Did I make the right choice?

BlessedRoseRN · Dec 14, 2008

I don't think you were wrong for quitting. Actually I think the patients and nurse would commend you for doing this, no one likes to work with anyone who is mad all day b/c they hate their job. You should do something that is going to make you happy and you love to do. Go with your heart, not your parents decisions. Hope you find something you love to do.

wellhereiam · Dec 14, 2008

Isn't it true that people usually hire nurses as health educators though? I'm suspecting I'll never ever get a secure job b/c of my decision. I know that staying in nursing for job security is a wrong reason, but I am worried I will struggle with the rest of my life. I don't know if I'm okay with that. Sometimes I think it'll be okay to struggle to find a job as long as I like what I'm doing... but what if I never find a job. Idk. I am so indecisive...

I hate that I don't like nursing. *sigh. I really really think something is wrong with me-- that I'm cruel for not liking bedside care. I drive myself crazy.

iluvivt, BSN, RN · Dec 14, 2008

So my question to you is what do you like or have an interest in? I am talking anything here. I do want to tell you that there are alltypes of nursing that do not involve direct patient care, It is wise in my opinion to at least work directly with patients for awhile. So what do you think your goal is???? Nursing may or may not be a door into that field.

dannibee · Dec 14, 2008

I have a Bachelor's in Health Science with an emphasis on Health Education so you don't have to be a nurse to go into that field. In my case, I've always wanted to be a nurse and I knew I wasn't going to be happy with just teaching so I'm back in school now. I hope you are able to find something that's right for you.

silverbells_star · Dec 14, 2008

There are lots of field you can go into and still work in healthcare. pharmaceutical sales rep usually have degrees in marketing or communications. There is administration, health information technology, health education like someone else mentioned. If you hated clinicals I think it is was probably a good decision to quit and change directions.

whiteoleander5 · Dec 14, 2008

You followed your instict, therefore, how can you be wrong to quit? Kudos to you for recognizing that you werent happy with your choice, wouldnt you rather quit now than find out years later as a RN that you hate your job?... :eek: :eek: :eek:

There are certain things I dislike about nursing, but not enough for me to ever quit nursing school. I feel like the good things outweigh the bad. Good luck to you.

twow · Dec 14, 2008

Argh. So I went through 2 years of prereqs and 1 year of nursing. I ended up quitting because I really despised clinicals. I originally went in to this major b/c my parents told me to. I thought I'd learn to like it. How could I not like it? It's a respectable profession that ensures job security for life. It's about caring! Everyone and their mom wants to be a nurse! Well, I didn't like it. I must be crazy. I like the learning and teaching part, charting, and assessments; honestly, I didn't like patient care at all. Sorry. I dreaded every clinical. I had a 4.0 even in nursing, but I didn't like actually doing what I had learned. I wasn't good at it either. My clinical instructors always said I was fine, but I knew I was the slowest and that they only saw me 10% of the time. I feigned interest in whatever we were doing. If I had stayed, I would have had to endure 2 more years of clinicals. Then after graduating, I'd have to do 1 year of med-surge before being hired for anything else. What I want to do though, is health education or pharmaceutical sales rep or anything related to medicine but not involving patient care. I know that by quitting, I have closed so many opportunities, but I really couldn't stand clinicals. I knew that the patients I was caring for deserved better (I didn't kill anyone; no worries). Now I'm wondering whether I should have quit or not. Gah. So the million dollar question: Was I wrong or right in quitting?

You were right. If you hate patient care, then nursing is the last place you should be.

wannabesedated · Dec 14, 2008

There are many more options in the health and/or medical fields that you do not need to be a nurse to do. Take this time to explore all the options that are open to you.

You can get into pharmaceutical sales with a certificate, diploma or degree in marketing, customer service & sales or retail management & services.

If you like health education, here are some options:

Addictions Counsellor

Dietician

Environmental Health Officer

Genetic Counsellor

Occupational Therapist

Recreation Therapist

Rehab Counsellor

On another note, there is much more to nursing than bedside care. Many nurses are now going out to work in the community with a major role in health education & health promotion/disease prevention. Some of these jobs are available to new grads depending on where you live.

