It seems to me anybody and anybody can do nursing, doesn't matter if you are really interested or not, not important if you care about people or not, not relevant if you have a passion for nursing or not just come along we will train you and then you can look after our sick, elderly, frail, poor homeless, drug seekers.
Without passion, without caring, sometimes with little comprehension of what that poor sick person in the bed needs.
I am fed up with hearing about people seeing nursing as a quick route to money it is so much more and it offends me that nursing is used as a short cut to being employed. We should have stricter entry rules and by this I mean more screening to make sure the nurses coming into the profession actually want to be a nurse for the right reasons and employment not being one of them.
We all know nursing is a hard profession it takes from your soul sometimes but you know who has the passion because they ride the storms better than the nurses who dont have it.
I have had a passion for nursing most of my life and I am now struggling with some of the harsh realities-but give me a patient any patient and I come alive, I thrive. I forget why I am tired after all my years, I forget why I want a new job, I forget why the management make my life harder each day.
For me nursing is almost like acting I can be somebody else with a patient I can be who they need me to be for that person and their family, I have the ability to calm a tense situation, I can bring trust to the room, I can make that patient feel like they are the most special person in the hospital and that nothing is too much trouble for me. I have knowledge and can educate. I can make that person feel safe, I can make them laugh even when they don't want to, I can be their advocate, their confident, their friend, but also I can persuade them to take the shot, to take the medicine, to go for the test. I can hold their hand and I can be firm. I can predict their mood and can listen to their worries and woes. I can educate their families and friends and I can educate and train their future RN's.
It doesn't matter that outside that room chaos is happening, that 3 other pts need me as much if not more than the patient I am with. They at that moment are the most special important person in my working day.
In 20 years I have had this ability it has shone out of every bone in my body. I have smiled constantly even if my world is falling apart. I have the passion I can make somebodies life better, I know my 'stuff' and I care.
Specializes in Cardiology, Telemetry, Hemodialysis.
:hdvwl:GM2RN are you serious? " You didn't quote the post you responded to. I have no idea which one it is." Please just take a step or two back. I am getting a bit annoyed with your responses to my posts. Thank You.
(I was speaking "tongue in cheek." In fact I relish the various national and regional dialects of English. But sometimes you do almost need a translator. And normalcy--well, that's a concept I've heard about, but never actually experienced.)
:hdvwl:GM2RN are you serious? " You didn't quote the post you responded to. I have no idea which one it is." Please just take a step or two back. I am getting a bit annoyed with your responses to my posts. Thank You.
LOL
I was very serious when I asked the question. Get annoyed if you want to, but you still haven't answered me. But hey, I don't REALLY care that much what your answer is.
I'm currently in nursing school, and I really hope that not everyone believes that all the "up-and-comers" are in it for the money. I can tell already that there are a few students who are clearly in it for monetary reasons and I can count them on one hand. The rest of us, we all have either had personal dreams or experiences that led us to nursing.
I just hope when I come into the field as a new grad, I'm not stereotyped as in it for money. Because I know I'll need guidance from you, that are experienced and if you feel that I'm not worth it, that will only hinder me from becoming a better nurse.
I understand your frustrations, I hate seeing the classmates who don't care too. But I do know many of us are here through thick and thin.
Specializes in Hospice, Case Mgt., RN Consultant, ICU.
As a new grad that was laid off 5 months into their orientation and cut one month short; I can understand this. I am in California which is an "At Will State" and I was working at a hospital that was not unionized. Being a new grad that was unable to finish their orientation in a job market with people that have been looking for jobs over a year? Yikes. Fortunately I got offered a job in the same field but its 45 mins away (vs. 3) is per-diem and no benefits (vs. full time and awesome benefits) and pays significantly less. But I am still grateful.
