Don't know if nursing is right for me.

Nurses Career Support

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Hello,

I would like to get some recommendation from all the nurses and potential nurse. I am interested in nursing because of the job stability, flexible hours of working, good paid, and I love babies. I did some research and know that it is really emotional draining. I would like to know the process of nursing school. After you get entered into nursing school you will be studying nurse courses and also hands on practical in hospital right? As for interning in hospital do you get to pick your field, I would like to be in the newborn area. I don't know can I handle all the blood, intestines, broking legs or head...etc. I don't know can I deal with all of these in the ER. I know there are so much potential in the nurse field, I could be in research or bedside later on but what I am worry is the process of becoming a nurse.

Some of my family member also suggested sonographers (ultrasound technologist) but I just don't really like all the repetitive work. I feel that nursing is more challenging and more good for my future when I am bore of one area (eg. newborn ) I could go to a different area. I am going to be 30 and with all the waiting list for nursing school and the prereq. I think I will finish in 5 years. My family also said that I am a quite depress easy person so nursing is not good for me. Any one that have experience please HELP...

THANKS

Cloudy

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Well, I am not in yet, but if you look at the curriculum you will see that you rotate through various settings as a student so you will probably spend time on medical and surgical floors, possibly do some basic skills at first in a nursing home, and you will also probably do clinicals in peds, OB (labor and delivery, postpartum, mother-baby...), mental health, possibly community health, and at the end (I am not sure if every school does this but a lot do) you can do a preceptorship in an area that interests you if you can get a slot - I assume if there are a lot of students that want the same area, you all probably will be competing for it.

Once you are finished, it is up to you where you want to apply but the job market and how willing you are to be flexible or not will dictate where you end up working.

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I agree that it's a stable job with good pay but if you're hoping for flexible hours, you'd better let that one go because a new grad, you don't dictate the hours. You usually hang in there for a year or so before you can transfer. As for loving babies, that is not enough to be a nurse. You need endurance, stamina and a strong support system to make it through nursing school. If you have a family, you need a loving husband, since a new grad usually works night shift, which means you might not get to be with your kids a lot.

Nursing is not a walk in the park. It requires HUGE SACRIFICES, emotionally, financially (at first) and family-wise.

I know of a new grad who couldn't handle being a floor nurse and still, after 7 months of being on the floor, she still withers and cries like a baby. Back in nursing school, she was the star student so really, intelligence helps but it doesn't determine success in nursing.

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i am just begining my journey of nursing education, but i have a few things i believe i can advise you on. i will start a community college practical nursing (lpn) program on august 23rd, so we had our orientation in may with information regarding the program and clinical sites, etc..

in nursing school you will have to have many clinical experiences, including the blood, guts, gore, or, er, adult diapers, incontinence care, and mother baby rotations. this is not optional, you must do it.

when you graduate nursing school, you usually cannot just go to any floor you prefer, you have to start out at the bottom and work your way to better hours, shifts, and your choice of nursing specialty.

if you absolutely cannot handle anything except newborn care, then you would likely not enjoy nursing school and clinicals.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Get ready to work your butt off :) I am about half way through to get my BSN and while i imagined it would be a lot of work, i never imagined the effect it would have on my relationships, my emotions, and just overall my life. It has been so emotionally draining... and when you think you cannot do anymore, you cannot possibly shove one more bit of info into that brain of yours, you have to do more. in my class we always say we can sleep when we are dead.. lol, so many endless nights of studying... its a journey alright.

However, clinical time is so different. I am just finishing my second year now... Been through extended care, intermediate care, maternity, pediatrics, and half way through my heavy medical rotation. As a new graduate (in BC, Canada through Fraser Health), we have to apply into fraser health and then we choose what we will preceptor in. Most go to surgical, medical, ICU. However we have all been reccommended that after graduating we should do a good year of Medical to consolidate our skills. I havent even taken out a foley yet and I learned that in first year. However I have gotten experience with putting one in?... so its really just to clarify and get those skills under your belt. We are not reccommended to preceptor in ER.. and NO you do not have to go to ER if you dont want to. As for maternity, it is super hard to get in there.. and if you do not like emergency situations.. guess what, it will happen in maternity too. First day on the unit i had a baby whos blood sugar just crashed and this baby was crumbling before my eyes. when they go down they go down fast. Along with nervous/stressed parents, a new nurse (me), the RN, the doctor, and everything going on... it was CRAZY. You will have to be comfortable with expecting the worst because it WILL happen.... but nursing is an amazing profession and i have had the opportunity to work with some great people who have been hard on me.. but have only made my critical thinking and skills stronger.

Get ready to make some big changes and sacrifices in your life though... :)

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Scratch flexible hours off your list.

