Anything Positive on Nursing ???

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Donner

1 Post

From nursing, I went into IT and for seven years I enjoyed the new way, now the industry is in chaos and I may come back to nursing...in short enjoy the technical aspects...but i miss the level people interaction,...enjoy your break..

Miamipete001

20 Posts

Sorry, for not responding earlier, been very busy..........

WOW, I can not believe the negativity..............

I am still going for it, and hopefully wish for the best.

I will say, I am happy to see some positive reaction in the posts, but it just shocks me, to see the complaints.

Even Hospital Food has gotten better !!! hahahahahahahahaha

I don't know where these people are working................but.....

I have researched lots of carreers, and business's, and actually got serious into the medicine, when I became ill, and saw what nurses and in general, medical practioners do !!!

There are so many jobs out there where you can't even pay your bills, are bored, no job security, no interaction with people, and on and on and on..............so I have to say again how bad can it be ???

I pray I'm not making a wrong choice, but I have researched quite a bit...............I consider myself quite intelligent and NOT nieve !!!

My goals for the moment >>>

1. Hospital Setting > lots of people and busy, time goes by, do not want a clinic at all

2. ER > interaction and busy, wide area of education............

3. And guess what if I see all these problems that everyone is crying a about, guess what, I move on, find or advance myself to something else in the medical field.

4. Bottom Line >>> Health Care & Medicine aren't going anywhere, any time soon !!!

My Opinion......................

Any Comments ???????

Pete

Miami, Florida

dsharp001

1 Post

I have been an RN for 23 Years in a hospital, long hours and short staff but after I had a craniotomy I knew that I could not go back to hospital nursing. Now I am using all my nursing skills to become a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant and loving every minute of it. My nursing background has made all this possible. :eek: http://www.legalnurse.com

RNforLongTime

1,577 Posts

Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

Pete,

Don't give up! Nursing is a very demanding yet very rewarding career. You will have many opportunites available to you. You can go anywhere in the country and are pretty much guaranteed a job because of the severe shortage.

I have been an RN for 4 years now and there have been times when I wanted to chuck it all and go pass out smiley stickers at the front entrance at Wal-mart. When a patient thanks me and tells me I am a good nurse makes it all worthwhile and reinforces my reasonings for becoming a nurse in the first place. That is the best compliment ever! I don't think that you will be sorry!

Good Luck,

Kelly:)

Pete-

I didn't understand the negativity either, before I became an RN. Don't get me wrong, I love nursing. And I started my 1st year out as BSN in 1998 making $40,000/year (that is good pay compared to other states, from what I've read). However, it took only 6 mos before I understood the negativity on a personal level.

A case in point: my first job on med surg, I was told,"We don't take breaks here because we want to get out on time." And that was true. I NEVER got a break (sometimes I ate a "meal" during my 9-10 hours shift, but that was gobbled down in a back room in 3 minutes flat). Often times I would not even have time to eat.

We were so understaffed that nobody had time to take breaks. We had no end to # of pts we would get as new admissions. However many pts rolled into ER, well, that's how many our floor admitted (small community hospital). Did they care that there wasn't enough staff? Nope. I had 10 pts all to myself on pm shift many times, w/ one CNA for 22 pts. This was a med/surg/tele. with heavy acuities (pts needing lots of nursing care). I stuck it out for a year, then got a job at a better staffed hospital.

My current job is better (I usually get a break, though oftentimes I work 9-10 hr w/o a single break to use the bathroom or eat a single bite of food). At times we have filed assignment under protest b/c of short staffing, and still they don't give us extra help. Our staff is pieced together w/ travelers, agency, and staff RNs working extra shifts frequently. Turn over on our floor is high.

Yes, my pay is decent (though I must point out that my Carpenter husband w/o any college degree makes more than I do, and I have a BS in Nursing ). And I love the challenge. Most of my coworkers are so great. The docs I work with, for the most part, are great, too. It's a fast paced, interesting job. I love meeting new patients & learning something new each day.

But let me tell you, Pete, I am on the edge of burnout way more often than is healthy. The short staffing & high pressure to accomplish miracles with little to no resources wears on a person after awhile. My work calls my home so often (for me to come in extra shifts) that I had to get caller ID. I have even been called multiple times at 2 am & 3 am on a work night (I work 7a-3:30 pm) to see if I can "come in early." (I am not "on call" so I was not amused when they woke me up in the middle of the night).

I wish you well in nursing. It might be just what you're looking for. There is a lot of flexibility w/ work schedules, and many specialties to choose from. But don't be too shocked by nurses' negativity- it's UGLY out here. (I'm hoping we can change things w/ safe staffing legislation). When you have worked as a nurse for a few months, then you'll see where we're coming from (though, hopefully it will be better by the time you graduate...one can only dream).

Best of luck to you!

~kona

fergus51

6,620 Posts

Pete-

We may vent here a lot because we know that here, people understand what we're saying. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love nursing, but there are a lot of things that go with it that I don't like. Every job has pros and cons.

My pros: like patients, mostly OK docs, usually have good days at work, have some excellent co-workers.

My cons: money (No nurse in this province makes 50K a year!! Highest paid will get about 24$ US), lack of respect, lack of full time jobs despite a shortage of nurses, OT, contract negotiations, a couple of docs I want to kill, short staffing.

I wouldn't do another job, but I am realistic about the problems in nursing.

dirtydancer

1 Post

Originally posted by Miamipete001

Sorry, for not responding earlier, been very busy..........

WOW, I can not believe the negativity..............

I am still going for it, and hopefully wish for the best.

I will say, I am happy to see some positive reaction in the posts, but it just shocks me, to see the complaints.

Even Hospital Food has gotten better !!! hahahahahahahahaha

I don't know where these people are working................but.....

I have researched lots of carreers, and business's, and actually got serious into the medicine, when I became ill, and saw what nurses and in general, medical practioners do !!!

There are so many jobs out there where you can't even pay your bills, are bored, no job security, no interaction with people, and on and on and on..............so I have to say again how bad can it be ???

I pray I'm not making a wrong choice, but I have researched quite a bit...............I consider myself quite intelligent and NOT nieve !!!

My goals for the moment >>>

1. Hospital Setting > lots of people and busy, time goes by, do not want a clinic at all

2. ER > interaction and busy, wide area of education............

3. And guess what if I see all these problems that everyone is crying a about, guess what, I move on, find or advance myself to something else in the medical field.

4. Bottom Line >>> Health Care & Medicine aren't going anywhere, any time soon !!!

My Opinion......................

Any Comments ???????

Pete

Miami, Florida

;)

Hello Pete,

You have to excuse me for my poor English, ( It isn't really the current language here in Belgium), but I totally agree with you that all that negativity around the nursing job is pointless.

I still am quite a "rookie" in this job, I've been a nurse since july 2000, but I don't understand why so many collegues are complaining. Realistically this is a hard job, also in Belgium, but I wouldn't miss it for a moment. For me nursing is the only job where you can reach unbelievable things with a little bit of intelligence, compassion, logic, teamwork and so on. I am really "high" of this job, and I hope I will stay that way for many years, and I would hate it to be put down by those cynical collegues who are burnt out.

Thank you for being so positive over the best job in the world.

Dirty D.

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