Do you love nursing or hate it???

[ysin]

I am a young 29 :nuke: and I am thinking about changing careers into nursing. I was so excited to transition, but now after researching different sites, I am starting to get second doubts because of all the blogs I have read about why nursing is bad and how people hate nursing.

I have read wonderful blogs about loving nursing but its sad how reading so many negatives one stick in one's head!

Do you love nursing?

Do you hate nursing?

Why??

Has anyone changed careers to do nursing and realize they love it or hate it?

I appreciate your honest feedback. Thanks!!!

[sunray12]

thanks for your feedback. i am afraid that will happen once i start the profession. i am an interior designer at a commercial firm in chicago. and when i tell people, they think that i have a fabulous career, but in fact, i hate it. i have similar reasons - bad bosses, fake co-workers, demanding clients and stressful deadlines. the perks of the job is seeing the final product, but i have concluded that its still not worth it. and i understand that every profession will have similar frustrations of not liking my bosses (difficult & poor management skills), caddy co-workers (try working in an industry where design and being presentable is shoved down your throat), and feeling unappreciated.

but does knowing that you are impacting someone's life make nursing better? i went into design thinking that i was going to be sculpting spaces to improve the health, safety & well-being of individuals. unfortunately since money dictates the world, i am not designing in the best interest of the clients employees, but how i can build a space under budget for law firms, hotels, corporate offices.

i am sorry that i am so wordy - i think this is somewhat therapeutic (can you tell that i have been beaten down in the architectural industry??)

i am thinking of getting my masters to be a np or crna after a few years of being a rn. do you think that this will make a difference or will i find that it does not make a difference?

thank you so much for your time!

based on the highlighted parts above to be honest i don't think you'll like nursing. going from interior design to hospital work would probably involve too much culture shock unless you really know what you're getting into. if you have close family members or close friends who are nurses who give you blow for blow detail about what their work is like - or if you've been actively involved in nursing a loved one through catastrophic illness you may know what you want. if you haven't then probably you should make sure you know what you're doing before you jump ship coz aggravation aside, interior design is a whole lot cleaner than nursing. suggestion: shadow some nurses and get your cna and get a job in a hospital or skilled nursing facility. then you'll have a good idea of whether or not you think nursing is something you want to get into.

[ysin]

Based on the highlighted parts above to be honest I don't think you'll like nursing. Going from interior design to hospital work would probably involve too much culture shock unless you really know what you're getting into. If you have close family members or close friends who are nurses who give you blow for blow detail about what their work is like - or if you've been actively involved in nursing a loved one through catastrophic illness you may know what you want. If you haven't then probably you should make sure you know what you're doing before you jump ship coz aggravation aside, interior design is a whole lot cleaner than nursing. Suggestion: shadow some nurses and get your CNA and get a job in a hospital or skilled nursing facility. Then you'll have a good idea of whether or not you think nursing is something you want to get into.

Yes you are right. I might have culture shock. I am going to try to volunteer at one of the hospitals. And I am trying to set up some informational interviews and hopefully shadow someone. Thank you for your honest opinion. And you are right that interiors is cleaner too : )

[NZ_RN]

Hi there,

Congratulations on thinking of a career change. Where will I start?! I both love and hate nursing!! It is both the best and worst thing in my life. I have been nursing for four years and am your age now. When I decided to go into nursing a family member who is a nurse and her friend both tried their best to talk me out of it. On my bad days I know that I too would want to prevent any child of mine going into nursing. But I believe it is like being a parent, it is the most painful yet amazing thing in my life. I have days where I come home crying, feeling completely demoralised and depressed and looking at jobs online as a waitress or librarian, anything to get out of nursing. And then there are days at the bedside where I know that that is where I want to be, and I feel the best that I can.

Be prepared to work in a thankless job (except the occasional patient or family member who appreciates you), being looked and talked down to by othe health professionals, and people thinking that you are stupid. But know too that there will be times you will be with your patient and know that you are the only one who knows what they need and how to get them through their illness. If you are money orientated then stop thinking about nursing now, but if you need to feel like the stress that you go through each day is worth something, continue to pursue nursing.

I wish you all the best!!!

[lsvalliant]

I'm a fairly new nurse and I hate the fact that I feel stressed out and paranoid at work. You need to have some smarts to do this job, however I dont feel like my personal strengths are being utilized. Also, forget about being creative. Its all about following orders and doing what the policy says to a T.

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

"therefore I had no choice but to work with a temp of 101."

