least one point in each one. I love the actual role of nursing, but I despise almost everything else that goes with it! This includes: administration, management, physicians and paperwork to only name a few. I have been a maternal/child nurse for 11 years, and for the most part have loved it. There are some days that I have wanted to quit on the spot and go to work at Wal-Mart, etc. The moneys not grand but I think that I make a good living. After a while though, I ask myself why I still do it. There's no easy answer. It may be stubbornness, hope or desperation. I think that I stick around, because I hate the thought of going back to school. I'm getting too old to start again!! Who wants to compete with 22yos for computer jobs or whatever? I'm going to take a little time off and then try travel nursing for awhile. I guess my long winded (sorry) reply to the question would have to be no. To anyone thinking about a career in nursing, think very long and very hard. There are other emotionally and financially rewarding careers out there. Good luck!! Lisa

Not in rural areas. Opportunities are limited.

I feel nursing is a good option for those who are certain that any mistakes they make will be slight ones. I have my BSN and tried working at two different facilities. I don't think I made any while working, but the potential is there for humans to err. I guess I am kind of scared off by the ramifications of the legal systems. ALL that RESPONSIBILITY. I would love to get into some type of occupation where I could use my BSN without the direct patient care. I live in a scarcely populated agricultural area so there are not too many options. I liked the direct patient care but don't care for the fact that if I ever made a big or harmful error I would have to live the rest of my life feeling responsible for harming someone. Also my first day on the job alone the facility I worked for had a visit from the state. I answered everything fine and the whole visit went well but I sure felt thrown to the wolves.

Would I recommend nursing as a career? YES...But not if you are doing it just for the paycheck. To me, nursing is not just a job or career, it is a calling. Those who come to us for care, by whatever route, are placing their lives in our hands. I have been an RN for 2 years now, and a CNT for 4 years before that. I am ashamed to think of all the nurses that I've known in that short period of time, who are solely interested in their own "bottom line". Yes, nursing is a very high-stress occupation. Yes, the hours can be very long (especially if you are one of the few who will cover for a sick co-worker), and your personal life will, at times suffer. But it is one of the few professions that I know of where, no matter what kind of day I've had, that I know I have made a real difference in someone's life. Yes, I could get a job at a factory for nearly the same money and benefits, and LOTS fewer headaches. but none of that compares to the times when a patient or family member throws their arms around you in heartfelt gratitude for the care you've given. To be honest, like LAARN, I've thought about quitting and going to work at WAL-MART... But only for an instant

I once loved nursing! But after 20+ years it has changed so much! No longer can a nurse just nurse: soothe troubled brows, fluff pillows, ease pain without drugs, all the things we associate with nursing. No one has time to rub the back of a patient returned from surgery to relax them - just run in a give them a pain shot and leave! You can't sit at the bedside for a short while and listen to an elderly woman's fears before surgery. I loved taking care of patients on ventilators, I could take time to really do the extras, now we are so concerned about all the instrumemt readings and technical things, we sometimes can't find the time to give them a bath or meet the most basic of their needs! I remember my husband (who worked at a large research facility) telling me about a nurse he saw on Grand Rounds one morning that reminded him of me. All the physicians and interns were gathered about the patient, who was hooked up to every gadget known to modern medicine, talking about him as if he were not even there, and the nurse finally went balistic: She told every one to get away from him and let him get some sleep! Well, that's me, I guess. I no longer want to participate on a code for an 80 year old blind man with known heart disease and senile dementia, whose ribs are heard cracking under the chest compressions, just because we have to. Why? What are we bringing him back to? Will he even know? Are we improving the quality of his life????? Or are we just chest thumping ourselves "Me Healthcare Provider, have power over life and death". If you have a choice, make a different one, don't chose nursing. Be the insurance person - they are the only ones whose decisions in medicine really count any more! They even tell the doc what to do! You don't even need real medical training to do it! Just read off a list of diagnosis and what tests to do and how long you can keep them in the hosptial! Never mind that they are a real person! Or be a JCAHO or Medicare suveyor! Make sure the paper work is right! This is specially good for those who have not really done bedside care for a long time - you know the saying "Those who can't supervise (or boss) those who do"!!!!

NO, not really. I agree totally with "Wendee" who wrote about all of the legal ramifications and consequences. I take things very personally and I feel that I would not handle very well any sort of acusation of incompetence on my part because I do not like to fail or disappoint. If you have the personality for nursing then Yes, but don't think that just because you care about people that you will love nursing. Nursing is not really about caring anymore. If you want to be able to have quality patient contact then become a nurses aide.

Honestly . . No, I would not.

It saddens me to say this. When paper is valued more than people, when downsizing to increase profit is valued more than quality of life, it's time to re-calabrate our thinking. Patients don't make my job stressful, my co-workers and employers do. We as a group prey upon each other - cannibalizing our young and still optimistic new grads. We say we respect our educated peers, and yet hold it against them for "knowing too much, and trying to stand out." Our very existance is an irony, and a study in contrasts. We are in conflict with ourselves, amoungst ourselves, and outside of ourselves. Recommending nursing during this episode of both outer and inner turmoil, would be akin to offering an alcoholic a beer.

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Keeping the Faith

I've been reading the replies to the question that has been posed, "Would you recommend nursing as a career?" The only answer is,"Yes." Here are a few reasons why.

Helping your fellow man or woman; where else can you affect the lives of so many in so little time. I've seen post's from nurses who have been in this profession for 20 or 30 years, some even longer. Just think, thousands of peoples lives have been touched by your tender care, warm smile and reassurance that YOU would be there for them.

Most of you knew that this was a thankless job, but isn't a smile or hug from a patient worth a lot.

The Money isn't that bad. The Federal Minimum wage is $5.50/hr and that's par for the course for most people. Nursing pays almost 3 1/2 times ($19.25/hr as an RN) the minimum wage and in some place more than that. I know technologies and computer jobs pay really well also but the market is becoming flooded and the price of computers are dropping every day. What happens when the market is flooded, come on any nurses here from the 80's. NO JOBS, LAYOFFS, SALARY CUTS. I challenge you to use a search engine and look for a nursing job on the internet. There are 1000's upon 1000's my friends. You may have to move, you may not, but there out there.

Management doesn't respect NURSING. You know it, I know it and Management knows it. So what do you do about it?

Well, I've always been told the squeaky wheel gets the grease! Don't let management push you around. I'll be damned if they push me! You know other nurses feel the same way as you. There tired of being short staffed, being on call every weekend, working nights and days because the nurse manager for the floor says there's no one else.....well it's time to put your foot down. I think Nancy Reagan said it best, "Just Say No!" However, tell them your discouraged with the way things are being run, tell them your tired of feeling the pressure of managements bottom line. Tell them whatever they need to hear so your profession means to you what it did when you took care of your first patient and your heart swelled up with pride and you were proud to call yourself a nurse!!!

TC

YES, I would recommend nursing as a career. This summer I spent 2 months volunteering as a camp nurse. In the course of caring for campers, I saw many instances in which the signs and symptoms of potentially life-threatening situations were not seen or fully appreciated by laymen. My background in medical-surgical nursing and first aid provided me with the tools to identify and intervene before the situation reached a critical point. The satisfaction that I felt was immense. I do understand now just how critical nursing skills are to health, and I whole heartedly support anyone who has the courage and the fortitude to obtain them.

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