Getting really concerned about going into nursing...

[mfrancisco]

Hi everyone,

I just need some honest feedback. I finished all of my pre-requisites this past Fall semester, and have applied to several nursing schools that start in the Fall of 2010. I have always wanted to work with cancer patients in a healthcare setting, and feel nursing is the best way to do this. However, I am getting really concerned after reading several posts here on allnurses, especially a thread that was recently closed. I have some questions/comments for all of you.

I have three very close friends who are Registered Nurses. They are in the NICU, Pediatrics, and Telemetry. All love their jobs, and all are very excited for me to pursue nursing and are very encouraging. Are they just in the minority?

I have been extensively reading posts/threads on this site, and think that I have read more negative comments than positive ones. It seems as if people are tired, burnt out, and not treated well in the work environment. It also seems as if there are cliques, blackballing, abuse from patients, etc. Is it the type of nursing?

Can any nurses in oncology speak to this specifically?

I am just asking, because I have worked in a job before where this kind of thing was rampant, so I know exactly what people are talking about. It wasn't the health field, but it was emergency services. It really made it a bitter place to work, and the negativity was just contagious. It will be a very big deal, as I am sure it is to everyone else, for me to not have any income for two years if I do get into nursing school. My husband makes a decent income, but it's been a struggle for us to live on his alone while I have been taking pre-reqs full time for the past year. I just want to make sure I am making the right decision.

I know it comes down to my decision and how I feel about it, but I just want some opinions from those of you who are nurses. If it's really that bad, I am considering just trying to find a job that deals with cancer patients in a non-hospital setting. I really worked hard on getting my pre-reqs done for the past year, so I am not taking this lightly. This is a huge decision for me, but I would rather have wasted the year than waste more if the profession has gotten that unbearable.

Am I wrong in having second thoughts? Thanks so much in advance to anyone who responds to my post!

[ABerryGirl, CNA]

If you really love nursing and have a true desire to help people, then you should continue to persue your goal. I believe life along with work is what you make of it. There are several nurses in my unit who do nothing but complain. I am sure that no matter where they worked they would continue to complain. Yes, nursing does involve long hours, and can be physically and emotionally taxing. You must look at the "cup half full, instead of half empty". Focus on all the good that you are doing for your patients. Without good and cheerful nurses out there, what hope and encouragement do our patients or their families have? To combate the long hours and emotional drain nursing can have on you, take care of yourself as well as your patients. Make sure you're eating and drinking well, exercise, keep up with your hobbies, go out with friends... you get the idea.

I've been a PICU nurse for a year now and LOVE my job! An you can too!

[oramar]

Your friends are happy with their decision because they most likely work in the good places, and their are good places. Also, I notice NICU and peds nurses complain a lot less than med/surg. Telemetry is very interesting place to work BUT only if it is staffed properly.

[mfrancisco]

Thanks, both of you. I really appreciate the feedback. I am just getting nervous, I think. I know every place has its politics, etc. I just wanted some honest opinions. This makes me feel a bit better. I'm sorry to sound dumb, but is PICU pediatric ICU? Thanks!

[snoopy29]

The thing about a website like allnurses is people are far more likely to post a thread that says "I've had an awful day" or my " co-worker's are making my life a misery" rather than "Ive had a really good shift" or "I love my job". Nurses come here have a quick vent then go off and invariably continue to do the job that they love.

Nursing is stressfull, hardwork and a vocation, but many many people will tell you it can be one of the most rewarding fantastic professions in the world.

You have good jobs and not so good jobs when you work in the field and much is dependent on your co-workers and often if things go wrong it is because of the people you work with and the beauty of nursing is there is so much opportunity to change.

Listen to your heart - if your heart is telling you to nurse and all that is putting you off are some well placed grumbles by nurses then truly you know what to do.

And don't forget to enjoy - nurse training is a wonderful opportunity seize it and enjoy it :)

[RNperdiem, RN]

I am married to an engineer.

He respects my job, but his definition of a bad day at work and my definition of a bad day are very different.

Sometimes people vent here so they can communicate with people who really understand.

Workplace politics comes as a culture shock to many young people entering the adult workforce for the first time.

Nursing itself is great, it is the other stuff that can drive you crazy.

[shoegalRN, RN]

I am a new RN and I had a rude awakening when I started my career off in the ICU. I went into it so excited, so green, so full of compassion, only to be eaten alive by a couple of miserable nurses who thrived off negativity.

I was miserable for 6 months, I vomited before I came to work, I cried each morning when I went home. I lost weight. But I didnt want to give up. I worked so hard to get were I was to allow a couple of individuals to ruin it for me.

Then I realized I was not cut out to be an ICU nurse. Part of the issue was my orientation, the management, and the cliques I wasnt a part of, the other part of the issue was I just didnt have the experience nor the confidence to feel comfortable taking care of critically ill pts on my own. Besides, I'm a repeatious learner and I need to do things several times before I feel somewhat confident. ICU just didnt provide that type of learning environment.

