Do you ever wish you went into another profession

[Healthcare102]

It seems like so many people from so many different fields come into nursing as career changers (ie, social work, law, education, other health fields) because there so many opportunities and nursing in a way overlaps with all of those professions.

However you never really hear of nurses leaving the nursing profession and going into other fields because if they are unhappy they usually just go into another area of nursing.

Do any of you ever wish you went into another field or know anybody that has?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Actually, there have been quite a few threads from people who are either in the process of leaving nursing as a career or who have actually done it: https://allnurses.com//gsearch.php?cx=partner-pub-9350112648257122%3Avaz70l-mgo9&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=leaving+nursing

If I could make a living as a travel photographer, you can bet your sweet bippy I'd leave in a heartbeat. While I love what I do, it's killing my body and my health- I work an average of about 50 hours per week, plus additional call on top of that. My sleep/eat/exercise routine is nonexistent because I never know when I can do what. Working 8 hour shifts 5 days a week plus either working late because the surgeries aren't done or getting called back in for emergencies also takes a toll on the social life. However, around here nursing is a decently paid job (enough to pay the bills although I don't think I'm getting what I'm worth), and travel photography is pretty much a pipe dream at this point.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I know of plenty of people who have left nursing through a variety of means: marrying high income-earning spouses or becoming non-nursing administrators, entrepreneurs, consultants, business owners, caseworkers, and so forth.

One of my coworkers is a licensed nurse who works in the pharmacy department as a pharmacy tech because she cannot handle floor nursing. In addition, one of the non-nursing hospital administrators at my workplace was an RN who figured out that the business side of healthcare offered more money, power and prestige.

In addition, once your resume is filled with nursing positions, it is difficult to leave the profession because many hiring managers wonder why you'd ever want to do something other than be a nurse.

[Faceinthecrowd]

I worked with someone who quit nursing after only a year (she burned out quickly), and went to work as a stewardess for one of the major airlines.

[Libby1987]

Nope. Since my initial year in the hospital and a very short stint in LTC, I've been treated well, worked in a few different capacities and have been impassioned by all of them.

[Nienna Celebrindal]

Sometimes I wish I had gone to school for fictional writing and was a novelist. I play with it on the side but I am too busy to give it a lot of attention.