Why are you REALLY going into nursing? Honest answers please.

Nursing Students General Students

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Ok, I'm a bit frustrated with all of these posts telling us that we shouldn't go into nursing because we need a job and steady income. Sure, I do like to help people, but I need a steady job even more. So, I decided to post a poll to see if we can get some honest answers.

:p

No offense but its more than having a conscience when your dealing with patients and familys that are dealing with chronic illness' and end of life...Maybe a clinic is more your style?

No offense taken. Obviously, since I'm a student, I have no idea what area of nursing will be my "style" until I start working. Eventually, I'd like to work agency in a variety of jobs, so I could figure that out.

:coollook:

i went into nursing b/c it is a steady job. i graduate this friday and i am very glad that i do not have to listen to professors constantly implying that you should only go into nursing b/c you absolutely love people and no other reason is good enough.

did you miss the lectures on the psychosocial/emotional aspect of human beings...i'm not saying you need to make best friends with all your patients, but come on...you make it sound like your going in to nursing like you'll be checking people out at the grocery store??? Have you ever been really sick and under the care of nurses?(I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm just trying to understand where your coming from) It's a lot more than a steady job...or at least it should be...Sincerely,

Frusturated with some replies to this thread:stone

i went into nursing b/c it is a steady job. i graduate this friday and i am very glad that i do not have to listen to professors constantly implying that you should only go into nursing b/c you absolutely love people and no other reason is good enough.

Best of luck to you:) I think once you have some more clinical experience you'll realize if its right for you, and where you want to be....but in my own opinion(you know everyone has one) I think you'll realize you need to have a little more heart into it if your gonna last....Not that you need to be the next Florence...but you'll see....

No offense taken. Obviously, since I'm a student, I have no idea what area of nursing will be my "style" until I start working. Eventually, I'd like to work agency in a variety of jobs, so I could figure that out.

:coollook:

Just because a person wants job security and a paycheck....does not mean they will make horrid nurses. Nor do their priorities have to be in the same order as what someone else thinks they should be. If someone says, hey I want to earn a living for my family first and foremost, I don't see anything wrong with that.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

To be honest I went into nursing not knowing what the pay rate was or that there was a shortage. I was living in a world all of my own back then. I sincerely wanted to be a nurse to help sick people.

Now why do I stay a nurse with all it's stress and problems? That's a different question than why I went into nursing. I stay mainly because it's a nice middle income that I've built my life around, also it has security, and I'm not qualified to do anything else that is going to pay me what I get as a nurse. So in many ways I stay because of the money.

But I still enjoy helping sick people. :)

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Just because a person wants a job security and a paycheck....does not mean they will make horrid nurses.

I agree. (which is all I want to say but it's too short of a message so this is just filler. :))

I think you'll realize you need to have a little more heart into it if your gonna last....Not that you need to be the next Florence...but you'll see....

And what makes you think I don't have enough "heart into it"? You have no right to judge me, especially when you don't know me.

This is what really annoys me. Just because I'm honest about needing a steady job, doesn't mean I don't care about people.

I don't go on and on about caring because, quite frankly, I sometimes think it's disingenuous. There is no way I would go through the hell that is school if there wasn't a steady job at the end of the road. I need to pay bills, just like anybody else.

But, at the same time, that doesn't mean I don't care about people. If anything, I'll be able to care for others more because I won't have to worry about taking care of myself.

:angryfire

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
And what makes you think I don't have enough "heart into it"? You have no right to judge me, especially when you don't know me.

This is what really annoys me. Just because I'm honest about needing a steady job, doesn't mean I don't care about people.

I don't go on and on about caring because, quite frankly, I sometimes think it's disingenuous. There is no way I would go through the hell that is school if there wasn't a steady job at the end of the road. I need to pay bills, just like anybody else.

But, at the same time, that doesn't mean I don't care about people. If anything, I'll be able to care for others more because I won't have to worry about taking care of myself.

:angryfire

I agree lizz. Can't it be both . Can't someone be in nursing because it's a livable income and they care?

I agree, why put yourself through the hell of nursing school and the hell of day to day life as a nurse if you they paid minimum wage?

But as a seasoned nurse, I can see Finally's point. There's a lot more to nursing than collecting a paycheck. Sometimes all the money in the world isn't worth the burnout, you have to have that compassionate edge to keep you going and in order to take care of patients holistically.

But as a seasoned nurse, I can see Finally's point. There's a lot more to nursing than collecting a paycheck. Sometimes all the money in the world isn't worth the burnout, you have to have that compassionate edge to keep you going and in order to take care of patients holistically.

Well, hopefully, I have that compassionate edge as well. Obviously I won't know for sure until I actually become a nurse. Therefore, I don't go around making claims that I'll be this or that, and it would be nice if people would refrain from making judgements about what kind of nurse I will be, when I'm not even a nurse yet.

:p

I really think, that as in life, there is a balance.. Some people have or show more compassion than others, some people have a nick for saying all the right things, as some people are blunt as hell, and that is great too. If every nurse that came into my room, with me deathly ill, with sugary sweetness everytime, it would make my stay boring. When a nurse that is only doing her job came in, that would give me comfort, as would the compassionate nurse..

Look, I am just starting out too, like the pre-reqs..:lol2: but give the girl a break, at least she made it through school and still wants to be a nurse.. I thought nurses united.. Lord knows, we should.. we are needed, wanted, and loved (secretly), but unappreciated, and blah, blah, blah, that I really don't even have a clue about yet.., but I am sure you all know how nurses are treated, by patients and fellow staff.. let's give each other a break.. now lets kiss and make up k..:kiss

I also have many reasons for wanting to pursue my RN.

I want to work with transplant patients and their families.

I want to support my family so that my husband can stay at home with my daughter. I want her to have at least one full-time parent.

In regards to the above, I need a job that would allow me to do that without having to worry about losing my job everyday that I go into the "office."

I want to work three 12's instead of 5 to 6 days a week.

I want to be humbled.

I love hard work, stress, being challenged and I need a job where everyday is different.

I like having options with where a career can take me.

I can be proud of who I am and be able to look into the mirror everyday. If I worked for a corporation with my business degree-all I am doing everyday is work that only benefits the corporation.

I am sure there are more. The more I learn about nursing, the more I want to do it. I volunteered in our local hospital in another department and no matter what I was doing, when I saw the nurses all I could think was...what am I doing here? I want to do THAT!

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