Around, 5 years ago, I began an LPN program, and me with no healthcare experience, solid grades, 3.85 undergrad degree in Biology and a Ed.M in Biology Education.
So afterwards when I started to realize that finding a job in education was going to be near impossible....I decided to go for Nursing. How Hard Could it be? (My thinking at the time)
So, I get accepted to my local 2 year school's RN program...very little experience in healthcare....None to be exact lol.
And it was a wake up call....but good and bad.
Now let me say something on Nursing School: " I never imagined it was going to be this hard, and If I would have known, what I know now, I never would have done it"...I mean , I knew it would be hard, but this hard? Nursing truly is a physical and mental beating at times, and Nursing school adds even more physical and mental wear and tear then one would imagine. At, the time I thought, ....these instructors are terrible...."they're mean, they're stuck up. they're unhelpful, and cant teach".
Thats what I thought at the time.....but looking back now and being on the outside looking back in....I get why many instructors take the "tough love" approach.
Direct quote from the AACN on factors contributing to Nursing Faculty shortages. "In addition to the many roles and responsibilities common to all faculty, additional expectations are placed on nursing faculty. They often are expected to maintain clinical expertise, instruct students in clinical agencies, and engage in faculty practice. Moreover, nursing faculty who supervise students in clinical agencies may be responsible for an increasing number of very ill patients, adding an element not experienced by faculty in non-health care disciplines."
Nursing Instructors have a very tough job in their own right....."they have to do it all"...on top of being responsible for a students clinical performance, and getting their students the "guidance" to pass the boards during lectures.
And ultimately on top of that, there is a method to their madness.....they do everything they do for a reason: In Nursing Especially, Nobody is going to hold your hand in this profession....you have to do research and gather information. A common complaint from a lot of students is: "the instructors don't give us the material to pass during lecture"?
No, they dont give you everything and this is all self taught!!.....But in Nursing, research, self teaching, critical thinking and information gathering is a skill in its own right, that many instructors cant teach you and all they can really do is guide you and steer you in the right direction.
You have to take initiative, you need to do you're fair share of guessing at times, you need to be able to use the power to Question that the RN license will give you, and most importantly, you need to be that patient advocate: and make sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to for your patient that you're responsible for.....and you are responsible for everything, literally everything with that patient from psychosocially to physiologically....that's Nursing School!! ....For many students, they dont realize, but the instructors are preparing you for life as an RN....it's rewarding journey for those who stay in, but also a tough journey as those you get out learn..as I did
I am an LPN of just 4 years since I graduated from my LPN program and I recently attempted RN school before I decided to make a change because, truthfully....what I thought I wanted wasn't really what I wanted.
Truth is, Nursing is not for everyone, it's "a calling"....so is every profession, but this is especially true for Nursing.....And personally, the people who stay in are SAINTS , they are saints...god bless them all, of course there are many who stay in solely for the $$$..
And on that note, might I say, If you're going into this just for the cash....you might want to give it more thought, many people make that mistake....I mean we all want financial incentive and job security, but you need to want to commit your life to helping people as well....because if Nursing is not your passion, you wont be happy with your career, no matter how many different career paths you choose.
Now if you want to be a Nurse and are a student w/ zero experience I have some pointers for the schooling:
#1.) I'd recommend experience in healthcare....even if it's as a Nurses aid....My plan originally was LPN to RN obviously...looking back, I wish I had gone into Respiratory Therapy first.....Respiratory Therapy will give you can even better background than an LPN would in my opinion just because of the experience you gain as an RT.
You get to travel across the entire hospital, and see different units.... it also gives you a perfect blend of highly technical work plus patient care and assessment skills...and most importantly....any time, you can gain an EXPERT level of anything for an RN program it's huge...and RT will give you can expert level of knowledge on Oxygenation and Airway Management and Critical Care and the Heart and Lungs....the most vital body systems: ABC's Anyone??
As an RN, you cover a ton of ground in school....another reason why you don't get everything in lecture in Nursing school and why it's self taught, is because, Nursing instructors couldn't teach you everything they need to if they had twice the lecture hours to do so...it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to cover that much ground....so anytime you have a background whether it's LPN, or RT, or even X-Ray....it will help the learning Curve.
#2.) For those of you you had straight A's and waited until the last minute to study for Exam's and still got those grades?.....That's not gonna fly here in Nursing....you need to really understand things, and not just know things and memorize words, anatomical positions and definitions the night before the test....
IF you can MEMORIZE? That's Wonderful......that's not gonna get you through here.
Not saying memorizing isn't important.....but you need to memorize and understanding of concepts, because that's what this is really about here.
And as I said before, you need to read.....the only you are going to understand things is though reading and reinforcing those lectures, even if they're just reading off slides.
#3.) The toughest part of Nursing School is Time Management....everyone has this issue....you will be no different
#4.) Learn the secret to success in Nursing.....Want to know what it is??............Study your *** off....
