Another "Is it still worth it" question from a freshman at a school with a nursing program

BeachsideRN, ASN · Nov 7, 2014

There are going to be "those" people in every field and at the end of the day nursing is a job and few people like their jobs. Sure you can like the idea of you do but the corporate structure of work tends to such the life out of you - regardless of field. I suggest getting in the ground abd shadowing a nurse. See what it's like on a daily basis.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 7, 2014

Due to increased patient loads and redundant documentation requirements, I only get to spend a few minutes per shift with each patient.

However, I somewhat like the decreased patient interaction because I am an introvert who does not enjoy meeting new people or conjuring up small talk. While the patients brighten up the days of some nurses, I do not enjoy or relish being 'needed' by them. I know that sounded bad, but I'd be lying to myself if I said otherwise.

I enjoy the paperwork, computer charting, learning about the disease processes, and receiving steady income. However, I do not enjoy seeing the ugliest side of human nature displayed by patients and their demanding family members who attempt to tell staff how to do their jobs.

Nurse ABC · Nov 7, 2014

Every job has its ups and downs. Nursing is very physically demanding and stressful. When I graduated from high school I didn't have the internet to really learn what all nursing entails. I had an aunt who tried to talk me out of it but her reasons were silly ones (like having to wear a uniform (I didn't care-I hate to dress up), working holidays/nights/weekends (no big deal when you're young), dealing with blood (didn't bother me), etc. Nursing school does not adequately prepare you to handle 5-10 patients at a time. The most we ever had was 2 in school. It's scary when you realize it's up to you to make sure they stay alive! Doctors only round once a day. I have had so many more bad experiences in nursing than good. Some from patients, some from families, doctors, and other nurses/staff. I did love OB but I was risking my license every day. There was one nurse for labor and delivery no matter how many patients we had. I got out of the hospital and went into school nursing. Much less stress but still so much crap from people-just teachers and parents this time instead of doctors and patients-but still a lack of respect. So I ended up taking several years away from nursing to stay home with my kids. After they all were in school I missed working and decided to go back. I subbed as a school nurse and also took some part-time hospital jobs in a different hospital. The good news is the hospital was much better and people much more supportive than the other one I'd worked at. I wish I would've started out there instead. The bad news is still too many patients per nurse. Now everything is computerized which takes 10X's longer to chart I think and there's so much more of it. However it does help catch mistakes which is good. You will spend more time on the computer than with your patients every day. There are now so many more drug seekers that will make your day miserable yelling about needing more and more pain med. However, even though I liked this hospital better it was still very stressful and being older it was very hard on my back, knees, etc. because you work 12 hrs now and you really rarely sit down all day! I was exhausted the days I worked and the next one off. I ended up going back into school nursing because it was physically easier and there is also more respect for the nurse there now as well. I do sometimes think about going in teaching nursing. I've always wanted to try that so we'll see.

If I were you, I would call a local hospital and tell them you're a student deciding if you want to go into nursing and ask if you can shadow a med-surg nurse for a few hours. You need to see how things are on a basic floor-not the specialty floors because most of the time you have to work med-surg first and if you can handle that you can handle anything. Talk to the nurses. Read the boards on here from new grads. Make sure if you do go into it you do with open eyes. Also, my advice would be to get your master's degree as soon as possible too. That will open up so many more doors esp if you get tired of working at the bedside. We need good nurses and the nice thing about nursing is there are so many places you can work as a nurse but most nurses have to get that med-surg experience first. Some areas of the country it's very difficult to get a nursing job but other areas it's easier. Try to get a hospital internship which will help get your foot in the door. Make a great impression on all the nurses while you're in school. When we'd have awesome students come through that we loved we'd put in a good word for them and they usually got hired. Always act professional and respectful and show that you're a hard worker. We'd have students hogging our computers and get mad if we asked them to borrow our own computer back because we had a med due and you would not believe the number of eye rolls we'd get. Don't do that. Don't hide in the nurse's lounge whispering when other students are out on the floor learning. Show initiative and ask questions. Whatever you're afraid of (inserting a catheter, starting an IV, a bed bath, etc) do it as much as possible to get over that fear and you will once you've done things enough. If you don't know something ask, don't wing it and hope for the best. If you have a tough skin and can handle stress well then by all means go for it. If it doesn't take much to stress you out then do the OT because you'll still be helping people but with much stress!

