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!
Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
Many of us have also managed to find contentment in our jobs. But how would it be if every thread said, "Oh I just love my job so much." Without conflict, we wouldn't have much to talk about.
But I will say that oncology nursing has a very high burnout rate, at least that is what I have heard. These patients are super sick many times and the families are in crisis when there loved one is seriously ill. It takes a toll on all caregivers including you. I think it takes an especially sensitive person to be an onc nurse. (My family has been on the receiveing end of some not so nice ones and it truly makes a bad situation way worse.)
If you want to be a nurse go for it. It may not always be all sunshine and roses but you will never be bored and you will always feel like you made a difference.
I think and have been told that I work on one of the toughest floors around. We have to do literally everything on our own. The CNAs have 16 pts, 1 secretary for 30 pts. We have 6 pts that are very sick and may have 20 meds just at 10am. They may have a chart thicker than a bible. We are supposed to go thru the chart and make sure all orders are correct and all meds correct AND get the meds ontime. Report on my floor takes atleast an hour so you can see how its a time crunch. Most of our doctors are cool 50-75%. Some are obnoxious aholes that would never get away with talking to me like that on the outside (im a big male). Its the minority jerks that really make life hell sometimes. My floor is stressfull because we are supposed to do everything right even though we are woefully/dangerously understaffed. Give us 5 pts a piece and it would be a tottally different ballgame! Its that 6th trainwreck and the 2 discharges per day that really make life difficult. This is considering that we get threatened with write ups if were not clocking out by 8!
Most are miserable on my floor and my floor has a reputation for being the worst place to float to in the hospital. I had a colleague floot up from her floor to ours and was telling me how much she loved her floor. They theoretically have same pts, tele. They get better support and their DON is more prostaff. So that makes a big difference.
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.
So, I switched to the ER. I have a totally different experience. 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.
You make a good point. Finding your nursing true love can require tenacity and patience. Some people know what they want to do right out of the gate. For others it takes some time. I worked in ICU while in nursing school and I knew from the get-go that ICU was not for me. I went into L&D and was much happier. Later in my career I was offered the opportunity to go into NICU. I was nervous, but it was a match made in heaven. Go figure!
OP, there are as many kinds of nursing as there are people. I left the NICU for a non-bedside position after my own son was born with severe disabilities. My home life was so intense I didn't need to make my work intense. I did telephone nursing for a long time and now I'm a school nurse. Sure, my day doesn't consist of excitement and tension--thank God! A bad day for me is when my little 6yo student drops her BG to 49 and has to drink a juice box. Now my nursing is mostly cerebral. My brain might just explode one day because it is so stuffed with pediatric knowledge. These days I don't get paid to be fast, I get paid to be GOOD.
I'm a student and it's hard when you're chin-deep in nursing school to have any sort of perspective about the future. But today one of my instructors said something that I really appreciated...some of us students were complaining a little about the deadlines we have over the next two weeks, how heavy our workload is, etc. This instructor has been a nurse for a LONG time and she said, "I know school is hard, but you are going to LOVE being a nurse. It's so much fun!"
I believe her. There are nurses who regret going to school because they discovered too late that this career is not for them. You know...there are accountants who pass the CPA exam and then realize they want to be carpenters instead. In my class right now is a man who was a big-deal IT dude for years...and now is in nursing school. All we can do is be realistic about what we're getting in to (sounds like you are) and know ourselves and what is important to use.
DO NOT let this sit bring you down, cause Lord knows it can if you let it.
When I first joined here I was so excited to be able to converse with a community of nurses that were here to help guide me, let me vent, answer my silly questions, etc....
Then I was bombarded with some seriously overwhelming negativity, and it almost made me question my career choice. At the time, there was more of a job crunch and the new nursing school grads were (and probably still are- I don't visit that section of this site anymore) FREAKING out about not getting immediately hired! They would say things like "MY degree is worthless what'll I do??!!" and "THERE'S NO NURSING JOBS ANYWHERE IN AMERICA!!!!!" We both know that's not true.
Now I never see or hear from the "complainers" any longer because most likely got hired and moved on. Like someone mentioned earlier, a happy nurse is busy doing her job, and really has no reason to post unless she/he feels like it. An unhappy nurse is going to be ten times more likely to vent. And just because someone says something, that doesn't make it true.
Push past the negativity and believe in yourself. Ignore the tired sounding nurses, and remember that they are just that, cynical and tired.
To be honest, this is not the best time to be a new grad nurse. It's been like this for about a year, now and there's no sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. Due to the recession, there are alot of experienced nurses coming back into the field and nursing schools are pumping out waves of new grads to address the supposed "shortage." Hospitals have a plethora of candidates to choose from and they're going with experience, which is a known factor. It is possible, with connections, to get a nursing job right out of school but the vast majority of graduates are going 6 months to a year before finding work.
As for one poster's experience in ICU, yeah...ICU nurses eat their young. General rule of thumb, if the main reason someone became a nurse was the "ton of cash" you get, you should avoid those people because those will be your scroogelike burnouts. I suggest shadowing an oncology nurse to see what you'd be getting into because reality isn't always like our dreams.
These days I don't get paid to be fast, I get paid to be GOOD.
ABerryGirl, CNA
23 Posts
Yes, PICU is pediatric ICU. I'm glad you're feeling better.