Did I make the right decision returning to school?

[mayberight]

First post here, hello!

I've been having some serious doubts about nursing school. This is my second degree. I have an additional bachelors and after working in the field a few years, decided to return to school for my BSN. I didn't HATE my career field, but I didn't love it. I didn't go to work and feel like I was helping anyone or making an impact. I always loved the idea of nursing, and I love helping people. I got into a graduate program for social work, but decided on nursing instead for job security, etc.

I'm in my second semester, and am coming to the end of my first clinical rotation. I hate it. I literally dread going to clinical every week. I hate that all I see nurses doing on my floor is passing meds- I don't want to feel like every day of work is just a constant task list with really no time for a legitimate conversation with my patient. I love the time I get to spend one on one with them, but know when I have 6 patients I won't have the time for that same kind of interaction.

I'm really confused and feel like I made a huge mistake. I'm older than all my fellow students, and I feel even more pressure continuing if I end up hating it. Everyone else really enjoys our time at the hospital, and I'm just staring at the clock. I'm going to give it another semester in a different clinical setting to see if I like it more, but I'm feeling like right now it isn't a fit for me. I know there are ways I can join my old career with a medical aspect (although no clinical) and feel like if I quit I have just wasted time and will have been a failure.

Any advice would be so appreciated!

[Sour Lemon]

This is a major life decision and a very personal one. I don't see how strangers on the internet can possibly answer this question for you. Is there anyone in your personal life you might be able to turn to for advice? ...anyone who knows a little bit more about you than is contained in these few paragraphs?

[iWish, ADN, RN]

I personally have a love/hate relationship with med/surg units. I'm sure you're working on a general med/surg floor and it can be slow and tedious at times. My advice would be to give it another clinical rotation to see the different units, hospitals, etc. The one thing I learned from my 1st semester clinical rotation is that I do not want to work at the hospital I was assigned to, but I do want to work in the medical center where it's located. Specialties are the exciting part of nursing where you get to choose what you'll be doing (basically anyway) everyday. Hang in there for now, and don't throw in the towel just yet. Good luck & best wishes.

[ItsThatJenGirl, CNA]

I think so much of this depends on where your clinical is. I was lucky enough to be placed on a really great unit - nurses that were happy to teach, lots of wound care, and patient interaction. The nurse to patient ratio was low (1:4, max, usually 1:2), so there was plenty of time to tackle a little bit of everything.

I definitely wouldn't make a decision based on one clinical.

And if, in the end, you do decide that nursing isn't for you, it doesn't make you a failure.

Best of luck in your decision.

[katyq82]

Some encouragement and a couple examples that I've recently gone through to share...

You mentioned your other potential path was an MSW, so I am guessing you may have come from a similar career background as I have, and I also went into nursing to be able to make a more measurable impact on people's lives. This is my second career and I feel like I have a lot on the line because I have two kids, a mortgage and went down to part time at work to do this, causing financial stress for our family.

There are so many different clinical settings, so I wouldn't give it up over one clinical. For an example, my first clinical and my last clinical have been on the same unit at the same hospital. The first time, I truly hated it, the nurses seemed to either be running around like crazy with a high patient load, or others seemed so burnt out that they were avoiding their patients to play candy crush at the nurses station. This semester (my last) I am in the same exact unit with many of the same nurses- the only difference is that the whole unit moved onto a new floor and they have a lower pt:nurse ratio. It is a fantastic place to be now and the nursing "behaviors" seem so different. I asked the nurses what changed and they said that now on the new floor they have what they need, they are better supported, and they have a lower patient ratio. Its a totally different place to be now. I've been on other floors that felt like the students were annoying and brushed to the side, and then others where the nurses truly wanted to teach and allowed us to learn from them. A lot of it has to do with what pressures are put on the nurses and what the management environment is.

If you can even volunteer somewhere over the summer to see a different healthcare environment that might give you some new ideas. Even if you volunteered at a free clinic or as an activities assistant at a long term care facility, you would get a chance to observe the environment and the nurses. We just did a long term care rotation and there is a done of relationship development, therapeutic communication, advocacy and family interaction that those nurses are doing. In addition to, yes, passing meds as well. But in long term care, the nurse knows the patient so s/he would be there a week later to see that the dose adjustment was causing XYZ change and can advocate for that patient, whereas in the hospital you do not see those longer term changes.

I am realizing that there is so much I can do with nursing that isn't on a hospital floor, that having this will be a huge asset. I would like to work in a hospital, but I am also interested in visiting home nurse, community education, public health, lactation counseling, and there are so many possible roads. I am not a good fit for psych nursing, but you may find a fit there... Basically there are lots of different options and my encouragement would be to explore a few before you walk away from nursing altogether.

Good luck!! If only we all knew what we wanted to be when we grow up, this would be so much easier!

[mayberight]

My parents say I'm too far in now to quit and that they know I'll be a good nurse. Everyone is supportive of my going back to school except me it seems lol.