Farawyn · Nov 7, 2014

From the way you describe yourself, it sounds like nursing is for you.

My other dream job besides nursing is a restaurant critic- to eat all day and get paid for it. Yours is an OT. You definitely want the healthcare/helping stuff.

I joke a lot, but I really would never be anything else but a nurse. Yes, I get burnt, yes I am worth more than I get paid, yes there is a huge amount of repsonsibility, and yes, there has never been, nor is there now, the proper respect for what we do.

Still...well, yea. I'm a Nurse.

I like the idea of going to a hospital and volunteering/ shadowing if you can.

applewhitern, BSN, RN · Nov 7, 2014

Do people really get to go to a hospital and "shadow" a nurse? That would not be allowed at any hospital I have worked at, unless you are already a student and are doing it in your clinicals, with an instructor. Probably because of HIPAA, or maybe just liability in general.

BeachsideRN, ASN · Nov 7, 2014

Do people really get to go to a hospital and "shadow" a nurse? That would not be allowed at any hospital I have worked at, unless you are already a student and are doing it in your clinicals, with an instructor. Probably because of HIPAA, or maybe just liability in general.

Many hospitals have programs set up specifically for this.

firstinfamily, RN · Nov 8, 2014

I agree that you should "shadow" or volunteer at a local hospital, that will give you good insight into what is involved with the healthcare field. It is true nursing has gotten further away from the bedside, you would think with computers the documentation would have gotten easier. However, computers have made us more accountable and are mostly for reimbursement purposes. The computer documentation takes time away from the patients even though it is how we are tracking our patients, it still takes time in another focus. I am fortunate in that my facility has computers in every pt's room and I can document while I am working on my patients. Having to wait for a computer to be available was such a waste of time! Nursing is physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting, but also very rewarding. You have to set goals for yourself and make them happen. You have to be able to take constructive criticism and move forward. You have to over come the fears of possibly killing someone and think beyond that, you are there to help them get better and to do life-saving skills. Sometimes you make a difference, sometimes you don't, but you just have to hold your head high and know that you gave your best no matter what!!! You will have to face arrogant MDs, supervisors, and sometimes managers who cannot totally understand what you do as a nurse. You will have shifts where you cannot get everything done, but somehow you manage to do so. You will have to over come your personal beliefs and feelings to provide care to some people who cannot begin to understand what they are doing to their bodies to make them so sick. You will be working in a very dynamic field that offers multiple avenues and areas of progression to be successful. There are not many fields that offer and take so much!!! Good luck in whatever you decide! Nurses may have some health issues but so does every other field. Learning how to take care of yourself is pretty much the same no matter where you go.

MissyWrite · Nov 9, 2014

Get out now. Seriously. There are plenty of careers where you can help people and not be run into the ground. Nursing is great...except for the workload, the stress, the exploitation, the shift work, and the hazards involved, including violence, bullying and humiliation by your own peers. They do this because they feel powerless, exploited and miserable, just like you will.

Consider things like speech pathologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, pharmacist. Or if you must be a nurse, go straight on for your MSN and go into administration, or quality assurance, or become a nurse practitioner.

Chose anything where you will be respected as a professional AND as a human being. Choose anything that doesn't count on a complete lack of personal boundaries to be able to tolerate the job. Anything.

FurBabyMom, MSN, RN · Nov 9, 2014

It depends on what you want in your career and for yourself. Its a personal question and you have to make your own decision and come to terms with it. I have had four jobs in healthcare, three as an RN. All jobs are different, none are created equal. All have good and bad, the grass is not always greener on the other side of things. My previous job had good bad and ugly too...

