I want to be a nurse but is nursing really that horrible??

[kgheen09]

Hello fellow nurses. I really want to become a licensed practical nurse. I could start this fall or sooner for a lpn class at a vocational school. I'm kinda scared. Im pretty good at school, 3.0 gpa so the tests wouldn't be my problem maybe just the clinicals. My boyfriend who is a certified nursing assistant said to become a lpn. He said it really isn't that bad. He said all they pretty much did at the nursing home he worked for was pass meds, paperwork, and IVS. I know there will be more than that. I am a very sweet person and I love helping people. Blood and guts wont kill me, im just scared about giving IVs because what if I do it wrong. i just really want to know If nursing is really all that horrible as people say! Please fellow nurses help me out. I figure I could at least try as an lpn and if I absoutely hate it, I could change my career. Please help!

[suanna]

My personal opinion is -yes it is most always really that horrible, but I'm only one voice. By all means explore the options for nursing as a career, but I would advise you to see if there are any "pre-nursing" programs in your area that would arrange for you to shadow a nurse for a shift or two before you waste a lot of $$$ getting a licence to do a job you will hate. Who knows you may be one of the few that take to the current trends in health care like a duck to water, but check it out first.

[Jules A, MSN]

What I really don't understand is why if your work environment is so bad and you acknowledge that there are nurses who enjoy a good place to work that you don't make a change? Not directed to you in particular but the excuses I've heard in the past don't really make sense to me. Things such as geography and the need for a certain level of income are all adjustable, imo. Not easily or immediately perhaps but very few people are truly stuck imo. My take on all this is that life is way too short and way too hard to spend so much time and energy working at something you don't love.

[keno138]

Healthcare in general is a place where you need to be able to get knocked down and keep on going. If you can't handle all the frustration then you might just die young from stress. I enjoy facing problems that I am responsible for fixing. I have clinicals around some people like that and frankly I don't even like being around them.

[Butterfliesnroses]

If you cleaned the mess I commend you! If not then I don't obviously! I'm an aide. And I think very highly of nurses that clean up messes they find. I think very highly of a nurse that will get a resident ice water. I think highly of a nurse that will offer her help if she can (which I ususally say no thanks to but still). I think highly of a nurse that teamwork is on her list. I will go the extra mile for these nurses. I will jump when they say jump. I respect them because they respect me. However the nurses that come and tell me there is spilled coffee in the lobby and I need to go clean it up. Or that they spilled Jevity in someones room and it needs to be cleaned (this actually happened!). Or that search for me for 15 minutes, see I'm in my elbows in poop and inform me I need to get Mrs. so and so ice water stat. Or that talk to me like I'm there slave, I'm below them. Do I jump when they say jump? Depends. Hmmm you want the vitals....I'll get to them when I can. I just don't have TIME today. So and so fell I'll be right there...Depends on the severity and if it will harm the resident. But I generally am not so willing to go the extra mile. I will make time to do the nurse that is respectfuls vitals even if it does put me so behind I have to stay 30 minutes over. But for the nurse that isn't so respectful if I don't have time I don't have time. And yes I understand that you can do my job but I can't do most of your job. I GET that. BUT treat your aides, housekeepers, ect with respect and they will go the extra mile which in turn will make your job easier! For the record I'm going to be starting the nursing program in 2009 (fall) so I'll walk a mile in your shoes and maybe I'll see things differently. But one of my main goals is to always remeber where I came from and to treat those people with the utmost respect. Cause without them the nurses would be lost! Just like without nurses us aides would be lost. We need each other....Sorry for the longness of the post. If you read all this you get a piece of :BDCk:.

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

If you cleaned the mess I commend you! If not then I don't obviously! I'm an aide. And I think very highly of nurses that clean up messes they find. I think very highly of a nurse that will get a resident ice water. I think highly of a nurse that will offer her help if she can (which I ususally say no thanks to but still). I think highly of a nurse that teamwork is on her list. I will go the extra mile for these nurses. I will jump when they say jump. I respect them because they respect me. However the nurses that come and tell me there is spilled coffee in the lobby and I need to go clean it up. Or that they spilled Jevity in someones room and it needs to be cleaned (this actually happened!). Or that search for me for 15 minutes, see I'm in my elbows in poop and inform me I need to get Mrs. so and so ice water stat. Or that talk to me like I'm there slave, I'm below them. Do I jump when they say jump? Depends. Hmmm you want the vitals....I'll get to them when I can. I just don't have TIME today. So and so fell I'll be right there...Depends on the severity and if it will harm the resident. But I generally am not so willing to go the extra mile. I will make time to do the nurse that is respectfuls vitals even if it does put me so behind I have to stay 30 minutes over. But for the nurse that isn't so respectful if I don't have time I don't have time. And yes I understand that you can do my job but I can't do most of your job. I GET that. BUT treat your aides, housekeepers, ect with respect and they will go the extra mile which in turn will make your job easier! For the record I'm going to be starting the nursing program in 2009 (fall) so I'll walk a mile in your shoes and maybe I'll see things differently. But one of my main goals is to always remeber where I came from and to treat those people with the utmost respect. Cause without them the nurses would be lost! Just like without nurses us aides would be lost. We need each other....Sorry for the longness of the post. If you read all this you get a piece of :BDCk:.

