Do you regret being a nurse

cardsRN · Apr 3, 2007

no i do not regret becoming a nurse. i could not see myself doing some computer programming job or something like that behind a desk with no hands on. but if i had it to do over again, i may have considered pharmacy or PT. it seems like PT is all the hands-on good stuff with only a fraction of the bullspit. in nursing, the responsability with no power wears on a person. and the pay is in no way commensurate with the accountability and knowledge, integrity, sweat required. but at the same time, i have a flexible schedule that allows me to spend time with my son while still making enough to support him, having health insurance, job security. and i get the satisfaction of being able to help people and support them through some of the most difficult times of their lives. so yeah, as much as i do *****, i do not regret it. i would not reccomend it for everyone though.

gerry79 · Apr 3, 2007

As a newbie I do not regret my decision of becoming a nurse. I am starting to understand why many nurses are unhappy about issues outside of patient care (staffing, pay for responsibility, ect) but it is what it is. Nursing is not for everyone as can be said with any profession. There are those that will do it and those that will choose not to.

jill48, ASN, RN · Apr 3, 2007

No regrets. I love nursing. If I don't like how I'm being treated at a particular facility, I move on. Helping people is what makes me feel fullfilled. Loving my job makes the rest of my life happier. There are politics and backstabbing, but isn't that an occurence in every job?

brendamyheart · Apr 11, 2007

I do not regret being a nurse. I do regret upper management telling me how to do my job when they do not have a clue about.

nsgshortage · Apr 12, 2007

YES!!! Getting into nursing is the biggest mistake of my life. You are just a skilled worker. Healthcare in this country has very little to do with helping sick people, it is all about bucks. BIG BUCKS that you won't see. You are peeling yourself out of bed just to put some shirt in a country club and golf course. Help yourself instead. Is your name Nightingale? Learn Real Estate or Computers!

I make it my life's mission to escape nursing. I laugh hysterically when I think of all the needy, meddling families and mean doctors left to hear the echoes of their own footsteps. "Where's the nurse?" "The nurse said" will soon be distant memories to me. My holidays and weekends will belong to no one but me. People are too mean and ungrateful.

Hospitals are run by corrupt, greedy administrators. Ask your manager what kind of bonus he/she made last quarter? :angryfire

When I am off, my phone is ignored. I don't care if the hospital is on fire.

If any of my kids ever say they want to be nurses, they will be disowned.

Women deserve so much more. :balloons:

NurseguyFL · Apr 12, 2007

I don't regret it, in fact there are times when I really like being a nurse. Its always a good feeling to help somebody through the recovery process and actually see them get well again and leave. I also love the patient-teaching aspect of it.

BUT, knowing what I know now about nursing, if I had the opportunity to go back in time I would choose a different major. Not because of nursing itself, but because of the policies that hospital administrators are forcing on nurses more and more these days. I'm not even talking about politics and bad working conditions, because you're going to find these everywhere. One major turn off for me is the ridiculous amount of paperwork and the ever-increasing number of responsibilities that they are putting on nurses now. Every couple months there is a new form or a new computer screen to fill out and a new multi-level quality improvement process, and its worse after a Joint Commission visit. Almost every single thing that happens is the nurse's responsibility and if it doesn't get done exactly the right way, most of the time it becomes the nurse's fault---even if it isn't the nurse's fault. It seems to me that we are spending a lot more time on adminstrative and legal stuff than we do actual patient care. And, they're still expecting us to deliver the highest quality customer service on top of this!

I would love to see nursing go back to being all about good quality health care, but those days are gone. Now its all about profit-making, mega-salaried administrators, and, last but first---customer service (which often doesn't have anything to do with the patient's health at all). Oh, and the doctors. Some of them are a pleasure to work with, others are an abomination. Sometimes it takes a mighty dose of Holy Spirit from the highest heavens to help me maintain my cool after some of these self-aggrandized jerks show up on the floor with their nasty, condescending attitudes. They could never function without nurses, but the way some of them behave they obviously believe otherwise.

You have to be REAL tough to be a nurse these days! If most of us were in this career only for the money, the so-called 'nursing shortage' would become a major national disaster. Quite honestly, if it were only for the sake of earning a paycheck, I would have quit being a nurse long ago.

RN BSN 2009 · Apr 12, 2007

YES!!! Getting into nursing is the biggest mistake of my life. You are just a skilled worker. Healthcare in this country has very little to do with helping sick people, it is all about bucks. BIG BUCKS that you won't see. You are peeling yourself out of bed just to put some shirt in a country club and golf course. Help yourself instead. Is your name Nightingale? Learn Real Estate or Computers!
I make it my life's mission to escape nursing. I laugh hysterically when I think of all the needy, meddling families and mean doctors left to hear the echoes of their own footsteps. "Where's the nurse?" "The nurse said" will soon be distant memories to me. My holidays and weekends will belong to no one but me. People are too mean and ungrateful.
Hospitals are run by corrupt, greedy administrators. Ask your manager what kind of bonus he/she made last quarter? :angryfire
When I am off, my phone is ignored. I don't care if the hospital is on fire.
If any of my kids ever say they want to be nurses, they will be disowned.
Women deserve so much more. :balloons:

wow that's bitter

Can't Wait · Apr 13, 2007

I'm a new nurse who just started on a medical surgical floor at the end of February. Several days, I go home crying, questioning the field I chose. Right now, I'm regretting my career choice. There are so many things I don't know how to do, and I don't know when I will find the time to become organized and learn all I need to know to become a competent nurse.

lvsmith · Jun 25, 2007

yes, this is not what I thought it would be.

grace90, LPN, LVN · Jun 25, 2007

No, not necesarily. I just hate the politics and the understaffing. I just wish I had stuck with college right after high school and finished nursing school then instead of dropping out and then going back when I was 25.

Kanani_Ikike · Jun 25, 2007

Do you regret becoming a nurse?

Yes, I do most of the time. I am not happy at all with the state of nursing. I feel that it's nothing I expected. The way conditions are, it's hard to give good care anymore.

But, since I spent a lot of time and money to go through training, it's hard to just give up on it. It used to be that I felt the patients appreciated us and that they really needed us. But I really feel they and their families hate us most of the time. It's quite depressing at times. Not to mention the neverending politics of most places.

RN1121 · Jun 25, 2007

Yes, I regret becomming a nurse. I personally don't feel "rewarded" by the profession. To me, this is just a job and a paycheck. Would you do this for free?

OT: Where else (relatively speaking) can you go to school for 1, 2 years, or so, and make the money we make?

Having said that, I still maintain a professional work ethic and provide my patients with safe, competent care; HOWEVER...

If I had the means and circumstances, I would jump at the chance to change careers.