Okay, first of all, let me say I am amazed that I was able to register the username "Weirdo" to AllNurses.com, a website that has been in existence, what, 15 years at least? That's crazy! I am the only weirdo here? That's basically how I feel at school and in my career.
Anyway, I'm a student, who will be graduating in December with two associates degrees—one in Nursing and one in History. This whole time I've been in school, I've been doing freelance writing work for various print and web sources around town (not about nursing, but about events around town and such), and I've also been working as an aide on a surgical cardiac split advanced care/med-surg unit. I'll be enrolling in an RN to BSN program upon graduation.
Anyway, I don't really get off on trauma, nor do I find excitement in the grind of a 12-hour shift with 6 patients all high acuities or any of that. I'm more of a "path of least resistance" kind of guy.
I'm wondering if anybody here, or anybody in the world, has a similar skillset. Anyone study Nursing AND History... I mean, I know a lot of people go into nursing after studying history because there's no money in history, but does anybody DO anything with both of these fields of study? I'm thinking with my background in writing there may be something I can do. Every nursing textbook has, like, that chapter about Florence Nightengale... who writes that? A quick google of "Nurse Historian" comes up with nothing. So what can I do? Also, I want to make a lot of money, and I'm not opposed to going to graduate school after getting my BSN or anything like that.
So, is there anyone else out there similar to me? Or am I seriously the only weirdo out there?
Hey, buddy, I was a bona fide Weirdo before you were even a gleam in your daddy's eye, so chill out and listen up.
I appreciate that you have goals, but, with respect, you haven't fully thought this through. As others have pointed out, an Associate's Degree is fine for nursing, but you will need much more for any street cred in history--I would suggest a PhD, although you could maybe squeak by with a Master's (but I doubt it). You will need to stick with nursing to build up your bankroll--good education ain't cheap.
As far as writing, you know what they say: Write what you know. I would also add, Write what you are interested in. What about history (and/or nursing) floats your particular boat? Me, I like looking at the socio-political angle of various historic events past and present, mostly in the Western hemisphere (which I understand better than the Eastern) but I have recently been trying to branch out into the Middle East/North Africa (notable political hotspots). You?
Nursing, as you have surely learned, is a profession and academic area separate from medicine. It is concerned with human response to illness, encompassing much more than the physical--impact on families, social/work life, mental health, growth and development, spiritual life, etc, etc. As such, its development as a specialty has evolved over centuries--this alone provides plenty of space for exploration: Why has nursing been associated primarily with women, how has that affected its perception by society or impact on society, and how has that changed in recent times (or has it, really?)? How have nurses been involved with military campaigns past and present? How did the role of nurses in wartime affect the development of nursing as a profession? How have nursing and/or nurses contributed to advances in public health, maternal-child health, mental health?
And that's just straight nursing history--think laterally about the specialty of nursing: How have modern epidemics (Spanish flu, HIV, Ebola, or--in years to come--the Zika virus) affected families? How did the Industrial Revolution contribute to the impact of tuberculosis and other communicable diseases? Is nursing in the developing world qualitatively different from nursing in the developed world? What changes in perceptions of health and sickness occurred in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, and why? How has mental health care historically been affected by race/sex/socioeconomic status? What is the emotional and spiritual impact of war on children? And that's just stuff that I'm interested in--what gets you fired up?
I wish you all the luck in the world. As others suggested, why not write a little something and get yourself published right here?
I'll bite. I'm no historian but I did go straight into home health as a new grad. The large HH company near me was piloting a new grad program- it required a BSN, several interviews, a successful summer internship, and a full year of orientation. Not many home health companies are able or willing to devote that much to a new graduate, and in home health any less than that is disservice to the patients.
Going to acute care after HH is difficult too. HH is not always respected by nurse managers in acute care (wrongly imo). So be prepared to possibly spend time "working yourself back up" to acute care through sub acute rehab or similar if you ever want to leave HH.
I'll bite. I'm no historian but I did go straight into home health as a new grad. The large HH company near me was piloting a new grad program- it required a BSN, several interviews, a successful summer internship, and a full year of orientation. Not many home health companies are able or willing to devote that much to a new graduate, and in home health any less than that is disservice to the patient.
