Second Bachelor's.......BSN??? Help!!

mitchsmom · Dec 27, 2004

I am getting my second bachelor's and I have the same fears as you... but one common thread that I have seen over and over is that happy nurses are those who have found their niche - they didn't stay in an area or job that sucked but found their specialty or a place that worked for them. Don't know how enlightening that is for you... I have just heard more than once that many burned out nurses just haven't taken advantage of all the choices in nursing that may suit them better. FWIW

wje9516 · Dec 27, 2004

I am getting my second bachelor's and I have the same fears as you... but one common thread that I have seen over and over is that happy nurses are those who have found their niche - they didn't stay in an area or job that sucked but found their specialty or a place that worked for them. Don't know how enlightening that is for you... I have just heard more than once that many burned out nurses just haven't taken advantage of all the choices in nursing that may suit them better. FWIW

Thanks, thats helpful...it really does come down to what you put into it..just trying to figure out at this stage of the game, if I have the endurance...

Bill

CCU NRS · Dec 27, 2004

I am getting my second bachelor's and I have the same fears as you... but one common thread that I have seen over and over is that happy nurses are those who have found their niche - they didn't stay in an area or job that sucked but found their specialty or a place that worked for them. Don't know how enlightening that is for you... I have just heard more than once that many burned out nurses just haven't taken advantage of all the choices in nursing that may suit them better. FWIW

I too have posted this in many areas as well finding the right place for you is key!

wje9516 · Dec 27, 2004

I know that if you puruse many of the threads here on this site you will absolutely find that many nurses do burn out and many do have varying degrees of problems from the poor staffing, to poor mgmt, to just poor treatment by Doctors, staff and pts.
I for one feel truly blessed that I have found a great place to work and a great team to work with. I will admit that not everyone there feels this way, I don't want to offend anyone but it is my experience that some people are never happy no matter what the situation, I also feel blessed that I am one of those goofy people that are fortunate enough to just wake up happy every day, I made a comment just recently that you may find interesting "I must be one of the few people that is smart enough to do this job, but stupid enough to enjoy it!" I will tell you that it is not easy, but let me just list a few of the jobs I did prior to entering nursing and perhaps you will see why I find it enjoyable.
I worked as a roustabout for about 3 years, working for an oil company I went around doing manual labor such as building cattle guards,(digging the holes and placing the posts and building the fence)I made watergates, (same basic prinicple except over a creek)I scubbed the derricks after they were brought in from the field before they went back out, built fences around tanks and derricks and offices and did some night security for the sites.
I worked in a rubber plant for 7 years, making packer parts and cement plugs and all manner of pipeline fittings for oilfield and pipeline type applications, I started on the MFG line where giant presses with heating plates are used to mold the parts, giant metal molds are pulled apart with brute force and winches you break it apart the molds are 300 hundred degrees and the heating plates are 320-350, you pull the whole thing apart and get out the steaming rubber parts then place a big chunk of raw rubber into the mold and put it all back together and push it in and press it to mold they heat from 20-45min depending on size and i ran a line with 6 presses after you pull the hot part out you use a box knife to trim off the excess and run from press to press unloading, reloading and trimming parts in a corrugated steel building with a total of 18 presses all at 320-350 dgrees in Texas (in summer heat outside 100-110 degress) and you have to wear longsleeves because you are working with hot metal and hot presses.
So yeah to me nursing is a pretty sweet job, I work indoors in a temp controlled environment, talking with co-workers and Pts and other therapuetic modalitites, I use my social skills to make Pts feel at ease and relieve tension and use my teaching skills to alleviate fear and explain procedures, processes and exactly what they can expect from every intervention. I use humor to help others feel better and keep things lite and as someone said Laughter is the best medicine. I work hard but not unbearably so, I give baths and assist Pts up to chairs or bathrom and turn pts and change linens and assist all the other nurses to do all of these things, I pass medicines and meals and start IVs and assist with procedures such as central line placement and artline placement and I do dressing changes and I take care of ventillator Pts and suction secretions and do oral care and clean stool and vomit and blood from where ever it is coming from, I do open heart recovery I can run IABP or CVVHD, I monitor CI and CO and PA pressures and Blood pressures and interpret cardiac rhytms, do EKGs and pull arterial lines and sheaths and central lines and catheters.
It is a wonderful, demanding, rewarding, disgusting, work your butt off for little appreciation, but feel marvelous about the help you provide to others kind of a job! for more you may read this article if you like.
http://www.okcnursingtimes.com/specials/newsletter_view.asp?newsid=344&catid=88&active=0&mode=current&count=0
Good Luck in all your endeavors and especially with your choices in life, and as always if God is a part of your life look to him to show you the right way to turn.

What a great response, thoughtful, mature, you know, all that good stuff...

what seems to be filtering through here is, from a bunch of responses is a level of maturity, ability to deal with many different personalities, and keeping the unrealistic expectations on hold, it's probably like most other things in life, you get out what you put in....

The idealistic probably gets crushed quickly, but tempered idealism looks like prerequisite... I have been dealing with financial statements, dense data analysis, programming and software automation....it's great to know how to do it, but almost never makes you feel good about yourself, in terms of the work itself, in fact, usually, the more you help the brass cut patient care costs, the more they like you...

by the way, weak lower back, is that a career killer?

thanks again

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Dec 27, 2004

Check out:

The Guys Club: Guy Students Come on In!

