Could I be a nurse?

Published

  1. What in your opinion is the most stressful thing about nursing?

    • 2
      Lots of paperwork
    • 7
      Being expected to multitask excessively and not having enough hours in the day
    • 0
      No praise or recognition where it's due
    • 3
      Taking cr*p from patients and families
    • 1
      Distressing situations e.g. patients dying
    • 1
      Being treated badly by senior colleagues
    • 2
      other

16 members have participated

Hi! I'm new, looking for a bit of help with deciding if nursing is right for me.

I don't know anybody who is a nurse, and there is no hospital or GP surgery in the small town where I live, and I am currently a full-time teacher, so I don't have much chance to talk to nurses, although I am going to try and meet some in the Easter holidays.

In the meantime, can I tell you a bit about myself, and why I am thinking about nursing? I would be so grateful if you could offer me some advice and insight into nursing!

My situation is this: I am a primary school teacher (in the UK), I have been doing it for 5 years and by now I am fed up!

I am fed up because:

- Nothing I ever do is quite good enough, because you can never be all things to all pupils. I am a perfectionist, so this really frustrates me.

- I am not a lazy person, but the marking, planning, assessing, levelling, preparing etc is taking up ALL my time. Even at evening and weekends, and I am getting very stressed and ill because of this. (My timemanagement is not good, admittedly.)

- I dislike working toward long-term goals. I'm a short-term kind of person who likes outcomes.

- Filing. I have a real problem with filing. I detest keeping large amounts paper organised.

-I am not a long-term multitasker. I get a kick out of busy spurts, but constantly being expected to be doing 6 things at once wears me out and I break down.

- I like varity. Teaching is far from boring, but I don't feel I have many interesting career options long-term.

But I like:

-Working in a team with lots of colleagues

-Leading others

-Interacting with children

-Helping others

-Being in authority

-Knowing what is expected of me and exactly what I need to do to get the job done.

-Being praised when I do things well.

-Opportunities to progress in my career and earn respect from my colleagues.

I think nursing might be a better career for me, because:

- You can't physically take work home with you, so I think I'll have a better work/life balance.

- I will still be caring for people and helping them.

- I am genuinely interested in first aid and the human body.

- There are loads of opportunities to move into different fields and specialise.

- I will not constantly be trying to hit unrealistic targets which compromise how well I do my job..........???

- I will not be continually observed and questioned and expected to provide endless evidence and evaluations to prove that I am doing a good job..........???

-I will not be asked to take on lots of extra unpaid responsibilities........???

As you can see I am not so sure of some of these? Maybe you can put me straight!

My strengths are:

-caring, sensitive to others' feelings, friendly, thorough, concientious, firm and direct (and other stereotypical teacher qualities) ambitious, hard-working, intelligent, polite and helpful.

My weaknesses:

- disorganised under stress, emotional under stress, sensitive to criticism. I get stressed out by simply having too much on my plate to do at once.

(There is one more reason....I am 26 in a small village school with only middle aged women as colleagues. It isn't doing much for my love life! I never meet ANY men. As a nurse I think I would meet a larger mix of society and have a better chance of finding a pertner!)

I have been totally honest... will you let me know whether you think I sound like the right type of person for nursing? I would be training and presumably working in the UK, probably in an NHS setting.

Thanks very much in advance:-)

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Specializes in Triage, Trauma, Ambulatory Care.

My first thought is that many of the things you dislike or list as weaknessess are also part of nursing. This doesn't mean that you are not cut out to be a nurse but it does mean you need to consider them as being potential problems to overcome. If possible it would be good to do some nurse job shadowing. Get a feel for what a day in the life of a nurse is like. There are pros and cons to all professions and nursing is no different.

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the other thing to remember is that there are many, many different kinds of nursing.

someone who doesn't want to see the same old massive trainwrecks for months at a time might do well to eschew icu and look for work in an outpatient clinic, er, or public health setting.

somebody who loves figuring out puzzles might live the high-physiology area of multitrauma, or the (to me) baffling world of psych nursing.

some jobs require more paperwork than others-- get a job in a skilled nursing facility doing medicare reviews and you'll do just about nothing else; office nursing in a well-child clinic, not so much.

a regular steady routine with spurts of busy/challenging/interesting might be found in a day surgery unit, or even a ccu (sometimes characterized as weeks of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror).

while you personally might not have to be constantly justifying what you do, your unit or hospital or agency will, and you will be expected to support that effort because it means reimbursement (no national health in us).

if you find you love the cameraderie of working with a biggish staff, a hospital might be good. if you like collaboration mixed with working independently and autonomously, you might like the freedom of case management, legal nurse consulting, or life care planning.

if you love seeing the light dawn in the eyes of someone who finally gets what you are trying to teach, you could end up in nursing education or any number of patient education settings, private, public, or community.

if you like leading a team, well, you can do that in any of the above, in time.

uk members will probably have better examples to fit your circumstances, but i hope this gives you some ideas.

also, there's a little article in nursing 2011, june, by vogelman, moseley, et al., on a 2-week nursing student exchange between a us nursing school and a uk school that has some interesting observations from both sides. for one, nursing ed in the us is generic, addressing all areas of nursing, and people choose their specialties after graduation. in uk, you pick a specialty before you enter the educational program for it: adult, pediatric, mental health, midwifery, or learning disability. students in uk also do not pay tuition, rather getting stipends while in school. you can probably see it at nursing2012

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
hi! i'm new, looking for a bit of help with deciding if nursing is right for me.

i don't know anybody who is a nurse, and there is no hospital or gp surgery in the small town where i live, and i am currently a full-time teacher, so i don't have much chance to talk to nurses, although i am going to try and meet some in the easter holidays.

in the meantime, can i tell you a bit about myself, and why i am thinking about nursing? i would be so grateful if you could offer me some advice and insight into nursing!

my situation is this: i am a primary school teacher (in the uk), i have been doing it for 5 years and by now i am fed up!

i am fed up because:

- nothing i ever do is quite good enough, because you can never be all things to all pupils. i am a perfectionist, so this really frustrates me.

