Is it just my idealistic view of what a nurse should be or does this bother other nurses? I have heard several times lately and have read articles of people who are going to nursing school, not because they want to be a nurse but because they want the paycheck and a stable job. My sister in law is one of these people. She said to me, " I really don't want to be a nurse but I figure that I can work as a nurse while I go back to school." I find that mentality very frustrating. I worked very hard to become a nurse. I worked as a nursing assistant before I became a nurse so I could make sure that I knew what I was getting myself into, I shadowed nurses when I was in high school. I really feel that this is what I was put on this earth to do and to hear people talk like this who have absolutely no concept of what they are getting themselves into and who have no respect for the profession just boils my blood. I feel like these people, who have no intention of staying in nursing for an extended period of time just make it harder for the nursing student who actually wants to make a career of nursing because they take up spaces on the wait list for getting into nursing school.
Maybe some of these people will be excellent nurses and will contribute well to the profession but I personally would not want a nurse to take care of me who only got into the field because they wanted a stable paycheck.
Don't you agree that to do well in nursing you have to have some desire to be here in the first place? These are people's health and lives that we are dealing with. This field isn't just about a paycheck!!!
I know I'm probably being naieve and idealistic when I say this but I really feel that nursing is a calling, not a JOB!!! I've been doing this type of work for going on 10 years now and I have felt that way about it from day 1.
What do you think? Does it bother you that people are getting into nursing who have no desire to actually be a nurse? Just wanting to hear other people's perspectives on the issue.
How nice of the government...I'm back in school now working full time, raising my family, and will be paying back student loans for YEARS. So now not only do I have to pay my way through school, but through my tax dollars, pay the way of auto workers that have lost their jobs. I know I don't sound too charitable, but that just stinks.[/quote']
Believe me, I'm tempted to feel the same way. What you also have to consider, however, is how much MORE it would cost taxpayers NOT to re-educate these people. Imagine the strain on unemployment/welfare systems if so many auto workers were layed off, had no other job skills, and had to rely on government assistance long-term just to get by. In the long run, it costs the taxpayer far less to pay for these people's education and turn them back into productive, tax paying members of society. Unfortunately, with current economic conditions, the only real solutions involve choosing the lesser of two evils.
Specializes in UR/PA, Hematology/Oncology, Med Surg, Psych.
It's not exclusively for the auto workers. Your tax dollars goes toward other useless government programs. Oh yeah, let's not forget the banks who got a bailout with no questions asked. We can either let people go to school with the aide of the government OR we can let them all suck up unemployment. Which one do you prefer?
I know. I'm just really dreading all these student loans that are piling up. I guess I should just be glad that someone will be helped, maybe someday the help will be there for me or mine if we need it. Perhaps I'm little grumpy today, but lately I'm none to pleased with what Washington has been up to.
Sorry for hi-jacking the thread. Back to our regularly scheduled program :wink2:
It's not guaranteed that ALL auto workers who are laid off get money via this program. They have to apply for it and a need. There are limitations on the number of people who get into the program. And they aren't given the money out right. It's given to them on a card, sorta like a credit card with whatever amount of money the Michigan government gave them and its for classes and books only. If you don't live in michigan, paying for it probably doesn't concern you because its coming out of Michigan State Taxes not federal taxes.
It's not exclusively for the auto workers. Your tax dollars goes toward other useless government programs. Oh yeah, let's not forget the banks who got a bailout with no questions asked. We can either let people go to school with the aide of the government OR we can let them all suck up unemployment. Which one do you prefer?
I know. I'm just really dreading all these student loans that are piling up. I guess I should just be glad that someone will be helped, maybe someday the help will be there for me or mine if we need it. Perhaps I'm little grumpy today, but lately I'm none to pleased with what Washington has been up to.
Sorry for hi-jacking the thread. Back to our regularly scheduled program :wink2:
I'm sorry if I got snarky. I have several family members that are in danger of losing their jobs because they work in the auto industry. It sucks for everyone all around. My cousin works at GM, his wife works at an advertising company that does advertising for GM and her job has already cut staff. So if GM go under, they are screwed.
It's times like these that make me really appreciate how recession-proof nursing is (especially working where nurse/patient ratios are legally mandated).
Specializes in UR/PA, Hematology/Oncology, Med Surg, Psych.
I'm sorry if I got snarky. I have several family members that are in danger of losing their jobs because they work in the auto industry. It sucks for everyone all around. My cousin works at GM, his wife works at an advertising company that does advertising for GM and her job has already cut staff. So if GM go under, they are screwed.
I'm so sorry. Thanks for the reminder that behind the news stories and statistics are real people that are scared and suffering. I needed that nudge.
im sure my garbage man doesn't love his work but he does it for the paycheck. Come on, of course people have gone into nursing for the money. Those are usually the nurses that start looking for ways to get out of it once they start their career.
