Doubts in studying Nursing?

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Hi, I am a male (40ys), came to the U.S. 7 years ago. I studied Dental Tech. (no license in the u.s), and thinking in switching to Nursing mostly because of wages, shortages, and satisfaction to help others. However, I still in doubt since I heard getting a job, specially in Miami is really hard and people has to go to other states. Even though this Obamacare gives me hopes since I read there will be a huge demand of nurses because of it. But who knows if those predictions are biased or what.

I am planning becoming a Nurse with emphasis in psychology, counseling or akin, or maybe I just remain as a simple RN.

1) Will it worth it still at my actual age? ( 41 ys)

2) How would be the market out there? I don't want to move to other state.

3) What is the worst thing I will have to deal with? Some people say that "poop" when there are no auxiliary nurses at hand so.. is that true?

4) What if I want to come back to my original country. My RN will be accepted there? I heard every RN in the U.S. is like a Doctor's degree in other countries..

Thank you

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I really don't understand predictions that the ACA will trigger a huge demand for nurses. If there is an increase, it will be in primary care, community care & LTC - NOT Acute care. In all of those areas, 'nursing care' is delivered by multiple levels of staff (CNA, MA, LV/PN & RN). Since most of the care is provided by non-RNs, those positions would be the ones that benefit. IF the outcome of the ACA is to improve health care by making it easier to obtain primary care services.....NP demand may increase, but hospital admissions would decline - thereby reducing acute care jobs even more.

So - the job market for RNs is very uncertain. Hospital volumes are already decreasing at an unprecedented rate. Overall, ~ 42,000 US health care jobs have been lost since January 2013. In the near term, large organizations are continuing to decrease their staffs.

No one actually knows how this is all going to turn out. Anyone who chooses to enter nursing right now should be prepared to face a really different environment than we have ever had to deal with.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

And yes, nurses do deal with bodily fluids plus poop, puke, sputum and anything else you can think of.Even if there are aides ona floor you can't just hand all the dirty work to them.

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I don't know what country you are from, so I don't know how difficult it will be for you to transfer your licensure to your home country... However I can tell you that in the countries I have worked in---- a US RN is not at all like a doctors degree. You need to be aware of entry to practice requirements and in many countries this is a university degree (and a US associates degree is not recognized).

I have seen that in poorer countries (where there is a shortage of doctors) nurses are trained in skills which most US nurses are not (diagnosis and prescription, suturing, basic midwifery ). If it is an important consideration for you to be able to practice at home, would recommend checking with ministry of health or whichever body is responsible for the licensure of nurses to learn about what would be involved in transferring your credentials.

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@loriangel14.... Yes I agree that dealing with bodily fluids is not optional for a nurse but would add that few nurses would consider poop to be the worst part of nursing :-). A quick look through the threads on this site would give the OP an idea of what others think are the worst part of their jobs!

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.
@loriangel14.... Yes I agree that dealing with bodily fluids is not optional for a nurse but would add that few nurses would consider poop to be the worst part of nursing :-). A quick look through the threads on this site would give the OP an idea of what others think are the worst part of their jobs!

Yes I agree. There are many worse things than poop.

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Thank you so much for your input. I really appreciate it.

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I understand.. thks

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Thank you all you guys. I never heard about the fact being a 41 ys old guy starting this new career and the fact I am male. I always considered nursery as a women career. I imagine that I'll have to work out a lot to held patients.. just saying..

thank you all again.

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