nursing vs education

Nurses General Nursing

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I would like some advice please!! I am currently working on my degree in education, however i keep finding myself wishing that i had went into nursing school. My biggest fear is that i can not take a blood pressure. For some reason i just cant hear it. How can i become a nurse and not even do this simple thing. And if i can master it im so worried that i will be getting in over my head. I really love the medical field and enjoy helping others. Can anyone tell me if nursing is a good choice and if so how hard is it going to be? im so worried of faliure!!!!

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Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Medsurge.

You may need the extra help of a nursing instructor to hear the heart while taking a blood pressure. Once you learn, you'll never forget! ;-)

You are the only one who truly knows what path you will follow. But, I must add, nursing involves teaching, bedside teaching, instructing certified nurse assistants, explaining procedures to families. So you will still be teaching as a nurse.

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I am in a very similar situation as you are. I am finishing up my 5th year of my bachelor of Music Education, and have wished i went into either becomming a paramedic or nurse for 3 years now,, and now that I am finishing up doing this, i STILL want to go into the medical field. I can see myself doing it forsure, and sometimes wish I would have really listened to myself years ago, maybe you know forsure this is something that you want to do? I have worries too, I can not look when I am getting my blood taken or getting an IV so it makes me wonder how easy it would be for me to give one to somebody else. If you really feel a calling though I would not let that bother you so much, you will find a way to get used to it and be okay with it. I just had a talk with one of my profs and he said, sometimes in life we don't get it right the first time, and people have manty career changes through their lives so do not feel bad about changing your mind if you are already in one program. I think I will apply for a teaching job this fall but in the back of my mind I am staying open to applying into a BN program for the year after. Do not worry about being a failure, think of what you have accomplished so far! If it is something that you love and choose to do you will do wonderfully!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

PLEASE do a thorough investigation before making any changes. Right now, new nurse graduates are unable to find jobs. This may lessen in a few years, but not very quickly.

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Thank you so much for your kind words!!!

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There are always jobs in other places though, and that is just a current situation with the recession, it will not last forever. People say the same thing to me about music education,, what can you do right? its the same story with many professions, things will change soon. In Canada it is already starting to get better :)

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You know, it's funny, if I had to do it over I would've been a teacher.

I can't tell you the last time I took a manual bp. Why should I? The machines are quicker and probably more accurate. But nursing schools still insist on the old ways of doing things. Every job I get I take a math skills test where a lot of the questions focus on drip rates. Yet I haven't gravity dripped an infusion since the early 90's. Had a question which talked about "grains" of tylenol. I graduated in 1991 and I've yet to encounter a doctor writing for a grain of anything. It's really dumb.

Teaching has a lot going for it. Yeah, you have to deal with disrespectful little snots, and it's illegal to give them a smack upside the head, even for their own good. But you get great vacation days. One of the worst things about hospital nursing is working every other weekend, working every other holiday, and if by the grace of God you get off Christmas or T-day you can't go anywhere anyway because you're going to work the day before and the day after.

Finish your teaching degree and give it a year or two. If you hate it you could probably get a nursing degree in a couple of semesters, since you already have a BA.

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Oh, I forgot to mention. Buy one of those really cool Littmans for taking bps. You could hear a mouse sneeze with one of those things.

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Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Medsurge.

After having worked at as an aide at a rehab hospital where all BP checks were manual, I gained an appreciation for their relevance. Low blood pressures are easier to read, a machine will often times stall; hearing diverse rhythms (strong or weak), murmurs or gallops even when your listening way away from the heart! This is fun and quite useful tool when assessing one's patient's. Of course it does require time and patience to acquire this info, of which we have plenty of right? And if the patient is in pain when your getting the BP value from the machine, you can offer a gentler more humane method for gathering that information.

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I say become a nurse. Then get your experience as a nurse. Then teach nursing. You can have the best of both worlds.

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I agree with HouTx, please do your research. Why nursing? The job prospects (even though getting better, it still isn't enough to guarantee a lot of people jobs in the next few years), etc. Also listen to angez, finish your teaching degree and give it a year or two if doesn't work out do nursing. Depending where you live, teachers and nurses make about the same amount. My brother is going to be a teacher and where we live he gets great discounts in numerous stores, 2 months vacation, 8am-4pm job, great benefits and pension. Yes, once I graduate I would probably have a higher earning potential than him but that's only because of overtime, shift differentials and working the whole year.

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I agree with HouTx, please do your research. Why nursing? The job prospects (even though getting better, it still isn't enough to guarantee a lot of people jobs in the next few years), etc. Also listen to angez, finish your teaching degree and give it a year or two if doesn't work out do nursing. Depending where you live, teachers and nurses make about the same amount. My brother is going to be a teacher and where we live he gets great discounts in numerous stores, 2 months vacation, 8am-4pm job, great benefits and pension. Yes, once I graduate I would probably have a higher earning potential than him but that's only because of overtime, shift differentials and working the whole year.

Yes teachers do make a decent living here in Canada, and there are good benefits and pensions, however I do have to say that you are very wrong with the working 8-4. I have never met one music educator who has worked these hours. Most days i spent in my practicums i worked from 8 am until 10 pm during the week with prepping, planning, score studying ( i am a band teacher), administrative work, extra rehearsals, extra curriculuar etc. etc. i have even spoken with teachers who put in over 70 hours a week. We do not get paid overtime, so the two months off in the summer is the same as banking your hours then taking the time off. The amount of hours you work in a year would even out to be the same I would think. It is a great job and very rewarding, and yes the holiday time is nice. I just wanted to point that out because it seems to be a common thought amongst people who have never worked in education. Also, teachers who use the same material year after year, are not really teachers :) I don't plan to ever do that if i stick with it!

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