I picked nursing as a career because back then you could work 8 or 12 hour shifts. I had a baby to take care of and I had the optimistic thought I'd get married someday and I wanted a job where I could work around a husband's schedule. It was a purely pragmatic decision. Well, it seems like all the hospitals are switching to 12 hour shifts. Imagine this. Your daughter has a ball game which starts at 5, but you work until 7. Or your son's recital is Saturday afternoon, but you have to work. No one wants to switch weekends so unless you call in, you're going to miss it. And the family wants to spend the holidays with grandma in Red Wing, Minnesota but since you got off Thanksgiving you have to work Christmas. But you couldn't go anywhere on Thanksgiving because you had to work the day after. I had a coworker whose children had never participated in anything extracurricular because she choose to work 12s. I say choose because her husband had a decent job but they liked their toys (35K trucks, for example).

Now, there's ways around that. You can work at a doctor's office but now you have to scratch decent pay off your list. Or you could work PRN or agency and pick your own days to work. Or you could work nights and be at your kids' activities, but you'll feel like a brain dead zombie.

I love babies too and those NICU nurses seem very devoted but taking care of sick preemies is way different from enjoying a healthy infant.

Rereading this comment I realize it sounds very negative. I'm not trying to be, but I want you to go into it with your eyes open. Remember, nursing is the least supported unit in the hospital. It shouldn't, as hospitals exist solely for nursing care, but that's the way it is. Also, everything that goes wrong is the nurse's fault. Good luck with whatever you decide.

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Specializes in LTC.

Nursing school can be rough on an individual and a family.

Within the clinical setting you have to deal with the blood and the poop. I had a clinical instructor who loved throwing us in with some of the ickiest most complicated patients. My clinical instructors made sure that if there was a patient on the floor with a gruesome dressing change that a student got it and tried to slip at least one extra student into the room to observe when a dressing change occurred. If a patient was constantly leaking infectious poo; clinical instructors tried to give those patient's to students as well. It's all about getting your hands into a little bit of everything.

Our experience in nursing school with newborns was very little. I had four days in OB. Three of which I was given a mom/baby couplet and one where I was given a birth. There really is no such thing as a healthy newborn nursery anymore. The only babies that get sent to the nursery are those that are sick. So if you want to work directly with babies (no mom's) you'd have to figure out if you think you would be comfortable in a setting such as NICU.

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It does seem nice to have 12 hr shifts, 3 days a week right? but u know what, you'll be so drained from work that when it's your day off, you'd rather sleep in and do nothing. I agree, just loving babies is not enough to go into nursing.

Have you volunteered at a hospital? If not, I'd suggest you volunteer and request for a medical/surgical or adult floor because majority of nursing school is doing adult rotations. You'll learn a little bit of everything.

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Specializes in LTC.

I forgot to give the advice I always give people when they are considering nurisng. Become a CNA and see if you like it. I know CNAs rarely work with young populations, but you might be surprised by what you fall in love with. I always wanted to be a labor and delivery nurse. Once I started working as a CNA I fell in love with the elderly.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

So many people want to become nurses because " I just LOVE babies". Being a neonatal or pediatric nurse is not like babysitting.You don't get to cuddle and play with cute little ones all day long. You will deal with sick and miserable babies and you will have to do things to them that will make them cry. You will have to deal with other patient populations all through nursing school and you may not be able to get a neonatal job right out of school.Many times people are surprised to find through experience that they enjoy a different area of nursing than they expected. Hours, especially for new grads are quite often not flexible.Where I work, even the most senior nurses have to work their share of holidays and weekends.

Nursing is very hard work but it is rewarding.Best of luck.

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So many people want to become nurses because " I just LOVE babies". Being a neonatal or pediatric nurse is not like babysitting.You don't get to cuddle and play with cute little ones all day long. You will deal with sick and miserable babies and you will have to do things to them that will make them cry. You will have to deal with other patient populations all through nursing school and you may not be able to get a neonatal job right out of school.Many times people are surprised to find through experience that they enjoy a different area of nursing than they expected. Hours, especially for new grads are quite often not flexible.Where I work, even the most senior nurses have to work their share of holidays and weekends.

Nursing is very hard work but it is rewarding.Best of luck.

Nursing school, especially in the accelerated BSN format, is very very time consuming. I am not sure if the material is necessarily hard to comprehend for most, but the volume is shocking. Not sure about LPN programs.

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Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.
I forgot to give the advice I always give people when they are considering nurisng. Become a CNA and see if you like it.

I always say that, too. Being a CNA is hard, hard work and a dirty job. If you can do that and enjoy it, you can be a nurse. It will help with school, too. I was a CNA, then an LPN. Being a CNA helped immensely in LPN school. Now I have 1 semester of RN left. And being an LPN has definitely helped out.

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