Help? I regret this career choice?

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I really regret choosing nursing and lately idk what it is but I have been having breakdowns dreading the brutal schedule I'm going to have as a new nurse if I ever find a job. I'm going to have no social life or time for myself. I know this profession is a bit about being selfless but I really don't want to play a martyr. I know the deal in the hospital is weekends and holidays but after much thinking this isn't something I want to give up either. Please no "well uh why didn't you realize this in nursing school?" truthfully then I had a passion for it and probably didn't think too much on how big of a sacrifice it was going to be. Is there ANYTHING else I can possibly do in the healthcare field that would accept me when I get my bachelor's in nursing? Or is there any bachelor's program I can look (allied health) into that will accept most of my science credits & I could finish it relatively soon and leave this horrible profession behind? Or just any program in general that you could recommend cause I have no idea what I want to do, I was even thinking turning to finance or marketing but that is going to take me another 3-4 yrs to complete.

I would rather be a pooper scooper at the zoo than have to work the shift I worked tonight over and over. Run!!! Run as fast as you can!

http://domesticfuel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/hippo.jpg

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On some shifts we are pooper scoopers!

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You're going to be a nurse. Not a nun. Many young nurses live it up and enjoy their night life to the fullest. Their social life isn't affected in any way. It's not that bad.

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No you should not quit. The fruits of your labor will come later. Each profession will have it's challenges either in medical, finance, business or even in technology. Heck, we are even lucky that we are working to help people, not work for the people(like bosses, etc). Anyhow, i do think nursing really requires patience and luck. Good luck.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Very interesting thread. I'm with the "good for OP - follow your bliss" crowd. Success in nursing is an outcome of soooo many factors, but some people are just not cut out for it. No sense in becoming an maelstrom of misery -- sucking in everyone in your vicinity, including patients who have no choice in the matter. It's far better just to move in a different direction.

That being said, nursing is certainly not the only line of work with 'sucky' hours - what my Brit friend calls "unsociable hours" (love that expression). I have an acquaintance who has worked her way to a high level position with a posh retail chain... and she works all the time, including weekends and evenings. All of the 'service industries' are in the same situation. So yeah, there are much worse jobs. At least we work indoors and out of the weather - LOL.

I'm reminded of a really funny movie - Private Benjamin - in which Goldie Hawn joins the Army and is absolutely horrified by basic training .... she says (paraphrasing) "this was not the Army that I joined!"

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry, Cardiac/Renal, Ortho,FNP.

What? Work intrudes on social life? You mean I don't get paid for having a social life? Work flex, work in a clinic, work for an insurance company, work for a medical supply place, work as a school nurse and have summers off, work somewhere before you toss in the towel. It sucks for EVERYBODY at first but that's probably true for most jobs. Working sucks for 99% of the world...we do it to make money not honey. Meaning the sweet part of my life is when I get home. Work is well...work...pee, poop, long hours and garbage nobody else wants to do and I am not even talking about nursing! At least in nursing YOU decide that's what you want to do...many jobs it's not YOUR decision. It's someone elses even though you never agreed to it. Be a nurse at least for a year and if you hate it...GREAT! You got your year under your belt and you don't have to take crap from anybody. Otherwise you can't say nursing ain't for you. You haven't done it yet. As for finding a job...that's a mixed bag a nuts...nursing shortage? In my neck of the woods, absolutely. 120 miles from here...no way. So you might have to go into the boonies for your first gig which isn't all that bad considering...give it a shot. Don't let the uncertainty stop you at this point. You've come too far.

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What I do is work prn at 3 different places this way I work whenever I want. I work around 40 hours each week and if I don't want to work weekends or holidays I don't. The pay is excellent, there's no health insurance but I'm on my husbands so that's not a problem.

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I work in addictions and substance abuse detox. I've been an RN for a year. I make over thirty dollars an hour, i do not work weekends. I work four eight hour shifts a week Tuesday through Friday.

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Ps....if you don't have a passion for helping others, aren't willing to sacrifice a little bit of yourself....not all of yourself..but a little.. If you aren't compassionate about other human beings and truly do not want to give to others..Please do not become a nurse. You'll make our profession look horrible

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The bottom line, OP, after having read through 8 pages of posts, is that you need to do whatever it is that you need to do, and none of us can really help you with any of it.

Most, if not all of the various nursing positions that were suggested on this thread will go to the candidate with the best experience match for the job, and that won't be you as a brand new grad with zero experience. School nursing, home health, etc require strong assessment/clinical skills and at this point in the game....well, you don't have any. What you learned in school is a jumping-off point to actually hone the craft, increase your skillset. You aren't ready to take on the jobs that others have spent years preparing for, so you should not be surprised to find that you are considered unqualified for them.

That's not being mean, that's being utterly realistic: the non-hospital, non-facility jobs you are probably most interested in would not be particularly interested in you unless you come up with more to offer them.

People are getting their hackles raised because you managed to completely denigrate the profession that *most* of us are reasonably happy in....all without having spent one single day as a nurse! Certainly you can see where the offense comes in: I'm pretty sure if I came into a forum filled with teachers who support and assist each other with teaching-related problems and shouted "I hate teaching! It's a sucky profession! I don't know why anyone would ever do it, I want a social life and I'm not giving up XXX just to be a lowly teacher! Just tell me what else I can do with a teaching degree, and don't give me any lip about it!".....I'm pretty sure I could expect some hefty pushback. ;)

So where do you go from here? Well, you either decide to suck it up and give nursing enough of a try so you can gain some experience that might give you some value for other jobs down the road....OR....you throw in the towel and try a different profession entirely. Up to you, no one can choose this for you. Only thing we can do is what I just told you, that it's unrealistic to look for the "better" jobs in terms of schedules/hours/etc without first having the value to GET such a job.

Que sera sera!

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The bottom line, OP, after having read through 8 pages of posts, is that you need to do whatever it is that you need to do, and none of us can really help you with any of it.

Most, if not all of the various nursing positions that were suggested on this thread will go to the candidate with the best experience match for the job, and that won't be you as a brand new grad with zero experience. School nursing, home health, etc require strong assessment/clinical skills and at this point in the game....well, you don't have any. What you learned in school is a jumping-off point to actually hone the craft, increase your skillset. You aren't ready to take on the jobs that others have spent years preparing for, so you should not be surprised to find that you are considered unqualified for them.

That's not being mean, that's being utterly realistic: the non-hospital, non-facility jobs you are probably most interested in would not be particularly interested in you unless you come up with more to offer them.

People are getting their hackles raised because you managed to completely denigrate the profession that *most* of us are reasonably happy in....all without having spent one single day as a nurse! Certainly you can see where the offense comes in: I'm pretty sure if I came into a forum filled with teachers who support and assist each other with teaching-related problems and shouted "I hate teaching! It's a sucky profession! I don't know why anyone would ever do it, I want a social life and I'm not giving up XXX just to be a lowly teacher! Just tell me what else I can do with a teaching degree, and don't give me any lip about it!".....I'm pretty sure I could expect some hefty pushback. ;)

So where do you go from here? Well, you either decide to suck it up and give nursing enough of a try so you can gain some experience that might give you some value for other jobs down the road....OR....you throw in the towel and try a different profession entirely. Up to you, no one can choose this for you. Only thing we can do is what I just told you, that it's unrealistic to look for the "better" jobs in terms of schedules/hours/etc without first having the value to GET such a job.

Que sera sera!

YES!!!THIS!!!!!:up::)

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Agree.

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