if you hate nursing, what would you rather do instead?

Nurses General Nursing

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just what the title asks. if you don't want to continue working in the nursing/healthcare field at all, what's your plan? what do you want to do instead? and if you hate nursing and have another idea but aren't actively pursuing it right now, why not?

(none of these questions are meant in a judgmental way at all. merely curious :-)

It's funny how every profession has it's " I wish I did something else". I have been a cop for ten years and currently battling to get into nursing school after doing a year at UConn and then being denied a transfer to their BSN program.

While I know it is not feasible for most, I firmly believe that people need change in their lives to stay happy and healthy. Even if it is just changing units/job titles.

I hated nursing so much I went out and got an MBA. But by the time I finished the MBA, I had fallen in love with my job. MBA is dusty now; I've been at the bedside for 36 years.

really? i can't imagine you hating nursing. i know i argue with you all the time about everything but i also have a lot of respect for you for thriving in this crazy stressful field.

I don't hate nursing...don't think I was "born" to be a nurse either...but..I am where I am and if money were not an issue I would leave nursing and work with animals..open a no-kill shelter or open a retirement home where seniors w/no family or no one to look after them could live with animals who also have no one and I would look after them all :yes:

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

I'd be a SAHM if I didn't like being an RN so much. Or else I'd love to make wedding cakes full-time; I have done special occasion cakes (wedding, bridal shower, birthday, etc.) on the side. I really enjoy creating something that delights people's eyes and tastebuds.

Specializes in Neuroscience.

Probably a psychologist. My favorite part of my job is the little down time I have to just sit and talk with someone and try to make them feel better or just hear them out without judgment. I'm a new nurse and still very inexperienced medically, so I feel that that at least is something I KNOW I can do without any training.

Horse trainer. One that actually makes money enough to live comfortably on. This, unfortunately, is nearly impossible. Also, I'm probably not good enough anyway. Still, It's hard for me to be unhappy around horses.

Microbiologist. One that actually makes enough money to live comfortably on ;) (in other words, I'd have to pursue the career student path for a while to get a doctorate. Lab rats don't make much and let's face it, the job gets redundant after a while. I'd have to get the doctorate degree in order to travel around playing with gross microbial life)

Specializes in CCM, PHN.

I would love to own and operate a cage free doggie daycare and run a dog rescue out of it, or own and operate a lavender farm. If I could figure out how to combine both I'd leave nursing in a heartbeat.

Specializes in Operating room..

Open my own guitar/amp store!

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

I DO NOT hate nursing. I enjoy it very much and am having a good career. However I often wish I had instead had a career in law enforcement at the state or federal level. The older I get the more I regret not doing so. Had I done so I could expect to retire in my mid to late 40's with a decent pension. Maybe not enough of a pension to do nothing, but enough of one that I would only have to do the kind of work I enjoyed and felt like doing. As a nurse I fully expect to have to continue to work well into my 60's.

I have an uncle who retired from the army as an E-9 with 20 years service at age 37, then retired at age 58 from the California Hwy Patrol after 20 years service. He does VERY well with his double pension and lives a very comfortable lifestyle.

Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

House cleaners in my locale charge $20/hr and the few I know claim they are having to turn away clients. I am making $24/hr. I have also thought about substitute teaching, respite care and being a foster parent.

Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.

I would like have been in military aviation. Sadly, I have a color vision impairment and can't pass a flight physical, of any kind, so for that very reason I'll never fly anything.

Secondly, I think I'd like to have been a magazine editor/writer with something like Popular Mechanics or National Geographic.

I actually found a college catalog laying around the other day, started reading, and thought, "wow, majoring in geography would've have been awesome! I could've gotten a BA and MA in that." Their course descriptions for landforms, meteorology, climatology, biogeography, natural hazards, cartography, etc. seemed fascinating.

I'd also like to be fluent in another language or two, be able to set up a computer network, identify trees and flowers without using a guide book, be a krav maga expert, shoot in IDPA, know how to bang out a song or five on a piano, and built a self-sufficient home, i.e. geothermal heating and cooling, photovoltaic array, etc.

I am just about to begin my nursing career, but if I were younger and had it all to do over, I would have become a plastic surgeon or a veterinarian.

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