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???

Hi Ben,

I am not even officially in the nursing program yet. I'm working on my prereqs right now. But I thought I'd put my two cents in anyway!

I am going to go through a BSN program. I'm a 40 year old reentry student with a family. The ADN program at first sounded good, but as I did job research in my area [s.F Bay Area], I found that alot of employers required a BSN, even to be "just a nurse". Since it's always been a personal goal of mine to at some point get my bachelors, I decided just to get it out of the way.

Right now, I'm at a community college, but I've applied to Dominican University of California for the fall and am waiting to hear from them. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Thanks, Laura:balloons:

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I have been asked if I am happy being 'Just an LPN'. My answer is that I do my job and I enjoy it. I have no desire to be stuck in an office doing the Administrative part- I do enough of that as a visint nurse responsible for the coordination of care of my homebound patients and the medicare paperwork etc.

I like what I do and would love to be able to just care for my patients without the 'extra' stuff required of all medical professionals.

So the answer is... I stop where I am happy. When I am no longer happy there, then I will move on to something else that will make me happy. Who knows, it may be basket weaving!

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Specializes in OB/GYN.

oh my goodness! i am taking one step at a time! adn first and then i'll see. i'm 31 and am just finishing up my 2nd semester which is a bear!

i just want to make it through the next year, work and get some experience on the floor, and then i'll see!

:p

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Ive been in various forms of management and now all I want to do is staff nursing

Yup, there's nothing like doing time as a manager to make one appreciate how nice it is to be just another of the worker bees: no taking work home, no 60-hour weeks, no middle-of-the-night calls, no having to go in at midnight because the night nurse didn't show up and there's no one else to replace her, no dealing with "the state", no having to fire anyone........ahhhhh, this is the life!! :)

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I was an ER Nurse for over 20 years on my ADN. LOVED nursing more each day, but I just couldn't hack to politics. I was early 30's the first time I discovered that I was born a nurse.

I would give some advice to you older, males, or other minorities. Nursing politics is predatory. At first they always treat the odd fellow very nicely. Isn't that amazing that an old White Guy can be such a good nurse. If you work too hard, (especially if you seem to enjoy it) they pay you back for making them look bad by dumping their difficult cases on you. If you actually spend a moment to TALK to your patients, you're a slacker. You cannot win. I never had anything but overwhelming acceptance from my patients, but Administrators? I was fired from my job after 20 years in the same medical center. But I wasn't just fired. My boss and her big administrator buddy (also a nurse) suspended me, without pay, pending an investigation. A few months later they decided they didn't have grounds to fire me, so they made something up.

The first thing they did was to make sure I had no medical insurance for my wife, whose HgB dropped to SEVEN and had to be treated with B12 shots and OTCs for several months, since that's all we could afford. They also saw to it that I was ineligable for unemployment. I just got food stamps and medicare last week, so now I see what so many of my patients go through to get a doctor. I tried applying for a job in another specialty that looked good at the interview, but they hired somebody else, so I guess I'm black-balled. I had planned to work agency but I got a call last week that they want to pull my license so maybe I'll never be able to do that.

But you know what folks? I still LOVE nursing. I'm gonna dust myself off and study to get re-certified, even though it's hard to study worrying about my license. I don't expect any trouble though. It's hard to beleive that they found anything to tell the state about me that I couln't explain.

I take my re-cert exam in a couple of weeks, so I need to keep my eyes on the prize.

The first day I walked into ER I learned the fine art of concentrating on those salient, yet subtle details in critical care. The longer I worked ER the more I learned to tune out most unimportant things.

I cried myself to sleep many nights that a calling that has meant so much to me appears to be taken away. But for the next couple of weeks I need to work on studying and returning to the career that has meant so much to me.

There was an article a few weeks ago, "FORMER NURSE NOW CEO OF MAJOR HOSPITAL SYSTEM." Of course she worked he way UP nursing, but why in the name of God would she allow them to call her "former" nurse. Is she saying the best thing to do with a nursing career is to get out of it?

