Carrer switch to nursing

Dakeirus · Jan 10, 2014

Don't do it.

Spend one hour searching/reading through past AN posts about why not.

ArtClassRN, ADN, RN · Jan 10, 2014

I am just looking to connect with other guys in the field. Is there anyone in my area that is a recent grad, if so, what is starting pay? I am hearing anything from $24 an hour - $30 pending on which shift you work. How have you liked the nursing field so far? etc.
Thanks!

Why do you want to be a nurse? If it is only for the pay and stability, find something else. If you get solid healthcare experience and do extremely well in school, you will have a great shot at a decent paying, stable job.

But you will hate every minute of it if you don't like what you do. The burnout cases at work demonstrate this every day.

TU RN, DNP, CRNA · Jan 11, 2014

I make $30/hr with 10% diff on nights and 10% diff on weekends. I work night shifts and as a new nurse (graduated in May 2013) I often get shafted with the Fridays. When I go in to work tonight I will be paid both differentials at $36/hr for 8 hours, even though I normally work 12 hour shifts. After the government has their way with me I get about $2000 biweekly. The pay is nice, but I have no true need for money considering I live at home still and my only expenses are my student loans - which I am currently paying back double the monthly requirement with my savings still growing pretty nicely.

What is suffering is my happiness. Nursing as a new grad on night shift on this particular floor seems to be sucking the life out of me, and I've always been a pretty stalwart, take-the-good-with-the-bad kinda guy. The negatives of nursing are well documented on AN just look around. Right now I'm having more bad days than good, hoping this ratio will reverse as I get better. Keeping my chin up and looking for better things in the future.

Highlights of my days are when patients state that they trust me and appreciate the care I give them. It's also very exciting to confront a rapidly declining patient and see that my interventions are effective in stabilizing them.

What I don't like is handling the variety of patient attitudes and behaviors. This is something that can't be taught or prepared for. The schedule is rough. You get extra days off, but I find that my energy is shot normally on those too. There are more but I've been having an okay run and don't want to drag myself back down haha.

Please look up some of the other threads on AN about "hating nursing" or "leaving nursing" or "quitting nursing" in the search bar and take from others' experiences. Also get your own experience as a CNA or PCA or ED Tech if you can swing it.

TopsDrop, RN · Jan 16, 2014

Don't believe the hype as far as "stability in nursing" or "nursing shortage" blah blah blah. While nurses are in short supply in some areas, it's not everywhere. Nursing is just as competitive as any other field. You need experience, or a foot in the door to get hired. The pay is decent, but for the enormous responsibility and BS we put up with, we should be making more. Honestly, a hospital can't function without the bedside nurse, or nurses in general.

Sounds like you have a decent job and unless you truly want to be a nurse you will hate it and burn out quickly. I've only been a nurse for 2 years plus 1 year as an LPN, and I have already seen my fair share of new RN's that can't do it. They leave the profession before their first licence renewal.

I love my job though. Can't really imagine doing anything else. I use my brain every single day. It's flexible and I do help people most days (I also feel like screaming at people most days, but management doesn't like that). Occasionally, I even help save someones life.

Nursing is very frustrating and can be very rewarding at times, but you have to want to be there. There are a lot of other jobs that pay just as well or better and don't have to put up with as much BS as the bedside RN does.

Do a lot of research before you think about spending 12-40+ grand on a degree you may hate.

PVCCHoo · Jan 17, 2014

Hey SFelvey. I am in almost the same boat as you. Only a few years older, but about a year and a half ago, I decided I was in a go nowhere job (managing a courier service), and I went to the local community college to talk about their allied health degrees. I was originally thinking radiology or sonography, but after reading message boards detailing the struggle for new grads to find jobs, I went all in with nursing. I too already have a second degree, so I was able to finish all my pre-req's in a year and am waiting to hear back from the community college in April.