- i am not a lazy person, but the marking, planning, assessing, levelling, preparing etc is taking up all my time. even at evening and weekends, and i am getting very stressed and ill because of this. (my timemanagement is not good, admittedly.)

- i dislike working toward long-term goals. i'm a short-term kind of person who likes outcomes.

- filing. i have a real problem with filing. i detest keeping large amounts paper organised.

-i am not a long-term multitasker. i get a kick out of busy spurts, but constantly being expected to be doing 6 things at once wears me out and i break down. this is being a nurse

- i like varity. teaching is far from boring, but i don't feel i have many interesting career options long-term.

but i like:

-working in a team with lots of colleagues

-leading others

-interacting with children

-helping others

-being in authority

-knowing what is expected of me and exactly what i need to do to get the job done.

-being praised when i do things well.

-opportunities to progress in my career and earn respect from my colleagues.

i think nursing might be a better career for me, because:

- you can't physically take work home with you, so i think i'll have a better work/life balance. yes you can.....you cared for someone for days and they suddenly die in your arms begging you to save them.....how would you leave that at the hospital...or a tragic accident that killed an entire family

- i will still be caring for people and helping them.

- i am genuinely interested in first aid and the human body.

- there are loads of opportunities to move into different fields and specialise.

- i will not constantly be trying to hit unrealistic targets which compromise how well i do my job..........???

- i will not be continually observed and questioned and expected to provide endless evidence and evaluations to prove that i am doing a good job..........???

-i will not be asked to take on lots of extra unpaid responsibilities........??? oh yes you will.....

as you can see i am not so sure of some of these? maybe you can put me straight!

my strengths are:

-caring, sensitive to others' feelings, friendly, thorough, concientious, firm and direct (and other stereotypical teacher qualities) ambitious, hard-working, intelligent, polite and helpful.

my weaknesses:

- disorganised under stress, emotional under stress, sensitive to criticism. i get stressed out by simply having too much on my plate to do at once.

(there is one more reason....i am 26 in a small village school with only middle aged women as colleagues. it isn't doing much for my love life! i never meet any men. as a nurse i think i would meet a larger mix of society and have a better chance of finding a pertner!)

i have been totally honest... will you let me know whether you think i sound like the right type of person for nursing? i would be training and presumably working in the uk, probably in an nhs setting.

thanks very much in advance:-)

you have just described nursing to a tee....you may want to think twice about being a nurse. if nursing is your dream...the go for it.....if it isn't...don"t.

nursing is stressful, highly organized, subject to criticism by everyone form your boss to patients to the md's and your peers. you will be asked to much with very little. it's a physically demanding mentally exhausting sometimes physically abusive job. you will be asked to take on multiple unpaid responsibilities and go way past just giving that extra mile. you may meet men but probably none that you'd want to take home...it may be different in the uk but i doubt it. people are people.

search this site before you make any major decisions. hang out listen, learn. see if this is something you'd want to do. i love being a nurse. i have been one for 33 years and i love being a nurse....but there have been days i have hated it as much as i love it.....

as far as the poll goes can you add "all of the above"?

peace.

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If you are a perfectionist and can freely admit it, nursing is not a good fit.

There is WAY to much going on to perfect anything.

You will not be perceived as an authority figure, or receive any form of praise.

You can bet your sweet tookas we take our work home with us...every day..

Did I forget something? ...how is Mr. Smith doing... did I or didn't I.... WHATEVER!

Many sleepless nights in nursing.

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You should ask the mods to move this to the UK forum to get local advice.

You must read the newspapers and watch the news. The UK media loves to point out what nurses are doing wrong. The NHS is underfunded and from what UK posters have talked about in their threads, there is a job shortage in many areas of the country.

Nursing can be great or it can be your worst nightmare come to life. You do take it home with you. Deaths. Rude, foul mouthed visitors. Wrestling the demented or intoxicated to the bed/ground with coworkers or hospital security. Being physically assaulted.

I know young children and their parents can be nightmares (I've seen superMums in action when my children were young).

Find a man in nursing? You've been watching to many "Carry On" or old "Doctor" movies. Nursing is a primarily female occupation made up of us old bats over 40. The Residents rarely date nurses in my hospital and more and more of them are female these days (a plus if you are looking for a female partner). Shiftwork plays havoc with your social life. The paramedics and Police that you meet on the job? Usually married or into themselves. Patients? Would you want to date someone who's health records you've had access to?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

U sed ur time management isn't good. Much of nursing involves managing a patient load. Time and people management is everything.

I think u would hav good qualities for nursing but u said u get frustrated with time management. Well in nursing u have to juggle many tasks for sometimes many patients in one shift. You HAVE to be organised or time flies away from you.

Sometimes u take work physically home with you, I used to take rosters home. And don't forget shiftwork will wear you down and wear you out.

It can be interesting learning many different things but it's too much to list here re the good & bad of nursing.

Why don't you sign up for a degree course, then do one year with clinicals & just see how u go? You won't know till you actually do a clinical to see if it is for you (and doing volunteer work in a hospital for example is NOT the same thing).

Good luck whatever u decide.

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not being cranky, but our tos (terms of service) ask that posters refrain from using textspeak (e.g., u sed) and please to use standard english. most of our members are english speakers but many are not native english speakers, and textspeak makes it more difficult for them as well as less professional for all. thanks, and happy new year!:w00t:

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