future nurse in disstress. Help needed!

Nur_1996 · May 18, 2004

I'm a school nurse. I love the kids, and the schedule. But had to get some hospital experience under my belt first.

Nur_1996 · May 18, 2004

What we do as nurses. Lots and lots of things, like other people have stated, a big part of our job is teaching, patient education is important for life. i think one of the beautys of nursing is that there are soooo many choices of fields within the scope of nursing. I am a school nurse by day, work at a Assistant living center (for the eldery) occasionaly on the weekends, and I am a camp nurse all summer. I have worked in hospitals, nursing homes, offices, and flu clinic to name a few. This is a great website to see some of the things different nurses do. Also discovernursing.com is other website to explore nursing options. Yes, we do like to make money, but money is not the main reason for going into this profession. My school nursing job pays a lot less than other nursing jobs, but I choose to be here and make a big difference for the children being here at my school. Plus you can't beat the hours! You need to explore the different options, and do what is best for YOU! not anyone else. As I said before, BE TRUE TO YOURSELF! Nursing is a great field, but you must make that choice.

dkbhu49 · May 18, 2004

some please help!I have been reading all the posted comments on the site in regards to the career switch. I am a full time student who is aspiring to become a nurse but I also have a love for teaching. my heart and mind are both torturing me causing me great confusion in making my career decisions. I'm posting this because I don't know any nurses who can give any real advice on the nursing perfession. The people I do know in the medical field are CNA's who think I should become a nurse because the salary is good. I really don't know what to do and I'm just looking for someone to place a little light on the real situation of being a nurse, I would like to know the good, the bad, and indifferent.
Thank you in advance to all that reply.

My advice to you is to go into education. There is a desperate need for nurse educators although you and your students would probably benefit more if you were a nurse first!! Good luck to you!!

Saved_by_Grace · May 18, 2004

i can totally relate. i debated endlessly on whether i wanted to be a nurse, a social worker, or a teacher. on advice from my psychology professor i finally realized that only in nursing can you essentially be all 3! :saint: i am sure that i will probably eventually want to go on and be some sort of nurse educator maybe in a college or comparable setting. i would assume that you would have to have your bsn but i am not sure what other educational requirements there would be after obtaining it. if anyone knows, i'd love to hear what the requirements are. i do know that i would love to work in l & d for a while as well!!!

good luck to you and i hope that you find your niche in nursing!!!! :lol2:

my advice to you is to go into education. there is a desperate need for nurse educators although you and your students would probably benefit more if you were a nurse first!! good luck to you!!

Dayray, RN · May 18, 2004

Only you can decide what is right for you. Asking for info is a great way to start and I'm sure in the end you'll figure it out.

You'll get answers at all different ends of the spectrum. I personally love being a nurse. It's hard, scary and sometimes very stressful but I really like it.

What a nurse does?....

It depends on where you work, by that I mean what area of nursing as well as what area of the country. I know mostly about hospital nursing so I can tell you about that. First of all to a CNA it seems like all nurses do is paper work, I used to be a CNA and at times I thought the same thing. But this isn't true. The paper work is a big part of the job and a big pain in the @@@ but it's only a part of it.

As a nurse in the the hospital you are responsible for your patients care. That means if there are orders for meds, a bath, a test, a meal or anything else .. the nurse is the one who is responsible for it being done. Now you delegate some of those tasks to CNA's (if you have one) but it is your job to see that it is done, if the CNA doesn't do it or if they screw it up it's your butt not theirs.

You have to assess your patients and be able to figure out what is going on with them, then you take a appropriate actions based on your findings ie you give them a med, call a doctor to get an order, or just keep watching or what ever you feel is appropriate.

Most importantly the nurse helps to design care, this is the place where you get to really help people. It is also the area that is most difficult. Our medical system is set up with the doctor as the one who gets to make decisions. As any nurse will tell you this can be a major problem. Doctors don't spend their day with the patient, nurses do. So many times you'll find yourself fighting for something you know your patient needs. Some doctors know that they need to work with nurses to get the beast care for their patients but others seek only to feed their own egos and will fight you at every step.

Staffing is almost always bad, you are many times stretched to your limit and at times overstretched. This can be stressful when it goes on to long but if it's not everyday it's not so bad.

Nursing practice is governed by the nurse practice act of your state. which is a list of things your supposed to do or not do. It is however not a full list of the things you'll be doing. It is however a tool used by layers to hang you if end up in court.

Their are some really good things about nursing, you don't get allot of thanks and you will take allot of abuse from patients coworkers and doctors but every day you do things that you know make someones life better.

I have had thoughts of being a teacher. I think that would be a much safer way to go (less liability). I don;t think I would be happy as a teacher though their isn't enough autonomy.

By no means is this a complete list and I'm sure it's not even clear or completly acurate. It's not possible to comunicate what nurses do with words. You kind of have to see it for yourself.

Freeda · May 18, 2004

I thought I was the only one who could mentally debate myself endlessly about career paths. :rolleyes: At one point I had become frozen and was doing nothing because I couldn't decide. Nurse, teacher, keep doing social work...All I can say is to echo the previous posts. I finally decided on nursing because nursing is more flexible. If you are the type of person who is having a hard time deciding, then a field like nursing is perfect for you because you can always change specialties, hospitals, career paths, and would never feel trapped by your decision. If you are a nurse you can still do educational type things. Nursing school instructor, school nurse, community education etc. If you are a teacher you don't really get to do nursing of any kind ya know? Also if you really hate nursing once you go into it, you can always go into an alternative certification program and become a science teacher. As for social work, which I think someone brought up, already done that. Definitely not worth it. I loved my work but the pay is horrendous-to the point that it begins to interfere with your ability to provide service to your clients because you are too tired from working two jobs. Granted none of these are VERY high paying fields, but one does like to earn a living.

2ndgenerationnurse · May 20, 2004

i always tell my kids to love what your doing or change it... life is too short... so if you try one job and it doesn't suit you... move on, don't waste a minute.

but my experience with nursing, 11yrs, is that it is so diverse that you have countless avenues to adapt your choices to find your passion. but with teaching you can choose a different grade, or school, but it is basically the same job.

nursing is fabulous at it's best and horrendous at it's worst.... rewarding and thankless.... disheartening and fulfilling.....if your up for it grab it with all your might and hang on! i am still glad i did. :nurse: coral