Sorry, you did have a choice, and you chose to work.

Yep guess I did, shut the dialysis clinic down and pts dont get dialysed do they. What happens in the chronic clinic worlds. You think hospitals are short staffed try chronic dialysis. I was the only RN on staff at the time. I had no choice or my patients would be in hospital or worse. I didnt choose to work, I had no choice but to work or make others suffer. This is one reason I gave my original answer. I'm sure there are many other chronic dialysis nurses out there who will tell you the same thing.

[dionnedillon]

would not choose nsg if i had to do it all over again

[malaski]

I was fashion designer before I decided to go into nursing - I made a totally different career change. I too became disillusioned with the fashion industry, and I longed to do something with more "substance." I never wanted to go into nursing when I was younger because my mother is a nurse, and she warned me against it - she didn't want me to go through some of the crap she's endured. As a nurse you are trying to make a difference, but it is a highly stressful, physically, and emotionally draining job- you have A LOT more responsibility riding on your shoulders than a designer. I worked as an intern when I was in nursing school where I was much like a CNA. After my last clinical rotation, I felt the ICU was the right fit for me. There are so many areas of nursing you can get into. Just be prepared before you make a commitment to become a nurse - you need to know what your getting into.

[kkluczynski]

hi,

im fairly new in the nursing game and i have to say that i don't hate it. I recently moved from a long term care hall with the same routine everyday to a skilled area which is much more fast pace and can be stressful at times. Im enjoying it so far because its different everyday and im learning something new all the time. The worst is talking to doctors... its hard to say wether or not you would enjoy based on your current job its a big leap into unknown territory...

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

I took care of a crashing patient and his doctor came up to me, shook my hand and said, with the most sincere demeanor, "you saved his life." I said, "Not alone, I didn't", and he said, "well, if it weren't for you knowing your stuff--I have to say, you saved his life."

That was nice.

[kristikkc]

Do CNA first. I went from retail to nursing. If you get an idea of what nursing entails, you may make a better decision. I enjoy the job I have now but I would have been better in a library

[Nurse Beavers]

Hey there, I have been a nurse for three years on a hospice, Oncology med/surg unit. I love being a nurse. However, it is difficult sometimes. Yes the hours are long and sometimes patients or there family members take things out on use nurses. I just try to put myself in there shoes. I have had days that really knocked me for a loop and I have even swore up and down that I would not go back to work, but I always do. Nursing has my heart I really do love what I do. I can also say that there is never a dull moment and if you find that you do not like the unit or hospital that you are working there are so many options for RN's. I do not plan on spending the rest of my life in Hospice and Oncology. I am currently beginning to work on getting experiences so that I can obtain a flight nurse position. You are young and there are many options in this field. It is stressful, challenging, ever changing and there are going to be time during your career as a nurse that may be difficult. I have had my far share of tears over patients or just from being overwhelmed but at the end of my day I can honestly say that I have made a difference. So I have to say I LOVE :heartbeat being a nurse.

I also think that you are smart to do research and investigate how other people feel about this career. I truly believe that nursing is not for everyone and is more of a calling than a career. I wish you the best of luck, the strenght and patients to meet challenges as they arise and Gods blessing upon you and every one you know.

[iHeartNICU]

I have been a nurse for a year and a half now. I have only worked NICU and LOVE it. I would never choose to do anything else....not right now anyways. That's one of the awesome things about nursing, there's so many areas to chose from.

I have had a few people say that NICU has the highest nursing satisfaction rate and I would agree with that based on what I see/hear. I don't know if it's that it's ICU, or that we deal with tiny/sick infants, or it's just my unit but we normally have good assignments, help when needed, and it's really not all that often that I get yelled at or talked down to. In fact it has only happened maybe once or twice since I have been here. Oh, and if I'm sick, I call in, no questions asked.

We have an in house neonatologist on call as well as a neonatal nurse practioner every night if you need something. It seems that the majority of the time everyone works well together and doesn't let anyone drown in stuff that needs to get done. Overall I'm very happy with where I'm at.

I am 25 and this was my first career choice. I had zero nursing expeience other than spent a great deal of time living in the hospital as a patient when I was younger. I would say that if you really want to help people and make a difference, then nursing is great. My favorite part of my job is seeing a family member smile when they hold their baby for the first time, or get to give a bath, or when I teach them something about the infant's disease process and they don't feel so out of the loop....all of that far outweighs the negatives for me.

Sorry for the super long posting but I love what I do and hope that you are happy and enjoy whatever you end up doing!