vanlo001 91 Posts Specializes in NICU, PICU, adult med/surg, peds BMT. Feb 5, 2010 Just stay open. Your barely a nursing student and you've already decided your calling. It's what you think you are going to love and what you think you are meant to do. However, you may be surprised once you actually get in there and start working with people. Your gonna be OK. Your a great person with an open heart and good intentions. Just experience the clinicals the patients and enjoy the process.
lisamc1RN, LPN 943 Posts Specializes in LTC/Behavioral/ Hospice. Has 4 years experience. Feb 5, 2010 I agree that you need to keep an open mind, but having an idea of where you want to work is not a bad thing. I worked psych for a while and now I'm in hospice. I prefer hospice and I never would have guessed that about myself. Live and learn. :) I know for myself, I do not want to work in peds. I hesitate to think about working in the ED because of the children, too.
MiahMSN, MSN, RN 310 Posts Feb 5, 2010 Mya, this is a different kind of deal, though. In nursing it's not a heated intellectual discussion in which you can surface with gains made. It's more the "tricky-******" kind of deal. Like I've mentioned before, it'll first strike you funny. You'll have flashbacks to junior high... but it's dangerous when lives are at stake. A huge adjustment for me to make. I suspect it will be for you as well. I don't do the back and forth fussy stuff. Most of this bad behavior would get someone laughed right out of a job where you and I come from. These people if under my management wouldn't make it to the end of the day. But in nursing, these people stay employed. This is the biggest "brain ****" in the world to me. SMH - that is the craziest thing to me. I have a lot of family members who work in social services, and this seems to be the similar case with government/city/state employees - you have to damn near make a physical attempt or actually go through with kicking someone's ass in order to get fired - anything up until that point, even threats, you're safe! How does that work??? I will definitely stay open. I just remember watching my uncle and grandmother go through it and how emotionally depleting it was for me - I don't think my spirit could take it day after day. Maybe I'm just cut from a different cloth.But thanks for the kind, non-judgemental advice! :)
MaMaSoBless 2 Posts Feb 5, 2010 No not at all. You know what you want to do so stick with it. Thats the great thing about nursing, you can do just about anything with your degree. I want to work in cosmetic surgery! and also do research on diseases like cancer, and aids. Thats why it's so important to find a foundation in your career so you can stay on top of what you love to do. Just don't feel bad, just know that you are going to make a difference in whoever life you come into. :-)
mustlovepoodles, RN 1,041 Posts Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD. Feb 5, 2010 I think the core of nursing is a genuine desire to help others and to be able to have compassion and empathy for those you are helping medically regardless of the situation, and removing your judgements and opinions in order to do your job and serve ... However, I have no desire to work in these areas, yet I still believe that I possess the qualities that I just mentioned. Is that an oxymoron? Does that make me a bad person?No, it doesn't make you a bad person because you don't want to work in hospice or LTC. Those are just your feelings, and feelings are neither right nor wrong. I applaud your enthusiasm, but i will caution you to preserve your sense of self(I deleted your "dying to self" comment because I thought it was confusing.) Nursing as a fulfilling profession, but it will suck the life out of you if you don't learn to protect yourself. It's very easy to become codependent in nursing,especially if you are a loving, caring, warm personality. We all want to help sick and hurting people, but we have to work to keep it in balance. Burn-out is the result of an out of balance life. Good luck to you in school. Funny, when I was in school I hated pediatrics. HATED it. Loved L&D. I went straight from school to L&D, lasted 2 years before I wanted out(this was in the days of scopalamine sedation.) Later, I ended up in the newborn nursery and when NICU came into its own I transferred there. LOVED it. I worked in several NICUs over a period of 10-12 years before moving on. Now I'm a school nurse. Considering that I thought I wouldn't like peds, I've been in the field over 25 years.
