A little about me. I'm 21 years old and just started my ADN nursing program last month.
I was born with knee dysplasia in both knees. I was constantly in the ER growing up. Got surgery in 2008 and 2009 to correct it. I have nasty chondromalacia in both knees and pretty much have trouble doing lots of stuff. Kneeling, crouching, powerwalking etc. I've been going to PT on and off since I was 14.
I worked as an HHA for a toddler recuperating from leukemia. Mind you, not a big baby, just average weight. Just a few days of taking care of the child, my left arm dislocated and had to start PT and leave my job.
About a year ago I was accepted into the same program. I deferred my acceptance because I was insecure about my ability to deal with 12 hr shifts, positioning pts, all the bending and crouching etc. Well I decided I should suck it up and give it a shot!
Sooo now I am in skills lab and am more discouraged than ever. We just did occupied beds and I feel so stupid--I can hardly move the mannequins. I need help to do everything. I have no physical strength whatsoever. I hurt my arms and shoulders for anything.
I love nursing, but I don't know if I can handle it. I would love to be a nurse educator but I know I have to get through clinicals before ANYTHING
Any nurses out there who have arthritis or something and have any tips or encouragement for me? Is there no way through this? Should I just look into another career? :-/ Pls help.
I didn't even know about this... how on earth do petite nurses do all this?
A lot of the lifting and body mechanic tests are either technique, agility, flexibility, or the like. They don't actually have you lift a lot of weight- but do have a guesstimate about how much they expect you to lift. (or the force needed to move someone).
Minimum Data Set- the required assessment tool/form for nursing homes/Medicare reimbursement. Some people hate doing them. I liked them; also did the care plan conferences with the family, as the care plans are generated in part by these assessments. You'd need some floor experience (and LTC is rough, pushing a 200# med cart around with dud joints/muscles). But, if you find a place who is willing to train, it's not a bad job. You'd just have to make it clear that being on call with the admin nurses is a bad idea if you have to pull shifts when someone calls off and the shift can't be filled.
An MD office might fill the 1/2 and 1/2 idea- there is definitely moving around in an office, but the lifting/turning would be minimal (helping people in w/c's if they need to get to a modified exam table, etc).
Just know that if these don't work out, and you have to go in a different direction, you've killed a couple of years (or however many to get RN; didn't recall if you're in an ADN or BSN program) with a lot of classes that are very specific; the core stuff would carry over- but do you want to do that, and risk that it's not going to work.
Even nurses who went into nursing with no issues with their joints nearly always end up with some type of musculoskeletal problems or disc/back problems. It's brutal on bodies; there are more 'no-lift' devices for minimizing lifting- but sometimes it can't be avoided.
It's a good idea to talk to your doc about how this condition traditionally progresses, and see if that end is realistic, because nursing will make it worse. No matter what you do- there are always things that can go wrong (someone starts to fall and grabs you,etc). At least you're looking at this early. :)
MD's office might sound a little boring to me right now but it probably has its quirks. mmm Yes I will ask my doc about how 2 years into nursing would affect me. I'm in an ADN program, supposed to graduate in Dec '12.
xtxrn, I cannot express my appreciation for your persistence in helping me out. You are a great, caring person.
Btw, the MDS thing sounds pretty interesting, I will certainly look into it. :)
Personally, I wouldn't put much hope in finding a position like this (don't mean to be negative, just realistic). This is a very important job in LTC as if effects their reimbursement rates as well as much of the state survey issues. It would be very very very rare that you would find a place that would hire a brand new grad with no experience and put them in such a position. I would also not agree to hire someone brand new, no experience and completely unable to work the floor despite any emergency that may occur (before others flame me, I have not pulled my MDS coordinator in my 5 months on the job - but sometimes there are no choices).
Despite your determination to follow your dreams, I'm just not certain this is what is best for you! It sounds like at such a young age you already have a multitude of health problems and I promise you that the demands of nursing is certainly going to make this worse. At what point are you willing to jeopardize your entire quality of life in the future for what you want to try today. There are many medical careers to choose from these days and some will certainly not require the physical demands of a nurse. Have you spoken to a career counselor at your college to help guide you with your interests along with you physical limitations? Maybe they could assist. Ever thought of pharmacy, research, etc?
I have to agree with many others that I just don't see nursing as a good fit for you, physically. This is not anything against you as a person, your desire to be a nurse, your intelligence, your passion for helping others- not at all. This is just because nursing is SO HARD on your body no matter how healthy you are; I don't think anyone can emphasize that enough. Even in areas that people might say you don't do much heavy lifting, like NICU, there is still equipment to be moved, and you do have to hold those patients for long periods of time to feed them, and I am sure there is more. Just being honest, it does not sound like your body could physically handle nursing.
I have a very good friend who has had severe arthritis since she was a child. She too loves the health care field and works as an OT- she absolutely loves it and there is no doubt that she makes a huge, huge difference in the lives of her patients. Please don't get your heart so set on nursing as the be-all and end-all that you miss all of the MANY other wonderful opportunities there are in health care. My heart goes out to you so much. Please be kind to your body- it is the only one you will ever have.
Have you thought about social work? You could become a therapist. Or speech pathology, or a child life specialist? All of these have a huge "helping people" component, and are a lot less physically demanding. You'd need more schooling, but would be worth it in the end
There are tons of avenues in nursing, but you have to get some experience first. And nursing kicks a healthy person's butt. If you can't handles skills lab, you aren't going to be able to handle clinicals, and if you can't handle clinicals, you won't be able to handle the floor.
Like someone above said, if you want to work in healthcare, great. There are avenues that could work for you. But nursing isn't one of them.
Thank you everyone. I'll just speak to my councelor this weekend and see what she suggests. I am taking everyone's advice and planning accordingly. I will see what other careers I might be interested in.
Someone mentioned labs--I will definitely look into this aswell. I was considering PA but I don't know if that would be just as physically taxing. Do they have to carry lots of stuff?
I think I was hopeful about nursing because I thought well, someone could always help me, but my professors mentioned that you'd be lucky to have anyone near you when you got to turn a heavy pt--she also mentioned "lift teams" are only in text books and not real life LOL reality check.
SIGH! Ok very depressing but.... you guys are great. Really. Thanks so much to all of you.
I work in a library and I have to shelve books all the time.... but I always have someone with me incase I have a large load and whatnot. Never more than 20 lbs at a time. And even that is painful. I'm having terrible lumbar pain d/t the slight limping in my knee.
As I was saying, I would recommend becoming a nutritionist or social worker. They also work in hospitals and home care. Before you can work any nursing job they give you a very tough physical. Lift fifty pounds-twice. Walk on the floor with your knees bent[i couldn't believe this]
.thumb.gif.a0171653eaae518ecf728198d692fc48.gif){kind=avatar}
xtxrn, ASN, RN
4,267 Posts
A lot of the lifting and body mechanic tests are either technique, agility, flexibility, or the like. They don't actually have you lift a lot of weight- but do have a guesstimate about how much they expect you to lift. (or the force needed to move someone).