Got No Job? Come be an RN !

[madwife2002]

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.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

8 years ago I went into nursing "for the money and job security". As a matter of fact I was sure I would hate being a nurse.

A funny thing happened in nursing school. I started to like it, then love it. 8 years later I am considered to be a very good, reliable nurse and a patient advocate. I even travel once in a while for a change.

I think that school, NCLEX and work will weed out the "weak" ones.

To say that only people who have the "dream" to become a nurse are the ones that should is, not a logical way to approach the problem. After all a dream is just a dream and nursing is an in your face reality. We need realists who can make it in the trenches.

I say give anyone a chance that wants it and let life sort out the ones that won't make it, not the woman at the front desk.

[helikias]

I agree totally with the OP. I posted something like this a couple of weeks ago and got flamed by the same people flaming here.

I think it is hilarious to read the posts from people who say that the "non-traditional" nursing student "won't take the crap management dishes out when THEY become nurses". It's more funny and naive, really, than insulting.

ROFLOL!!!

I suspect a lot of these people who think "they'll be the ones who won't have to take any crap" used to be in a union or a huge corporation with tons of seniority rules, grievance procedures, etc. where you were ALLOWED to speak up and there were procedures in place to protect someone with a grievance.

These people will be in for a RUDE AWAKENING when they have to put up and shut up in the private sector. With the glut of nurses, management is not going to put up with anyone who makes waves -- justified waves or not.

Take a look around you at the current corporate culture. Do you think having an RN or BSN after your name, plus experience in another field and an older age means you will get special treatment from the bosses in this world?

Do you think they will listen to your assertiveness with an eager gleam in their eyes and a wondrous rapture in their hearts over your life experience and somehow want to treat you right? Get real.

Most likely, being older, you will be subjected to age discrimination, and also layoffs because they don't want to pay your health insurance (younger people are cheaper).

Happens every day, folks. The "speaking up and not taking crap" people who are older are the first to be branded as "troublemakers" and are the first to go.

This is coming from someone who is almost 40, BTW. I see this happen to my peers all the time. It's just sad.

[Moogie]

I am talking about a new wave of thinking which is happening around the country the advertisements, the propaganda, the colleges especially the underscribed ones who are prostituting nursing as a quick fix!

That's what I got from your comments. And as I have said in previous posts, I feel that the proprietary schools, the poorly-researched articles in the mainstream media (usually to promote a proprietary school) are what are hurting and demeaning nursing. It's misleading and wrong for websites and publications such as YahooJobs and Forbes to disseminate incorrect information such as nursing being a recession-proof profession and something that "anyone" can do in one or two years of schooling". (Imagine how p***ed off anyone who read the latest Forbes garbage, linked on the thread about Nurse Educators in High Demand, will be upon getting an associate's degree in nursing, passing NCLEX and THEN discovering that schools, hospitals and industry are NOT jumping at the chance to hire an ADN as an educator for $140,000.)

https://allnurses.com/nursing-news/nurse-educators-very-451771.html

Hey, Madwife, I am sorry you got misunderstood and attacked on this thread. There have indeed been several people who have posted thoughtful, polite comments in which they respectfully disagreed with what you or someone else may have said (or what they thought was said). It's tough to get out there with one's feelings and opinions. (((Madwife)))

[GoldenFire]

Dear OP: Ok, so reading more of your comments/replies, I realize a lot of what you were trying to say got lost in translation It's been a while since I originally read your post, but I didn't catch the focus you originally intended to be on the media... about the "prostrituting of nursing"... yes, you're right. Especially when I hear ads for "LPNs are in HIGH DEMAND RIGHT NOW!!" and online/ schools trying to recruit MORE LPNs into the school knowing full well a lot of the hospitals are trying to do away with them. In that aspect, I'm completely with ya!!

I'm still a lil weary about "everyone should be like me" types. (Not saying YOU are.... just a general statement)

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

Dear OP: Ok, so reading more of your comments/replies, I realize a lot of what you were trying to say got lost in translation

Don't mean to bash anyone, but it does sometimes frustrate me when people insist on posting in English when most members speak American. Still, I remind myself that diversity is a good thing, and the world needs English people, and Canadians, and even a few Australians, as well as us normal folks.

[GoldenFire]

Don't mean to bash anyone, but it does sometimes frustrate me when people insist on posting in English when most members speak American. Still, I remind myself that diversity is a good thing, and the world needs English people, and Canadians, and even a few Australians, as well as us normal folks.