Everyone is always looking for a secret and solution to make Nursing School easy.....guess what, There is no secret except study your ass off....You need to treat it like it's a full time Job....with overtime responsibilities....except, you're not getting paid for you're OT....not yet anyways.
And for those of you weighing different career options and are pre-nursing....I changed careers and i'll give you my thought process for advice and maybe it can help you.
I thought first of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy: Great field, great job market...but In my opinion, their education has been greatly inflated....it used to be a B.S minimum entry, and now it's a Masters and soon...Doctorate Level....majority of PT programs are now DPT programs....and unfortunately...I don't think the Pay has matched the education advancement....the same is true for OT, which has gone from B.S to M.S since the mid 2000s I believe
What's wrong with more education? It's very expensive....graduate school is not cheap...even if you go to a public school...but in my area, the schools are private and cost well over 100,000 to attend.
I believe you should never take out more in Student Loans than you will make in a year....maybe unless it's Nursing because in Nursing, you have endless opportunities to advance into high paying 6 figure jobs that pay well....and even with a 2 year degree, you will make bank right off the bat if you get a job in a large healthcare system hospital., no doubt about it....but again it's all about money and plus geography impacts how much you make....in My area....RN's make as much as PT's ...both start around 27-28/hr and the top of their pay scale is around 40/hr
PT is a good career.....but beware of the cost..... does it outweigh you're desire to be a PT?? or do other fields look more appealing??
I then looked at Respiratory Therapy
This field is very interesting to me.....it's a very young profession, very good profession in my opinion, and as everyone has mentioned before...RT's make on avg. a couple $$ less an hour than RN's............but RN's on average usually have a much greater ceiling for earnings....even in an entry level staff Nurse and staff Therapist position.
An example is in my area at one of our local hospitals...RT's start at around 24 and peak at 31...and the RN's 27 and peak at 40 in the staff positions....so the RN's have more of a ceiling.
Cold weather is also a major source of the work from what I hear, hence why winter time is usually hriing season for Respiratory Therapy: Asthma, Cold Weather Allergies, Croup, Pneumonia, Flu....all made worse via cold weather....so that's another downside.
The major issue with Respiratory is advancement......there is none. With RN's, you can go into NP programs and CRNA's... However, this could change, and RT is working to change this someday where they give them more advancement and career ladders. There has been talk of trying to make the minimum level of entry for a RT to a bachelor's degree and eventually making Advanced Practice RT positions where RT's are physician extenders....but that is nowhere even close to happening right now.
RT' like Nursing is also not for everyone....and they also respond to some really intense environments....so I guess you can say RT is very stimulating as one RT described it to me.
RT and RN get compared often all the time......put it this way....RT's deal with mostly things above the diaphragm and RN's are responsible for that and everything else....most importantly, RN's are the Army of healthcare,.....RT's are more like the Coast Guard....which is not an insult but a complement.. Nobody appreciates the RT until they are absolutely needed, and many average people on the street don't even know what they really do...I have a tremendous respect for RT's.
Nursing has loads of advancement opportunites which is a huge turn on for many....but you need to work hard, and also pay your dues to get those opportunities.
RT is a fine career...and you can have a nice career, improve your quality of life tremendously....but at the end of the day, you can do this 30 years and be in the same position as when you started. The same is true though for Occupational Therapist's and Speech.....it's tough to advance in these fields too. In any Allied Health Field that's not Nursing..... advancement opportunities are going to be tough.
At the end of the say....RT is a solid field, and will improve your quality of life...and if you want to move on to something else..... RT will give you a tremendous background in critical care for RN if that's the long term goal....if the goal is CRNA, then I strongly recommend Respiratory Therapy as a background.
So at the end of the day...I choose to leave Nursing School for Echocardiography and have been working as one for 6 months.....
On the downside...work is harder to find in this field.....I have two jobs....One part time, and 1 per diem....but it's more than enough to allow me to make a good living....Stress level ?? It's not too bad depending on patient load...but it varies.....it's nowhere near Nursing or RT though.
Nursing wasn't as science minded as I thought it would be for my liking and I just grew unhappy with where I was with the work of the job in itself as I saw being LPN and the schoolwork it takes to be an RN...it's very holistic and very rounded and incorporates a combination of physical sciences and social science...don't underrate the importance of social sciences in Nursing....the whole person matters.
And I found out after a few years of LPN work and being an RN student, that Nursing was not for me at all.
I really enjoy being on the diagnostic end of health care and overall I'm happy with my decision..
Hopefully, this helps many of you students out there to provide some pointers and advice to those who might need it, or feel like they're on an island of their own with their experience so far.
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donjon2015
18 Posts
The advancement and flexibility is NOT EVEN CLOSE with other Allied Health Fields....Not even close....Nurses have all those opportunities and career ladders..
Like I said, With RT, Echo, SLP, and OT....you can be in it for 20 years and be doing the same thing you were when you started....and there's nothing wrong with that,.....im ok with that and I like what I do in the Echo Field.............. but if you like upward mobility into highend positions, management and mid level provider positions....Nursing provides those in aplomb
Thank you for your insight