Absolutely nobody around me wants me to be a nurse. I am currently a Realtor and everyone thinks I should stick with it. I HATE REAL ESTATE! You don't know where the next check is coming from, it is SO expensive to get started and keep going, I have to work from home so I feel like I am always working, it is cut-throat, greedy and most importantly, I get no satisfaction from it.
I have wanted to be a nurse for three years now and was suppose to start LPN school last fall, but I got pregnant and the school requested me to not start b/c the baby was due in the middle of the program. That worked out b/c he ended up a preemie. But they saved my spot for this year.
I have had to do everything secretly. My financial aid, I am studying up on A&P, I even have a second job to carry me through paying off the credit I had to use for real estate so that I can use that credit for books and such.
Did anyone here ever have to go up against anyone to become a nurse? I really want this, but I don't know how to handle it. When you are doing something as tough as nursing school, you need support. No matter what I am going to school...that is one thing I am sure of.
I am starting school this fall and I have had a few people tell me that I'm making a mistake.....to your not smart enough and you'll never stick with it and finish school.
I am still in highschool but want to be a nurse and I get this from my mother.
Don't be discouraged, I am takin prereq. too. I need alot of motivation so I am doing my prereq at the school where I want to do my nursing. I would advise that you take them at a community college. In the meantime, focus on the ones you are doing now, focus real hard. It is worth it.
But you called my real estate a real career and that was only a 45 hour course.
I am NOT trying to get in the middle of one of the oldest debates on this board, I am asking your opinion b/c I have seen the RE side but I have never seen the LPN side (obviously, b/c I am not one). But I would bet my house on that the one year of vocational school was a lot tougher for them than my 45 hour course for me. So why is it not a professional career and RE is?
Thank you.
I have to wonder how the original poster classifies "professional" basketball, baseball, football, etc. players who barely have two years of college and make multimillions annually.
I don't care what "society" deems professional. At the very LEAST, I might be able to be persuaded to consider LPNs "paraprofessionals" - but I also believe that professionalism is found in MANY more places than in the letters behind your name.
It's always amazed me how certain people differentiate between PROFESSIONALS and everyone else.
i dont know when/if this will ever be resolved, but there are places around the country working on this. many hospitals, including the university hospital my wife works at, WON'T HIRE LPNs. At all. And some hospitals are now requring all RN's to have a 4 year degree.
I find this interesting and also believe that any facility requiring this is merely shooting themselves in the foot.
I am starting school this fall and I have had a few people tell me that I'm making a mistake.....to your not smart enough and you'll never stick with it and finish school.
I am still in highschool but want to be a nurse and I get this from my mother.
"Consider the source"...I realize the source in one case is the poster's mother, but even adults are sometimes jealous of children for having the courage to do what they feel their heart is telling them...
Nah--I'm from Mars, and I still know better. That was clearly never-been-smacked-by-an-LPN language. But I agree, it was probably well-intended, and it sounds like his wife has given him a quick course in doesn't-want-to-be-smacked-by-an-LPN-again language. Which is what I speak.
This is interesting, though. A friend from work is currently torn between nursing school and real estate. I'll have to show her this thread, although I'd hate to talk anyone into nursing who wasn't pretty committed. LPN or ASN or BSN, it's all hard work. Worth every bit of it, but still hard.
lets be honest. How can someone suggest leaving real-estate to pursue a LPN
the truth is, they are not being hired in a lot of positions as they once were.
Specializes in PICU, Nurse Educator, Clinical Research.
I find this interesting and also believe that any facility requiring this is merely shooting themselves in the foot.
An interesting aside on this topic:
At orientation for my new job last week, we had a presentation about the hospital's application for magnet status. One woman raised her hand and said, 'i know that magnet hospitals are supposed to have a higher percentage of BSN nurses, and that hospitals with more BSN nurses have fewer nursing errors than those with more ADN and diploma nurses; what is our hospital doing to address this issue?' The presenter said, 'well, first of all, that data is incorrect; second, there's no feasible way to accomplish that, and no business would invest so heavily in something that doesn't offer a return on investment.'
I'm really not trying to make a BSN vs. ADN/Diploma point here; I just think it's interesting that one can see healthcare as an industry and not realize that companies will do what yields satisfactory results with the least amount of monetary investment. That's why you don't see hospitals underwriting BSN education for current and prospective employees- the cost is too high! My old employer-a fortune 100 tech company- paid for all new managers to get an MBA from top-tier business schools during the 80's and early 90's. When I joined the company in 1996, i was told this practice had been largely abandoned, as they discovered they could get the same level of performance from employees without the degree. (This delighted me, as I wanted to go to business school about as much as I wanted to rip off my own toenails!)