sunray12 · Dec 14, 2008

Argh. So I went through 2 years of prereqs and 1 year of nursing. I ended up quitting because I really despised clinicals. I originally went in to this major b/c my parents told me to. I thought I'd learn to like it. How could I not like it? It's a respectable profession that ensures job security for life. It's about caring! Everyone and their mom wants to be a nurse! Well, I didn't like it. I must be crazy. I like the learning and teaching part, charting, and assessments; honestly, I didn't like patient care at all. Sorry. I dreaded every clinical. I had a 4.0 even in nursing, but I didn't like actually doing what I had learned. I wasn't good at it either. My clinical instructors always said I was fine, but I knew I was the slowest and that they only saw me 10% of the time. I feigned interest in whatever we were doing. If I had stayed, I would have had to endure 2 more years of clinicals. Then after graduating, I'd have to do 1 year of med-surge before being hired for anything else. What I want to do though, is health education or pharmaceutical sales rep or anything related to medicine but not involving patient care. I know that by quitting, I have closed so many opportunities, but I really couldn't stand clinicals. I knew that the patients I was caring for deserved better (I didn't kill anyone; no worries). Now I'm wondering whether I should have quit or not. Gah. So the million dollar question: Was I wrong or right in quitting?
(Yes, I know I took someone else's spot who probably wanted it more. Sorry, but if you want to criticize me, you can pm me. I would rather receive answers to my question). Please be honest. I can take it (I've been drinking :wink2: ). Thank you all for reading and responding.

You know yourself best and you admit that although you have no problem with the course work you didn't like the patient care aspect so for that reason it sounds to me like you made the right decision for you. You don't need to feel bad about this - there are plenty of people in patient care who don't like patients either and for this reason they are bad at what they do and probably would have done better if they'd gone into something else.

Since you don't like the patient care (aka customer service) then you probably would be happier in a field where you can use your scientific/learning acumen without having to deal with the care aspect.

For this reason I don't think that you'd like education or sales much better than nursing because you will still have the customer service aspect. It also doesn't sound like jobs such as therapist, counselor, etc. would be for you either. What you'll probably like are more research and/or development type positions. Med tech, biomed tech, biomedical research, pharmacology might be worth looking into.

wellhereiam · Dec 15, 2008

First of all, thank you all for your response. I've been racking my brain trying to think of what else I could do. Sunray, I think you are right on target about me not liking customer service; therefore, I probably won't like myself as an occupational therapist or sales etc. I have thought about healthcare research, education, administration, etc. The reason I thought of education, even though it involves customer service, is because I do actually like teaching and didn't mind formatting lectures and presentations to whomever I was tutoring. Research would sound interesting as well, although I guess I'd have to spend a ton more years in school if I switched into that. Plus, sometimes I like the lab work, but sometimes I don't (A&P was cool; chemistry sucked; microbio was fun half the time). Administration sounded appealing as well b/c I'm a very structured, organized, always looking for more efficiency- type person.

To an earlier question, so what are my interests? The problem is I can be interested in many things-- psychology, math, stats, biology, english, nutrition, rhetoric, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology etc. I think my problem is I like learning about anything-- but I don't neccessarily like doing them (This reminds me of the quote "those who can, do; those who can't, teach"). I guess what I like doing and have been told I am decent at are the following: teaching, advising, tutoring, organizing, managing other people, writing articles, editing other people's work, reading research articles, writing (research) papers, creating programs and educational materials (ie powerpoints, brochures), drawing, painting, critiquing anything, learning about health, talking about theories and ideas, memorizing, acting, talking, listening, and gosh that's a random list.

Then I thought about things I hate doing: Pleasing people over trivial matters (i.e. customer ****** off about waiting 5 min or patient ****** off about not getting food at *exactly noon).

And things I'm not good at doing: On the spot speeches or critical thinking (ie what's 55% of 30?), super multi-tasking (as in caring for 5 patients at once or having a paper, clinicals, work, and exam all in one day), labwork the first time (I often messed up in microbio lab the first time I did ANYTHING, but always perfect the second time-- this ****** myself off too ha ha).

Maybe I'm just a slow learner. Maybe I have a problem with commitment. Maybe I'm just pessimistic-- probably indecisive, which is why I can't figure out whether I like working alone or in groups (I guess I hate and like both at times). Maybe I have a confidence problem. Maybe I'm trying to really be someone I'm not (everyone wants to be a nurse, why not me?). Maybe maybe maybe. I'm working it out with a counselor and career advisor. I'm also trying to "do" all these professions that sound interesting to me by volunteering; I guess that's how I"ll reallly really know. Thanks all.

I think quitting nursing was a right decision for other people, as in good for the nurses, docs, and patients b/c I doubt I was prepared to do my best. But I do think it was a wrong decision for protecting myself (being selfish here) for job security for life. Oh well. Maybe I am crazy. This decision will probably bother me for the rest of my life. argh.

BeeBeeRN · Dec 15, 2008

Maybe you should stop second guessing yourself. What's done is done...no point in beating yourself up. You have to do what makes you happy and what makes you happy may change as you go through life. There is a book called "What Color is Your Parachute?" that may help you out. Google it and check it out.

Good luck to you! :)