Do you regret going into nursing?

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And why?

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Specializes in Telemetry, Case Management.

I'm not sorry I went into nursing. It remains a very big focus in my life. And it helped me to feed and clothe my many children for many years.

I am however, sorry I stayed in so many worthless, young-eating, back-biting jobs. I'm sorry nursing in general remains the province of so many "bunches of b*tchy little girls."

I enjoy learning about nursing, I enjoy the 'hands off' job that allows me to use my nursing knowledge in an atmosphere that offers comparitively much more of myself as a human being, and doesn't try to crush my spirit on a daily, no hourly basis, as most of my old jobs did.

Nursing, AS ITS SUPPOSED TO BE, would be a wonderful uplifting enjoyable fulfilling job. Nursing, the way it currently is practiced in most of the places I've been and/or heard of, is not.

So don't feel you're alone, OP. I feel the same way after 26 years in nursing. I loved the concept, I love the knowledge, I love the changes in knowledge. But I am unable to remain at the bedside and put up with the politics and general cr@p that goes on. I like my current non bedside job where I can apply my nursing knowledge and be treated like a human for the most part.

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Actually, I am not a nurse but I am considering it. This website has given me great insight to some of the things to look out for...

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Specializes in med/surg/tele/LTC/geriatrics.

I have been a nurse for 5years and hope to one day have kids. I was talking with one of my friends who missed her daughter when she started crawling and walking. When her daughter was young she prefered her father instead of her because of the long 12 hour shifts. I love nursing but some days I wonder what it would be like to have normal business hours. :rolleyes:

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If you have other interests-teaching, accounting, etc-I would suggest you look closely at those areas. Teaching is generally M-F with a few weeks off in the summer-a break to recoup from the stresses of the job. You have weekends and holidays off. Very family friendly. Accounting and business-based jobs aren't quite as family-friendly but allow for holidays. I love my patients, I enjoy the fast pace of the floor I'm on, but I feel that in the near future there will be so much oversight and paperwork justifying fees that nursing as we have known it will be gone. Our administration asks our nurses to work as many as 20 hours in one day. We get no breaks, maybe 10 minutes for lunch if we're fortunate (although they take 30 minutes out of our time for lunch). We get sent home if the patient to staff ratio goes down, then get called in to work at all hours if they unexpectedly need help. I do get satisfaction for the work I do, but I don't want my daughter or any young person I know to go into hospital or clinic nursing. Perhaps hospice or home health nurses would have a better experience to share with you.

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There are aspects of it that I ove. I do not enjoy the endless ass-covering made necessary by litigious people and unrealistic laws.

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You said if a few words what I"ve been thinking for years.

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Nursing has given me a couple of the worse years of my life and some of the best but always a livable wage, my only regret was not becoming one sooner.

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If you have other interests-teaching, accounting, etc-I would suggest you look closely at those areas. Teaching is generally M-F with a few weeks off in the summer-a break to recoup from the stresses of the job. You have weekends and holidays off. Very family friendly.

Too bad there are lay-offs everywhere and no one is hiring :( I am a certified teacher and never got one call for an interview. That is why I'm going into nursing.

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I"m sorry you're not finding a teaching job. I am still employed as a nurse. but my husband is in another state. There are no nursing jobs there unless you want to work all three shifts or 12-hour day and night (3 days of day shift, 3 days of night shift) position. Teaching and nursing can be a good combination, though. I hope you find what you're looking for soon or find that nursing is a good field for you.

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Thanks for the chat!

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I'm six months into my first nursing job and I'm scared, nervous, p---ed off, ticked off, disappointed in myself, frustrated, each shift. But I don't regret it; it's a challenge to myself, because I know that I do not possess several of the qualities of the good nurse, and my last semester of school, my teachers expressed their own doubts. But I feel I can do it, because if I'm not a good nurse now, I can become one.

I like the spirit of competence, practicality, hands-on, make-the-call, trusted confidante, scientific/emotionally competent, mediator role of nurse; and I'm not that now, but I have to see if I can become it.

But YEAH!! I DO regret a lot about my place of work, and nursing culture/hospital culture/Western medical culture in general. Oh, yeah.

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