A full year of orientation in home health! What a great way to ensure that a new grad is able to manage patient care safely, does the employer still offer this type of orientation?
I left the company last year, some years they would take a couple new grads, some years they did not. I was basically on my own after 4 months, on probation for 6, but linked with a designated mentor for the remainder of the year.
It was a great program. I got really lucky, like all of us as new grads, I didn't know what I didn't know then.
When I was in nursing school there was a professor who was a nursing historian. She had a big foundation grant and traveled around the world, documenting & taking photos of statues of nurses! I think she wrote a book. A sweet job indeed.
It is with all due respect that I say, "well duh." I don't expect to get rich, and I don't have an aversion to long hours and hard work. My problem, and it may be specific to my hospital/unit, is we are constantly understaffed, have terrible ratios, and really sick patients, without decent compensation. I know for a fact that people who've left the unit to do home health care make more money with less stress, so that's what I plan to do when I graduate.
Enough about that though.
From now on, please no one reply to this thread unless they are a fellow Weirdo like me. That is, a nursing history nerd who makes money doing something with the combination of nursing and history, or a writer who either has a side hustle writing about nursing,or for whom nurse writing is their main gig. I'm looking for my people! I know they're out there somewhere! I have dreams of sitting on my couch, making a modest but reasonable living writing in my underwear all day.
Yup- also had to chime in as a result of that ridiculous request.
If you want to be a Nurse Historian:
First become a nurse. I don't mean just have the license- actually gain expertise. This takes time, but given how smart and motivated you are, you will be faster than the rest of us, who are, on average, average.
Next, become a historian. Don't know much about that field, but pretty sure an associates isn't going to cut it.
Specializes in ER, PCU, UCC, Observation medicine.
short answer is no. There is no job in nursing where you will put your history degree to use. Unless you work at a retirement home and talk to all the old people about ww2, korea etc, lol.
As far as a nursing job with the least resistance and a high salary that sounds like management but as someone else mentioned that brings its own stress but more mental than physical. plus you can't get into mgmt right out of school with no experience. Good luck.
CryssyD
222 Posts
Hey, buddy, I was a bona fide Weirdo before you were even a gleam in your daddy's eye, so chill out and listen up.
I appreciate that you have goals, but, with respect, you haven't fully thought this through. As others have pointed out, an Associate's Degree is fine for nursing, but you will need much more for any street cred in history--I would suggest a PhD, although you could maybe squeak by with a Master's (but I doubt it). You will need to stick with nursing to build up your bankroll--good education ain't cheap.
As far as writing, you know what they say: Write what you know. I would also add, Write what you are interested in. What about history (and/or nursing) floats your particular boat? Me, I like looking at the socio-political angle of various historic events past and present, mostly in the Western hemisphere (which I understand better than the Eastern) but I have recently been trying to branch out into the Middle East/North Africa (notable political hotspots). You?
Nursing, as you have surely learned, is a profession and academic area separate from medicine. It is concerned with human response to illness, encompassing much more than the physical--impact on families, social/work life, mental health, growth and development, spiritual life, etc, etc. As such, its development as a specialty has evolved over centuries--this alone provides plenty of space for exploration: Why has nursing been associated primarily with women, how has that affected its perception by society or impact on society, and how has that changed in recent times (or has it, really?)? How have nurses been involved with military campaigns past and present? How did the role of nurses in wartime affect the development of nursing as a profession? How have nursing and/or nurses contributed to advances in public health, maternal-child health, mental health?
And that's just straight nursing history--think laterally about the specialty of nursing: How have modern epidemics (Spanish flu, HIV, Ebola, or--in years to come--the Zika virus) affected families? How did the Industrial Revolution contribute to the impact of tuberculosis and other communicable diseases? Is nursing in the developing world qualitatively different from nursing in the developed world? What changes in perceptions of health and sickness occurred in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, and why? How has mental health care historically been affected by race/sex/socioeconomic status? What is the emotional and spiritual impact of war on children? And that's just stuff that I'm interested in--what gets you fired up?
I wish you all the luck in the world. As others suggested, why not write a little something and get yourself published right here?