The higher you get, the harder you fall. Before I lost my job I had just graduated from nursing school with my BSN which I worked hard for for many years and had been wanting to do since a kid. My husband and I just bought our first house. I had my dream job: it paid well, was three mins from my house, had great benefits, and was in the department I went to school for: L&D. I was finally at a point that I felt secure and my marriage was benefiting from that. The tension of not having a job while stressing in nursing school and not having heath care had finally been released and my "biological clock" which had probably been ignored by the tension was finally heard. My husband and I had plans for me to work a year so I was comfortable with my job and then start trying. Why not? We have been married over 9 years, at the time I had an awesome job, we finally had our home, I got us both awesome health insurance...And now? my clock is still clicking but I don't feel like I can respond to it. I was laid off over a month ago and though I was finally at terms with it. Then yesterday I started bawling because all I could think about how getting laid off completely screwed up my plans; which were so perfect. When I had the job I always though it was too good to be true because everything was so perfect. But I would remind myself that I worked my butt off to get there and that I deserved it. But I guess it was too good to be true, and why? because of a cruddy ecomony? Because last one hired is the first one let go? Because I live in a state that give no security to employees?
Nursing does not have job security.
I hear you! At least you are still young and we can hope the economy will improve. Last year I had a wonderful job with a wonderful company and a great manager, etc. I finally thought I could purchase a single family home and keep my little condo to rent out and help pay the mortgage. The day my realtor called to tell me my offer was accepted I had to tell her I had just been laid off! I don't think any job is secure these days! God bless everyone!:redbeathe
It seems to me anybody and anybody can do nursing, doesnt matter if you are really interested or not, not important if you care about people or not, not relevent if you have a passion for nursing or not just come along we will train you and then you can look after our sick, eldery, frail, poor homeless, drug seekers.
Without passion, without caring, sometimes with little comprehension of what that poor sick person in the bed needs.
I am fed up with hearing about people seeing nursing as a quick route to money it is so much more and it offends me that nursing is used as a short cut to being employed. We should have stricter entry rules and by this I mean more screening to make sure the nurses coming into the profession actually want to be a nurse for the right reasons and employment not being one of them.
We all know nursing is a hard profession it takes from your soul sometimes but you know who has the passion because they ride the storms better than the nurses who dont have it.
I have had a passion for nursing most of my life and I am now struggling with some of the harsh realities-but give me a patient any patient and I come alive, I thrive. I forget why I am tired after all my years, I forget why I want a new job, I forget why the management make my life harder each day.
For me nursing is almost like acting I can be somebody else with a patient I can be who they need me to be for that person and their family, I have the ability to calm a tense situation, I can bring trust to the room, I can make that patient feel like they are the most special person in the hospital and that nothing is too much trouble for me. I have knowlege and can educate. I can make that person feel safe, I can make them laugh even when they dont want to, I can be their advocate, their confident, their friend, but also I can persuade them to take the shot, to take the medicine, to go for the test. I can hold their hand and I can be firm. I can predict their mood and can listen to their worries and woes. I can educate their families and friends and I can educate and train their future RN's.
It doesnt matter that outside that room chaos is happening, that 3 other pts need me as much if not more than the patient I am with. They at that moment are the most special important person in my working day.
In 20 years I have had this ability it has shone out of every bone in my body. I have smiled constantly even if my world is falling apart. I have the passion I can make somebodies life better, I know my 'stuff' and I care.
You speak to my heart! Living in Michigan has only brought home this exact fact, madwife!! i couldn't believe how many auto workers were going into the Nursing Field! I can take this a step further for all. I've been hospitalized several times over the last 6 yrs. I can't tell you how disgusted I was at the LACK of care, compassion and our right obnoxious tongues I had to put up with during those times. I DO however, tell them I AM a Nurse.llla quite experienced one, at that! After my surg, to fuse L3-S1 with instruementation, I actually had a nurse comes into my room to help me out of bed that eve, and she stood there and said to me: "There's NO WAY I'm going to hurt myself getting you out of bed. Forget it!" Not once, in any stay, was I ever offered so much as a washclothe, toothbrush, etc. I am SO disappointed in the quality of care these days. In all honesty? I can always tell a true-blue Nurse by her actions and by the way they look (clean uniforms, great hygiene, etc). As for my family and friends? You bettr believe I am staying with them 24/7 and will scrutinize their work ethic. God help us all! KUDOS to those of us who were truely "CALLED" into this profession of care!! You are NOT alone! Thanks for voicing this dilemma!!
you remard is exactly what we are speaking about here. Why the name calling?? You see, I believe a truly educated person, NOT just book learning...EDUCATED, is just one of the symptoms observed. CHOOSE YOUR WORDS!! You asre coming off like non-ed person. of course, it DOES take a true nurse to recognize another true Nurse....in EVERY SENSE!!