"us normal folks"... says who!?

[Miss Chybil RN, BSN, RN]

Again I ask why you think I mean you? Am I asking you to defend your reasons for entering nursing, NO?

I have had the pleasure and privilege of working with some of the most outstanding new young nurses recently that I have ever met, but I am not talking about this kind of RN/Student. I am not talking about you so why you would be offended I dont know. All I can say is I apologise if you took it personnally.

Apology accepted. And I do agree with you about the media and the nursing school advertisements.

[Scrubby]

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.

Madwife-The comments I have bolded are probably why so many people have misunderstood and challenged you on this thread. Especially the comment about employment not being a reason for becoming a nurse. This sounded self righteous and judgemental. We all need money, I for one got into nursing mainly because I knew it would be a stable job. Does this make me uncaring and a bad nurse?

Now I agree that there are some people who probably shouldn't have become nurses. They are a pain to work with, rude to patients, complain all day and do the bare minimum. They exist in every workplace. Yes they probably got into nursing for the money but I don't believe that you should bar someone for wanting to be a nurse to get a job. This is a simplistic view because not all people who want to be nurses for the steady income are going to be uncaring.

Also want to say that I disagree that people with passion can ride the storms better. In my experience the nurses who don't care about the patient, other staff members or the consequences are the ones who never seem to feel stress because they simply do not care.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

I cant help but recall the way the director of my nursing program used to address people during their 1:1 acceptance meeting with her.

First, she'd pull out the paper you had to write about why you wish to get into nursing. Now, being pre-nursing students still enamored with the "I have a calling" mentality, most people use the pat "I want to help people", "I care for people soooooo much" themes in these papers. Mine had a little bit of that to it, it centered on "Being a valued community member".

First thing she would say is "Good, you like people, you will need that". And she'd give you some inside details about how you are going to be challenged to "care for people you..........don't care about". Finally, after about 15 minutes of explaining how difficult the program is and how there is not shame in getting out now if you want to change your mind, she'd finish with "Wanting to help people is great, but it wont put food on your table and it certainly won't pay the rent."

I didn't understand what she meant by that until I was a good two years into nursing.

Seems, like a lot of the general public, the OP has been duped by the powers that be.

Everyone loves the story of Florence Nightingale, with her magical healing powers and complete lack of interest in self. Nursing for free for the science of nursing. Thats what the general public and.......expecially the hospital administration........wants up to be like. Work in terrible conditions, tolerate abuse from both sides (hospital management and patients) and take it with a smile and a sense of duty.........because we owe it to everyone for letting us be nurses. Being a nurse is its own reward, we can pay the bills and feed ourselves some other way on our off time.

People expect to be cared for out of the humanity of others. They have a right to it if you ask some even. They are somehow owed individualized, personal care when they are sick. Never mind the person who has to deliver it. Never mind their "right" to earning a living, having a safe home/work environment. In their minds, the priority is having their pillows fluffed and the lights adjusted exactly how they like, not you having the basic life's necessities. Your needs can wait, cause.....right now they have pneumonia and they will just have to wait. Care for me in the name of humanity and accept this plastic pin stating you are a nurse as payment.

While compassion is certainly one thing that separates the great nurses from the good and average nurses........compassion by itself will not suffice. Eventually, you will have needs that are so unmet, you will be unable to take care of anyone. And you will have nothing but a plastic pin to show for it if you let people believe you should be working as a nurse just for the sake of being a nurse.

[sholman]

The ultimate answer to this topic for me...

If it were me lying in the bed for whatever reason dependent on the care of nurses, don't send me that selfish money hungry one who will simply get in do the bare minimum and get out. I want the one who will come in and not just make sure i'm breathing, but care for me as a whole. One who truly cares and their desire is to see me get better and will do whatever in their power to make sure it is done, one who is willing to go the extra mile and fight for me when they say there is no hope....and that will ONLY be done by those who have a passion for nusing and caring. I don't know about the rest of you, but nursing is something i grew up knowing that i wanted to do. It was never some impulse decision for me or a way to make more money...because really the money is not that good. I live my life through my patients and they get my all and you just simply won't get that from someone who chose this profession b/c they felt they had no other options.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

I cant help but recall the way the director of my nursing program used to address people during their 1:1 acceptance meeting with her.