When somebody sees an older nurse who is not a boss, the assumption is that they are stupid. When I first started all of my bosses were old folks. The last dozen bosses I had were children--my last charge nurse was a new grad, who had just finished her orientation. The older you get, the harder it is to be "just a nurse."

But ya gotta follow your dream. If you love it, you'll be fighting for the rest of your career. I think it's worth it.

Love

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Owney- when do you go before the board? I am sure that after 20 yrs with a good record you will be redeemed... If you don't mind me asking what could they have possibly made up that was this bad? YOu seem like a caring, intelligent person. We wish you the best of luck...and you'll always have this boards support.

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Owney- when do you go before the board? I am sure that after 20 yrs with a good record you will be redeemed... If you don't mind me asking what could they have possibly made up that was this bad? YOu seem like a caring, intelligent person. We wish you the best of luck...and you'll always have this boards support.

It's not really the board, just some state investigator. After chatting on other strings, I have learned that my case is not that unique. I heard from another nurse from another state who had her former employer report her. It's just a form of harassment. It has even happened to me before.

A former employer reported me 4 months after I quit a job. They said that I was incompetent because I did not pass my orientation. Never mind that they gave me nothing in writing about my orientation until I was on the way out the door. They sent some medical records of patients who had decompensated during my care. In every chart my nurses notes showed that I had notified physicians, and taken all of the appropriate interventions. The hospital tried to say, "Yeah, he did the right thing, but we had to point it out to him." My explanation was the end of it.

I go see this guy on Wednesday. I can't wait to see what they are saying this time. I'm sure that they will have no problem finding disasters in many of the cases that I was involved in. I have faith in my charting. I know I can show that my care was well above the standard of that hell-hole.

Thank you for your warm wishes of support. I have been without any income for a long time, but my friends have been very supportive. I need to build my self esteem and confidence to get re-certified, instead of worrying about it. What I need most of all are your prayers that I can keep myself together enough to remain rational.

Love, :blushkiss

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I go see this guy on Wednesday. I can't wait to see what they are saying this time. I'm sure that they will have no problem finding disasters in many of the cases that I was involved in. I have faith in my charting. I know I can show that my care was well above the standard of that hell-hole.

Owney-

This is exactly why I write notes that tell a story. My co-workers laugh at them sometimes, but my notes can stand alone without those of the person who went before or after me. I was taught to be specific and precise and never leave anything to assumption. 20 years later I still chart that way. It is a pain when you are pressed for time, but it has saved my rear on more than one occasion when I was the chosen fall guy, er gal. I am a home care nurse. I see patients on a one on one basis, most of my patients are homebound and chronically ill. If I do not cover my tail there is no one else who can do it for me. One of the good things I got from working nights with no supervisor in a place that loved to point fingers at everyone else. IF it aint written down, it never happened!

New nurses need to really live by that one.

Good Luck Owney-- I am sure you will come out better than your previous employer. And I am sure you will find work. There are not enough of us to go round as it is... they have to take the good ones or the bad ones will run health care into the ground.

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Hi, just a quick note............(Canuck here) what are you guys, gals talking about, all these abbreviations in Nursing, I mean the classifications? Here I guess I can attest to knowing RPN, RN, BScN, Practitioner, Clinician and of course all your specialties in the field. Please help me out here.........:~)

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Owney- Good luck, you will be in our prayers. I'm sure these claims will be rediculous and a year from now you'll have a good laugh at how petty these alligations were.

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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???

Many people want to make more money, be able to take certification test (have to have BSN for that) and perform more skills. It doesn't matter how much money you make if you aren't happy with your job. Hey, do what makes you happy. I've been a ADN for 13 years. I'm going on to get a bachelor's someday only because I want to do more than what I do now. Maybe ARNP or something else...but not a PA. They don't work unless they have a doctor to employ them. (no license of their own).

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At first I just wanted to get my ASN but the hospital I want to work at (Children's Hospital) in the NICU they require that you have your BSN so I will go for my BSN I think I may want to further my education later anyway and I know I will need BSN before I can go any further.

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