Got No Job? Come be an RN !

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. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

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.

Why does it matter what ppl are in the profession for? as long as they're doing their jobs CORRECTLY that should be none of your concern. While some of you are losing sleep at night worrying about motives of others, those ppl are still doing their JOBS no matter what you think. Complaining about the situation doesnt help, ppl are still going to join the proffession for their OWN reasons. Do what YOU love and keep it MOVING. :twocents:

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

I have read and listened to a lot of arguments on this subject but the facts remain there are lots of 'RN's" out there who joined the profession with no real interest in being a nurse, and they struggle.

The shortened courses do not provide the education, support and training a new nurse needs. They take their money and provide mediocre service, and that is why we have the problems we do with first of all recruiting staff with a good work ethic and retention.

As a manager I have recently recruited staff who never turn up to work on time!

Call off at the drop of a hat

and believe they are entitled!

Maybe I am just old fashioned but coming to work on time should be a priority and calling off should be used for sickness or emergencies.

Recently a member of staff told me he was calling off to go to the airport to pick up his girlfriends daughter-really!

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hot dammit, somebody has finally said it... I agree 100%. I've been a paramedic for almost 8 yrs now, and currently in nursing school. Sometimes I just sit in class and just wonder "how in the h*ll you get into this program. I bumped into another nursing student one day (from a different school) and he told me flat out that the reason he got into nursing school was for the money so he can go to Dominican Republic, buy a condo on the beach so he can have parties every week. At that moment I develop Jaw-dropped syndrome, I was elated. There should be stricter entry process for nursing students, just because someone said they like being around people, does not make them an automatic candidate to become a nurse. kudos to this post

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hot dammit, somebody has finally said it... I agree 100%. I've been a paramedic for almost 8 yrs now, and currently in nursing school. Sometimes I just sit in class and just wonder "how in the h*ll you get into this program. I bumped into another nursing student one day (from a different school) and he told me flat out that the reason he got into nursing school was for the money so he can go to Dominican Republic, buy a condo on the beach so he can have parties every week. At that moment I develop Jaw-dropped syndrome, I was elated. There should be stricter entry process for nursing students, just because someone said they like being around people, does not make them an automatic candidate to become a nurse. kudos to this post

And just because someone wants to make a good living doesn't mean they should automatically be disqualified either. You could eliminate the vast majority of all current healthcare professionals, including doctors, CRNAs, NPs, RTs, PTs, etc, if that were the case.

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I have met several people that went into nursing for materialistic reasons and have found that most of them render poor, uncompassionate care and that no amount of money is enough to keep them working in the profession. It's best for everyone to look at their strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes and to choose a career that incorporates their strengths and their passions, so they will love their work and it will love them in return.

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I have met several people that went into nursing for materialistic reasons and have found that most of them render poor, uncompassionate care and that no amount of money is enough to keep them working in the profession. It's best for everyone to look at their strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes and to choose a career that incorporates their strengths and their passions, so they will love their work and it will love them in return.

Here we go again.

"Nursing is a 'calling' and if you aren't a nurse for the 'right reasons' you will never be a 'good' and 'compassionate' nurse, and you shouldn't even be allowed into nursing school because it just takes away the spot from someone else who 'really' wants to be a nurse, and if you are a nurse for the 'right reasons' then money shouldn't even be a consideration because money is 'dirty' and it's 'wrong' to want any materialistic possessions, and 'real' nurses should be able to pay their bills and put food on the table with the gratitude paid them by rendering such 'good' and 'compassionate' care...blah, blah, blah..."

As for the part in bold, that applies to everyone for every career.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

I'm so glad I read this. I absolutely love what you, OP, say about being able to help make the pt feel as though there is nothing more important than their concerns at that moment. In that whole paragraph you've managed to sum up how I've tried to live my life and how I've tried to take that skill and use it in my nursing practice. I've been a nurse for a whole 3 months and I have so much to learn, but that is one area I feel I shine, or at least the feedback from my pts makes me think I'm successful there. I feel incredibly blessed that I've found this second career, that I'm able to take these gifts I've been given AND make good money doing so. It's really a win for everyone, I hope. It's just so nice to see someone articulate what I've been thinking about my practice.

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Specializes in Telemetry; Stroke.

I agree whole heartedly!! I personally believe that it should be a requirement in every state and every nursing school (LVN, LPN, RN, BSN) - that a person has to be a CNA working in a facility for atleast 6 months before they can even apply to nursing school. If they did this we would see a lot fewer of these "money nurses" because if you can't do the CNA job - you sure as hell can't do nursing without caring.

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For the people who think, "Nursing is an easy job or any one can become a nurse", I would say, "they are absolutely wrong". This job really needs a lot of dedication, hardwork, critical thinking. One of the main reasons nurses get frustrated in their work area, is not only because of people's negative comments but also the nursing shortage, especially in the hospital based nursing. This is often exacerbated by a lack of collaboration in the workplace. Tensions between doctors and nurses and between nurses and other health care professionals can cause nurses to be dissatisfied with their work areas.

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Specializes in Managed Care, Onc/Neph, Home Health.

@ Madwoman2002, you hit the nail on the head. I have been saying the same thing on many of the blogs. I feel one has to have a passion for our profession. It has become a big joke getting into RN programs these days. I am tired of the "Career changing people" ACCOUNTANTS, ENGINEERS, AND TEACHERS, making a mockery of our profession, thinking it is so easy to transform into. I agree with her also, that there needs to be a better screening tool implemented at these schools. Top priority for entrance should be LPN's, CNA's, EMT's, Ex-Corpmen, and prior nursing students who are re-applying. Many RN programs today are concerned with are GPA's and TEAS scores, and seems many of these "career changing people" have 3.9's and above GPA's, and 95 and above TEAS scores.:sleep: I may be exaggarating some, but you get my point. Those are the people, I have gathered, on the blogs doing most of the "praying i get in". If the schools would accept more people with experience, like the 2nd group i mentioned above, then maybe there would not be a shortage of jobs, because, those grads will have experience and be hired, unlike your CAREER CHANGING PEOPLE. Then we would hear less whinning from them.

One poster stated that it was your "career changing people" that went on to be your CRNA's, PA's, and your NP's, due to their previous degrees, and their GPA's. Not so. RN's with passion and experience choose to go on, they just have common sense to secure their knowledge base vs trying to jump to fast, after the "all mighty dollar", which was their intent from jump street, hence, the BSN-MSN-NP, which so many are expressing on the blogs. Many have no intentions of pursing "nursing".

Just my 2 cents :twocents: :nono:

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I have been a big city hospital nursing assistant for a little over two years now. I actually started taking pre-requisite classes for nursing back in the fall of 2007. I feel as though this was something that was chosen for me, and I actually had to take a cut in pay to be a nurse's aide. I am now only another semester away from taking the NCLEX and becoming an RN. I've seen a lot of stuff in the hospital that would turn many people off, but it's great work (hard work to be sure) but I wouldn't go back to what I was before. I have noticed that there are many people who look at this as just another job and are doing it mostly for the money - many of these people IMO end up dropping out of it. Yes you can make good money being a nurse, but frankly there are easier ways to do it if that's what you are interested in. I've done easier jobs for more money. We aides don't get paid a lot to clean people's pee and poop and vomit etc. I don't look down on anyone who does it for the money, after all we all do have to make a living when all is said and done, but what I do for a living right now is good training for being an RN, and it really shows me what I am getting into.

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