Would you have gone to nursing school....

Everline · Feb 25, 2018

Yes, it was worth it! It's true that my first year as a nurse was really awful and back then I did wonder if I'd made a big mistake. But I am in my fourth year of nursing now and I am very happy being a nurse. I think, quite regularly, how glad I am that I went to nursing school. I'm not saying it's all rainbows. Being a nurse has not been easy for me. Nursing can be quite brutal in some ways. But I am very happy in my current job and have found the specialty that I love. On a financial level, I went to a nursing school that was relatively inexpensive and came out debt free. My career has paid for school many times over and I have a career that I feel really good about. So yes, it was definitely worth it.

caliotter3 · Feb 25, 2018

No. Had I known what would happen, I would have stayed with the status quo at the time. That would have enabled me to take care of myself and my family in my old age and I would have been happy instead of disappointed and discouraged. Nursing turned out to be a bad dream that should have been relegated permanently to the past decades ago.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Feb 25, 2018

Not really comfortable or happy with my choice. Except, I have touched some lives in a meaningful way which is huge. Also, have a nice house and vacations twice a year and don't really have to worry when bills come in. So...yes, no, yes, no, yes......

cleback · Feb 25, 2018

I probably would've tried another medical STEM field. Probably slightly fewer opportunities, which is why I'm not switching now, but if I were younger with no family to consider, I would've tried something else first.

NightNerd, MSN, RN · Feb 25, 2018

I would do it again if only because I met my boyfriend at my first nursing job, and he's pretty great! Without that...maybe. There are days when I really love my job and feel like it makes a difference, and I am grateful that I have job security and can support myself fairly easily. But there are definitely things I think I'd enjoy doing more. If I could start all the way over, I'd do music therapy or something that leaves room for more creativity and less rushing around.

Flatline, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2018

Yes, yes I would.

Like you OP I started out in a SNF and spent the first couple of years at them but I did not wait for opportunity to present itself. I hunted opportunity down like it was a gazelle and beat it into submission until I landed my first hospital job and then went after the next, and the next opportunity.

Things I did were craft several custom and well-thought out resumes, got my BSN to make myself more marketable, joined several professional nursing organizations, built a professional LinkedIn profile and networked intensively, and got myself a couple of certifications.

Actively fight for what you want until you get it.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Feb 25, 2018

Yes, but I would go either direct-entry MSN or straight to NP school. There were some valuable experiences and about $50000 or so financial gain which otherwise would become my student debth, and some of my true and good friends I've made, but still years between BSN and MSN were more negative for me and, should I know it, I would avoid them altogether.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Feb 25, 2018

Yes, but I probably would have either went straight for RN or went to an institution with some sort of bridge program. Part of the problem with being an experienced LPN and going back for RN is that employers have a nasty tendency to treat RNs who were LPNs for years as if they were new grads. It is extremely discouraging to contemplate going back to school only to make a couple dollars more an hour as a "new" RN.

As far as being stuck in a SNF.... I think a lot of new grads in SNF have a "grass is always greener" mentality. Hospitals aren't all they're cracked up to be. Bedside nursing is bedside nursing. And frankly, the vast majority of future growth in nursing is going to be in areas other than acute care hospitals. Part of the reason it's harder to land a job in the hospital is because job growth in that sector is sluggish. It's not necessarily because it's such a better place to work.

BSNbeauty, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2018

Brandon , that sounds like an excuse. Don't let others determine your goals and destiny. I was an experienced LPN before RN and I've experienced the opposite. I got paid extra money per hr for my LPN exp too.

To answer the OP. No I have no regrets. I love my career and grateful to be a RN.

Davey Do · Feb 25, 2018

I'm disappointed. What about you? Was nursing school worth it?

I am sorry you're disappointed, RockinNurse.

Generally speaking, I am very pleased that I went to nursing school and am happy with my career. But then again, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now, had you asked me that back several times in my career, when I all but gave up nursing for art, I may have sung a different tune. But nursing has allowed me to experience things I would have otherwise not, and has always been a mainstay for me.

SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN · Feb 25, 2018

Yeah I'm Very happy with my choice to become a nurse. Its a second career for me so I started out the cheap and quick way out of necessity. I got an associates degree at a local community college. I took my first job as a floor nurses at a local hospital and was there about a year and transferred to the ER where I still am. Along the way I picked up my BSN (mostly paid for by my employer) and now am due to graduate with my DNP (entirely paidfor by my employer). I'm looking forward to starting my new position as an NP here in the next couple months.