First nursing class and not sure if I should be here...

Angels' · Jan 13, 2006

shindy_67

:) "Welcome to the All Nurses Forums" :)

I really enjoyed hearing/reading your questions. These are the question I have asked myself ...and my family. They, naturally, do not have the answers. I’ve thought that later, after many classes, that I may have my answers ...and they will be surprising ones, may be a career in one of the other branches of Nursing.

A returning student :)

Angels’

"Footsteps In The Sand"

bsugaRN2b · Jan 13, 2006

I'm taking my first nursing class this year, and I'm not really sure if I'm making a mistake. I know we have to learn the basics first, but I'm worried that I'll get into the job and end up making beds, changing bedpans, and bathing people for the rest of my life--4 years of school and thousands of dollars wasted on training for a job I'm not going to like. Nothing wrong with those tasks that if that's what you like to do, of course, but it's not for me.
Last year I switched from pre-med to nursing because I didn't want to go to 12 years of school, wanted flexibility if I ever decide to have a family, etc. etc. I'm also a psychology major, and I absolutely love all of those classes, so I feel like there's something wrong that I'm not enjoying my nursing class. (No, I don't feel like I'd enjoy being a psychologist--I wish this were that easy.)
So, I guess what I'm asking is what nursing is really like. I don't have any nurses or medical-types in my family, so I really have no idea what I'm getting myself into. Am I going to be overloaded and have few chances to build personal relationships with patients? Is there any opportunity to make your own decisions about patient care as an R.N., or am I going to end up doing nothing but taking orders from doctors? Am I going to spend half my time filling out paperwork, and the other half bathing people and making beds?
Honest opinions, stories, and recommendations very much appreciated.

LOL - definitely read your post and was like, "I'd SO be in this position if I didn't know what I wanted to do beforehand!" Yeah, I'll (hopefully - still in pre-reqs) be in nursing school in the fall, but what I want to do is become a diabetes educator - which has nothing to do with the whole changing bedpans, etc., or I wouldn't be doing this (I'm a diabetic, so I've been around them for too long, :chuckle ).

You seem like the educator type, as (I'm using diabetes as an example, but there's many other types of nurse educators out there) ALL of the educators on my team knew me, and they get to make decisions on their own (e.g. if a patient calls in having trouble and sends a fax of blood sugars, they get to make decisions when they call back and change doses, food intake, etc.) My team, if I'm counting correctly, is 2 doctors, 1 PNP, and 4 educators (this is in a clinic, by the way, not a hospital). They (my team, at least) are pretty close-knit and laid back, e.g. all of the educators go by their first names, doctors are still Dr. (last name), granted, one doctor does go by her first name. To top it off, when I had to leave this team (my pediatric team for 15 years, the educators I had known from 3-11 years) I wrote them all personalized cards, lol, so the "get-to-know-you" goes both ways, be warned! :rotfl:

As I said, I'm not a nurse, but hopefully that gave you some encouragement - good luck with school!

~Adria

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2006

. . .what I'm asking is what nursing is really like. . .I really have no idea what I'm getting myself into. Am I going to be overloaded and have few chances to build personal relationships with patients? Is there any opportunity to make your own decisions about patient care as an R.N., or am I going to end up doing nothing but taking orders from doctors? Am I going to spend half my time filling out paperwork, and the other half bathing people and making beds?

Nursing is a profession that has many choices you can make about where you want to work and what kind of work you want to engage in. People mostly associate nurses with hospitals, nursing homes or doctor's offices. However, nurses are in many, many other places. There are school nurses, nurses who work on telephone advice lines, nurses who are consultants to lawyers, medical manufacturing companies and pharmaceutical companies. Nurses work is all kinds of settings such as offices and out in the middle of the boonies if they so desire. I don't know that there are many other professions that can offer such a wide variety of work choices to their members.

Yes, you will have the opportunity to build personal relationships with patients. Yes, you will have plenty of opportunities to make your own decisions about the care your patients are going to receive. Yes, you will take orders from doctors. You will also suggest things to doctors for them to order. Many doctors will respect and seek your opinion regarding nursing care because, as a nurse, you are the expert on that. Paperwork--hard to tell. Depends on the job. It, unfortunately, is a fact of most all service professions these days and is done for legal protection. You can bathe people and make as many beds as you choose since you will be the one supervising what is going to be done for a patient. It is more likely, however, that as an RN you are going to be managing and directing who is doing what for the patient. Nurses do not just perform physical tasks. They have to be thinkers and problem solvers. RNs wear many hats. They are supervisors, managers, teachers, nurturers, social workers, and sometimes a shoulder to cry on. You'll find plenty of reasons to put your psychology background to good use as a nurse because you are going to be dealing with people nearly 100% of your time. You'll never know if you made a mistake by going into nursing unless you dig in and esperience it. I don't have an answer for why you aren't enjoying your nursing classes, but then again, you've only just begun, haven't you? Perhaps the first code blue you experience, or the first baby you see born, or the first person you sit with who takes their last breath of life will turn things around for you. There's no way to know. Life is also like that, isn't it? You never know what's coming around the corner.

OD-NT · Jan 13, 2006

I'm at that same spot in life also. I had a lot of questions about what it would be like to work in an ER environment. Would I like it? Would I fit in? Is it like TV? What do nurses like/dislike about their jobs? Do Respiratory Therapists have it better than RNs? Could I handle it?

I decided to volunteer in a local hospital so that I could observe firsthand.

It was a great experience. As an ER Critical Volunteer, the main part of my job was to stop in and visit each patient and answer any questions that they had and find out if they needed anything (pillow, blanket, or whatever). I also ran errands for nurses and transported patients.

In return, I had a lot of questions answered, gained some experience and observed a lot! I volunteered for just 4 hours once a week. I can't recommend a program like this enough if you are considering a medical career and just want to check it out.

There are also a lot of paying part-time positions in nearly all hospital areas that will provide a similar experience if the volunteer program isn't as strong.

-Steve