Ideal Job?

[hopeful_future_rn]

Nursing to me sounds like the ideal job. It is secure, well paid, community orientated, selfless with a broad amount of opportunities and only 2-4 yrs of education. Yet when is ideal not ideal enough?

I want all of these characteristics in my job and I want to be able to really help and listen to people. Yet the current science classes I'm taking like Chemistry are really discouraging. I don't like it, I find it boring. I have this idea in the back of my mind is that yes chemistry will be used, but not to the extent of what we are learning in our general chemistry course for example all the theories and etc... we learn.

Any nurses who disliked microbiology and chemistry, but love nursing? Any nurses that just love it all?

Thanks!

[augurey]

I'm almost finished with my second semester of school, so I can't speak for nursing itself. However, I didn't like chemistry. There was very little I found interesting about it. Yes it's important, and yes I've already seen where it's incorporated into nursing, but it's different. It's knowing the concepts in nursing such as fluid and electrolytes and pharmacology. It's important to know and understand those things in chemistry to be able to understand certain concepts in nursing.

I haven't really seen where everything I learned in chemistry has come into play. I don't know if it all ever will, but I definitely don't feel my dislike for my chemistry course holds much in the same regard as nursing.

I can't speak for micro as I don't take it in the fall, but it also holds an importance in nursing. I'm guessing it's the same of having the foundation to apply to nursing.

[amoLucia]

Couple things are really no longer accurate with your premise that nursing is an ideal job. And this you can see by the multiple, multiple postings here on AN by nurses who are experiencing problems and lament the current state of nurses. And I'm talking senior, experienced nurses and the newbies.

Job security is NOT a given. As more & more facilities cut the budgets to the bone, nsg jobs are the first to be impacted by terminations (esp in at-will states), downsizing layoffs, reductions in hours, prolonged job vacancies and other activities. You have less & less staff doing more & more.

WELL paid??? Not really considering ... Decently paid, YES, when you think to compare traditional service jobs like food service and sales. There are some places that do pay better than others. And certain specialties pay better. Overtime, shift differentials, credentialing, adv education can all increase wages but this is usually almost always above & beyond baseline. And baseline wages don't really increase spectacularly with pay raises/performance appraisals. A 1% 'raise' on $25/hr is only a quarter. A lot of places have 'frozen' increases. Don't even start me on benefits - health insurance, pensions, tuition, vacation & sick time, etc.

I don't understand your 'community oriented'. There USED to be a time when nurses were highly respected by the general public, but now, that has slipped.

Broad opportunities - YES. There is diversity in nursing. But much in nursing is dependent on experience & education.

And YES, depending on educational choices, beginning entry to practice can be relatively short or longer as nec.

SELFLESS??? There was only one Florence Nightingale and one Mother Theresa. You won't be feeling too selfless when you're working 11-7, on Thanksgiving and Christmas and your family wants you to celebrate. Employers won't care if your kids got an unexpected snow holiday or your car has a new flat tire. Or when you're sick as a dog. And you have no PTO.

Way back in the prehistoric Dark Ages days, my reasons to enter nsg was that it paid nicely for the time, it was respected. and I figured there would always be a job market. And it took me 2 years. All that was true in the mid 1970s. Not the same now.

I don't regret my past career. It afforded me a reasonably comfortable lifestyle. There have been some real positives that far outweighed the negatives.

By the way, I answered your other post re the science courses. Sorry, you can't get past them. They are CRITICAL to understanding the big picture of the workings of the body human. Nobody cares about the atomic number of sodium and chloride. But it will matter when you learn that their molecules love to interact with hydrogen and oxygen and your pt can't breathe because of congestive heart failure fluid retention and has Fred Flintstone feet.

Good luck with your studies.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

In order to achieve expertise in nursing practice, you'll need top-notch clinical reasoning skills. This cannot be achieved without "the acquisition of a deep and relevant knowledge base and extensive experience" (Fish 1998. Appreciating practice in the caring professions. p. 87). Chemistry, Microbiology, Nutrition, A&P, etc. are all part of our relevant knowledge base.

I'm sure that there are lots of nurses who do not aspire to achieve professional expertise. They undoubtedly provide great personal care & routine interventions while handing off complex issues to someone else rather than making those decisions..... they probably don't need to understand cellular metabolism.

Your choice.

[dragonflylilly]

I had to repeat chemistry and I barely passed microbiology but I loved nursing school. They are completely different things.