Thanks for a really good question. I'm thinking it may draw fire, but it's not a bad thing to hear different points of view. Hopefully you will get a lot of responses here to help you decide if nursing is for you.
Nursing does give more opportunities than almost any career I can think of. The possibilities are numerous. You can go into sales, informatics, advanced practice, school nursing...many of which require little or no patient contact.
Your nursing training, however, will require direct patient care, and you must never convey distaste, or shame a patient. Can you matter of factly clean up a patient who vomited over everything without wrinkling your nose, and with a sincere desire to make them clean and warm and comfortable?
Patients by definition, are sick...and sick people are not at their best. Can you look past their behavior and be therapeutic towards them? Patient and kind, when they are not?
Once I hired a nurse who was smart, proficient, reliable.. a good worker. But he didn't have that warm, personal touch with patients that most of the other nurses and CNAs had. Rob's focus was technical over personal. It just wasn't a good fit, he really wasn't happy, and we both acknowledged that.
Years later, I had surgery in a different hospital, and who was my CRNA but….Rob! Looking happy and relaxed, whereas before he had been wound a bit tight. As a patient, he made me feel safe and I went into surgery knowing I was in good hands. He had found his nursing niche.
Later I talked to one of the PACU nurses who said Rob was the nurses' number one choice for anesthesia provider at that hospital. High praise.You've identified what you don't like about nursing. As you make your career choice, also identify what you do like and what brings you joy. It's a matter of knowing yourself and finding your path.