Teamwork is key. I would never ask my CNA to do something I can do that I have the time to do. If I am in the middle of 3 different things that only I can do, then yes, I may ask them to, but you can bet I'm apologizing and explaining to them exactly why I'm asking and NOT doing it myself (and they're usually saying, "that's OK, Bree, that's my job!"). I never think it's ok to "expect" someone to do ANYthing. I can be walking to the kitchen with someone's water pitcher past an aide and hear, "I can get that." I usually say, "that's ok, so can I!" If I'm in a room passing meds, why can't I also fill their water pitcher, empty their urinal, etc? On the flip side, I did crab at a CNA one night because I was in a patient room one afternoon, and he was not doing well. I was trying to assess him so I could call the doc, and she took his VS and left, I found her at the desk. His cup of water was nasty (from sitting there all day), urinal was full...in that particular case, I had a lot on my plate in that room, so she SHOULD have taken care of those things while she as in there.

I think my philosophy comes from being a CNA for five years before I became an RN. I've been on both sides. I like coming to work and hearing, "I'm glad to be working with you today," "it's always nice to work with you, you're great to be on a team with," etc.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

Really, they are similar to a lot of experiences I've had as a nurse.

Nursing is a rough career, and I do sometimes hate it. But I love it, too. It's hard to explain, and this probably isn't helping you a bit, lol.

However hard it's been and will continue to be, I must say that I am proud, humble, and glad to be a nurse.

[geekgolightly, BSN, RN]

I knew nursing was not going to be easy. But after looking long and hard at all of the available careers out there; both requiring an education and those who require no education, nursing seemed the best bet. It was three and a half years of school for me to get my RN. Some take four years, some a little less, and with that, you have a job with a living wage in any multitude of fields of medicine. Some days you can even make a difference in someones life.

If not for nursing, I would be stuck in an office making no real difference in my own life or anyone elses. I did that for five years before getting into nursing school. Every day I watched the clock tick backwards, bored out of my skull and wanting to escape. I definitely don't feel that way in nursing!

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

Nursing is far from glamorous, and I will be the first to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with my job. If not for the pay, I would not do it. I earn every single penny.

Yes, nursing can be grueling, soul crushing work. But, this is a second career for me, and I can honestly say that any job can be soul crushing if you let it be.

That being said, I think if you truly despise your job, then change is definitely in order. There are aspects of my job that I absolutely hate, and I am considering changes to lessen those aspects, such as moving to night shift, or trying another area of nursing.

As I've said to others, there is BS in every job. It's not a matter of getting away from the BS, it's a matter of figuring out which brand of BS you're able to tolerate.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

.... It's not a matter of getting away from the BS, it's a matter of figuring out which brand of BS you're able to tolerate.

That's kinda of what I say, too. lol.

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

That's kinda of what I say, too. lol.

I tend to agree with this as well. Don't get me wrong, I am far from the "everything is sunshine and rainbows and flowers" type of person. I am cynical and sarcastic too...too much so, usually. IMO, you can love nursing but not love everything about it. I don't love taking abuse from patients or doctors. I don't love running my butt off as our staffing numbers keep getting cut. But people seem to forget the simple, basic reason WHY we do what we do. I sure didn't get in to nursing for the paycheck! I don't make a bad living, but I'll never get rich doing it! . I want (and get) money and respect, too. That incident, with that little gift from that patient's wife, showed me that she appreciated what I was doing for them. It's a totally different thing, but then again, I wouldn't expect everyone to understand that. I am FAR from a head-in-the-clouds, silly, always-optimistic dreamer. So many things in nursing have changed just in the seven years since I became an RN. But instead of constantly P&M'ing about it, I chose to get involved in the implementation of the changes, and make my voice heard about it. It doesn't necessarily mean that the end result will be different, but at least I'm going to play a role. Things don't have to just happen TO you, you're not VICTIMS. I've had plenty of bad experiences in my job as well, as a result of ungrateful, demanding patients, poor management, and docs that think they're higher than God. Newsflash: we ALL have. Rise above it, be an advocate for yourself and for your colleagues. The only way to have positive change is to bring it on and make your collective voices HEARD.

[Moneypitt]

I will speak the truth as I see it. So anyone with a different opinion please allow me to express myself.

It was not worth it for me. I spent to much money on my education just to be physical injured, and emotionally exhausted. I am an Award Winning Nurse twice over. So I am good at it. But my back hurts, I am overworked every shift, and treated like dirt 80% of the time. I could have used that money to be an accountant. But NO!!! I had altruistic ideas. Nursing will happily invite those with altruistic motives and work them to death.

The pros are the money is pretty good, but not good enough. And ask yourself........Am I going to be able to do hard physical and mental work as I age? I nurse at over 60 is expected to perform the same tasks and patient care as one in her 20's. Just a thought..... Of course you can go in to supervision or other fields I am told. But I don't see it very often.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

[Scrubby]

I know I'm not a perfect nurse, I don't believe there is such a thing. My world doesn't revolve around nursing, either. But I also choose not to devote my time and energy to constantly complaining about it; I'd rather do my best to roll with the inevitable changes that are coming down the pipe in healthcare, so that I DON'T become that person that has 10 jobs in 3 years, because I can't seem to understand why I can't keep mine, and why no one at mine likes me. I don't want to be that bitter person that doesn't talk to anyone any more. "Nursing" isn't what destroyed you. There are things to find joy in, in anything you do with your life, there are going to be people that will drive you nuts and that you have a hard time dealing with. You get over it. If talking about other people behind their backs gets you through your day....I feel sorry for you.

Everyone handles their frustrations differently from you. Your way is not everyone else's way of dealing with frustration. I vent about problems and then attempt come up with some sort of solution. Unlike some nurses I attend many meetings at work trying to implement change. A lot nurses out there are angry, frustrated and and may be bitter about a lot of problems in nursing. It doesn't mean that we're bad nurses because we talk about what we hate in nursing. That is really such a simple, narrow minded view.