Yes, I would listen to what these people have to say on here. There is no "nursing shortage" and you are not guaranteed a job once you are handed your diploma. I still know people who graduated in May and do not have full time work. Salaries in VA are also much lower than what you will read about in the salary survey threads. You hear about people making 80K with 2-3 years experience, but not in Virginia. I would be willing to bet that someone like you might even take a pay cut for the first couple years in a nursing career. It's what I might be looking at.

Of course, I am in it for long haul. I want a new career and I have done some volunteering to at least see nurses in action and so I can talk to them one on one about it. You will of course find people who hate their jobs, but that is with anything in life. I spent 10 years in the music business working on the road with rock and roll bands. It was what most would consider a dream job and by the end I hated that too. But most of the nurses I encounter do seem to love their jobs. There are women who were 10-20 years older than us that switched to this career and they told me the only regret they have was not doing it sooner.

Good luck.

javadown2, BSN · Jan 17, 2014

You know what, before joining AN I had never talked to a Nurse that really disliked their job as much as I've read about so many negative comments on AN by disgruntled nurses that are overworked or under payed. I personaly have switched careers at the age of 44 (started pre-reqs at 41). I'm just about done with school (5 months left). I chose to change careers because I didn't get much out of my old job, it was a no brainier job that paid well but I waited to long to realize that it's not all about money, it's about being happy with what you do every day, do you feel you make a difference at least in your own mind or in someones life every single day? From my limited experience so far I find that I can AND DO make a difference in others lives because I CHOOSE to do so whether or not I'm having a bad day or being over worked (because I've been there before). Life is what you make of it, if you want to be a Nurse don't hesitate because it's better to do something now then to regret NOT doing it later.

kabfighter · Jan 17, 2014

You know what, before joining AN I had never talked to a Nurse that really disliked their job as much as I've read about so many negative comments on AN by disgruntled nurses that are overworked or under payed. I personaly have switched careers at the age of 44 (started pre-reqs at 41). I'm just about done with school (5 months left). I chose to change careers because I didn't get much out of my old job, it was a no brainier job that paid well but I waited to long to realize that it's not all about money, it's about being happy with what you do every day, do you feel you make a difference at least in your own mind or in someones life every single day? From my limited experience so far I find that I can AND DO make a difference in others lives because I CHOOSE to do so whether or not I'm having a bad day or being over worked (because I've been there before). Life is what you make of it, if you want to be a Nurse don't hesitate because it's better to do something now then to regret NOT doing it later.

Wait until the honeymoon phase is over before making any conclusions. As a student you haven't had any real responsibility, and are frankly unqualified to be commenting on the original poster's question at this point. You haven't even been through the disappointment of being unemployed for months because the market is saturated with nurses.

OP, I'd find something else if I were you.

Dakeirus · Jan 18, 2014

I've never had this fulfillment bullcrap of "making a difference in people's lives" back when I was working with patients with chronic health conditions. Everyday, whether or not I was feeling like crap, I CHOSE to be compassionate with my patients. I CHOSE to patient-centered in my care. I CHOSE to still talk to my vent-dependent patients and held their hands as if they were conscious. My patients would tell me I was their favorite--heck sometimes even the troublemaker patients. Was it fulfilling and do I think I made a difference? To some degree, yes. But to me, I was just prolonging their misery because they keep coming back for the same **** that never gets better. Caring for a vented patient for months on end, watching them slowly degrade while we keep pumping them with drugs, tube-feedings, shoving rectal tubes down their orifice while they suffer from C. Diff, is not something I would call 'making a difference in someone's life.' It's downright sad and degrading depending on how you look at it.

It can be just as mindless as any other job doing the same tasks for patients, giving them the same meds over and over, discharging them and then having them come back with the same problem, but worse.

I'd honestly find more fulfillment about making a difference in people's lives knowing I cured cancer or something. It's not always the case for all nursing jobs. If you can live with yourself and be happy doing that kind of work on a full-time basis, then by all means.