INFJ · Dec 27, 2004

Hi Bill--

I too am returning to school for a BSN. I have my Masters in Counseling and it just wasn't cutting it for me. Paywise and being able to actually physically help others. It is a big step to take to go from the known of what you do daily to the unknown of Nursing. I followed my heart and now after finishing my first semester of Nursing school, I'm pretty sure that I've done the right thing! Challenging - check, Exciting - check, Interesting - check, Always new stuff to learn - check, Good pay - check, Fun - check, Endless possibilities - check. All that to say, nursing meets all kinds of criteria! Good luck with your decision, just know that there is someone out there who has made this decision and feels that it is a great one!!

Best of Luck!

Amy:)

wje9516 · Dec 28, 2004

Hi Bill--
I too am returning to school for a BSN. I have my Masters in Counseling and it just wasn't cutting it for me. Paywise and being able to actually physically help others. It is a big step to take to go from the known of what you do daily to the unknown of Nursing. I followed my heart and now after finishing my first semester of Nursing school, I'm pretty sure that I've done the right thing! Challenging - check, Exciting - check, Interesting - check, Always new stuff to learn - check, Good pay - check, Fun - check, Endless possibilities - check. All that to say, nursing meets all kinds of criteria! Good luck with your decision, just know that there is someone out there who has made this decision and feels that it is a great one!!
Best of Luck!
Amy:)

...needed the pep talk....you have the perfect background for the field...your degrees and your life experience will really pay off in practice....patients and people in general will sense your sincerity, a hard thing to fake, and giving a %%%% about people, but also building in your own limits, never has failed me in the things that count in life...You learn how to express caring and intimate your limits as you get older, and people tend to sense that..

..I have a ways to go...but have most of reqs for the BSN, took a lot of chemistry, bio, Calc. physics...(was premed for a while, then Business)and all the A&S Dev. Psych, upper level humanities etc...(my dad was a prof at the university I attended, so I wandered a lot)

Thanks again Amy..!

Bill

llg, PhD, RN · Dec 28, 2004

I am getting my second bachelor's and I have the same fears as you... but one common thread that I have seen over and over is that happy nurses are those who have found their niche - they didn't stay in an area or job that sucked but found their specialty or a place that worked for them. Don't know how enlightening that is for you... I have just heard more than once that many burned out nurses just haven't taken advantage of all the choices in nursing that may suit them better. FWIW

Great post! I read the posts of so many people on this website who are disillusioned with nursing, burned out, etc. .... but when they tell you about their job history, you find out that they have been doing the same type of job in the same type of facility the whole time. Even if they do leave a job they hate, they go to a job that is very similar!

As mitchsmom said, there are many DIFFERENT types of nursing careers and one of the best ways to find happiness within a nursing career is to find the niche that it right for you. That might mean going back to school for additional education: it might mean trying an entirely different clinical specialty: it might mean trying a totally different type of role such as nursing administration or education or case management, etc.

Sadly, many people leave nursing after only having given 1 or 2 types of nursing roles a chance. I would hate most nursing jobs -- but I love the one I have.

Good luck,

llg

BS Nursing Student · Dec 30, 2004

This is my second BS degree and I would recommend it. However, don't expect faculty to welcome you with open arms because you are a second degree student. The truth is that they SAY they want life experience, however, in reality, they prefer 19 year olds who are afraid to speak their mind.

wje9516 · Dec 31, 2004

This is my second BS degree and I would recommend it. However, don't expect faculty to welcome you with open arms because you are a second degree student. The truth is that they SAY they want life experience, however, in reality, they prefer 19 year olds who are afraid to speak their mind.

You have to know that no instructor is going to succeed at browbeating you when all you do is look back at them, unaffected, or with measured empathy, (that really undoes them), and just calmly and respectfully stare right through them, with just a hint of psychopathy thrown in for good measure. It also helps being over 6 feet tall, muscular, and over 40....

...Yes I understand the dynamics of boot-camp aka school/clinicals, but no one has the right to marginalize you publicly...just make up your mind to calmly and assertively expose their asses, they may retaliate, just be ready to document....and then apply gauze to any abraded areas....

:-)

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Dec 31, 2004

This is my second BS degree and I would recommend it. However, don't expect faculty to welcome you with open arms because you are a second degree student. The truth is that they SAY they want life experience, however, in reality, they prefer 19 year olds who are afraid to speak their mind.

How's that for a broad generalization? :rolleyes: At our school, we actually welcome the older, more mature students. However, we show preference to none and treat all with respect :)

SusanJean · Dec 31, 2004

This is my second BS degree and I would recommend it. However, don't expect faculty to welcome you with open arms because you are a second degree student. The truth is that they SAY they want life experience, however, in reality, they prefer 19 year olds who are afraid to speak their mind.

Gosh, that was not my experience at all! I applied to 2 schools, was accepted to 2 schools, both on very short notice. One could not admit me for Spring semester as they were already full, but bent over backwards to have me taking classes towards later admission -- then I got a call offering full admission when some others dropped out (that were previously admitted.)

They know I have kids at home and helped to arrange sched so I can be home at nights w/ them. Can't say enough about the support I rec'd from the faculty at this school!!

They told me they value older students, tho I would say they treat all of their students fairly and w/ respect (have taken other classes there and have seen how this school operates.)

My take is they want to put out skilled professionals that will become leaders in their fields.

SJ