Considering nursing

See thread below yours: No Nursing Shortage at Present Time. Read thread in full. It's a good education. Then ask yourself if you would still consider nursing.

Thanks I appreciate that. I read the article. I was hoping i would receive more advice and comments from my post.

If you are searching for a career in medicine... nursing is not currently the stepping stone you need to start with.

Talk with your school counselors and get advice on another path.

Reality check time.

Health care is a service-oriented business - a very expensive one. Everything is based on what the customer (insurers) will pay for - if insurers won't pay for a service, it will not survive. If health care services are not "evidence based", they will not be reimbursed. Unless there is a research study out there somewhere that provides evidence that a treatment/med/intervention actually works, it is not considered 'evidence-based'.

Currently in the United States, the only customers for naturopathic or alternative practices - are individuals with sufficient income to afford to pay for it themselves. This is a niche market, and not part of mainstream healthcare. It is seldom included in training curriculum for health care professionals - and even then, only as an afterthought... like mentioning herbal remedies as causing adverse reactions if taken with other pharmaceuticals. This is not a burgeoning career field.

Dont be discouraged by negativity. go for it!

See thread below yours: No Nursing Shortage at Present Time. Read thread in full. It's a good education. Then ask yourself if you would still consider nursing.

Dont be discouraged by negativity. go for it!

Don't go spending other people's money so wantonly.

To the OP:The market for new nurses is saturated. I am not concerned with your ability to survive nursing school, I do have reservations about your ability to secure employment afterwards. A lot of it depends on where you live and (more importantly) who you know. If I had it all to do over again, nursing would not be high on my list of career paths.

Also, many NPs are hustling for work these days as there has been a recent flood of new graduates on the market.

And yes, the stress of nursing can be overwhelming.

Please excuse Prudence and Agatha - they get grumpy when some new face wants to know about becoming a nurse. Anyway - nursing is a great field to get into. If you think you can hang, I say go for it.

The US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics job outlook for RN's reports a projection that nursing will experience a 26% job growth between 2010 and 2020. Yes right now in many areas there are actually a bumper crop of new nurses but in many other areas there remains a shortage. Nursing schools have been turning away applicants primarily (from what I could find from my investigation) because there is a shortage of qualified nursing instructors.

Personally, though nursing is stressful, challenging, and demanding, I think that a nursing degree is an awesome career move. You may not be able to immediately get a job in the specialty or area you want, you may not even be able to get a job in the geographical area in which you are located BUT with some flexibility you WILL be able to get a job. Also with your interest in Holistic nursing...think a little outside the box from traditional hospital based nursing. Combine your degree with a little entrepreneurial spirit and see what you can come up with. For example, I have a friend who is an RN and a registered massage therapist. She has an amazing practice. I have another friend who is an RN and a certified personal trainer...again, amazing business.

The point is, a nursing degree will not be a wasted investment. Though many nursing are "choosing" to push back retirement due to the economy, eventually the retirement of the baby boom population will open up the field for another relative shortage.

Though I have a RN diploma (from 17 years ago) I would go for a minimum of a BSN and consider higher education into a Master's or Doctorate level. I believe it will give you more flexibility to choose different routes.

As for stress and burnout...yes it is high in some areas (stress always) but if you know that ahead of time you can prepare yourself with strategies to decrease your stress. Hope it was somewhat helpful. Whatever you choose good luck to you.