mykidzmom 89 Posts Specializes in oncology, med/surg (all kinds). Feb 5, 2010 oh yes, nurses don't just eat their young--they eat those that they perceive as young as well, even if we're old. nurses are a tough buncha ******* to work around. but i can't imagine doing anything else. i went into nursing school thinking a i wasn't to do one thing. flopped around for a few more years, learning about my interests and my strengths doing all sorts of nursing jobs. finally found my niche. it's where i belong. my advice: you will compare the realities of everything you experience with your perceived view of what NICU will be. nothing else will measure up. this will prevent you from falling in love with another specialty because you will be blinded by the call of NICU. then, once you get to NICU....you might love it, might hate it, but it WILL NOT be what you think it will be. so--go thru school with the openest of minds. judge the specialties by specific interests. i have a co worker who can't stand patients with penises. if you keep your mind genuinely open to RECEIVE the experience, you will be called to it. Like your marriage analogy, you will not find the perfect husband by deciding how he should be and then finding him. he will find you when you are not looking! just throwing that out there. NICU might really be the thing for you--not trying to talk you out of it. good luck
ohgoodnessgracious 44 Posts Feb 5, 2010 Of course this doesn't make you a bad future nurse! I think certain fields require a certain kind of nurse - personality-wise and skill-wise. I love kids and working with them but seeing sick kids would be too much for me. I also know plenty of nurses who are, to be frank, straight-up arrogant b$*ches but they have amazing critical thinking skills. So in all, I guess what matters is that you find what fits you - rather than what you fit into :)
shoegalRN, RN 1,338 Posts Feb 5, 2010 Mya, this is a different kind of deal, though. In nursing it's not a heated intellectual discussion in which you can surface with gains made. It's more the "tricky-******" kind of deal. Like I've mentioned before, it'll first strike you funny. You'll have flashbacks to junior high... but it's dangerous when lives are at stake. A huge adjustment for me to make. I suspect it will be for you as well. I don't do the back and forth fussy stuff. Most of this bad behavior would get someone laughed right out of a job where you and I come from. These people if under my management wouldn't make it to the end of the day. But in nursing, these people stay employed. This is the biggest "brain ****" in the world to me. This has been the biggest adjustment to me in nursing.I've come from a corporate BUSINESS background ran by MEN who were professional and don't do all that passive aggressivness when it came to business. You atleast saw the knife right in your face and you were dealt with directly so you knew how to corporate your next move. Issues were discussed, hashed out, and then it was back to business as usual. None of this "you said this about me two months ago" "you look at me funny and I don't think you fit in here because you never talk to any of us at lunch" BS. Since when are we back in high school?And if you got a manager who buys into "the clique", then you don't stand a chance if you don't "fit in" to whatever the image is for that unit. If you are quiet, don't speak much, sit alone, read work material instead of "gossiping", pretty, thin, unique, etc, then you better watch your back. The clique will all come together and find "ways" of getting you out of there, based on "I don't think this area of nursing is for you and I asked all your coworkers and they all agreed".I'm so glad I work in the ER under the management of a man who has a business background and don't manage under "emotions". Thank you God!
AmericanChai 1 Article; 268 Posts Feb 5, 2010 So far I've been lucky and only had one nurse that was not nice to us students. We are at teaching hospitals, so if they don't want to take students they should not be working there!Back to your question though, I think it's great that you know what you want. Just think about adult nursing as your pre-req's to where you want to be eventually, if you don't get hired in peds right away. I'm the rare one in my class who has no interest in working peds. I had a sick child, and she inspired me to be a nurse, but I have no desire to work with sick kids. It's very hard, and I feel like I already did my peds work with my own child. :) I want to be boring ol' med-surg and that will suit me just fine.
rn/writer, RN 17 Articles; 4,168 Posts Feb 5, 2010 STAFF NOTE: Per AN's Terms Of Service, please avoid the use of profanity. That includes words that mix letters and symbols. Mixed words that are not allowed will be changed to all ***. Several of you may notice your posts have been edited in this way. Click on the TOS link above for more information.Thanks for your time.