I don't think you can equate your garbage man to a nurse. You screw up the garbage - no one dies. :chuckle I'm sorry..just couldn't help myself.
Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.
I went into nursing so I wouldn't be a bag lady when I got older, and so I could support myself. I didn't care if I liked it or not. I care about people and figured I could be a nurse and combine caring with survival. As luck would have it, I ended up liking nursing, and I do it well. I even have some "wow" times.
I don't think it's "just for the paycheck" very often...let's give people credit for being good at heart no matter what their financial motives might be!
I've read thru many but not all of the posts on this thread. FWIW, here's my take. If I sound a bit cranky, chalk it up to me being a gettin'-old lady with a sore back and swollen ankles. 36 years at the bedside will do that to a grrl.
I got into nursing because I found myself at the age of 20 with an AD in sociology that prepared me to maybe go on to a baccalaureate in sociology which might prepare me for going on for a master's which in turn might get me a teaching job in the community college from which I had just graduated. Meanwhile, for the next 6-8 years I was qualified for minimum wage only. FEH!!! I was working as a nurses' aide at the time (no certification in 1970) and knew I could do the physical work ... so I went to the 2-year nursing school so I could at least pay my rent. Somewhere along the line, I realized I was good at it ... and that has been my emotional/psychological/spiritual payoff to go along with my salary.
I'm a professional and I do a professional job, not because I "feel like it" but because it's the job I agreed to do. And I don't just mean the tasks, either. I act in the best interests of my patient even when that patient is a blot on the face of the universe ... makes no difference whether I "care" about him/her or not.
Lest we get too romantic about the good ol' days when nursing was a calling ... I should remind all here that, for a couple of hundred years nursing, teaching and secretarial work were the only avenues available for working class women to gain some measure of economic autonomy. I submit that a large proportion of nurses have been in it for the paycheck all along.
Another reality check. Before Nightengale the non-religious hospital nurses were mainly street women ... alcoholics and over the hill prostitutes. Much of the moral/social control exerted over nurses since Nightengale's time has to do with her need to overcome this low-class stereotype. Setting her nursing schools and departments up like convents was the only way she could attract a "better" class of woman into the field and gain acceptance of the profession by Victorian society.
I am happy for those who feel a calling ... but I don't think that gives you a moral high ground that lets you dismiss those of us with different motivation. Meanwhile, demanding that all nurses love all patients and be motivated by a burning passion to help those in need is both unhealthy and out of line. You don't get to tell me what to feel.
As for us horrible money-grubbers taking all the nursing school spots away from the deserving ones-who-are-called, I have to point out that those spots are earned. The money-grubber who got in earned it ... and if you did not, whose fault is that? Same thing with the license. The money-grubber passed the same board exam as the saintly one ... how dare you tell him/her she isn't entitled to use that license just because she/he isn't Mother Theresa! If you think that nursing school spots are awarded for something other than the individual's qualifications, then you need to take that up with the school or file a discrimination lawsuit.
I can see it now ... "I should have gotten in before her because I wanted it more!"
How nice of the government...I'm back in school now working full time, raising my family, and will be paying back student loans for YEARS. So now not only do I have to pay my way through school, but through my tax dollars, pay the way of auto workers that have lost their jobs. I know I don't sound too charitable, but that just stinks.[/quote']
Its ok, you dont have to be charitable anymore, the government will be charitable for you , with your money, so yes, in fact you are very charitable.
I personally went to nursing school after I got out of the army as a medic because I had to do something in the healthcare field. It was either PA school, RN school, or MD school. I chose the RN route because it was the most logical thing to do. I graduated with FNP in december. To me it is a job, but I like what I do. I have never been a touchy feely kinda man, i hate the word compassionate, I dont believe that others should clean up your mess , I dont emotionally linked to my patients, but I do treat every patient with respect that every human being deserves.
My last patient I had passed away the other night on my shift, the daughter, grandaughter, ex wife and son in law were the family. The family was distraught, I felt initially they were testing me to see if i was competent as a RN by asking questions that at this point they already knew the answer to. Maybe they needed reassurance. I am a big guy, I can handle reassurance. THe charge nurse told me that I was going to have to pick up another patient at midnight. I reasoned with her saying the family really needs someone they can talk too. THis is their dads, grand dads, ex husbands last hours on this earth. THe priest already gave this man his last rights. The daughter told me that her father was a paratrooper in the army. As was I
So he passed away later in the morning.
Do i get all emotional about things, no, did i earn my paycheck, yes.
You screw up the garbage - no one dies. :chuckle I'm sorry..just couldn't help myself.
OC85
263 Posts