First, she'd pull out the paper you had to write about why you wish to get into nursing. Now, being pre-nursing students still enamored with the "I have a calling" mentality, most people use the pat "I want to help people", "I care for people soooooo much" themes in these papers. Mine had a little bit of that to it, it centered on "Being a valued community member".

First thing she would say is "Good, you like people, you will need that". And she'd give you some inside details about how you are going to be challenged to "care for people you..........don't care about". Finally, after about 15 minutes of explaining how difficult the program is and how there is not shame in getting out now if you want to change your mind, she'd finish with "Wanting to help people is great, but it wont put food on your table and it certainly won't pay the rent."

I didn't understand what she meant by that until I was a good two years into nursing.

Seems, like a lot of the general public, the OP has been duped by the powers that be.

Everyone loves the story of Florence Nightingale, with her magical healing powers and complete lack of interest in self. Nursing for free for the science of nursing. Thats what the general public and.......expecially the hospital administration........wants up to be like. Work in terrible conditions, tolerate abuse from both sides (hospital management and patients) and take it with a smile and a sense of duty.........because we owe it to everyone for letting us be nurses. Being a nurse is its own reward, we can pay the bills and feed ourselves some other way on our off time.

People expect to be cared for out of the humanity of others. They have a right to it if you ask some even. They are somehow owed individualized, personal care when they are sick. Never mind the person who has to deliver it. Never mind their "right" to earning a living, having a safe home/work environment. In their minds, the priority is having their pillows fluffed and the lights adjusted exactly how they like, not you having the basic life's necessities. Your needs can wait, cause.....right now they have pneumonia and they will just have to wait. Care for me in the name of humanity and accept this plastic pin stating you are a nurse as payment.

While compassion is certainly one thing that separates the great nurses from the good and average nurses........compassion by itself will not suffice. Eventually, you will have needs that are so unmet, you will be unable to take care of anyone. And you will have nothing but a plastic pin to show for it if you let people believe you should be working as a nurse just for the sake of being a nurse.

The only part of this post I disagree with is the assumption that the OP has been "duped" into some sort of selfless sainthood. As you observe, caring alone won't pay the rent. More than that, caring alone does not make an effective nurse. The nursing process is a model of pragmatism, and most nurses I've known employ ample doses of common sense. You're arguing for compassion without self-lessness. Madwife's arguing for compassion instead of self-ishness. I'm saying it doesn't have to be a holy vocation, but you do need to have a sense of duty.

I strongly advised a young friend of mine, an aide and a single mother, at the time, to go to nursing school, because it was a way for her to get a two-year degree and earn enough to support herself and her child, with flexible hours. I didn't need to tell her about compassion and helping others--she had that, in spades, as an aide.

She was serving her fellow man for $8.50 an hour--why not serve them for three times as much?

I advised another young friend to consider nursing school when she was trying to figure out a way to support herself through vet school. I also advised her not to tell her instructors she was planning to go on to vet school. She was not, and is not, one to wear her heart on her sleeve, but I know she has a kind heart, and I chuckled to myself when I thought how nursing school would change her life. I was totally wrong about that, of course, although I did just learn that she has started grad school and is working part-time as a nursing instructor. But she'd be the first to tell you she's the same person she always was. And that's sorta true. Although, she's a freakin' nursing instructor...

As others have noted, on this thread and others, enlightened self-interest is not only necessary for ourselves and our families. Our patients need us to care for ourselves, as well. But I don't think Madwife and I are unique in having seen a few--in my case, very few--nurses who seem to have nothing but self-interest in their hearts. And pin or no pin, to me, those aren't nurses.

But I'm not terribly concerned that a lot of people entering nursing as a second career because their first evaporated is necessarily bad. I was a carpenter for 25 years--longer, actually, because I started helping my Dad on weekends and summers when I was thirteen. And some of the things I learned doing that actually apply in my work as a nurse. Really, I don't see any reason anyone with a decent work ethic, an ounce of compassion, and the ability to pass NCLEX, can't become a good nurse.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

I agree, either extreme............a nurse who is all compassion but nothing else, and.......the nurse with zero compassion.......are not good.

My arguement is simply that........you don't have to "feel a calling" to be a good nurse. Lots of people who don't take on the "God works miracles through my hands" persona are still great nurses. Just a little......less dramatic about it.

I think a lot of "Nurses with a calling" are quick to put down people who are not as passionate as them. Sometimes people like me, who simply see it as a job (a job that requires caring, but still a job) are made to feel like we should apologize for having a life. I don't like that.