Another aside: sunday night, my friend and I went out to dinner and ended up at a table next to 3 employees from my hospital, all of whom had started the same week I did: a 1st year resident, a 1st year intern, and a phd researcher. I recognized the intern, and started chatting with her (she's starting her rotation on my floor). The researcher and the resident were very engaged in the conversation with me at first, as i talked about the treatment philosophies I'd discussed with some of the NP's and MD's on my old unit, and the attitudes toward research throughout the hospital. As soon as I mentioned that i'm a *nurse*, however, the other two totally lost interest....you could see on their faces that they were thinking, "oh, a nurse....not a colleague.' Only the intern seemed to remember I had a brain. My hope is that she'll retain this attitude as she continues her medical training- she even said that a few of her med school instructors had told her nurses would be her greatest resource in patient care, and to never forget that we're all on the same team.
My personal thought on the perception of nurses as professionals vs. trade labourers is this: the only people who can change the public's perception of nurses are NURSES THEMSELVES. It's every individual's responsibility.
...but he still thinks I'm nuts. He has no problem helping with tuition, giving me room to study - he**, he's even gotten me to apply to out-of-state programs! - but he still thinks I'm nuts.
He's also a Brit, and all he knows about nursing in any country is what he's heard expat nurses in Saudi Arabia talk about (and some of them aren't exactly with it anyway - not ALL of them, but I've met quite a few I have to wonder about).
He thinks I'm shortchanging myself somehow (I started out wanting to go to pharmacy school until I hit physics, which I just can't get my head around, and then my dad got sick and the nursing staff just blew me away). I don't see it.
He let up a bit after he heard of FNPs and CRNAs and just how far nursing can reach these days.
Another plus is, if we ever decide to go back overseas, it won't be TOO difficult for me to do whatever it is I need to do to work there. That bonus also helped to change his tune.
Another aside: sunday night, my friend and I went out to dinner and ended up at a table next to 3 employees from my hospital, all of whom had started the same week I did: a 1st year resident, a 1st year intern, and a phd researcher. I recognized the intern, and started chatting with her (she's starting her rotation on my floor). The researcher and the resident were very engaged in the conversation with me at first, as i talked about the treatment philosophies I'd discussed with some of the NP's and MD's on my old unit, and the attitudes toward research throughout the hospital. As soon as I mentioned that i'm a *nurse*, however, the other two totally lost interest....you could see on their faces that they were thinking, "oh, a nurse....not a colleague.' Only the intern seemed to remember I had a brain. My hope is that she'll retain this attitude as she continues her medical training- she even said that a few of her med school instructors had told her nurses would be her greatest resource in patient care, and to never forget that we're all on the same team.
My personal thought on the perception of nurses as professionals vs. trade labourers is this: the only people who can change the public's perception of nurses are NURSES THEMSELVES. It's every individual's responsibility.
Disgusting - the conversation turn, I mean. How gross. And I agree with you - both on the intern (I hope her "colleagues" heard her comment about nurses; hooray for her and her profs!) and on how it has to start with nurses. And remember - I'm just a pre-nursing student who's looking in from the outside.
lets be honest. How can someone suggest leaving real-estate to pursue a LPN
the truth is, they are not being hired in a lot of positions as they once were.
the fact is you need to become an RN.
I don't for a moment deny that opportunities and pay scales for LPNs are more limited than for RNs. I do know some LPNs who are content with their positions and their incomes, and others who are working toward becoming RNs. I don't feel it's my place to question the validity of their choices, but I would certainly recommend that anyone interested in nursing as a career ultimately acquire at least an RN license. From what I've seen, it just isn't that much harder. In fact, I think going for at least a BSN is a good idea, although I don't support a BSN as the minimum entry level. I like the fact that one can enter nursing from a variety of routes and progress as far as one desires. The single mom with a GED struggling through LPN school today may someday be the Dean of Nursing at a university. Or I might marry a gal with a good job in the coal mines and decide just to work a few days a month for pin money. Who knows?
(Actually, there's this really cute neurologist I have my eye on. I used to hope her husband would die, but I realized that was wrong. Now I hope he runs off with the kids.)
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lpnstudentin2010, LPN
1,318 Posts