Does anyone want to be just a "nurse"?

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Hi all, just curious if anyone is stopping at adn level to be a general nurse. Seems like everyone wants to be a crna or something???

As a 51 YO freshman student I definitely plan on just an RN. It's been my lifelong ambition and I still can't believe I'm doing it....and succeeding! Quite proud of myself and some of my fellow students, being younger of course, are quite in awe of me themselves. It's been a wonderful experience so far and I look forward to getting my RN (I'm in a diploma school) and getting out there in the real world!

I'm with you. This school stuff could go on forever and at 44 I've had enough. I've been doing this now for four years part time and I want to apply it and get paid for it! :chuckle I figure I can get a good 20 years in if I start working after graduation. Coincidentally, our Med Surg III instructor told us the other night that our school now requires PHD's for the instructor applicants - this woman is 53 and knows her stuff. She's also very sweet and nice, we love her. Anyway, one could go from RN to BSN to MSN and now places want PHD? Like others have said in reply to this post, nursing pertains to character and committment, and I don't feel so much that it has to do with what initials follow your name.

Back in '97 when I graduated from my ADN program, I figured I'd go back for a bachelor's within five years. In the meantime, I went from bedside nursing to management to clinical instructor to consultant.....all on my "little" associate's degree. Now I'm back at the bedside (of my own volition) and when I turned 45 earlier this year I finally realized that my lifespan IS finite....and I don't want to waste any of it stressing out over organic chemistry or statistics.

So yes, I plan to stay "just" a nurse, although I'll probably go into discharge planning when I'm too old to run the floors any more. If there were a four-year program close to where I live, if I weren't still paying off student loans, or if I were more motivated, I'd think about it.......and then I'd go for a master's because I'd want to teach. But there's no real economic incentive to go back---I've nearly doubled my starting wages in 7 years' time as it is---and once all my kids are launched in a few years, I'm not going to want to work full-time any more anyway.........so what on earth would I even DO with an advanced degree?

This is one of the few true regrets I have about my life so far.....I wish I had started my career earlier, instead of waiting until I was almost 40 years old to get going. But there's no undoing it now, no going back......only forward. And the fact that the foreseeable future does NOT include more formal education is actually OK with me.....after all, being "just a nurse" was what I really wanted all along. :)

Though not a nurse yet, so many of your other words echo mine. Very insightful post; very!

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Thank you. I'm actually very proud of being a nurse........it's all I ever wanted to do since I was old enough to recite the cranial nerves at my grandmother's knee. :) I just didn't think I had the smarts back when I was in high school, so I never took the math and science courses I needed to get into a program.

In a way, though, I'm glad I waited as long as I did......I think life experience is a big plus when you're dealing with human beings, especially in some of their worst moments. Not that younger nurses aren't equally skilled and compassionate---some of the best nurses I work with are young enough to be my sons and daughters---but when you've lived a while on this old earth, I think you tend to be more empathetic with patients who are struggling to understand what's happening to them. I know I personally wouldn't have been nearly as good with patients 20 or 25 years ago, when everything was about me, me, ME (or so I thought). Now I'm able to focus on what other people are going through and how I can help *them*, which in turn gratifies me.......which is a win-win situation all around. :)

i dont know if i want to go and become a nurse practioner or nurse anethesist or any other master's program.

reason being is that i'm a student who has had no previous hospital/medical experience. i'm just your typical person who decided to taking prereqs and just one day applied to the program and got in. so i dont know anything really.

maybe after i have worked in the nursing field for 10 years and gained experience,maybe i'll go get a higher nursing degree. but not now, i cant boss anyone yet coz i'm still learning and have no confidence.

Specializes in ICU.

Well, I'm a future CRNA, if God has the same plan for me as I do.

Yeah I plan on finishing my ADN at my comm college. I have a toddler, so maybe in about 7 or 8 years going to a university to finish my BSN. But I am in NO RUSH....

Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, Home Health, Oncology.

`Hi

I am 59 yrs. old & proud to be Just a Nurse!! I am OCN certified & give wonderful care to my patients! In the past I have been a House Supervisor and a Head Nurse. Now I am back at the bedside & love my staff nurse job.

Mary Ann

I think the OP meant "just a nurse" as being a nurse who doesn't specialize, doesn't aspire to management, CRNA, etc. In my second year of clinicals, a surgeon asked me a question and I said, "I'm just a student, I'll find his nurse". The surgeon took me aside and said that I should never think of myself as "just" anything. He said that nursing school is hard, and nursing is harder - that I would never be "just a student" or "just a nurse". He said that using the word "just" diminished the importance of my hard work, diligence and dedication, and the contribution that I made to patient care. I have not used that word since.

As to whether I want to continue my nursing education after graduating as an RN (grad is May 15th, boards on June 9th). No, I don't. I like what I'm doing now, full-time, as a preceptee - med/surg. Continuing or not is a matter of "fit". Not everyone is suited to med/surg or any other area of nursing. Some of classmates shine in peds, others cardiac, others chronic, others OB, others OR, others ED. It depends on their "fit". My "fit" is med/surg. I'm more than happy there, I belong there.

Honestly, I just wanted to stop at LPN. I do not care about pay, just didn't want the responsibility of an RN. (am not ashamed to admit it). BUT, things change & I will continue for RN - ONLINE.

justjenn

PS - it does bug me the way some people view LPN's, even the ANA. Whether I am an LPN or RN - I will always respect those that earn it - CNA, RN, LPN - whatever. By the way - I have a HIGH respect for CNA's and thank them every chance I can.

I agree with whomever said "a nurse is a nurse" whether you have a BSN or what ever. But a GOOD nurse is a better nurse!:p I don't plan on going on to higher education either.....at this point in my life anyway (nurse for 2 yrs and 46 yrs old) Nursing is what you make it...there is money to be made, but if you find where you want to be, no amount of money is going to take yu away from it. Money is nice, but I find that nursing is satisfying to me and it is the only job I have had where I don't think, "I will stay here for the money and make the best of it" If you aren't happy in one facility you can move on, because you are a nurse. Make the best of being "just a nurse" and be happy. Good luck to you. Terri

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Ive been in various forms of management and now all I want to do is staff nursing

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

and also play golf golf golf golf

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