It's true that in healthcare, you will probably have to work holidays, possibly some nights, and probably some weekends. Nobody chooses to get sick, or hurt - it just happens. Very few professions outside of healthcare have such a profound impact on people at some of their most intimate and vulnerable moments.

As for new grads finding jobs - there ARE jobs out there. They aren't necessarily the jobs everyone WANTS. I didn't get the job I wanted as a new grad. To make a long story short, I interviewed for my "dream" job. I didn't get it. I got another job, and then another after that. Because I still wasn't "happy" I was looking, and found the job I have now. I never imagined me doing this as a job when I was in school. I generally like my job most days. I like some coworkers better than others but that doesn't mean we can't work well. I don't have to want to hang out with my coworkers to be able to work well and provide the best care possible with them as a team. I work four 10 hour days a week, plus some time on call (a certain amount each schedule period). Sometimes we have adequate staff, sometimes we simply don't. I have noticed that not all employers treat the nursing staff well. My first job as an RN did not (not at all), the second RN job I had was better. My current job is the best RNs have been treated.

It's not a job to get into because of a 3 day work week, or because of money. It's (generally) a fair amount of compensation, but not always generous compensation. Working three 12 hour shifts a week is exhausting. Working four 10 hour shifts can be too. There are rewards and that is the kind of relationship you have with coworkers (most of mine are amazing, and we get along very well, we have each other's back - but with the kind of things we do at work, we have to), it's the relationships with patients/families you get to have with a relatively short amount of time being with them. Knowing you made a difference in someone's life or helped keep someone as safe and well cared for as possible.

It's not easy and I don't think it should be. We are given a ton of responsibility and it is not something to take lightly. I would agree there is some double documenting, and documenting takes time. I have computer documented and paper documented, I personally think computer documentation is more complete and faster. I work in a procedure area, and chart on one patient at a time. With the completely computerized system (and our facility, house-wide on the same system) I can see EVERYTHING throughout a patient's admission - MAR, lab results, inpatient assessments, all kinds of things (obviously I only access certain things as needed). Our computer system is new, and I love it. Some of our staff (system wide) have disliked the systems change. But change is going to be present in healthcare from now until the end of time (hopefully promoting better outcomes, increasing quality of healthcare, etc), so we had better get used to it.

There are days I am so content in my job that I could do it every day for 30 more years. Then there are days I see myself frustrated with things and see a need for a change. The thing about nursing is - there are SO many options. Even without going to grad school, I can change jobs every 5 years between now and retirement within my healthcare system and never have done everything. On the other hand, I may not stay in clinical practice as I am attracted to some of the non-clinical aspects of healthcare.

KitKat416 · Nov 10, 2014

Thank you all so much for your very thorough responses! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.

TU RN, DNP, CRNA · Nov 10, 2014

I have a very particular and pedantic personality. I feel stressed when things aren't organized in my house and room. For instance, I save Altoids tins to store various small things in (ie paper clips, tacks, batteries, pins, change). My closet is organized in order of casual-to-formal and by color. My personal budget spreadsheet might make your eyes cross. Nonetheless there are always things that just don't quite have a place; they go into one of two "junk drawers." Hospitals, in all their professional corporate and bureaucratic stratifications, are similar. There are so many departments and specialties that try to organize the complicated business of healthcare -- nursing is the "junk drawer."

Good for you for at least bothering to ask a nurse what his/her job is like before deciding to complete the degree and blindly commit your life to a trade. I believe it was TheCommuter (could be misquoting) who once said on this forum something to the effect of: "10% of all people truly love their jobs, 10% really hate them, and the other 80% exist neutrally in between getting by day to day."

You've listed the desire to help and care for others, fascination with the human body and disease pathologies, and interest in using your brain as some potential attractions to nursing. Let me just go ahead and add some that you didn't feel safe mentioning on here: decent pay, job growth, and security. There are plenty of interesting and rewarding paths out there that satisfy every one of those conditions with such a lesser headache than nursing it's laughable. Go be a lab scientist, radiology/MRI/CT/NM tech, diagnostic sonographer, or echocardiographer. Don't be a nurse.