I have to say the schools definitly weed people out, unfortunatly they don't always weed out the right ones. I have seen many go, people who would have made excellent nurses but got on the bad side of thier clinical instructor for whatever the reason. I am left with some that should have gone, the drug using one during break, the one who says she cleans her patient but never does, and the ones who are clearly not in it for the caring aspect. They talk down to the clients if talk at all, but they talk a whole lot with the instructors! They are easily fooled and often pick on the ones who trully have what it takes to be a compasionate, competent nurses.
Specializes in IMCU, TELE, ONC, REHAB, LTC, SNF, ETC....
To be truthful, I decided to get into the medical field because our highschool counselors said it was well paying and provided job security. I joined the Navy and became a Hospital Corpsman/Pharmacy Technician at first. When I got home, I tried many other things and then became a CNA. It was then that I truly realized how wonderful it was to care for others. To be selfless, and show love to people you don't even know.
People may take certain paths for many different reasons. If they never had, we might not have as many good nurses out there. It does seem rare to find an excellent nurse, but just one can change thousands of lives and may be the inspiration for other nurses to be better.
I totally agree with the statements that I read above. In my nursing school a majority of the individuals who went into nursing stated their reasons were, for money and stability. I am a soon to be graduate who cannot find a job. I truly am passionate about nursing and working with others, yet I get passed up and continue receiving rejection letters. I really thought I nailed the last interview I went on, but instead I get a rejection letter that was not even signed. I wish they would look at the whole package when hiring people instead, of looking at grades and a oscar winning performance in the interview. I am glad that you are in it for the right reasons :)
If people are saying that they are going into Nursing and not thinking of the pay - they are flat out lying. Period.
If Nursing was paying as little as a copy editor, Nursing would be a dead field. Just to give you a clue on the pay disparity between both careers - the starting salary for a Nurse (with an AAS) in NYC is, on average, around 65K while a copy editor is 28K. A Nurse needs an AAS while a copy editor needs a BA in English. I think a lot of nurses would not be nurses if the pay was as bad as a copy editor.
Also just because a person may have gone into Nursing for economic stability reasons doesn't mean that person is or will be a bad nurse. People go into different professions for different reasons and economic stability and pay is usually a #1 reason for why people would go into a career.
I'm going into Nursing for the pay, for the stability and for other reasons but I'm not going to lie to myself (or anyone for that matter) and think that the pay and stability isn't a good reason to go into any profession.
My first choice for a profession (teaching) I went in to because I felt like it was a calling - I needed more education and would have gotten paid less than a nurse but I felt like it was my calling and got my BA and started working on MS in education (which by the way in almost all states you need a MS to continue teaching past 5 years) while looking for a job (Finding a teaching job is one of the hardest jobs to find - even job openings in the boondocks of Kansas have Ivy League applicants applying for it). Let's not mention how every hour a teacher spends with the students, there are 2 extra hours preparing and following up on it. Eventually I gave up after I lined up two jobs in NYC and NYC put a hiring freeze on teachers.
I bring up my background because I've met many teachers who went into education only because they got the summers off and they were great teachers and I learnt a lot from them. The logic that if a person goes into a career with more noble aspirations than another makes them better at that career than a person who doesn't is hogwash. A good Nurse who went into the field for the money and the stability can be just as compasionate as Nurse that didn't.
I know that new grads are having troubles being hired but they are still being hired and that says a lot about how badly they still need Nurses - almost all new grads are not getting hired.
smartnurse1982
1,775 Posts
I thought americans speak english,or am I wrong?