So, I switched to the ER. I have a totally different experience. For one, I fit in there. For two, I have one or two preceptors that are patient with me and understand I am still new and learning. I am allowed to make mistakes and not be made to feel like an idiot, considering it is not life threatening. It is a gradual progression, where I am now starting off in the non-emergent cases, and will gradual be thrown into the codes and traumas.

And I feel 100% better since the change. I don't dread going to work, nor do I bring it home with me.

There are people in nursing who truly enjoy what they do. There are some good nurses who are also good teachers, and there are some good co-workers who do not participate in negativity or passive aggressive games. I'm so glad I came across them in the ER. Otherwise, I would have left nursing all together based on my first nursing position in the ICU.

[fungez]

Well, I wouldn't want my own daughter to be a nurse. It's a really, really hard job and the focus towards "customer service" rather than patient relations makes it worse, for reasons I won't go into.

So saying, I found my years working with oncology to be very rewarding. It really put my own petty life annoyances in perspective and the work I did felt productive and soul-satisifying. And, if you don't like hospital work you can work with them outpatient - lots of chemo to give in the clinic.

As far as negativity - I firmly believe that if the whole unit is that unhappy it's one of two reasons. Because of poor managment and the attitude trickles down, or because the working conditions are horrible and the workers are rightfully complaining.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

Nervous is normal. Nervous is even kinda good. You're about to start something important, and difficult. If you weren't having second thoughts, I'd wonder if you had any thoughts. Nervous suggests you have at least a clue what you're getting into.

I did a couple of my clinical rotations on onc units, and my present unit is right next to our onc unit. I know I shouldn't generalize, and I know it isn't even entirely true, but at least to some extent, a lot of those nurses look like a different breed. It takes a big heart to be a good onc nurse. Well, it takes a big heart to be any kind of good nurse. But when discharge to hospice is a fairly common outcome, well, I think you need a bit of a hospice nurse in you. And while I've heard onc nurses grumble about many of the same things all nurses grumble about, from my limited contact, they appear to be largely the kind of people you want to be around. I'm really just speculating, but I get the impression that dealing with the big issues on a regular basis might put some of the little issues in perspective. Not that you don't see the big issues in general med-surg, too. Still, I work neuro, and sometimes we get patients that we can't figure out why they were ever admitted. You probably won't get as much of that in onc.

Also, judging by a relative who works onc, once you get chemo certified, you're employability goes up considerably. So, if you were to find yourself in a miserable place, you'd have an easier time than some moving on.

[JustEnuff2BDangerous, BSN, RN]

Nursing at its best is wonderful, compassionate, friendly, life-saving, comfort-giving, grief-easing. Nursing at its worst is mistake-ridden, blame-placing, exhausting, overextending.

People rarely ask for advice when things are going well. They rarely ask for validation when they are self-assured. They rarely ask for comfort when they are happy. Good nurses put their all into their job, and they feel the sting when things do not turn out as they have hoped. This site is a very large support group where nurses can vent about their bad day and share stories about their good day. They can ask for advice, for direction, for clarification, for networking, and for knowledge. There are many wonderful stories on this site, but there is also a lot of venting because compassion is not the only emotion we feel. And if you, as a nurse, with everything that can happen to you in a day, do not have a support system, do not have somewhere to go to get those emotions off your chest, you will burn out and you will do it fast.

Every profession where you deal with other people on a constant daily basis will have conflict. Coworkers will be cliquey; some people unfortunately never outgrow high school and there will always be the resident "mean girls" almost everywhere you work. Patients will sometimes be abusive, usually because they are in pain or just aren't in their right mind. You will have good supervisors and bad supervisors and you will have good teams and bad teams. This is not unique to nursing. This is not unique to any one specialty in nursing, it can and it does exist virtually everywhere. But that is with anything. You will rarely work somewhere where you like EVERYbody ALL the time.

Don't be discouraged. Nursing is multifaceted and we have as many wonderful moments as we do bad moments, and we are not unique in that aspect either.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Unhappy people are always more vocal than happy ones. Happy ones aren't generally on the Internet spreading the word. Generally they tend to go out and live their lives. Take everything you read on sites like this with a grain of salt.

[mfrancisco]

Thank you so much for all of your replies. I appreciate the words of encouragement. I really am committed to helping cancer patients, and I do know that nursing is a career that has a lot of different options, which is good. I guess it is true that venting is usually a reason to post things, and that people aren't usually going to post if they just had a good day.

I guess I also realized that the main reason for a negative working environment does have to do with management and your co-workers. I experienced this a lot in my emergency services job. Everyone was sooo bitter, but it was because of ridiculous policies from management. The nature of the job was great and so were the co-workers, but everything else was unbearable.

Thank you, everyone. I thoroughly read all of your replies, and thank you for the information.