If you had to to do all over again...

[jessiern]

Would you still be a nurse?

I'll answer first: No. Not because I don't love caring for others. Not because I don't love being a nurse. I do love it. But there are so many problems with the field in general, and I just don't see any solutions.

I have so many patients, I can not care for them all the way I want to. And I find the patients that take up most of my time are not the sickest...they are just the needest, or the harder to please. So I end up spending all day trying to pacify them and family, --Because we most have good patient sat scores-- while the patients that really need my attention suffer without complaint.

If I complian about the situation, I am written up for having a bad attitude as managment tries to smash any resistance. So, I guess I'll cont to come home at the end of 12 hours and eat my first meal of the day. Probably even pee first the first, maybe second time. And no, every shift isn't like that. But there are getting to be more and more frequent.

My hours are cut when the floor is slow, but I am made to feel guilty if I'm not eager for every hour of overtime offered when we are busy.

I thought as a nurse I would get to spend time with my patient, get to know them better. Really be able to help them. But endless paperwork gets in the way of that.

I just feel like nurses takes everything out of me, and in the long run I'm not making the difference that I wanted to.

[shellsgogreen]

if i got a "do-over" i would probably work as a cna/tech prior, as they taught me some valuable things when i was new.

i generally don't regret my choice to become a nurse, but i do admit on those rough days i wonder what the heck i was thinking:banghead:

[MelodyRNurse]

No, I wouldn't do it again if I knew then what I know now.

Life is to short.

I do not, however, regret it. I have learned a lot about people, life, and a lot about myself just in the short time I have been part of this field.

[linda1959]

I would do it again in a heartbeat (no pun intended!)

I first got my license in 1981. In stopped working in 1999 to raise children. In 2001, various circumstances led me to let my license lapse (that's for another post, but DON'T EVER DO THIS if you can help it.)

Anyway, here I am, almost 49, and I am currently reinstating my license to go back to work in 2009. I am doing it while still raising a 7 year old and a 9 year old. Probably will go on to get my school nurse certificate.

The bottom line for me----I love nursing, with all it's problems. And getting my license was such a personal accomplishment, that it means the world to me to get it back. I am lucky to have a very supportive husband who right now is my biggest cheerleader when it is 11pm, and I am wondering if I can still do a careplan or teaching plan (and I found that I can).

I can truly understand those who would not do it again . . . but for me, it is what I was meant to do.

Thanks for all the wonderful sharing!

[HealthyRN]

Like Crazystudent, I've learned a lot about myself, other people, and life in general during my time as a nurse. However, one valuable lesson that I have learned from nursing is that life is too short and you should spend your limited time here surrounded by people that you love and doing work that you enjoy. If I could do it over again, I definitely would not become a nurse.

After two and half years and four diverse nursing jobs (both acute care and non-clinical), I've realized that I chose the wrong career. This is something that I realized even before finishing nursing school, but I continued on for several reasons. I now have about 6 months before I can quit my job (which is non-clinical, but still hardly tolerable) and 11 months before I begin taking courses for my new direction in life. I can't wait!

Nursing is a career that I would advise for very few people. I only recommend it if it is something that you always wanted to do and you can't imagine being satisfied in any other career.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

No, I wouldn't do it again if I knew then what I know now.

Life is to short.

I do not, however, regret it. I have learned a lot about people, life, and a lot about myself just in the short time I have been part of this field.

I think you best summed it up for me-I would have gone in a different direction, but I can say that there were no regrets, because I would not have learned as much from so many people in my life had I not become a nurse.

[nads786]

Then you are reading into it what you want/need to hear. Without going back and counting I'd say there were just as many positive statements as negative even from people that answered no. Our stakes are higher because we are dealing with human lives but any profession has good and bad parts. Hang in there, if this is what you are really interested in doing you will find your niche.

FWIW, I'm not really of the mindset that we should always have to pick one career and stick with it forever. I did my first one for over 20 years, and enjoyed it for the most part but was ready to move on to another challenge. If someone is truly stagnent and miserable in their job it is time for a change.

I guess that is true, but alot of the positives are of thsoe people who LOVE nursing, im not sure about myself...

[Jules A, MSN]

I guess that is true, but alot of the positives are of thsoe people who LOVE nursing, im not sure about myself...

It is so important to know and be true to yourself. If this is how you feel please reconsider. There are so many other wonderful careers that you could try. I kind of feel that nursing is like motherhood, if you don't really, really feel the urge to do it, it is probably best for all involved if you skip it.

Life is too short and nursing is too hard to just go through the motions. You have so many options and you could always decide to come back to nursing later. Wishing you the best with whatever you decide. Jules

[Cindy_A]

No, I wouldn't. I would have continued to work at the bank, and tried to move up there. I really enjoy the pts (most of them, anyway), but like several others have said, there is so much crap that goes on. I would like to spend time with the pts,but

you can't . Everything is the nurses fault, it seems, or they try to make it look that way. I am out of nursing for now, and don't plan to return. I have a B.S. in Business Mgmt which I plan to put to use.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Yes, I would do it again.

Perhaps it was my *advanced* age when I entered nursing (38) -- I believe I came into this with fairly realistic expectations. I understood that my time with patients would be brief and while I might have a lasting impact on a few, the majority would go on about their lives pretty much the same way that they did before they encountered me and my care.

I had also already spent well over a decade working for large corporations. Organizational priorities, both good & stunningly bad management, and the inherent conflict between the needs of the individual and the needs of the larger whole were not new to me.

That is not to say that becoming a nurse has not been a life-changing experience for me -- it has.

[jessiern, BSN, RN]

I guess that is true, but alot of the positives are of thsoe people who LOVE nursing, im not sure about myself...

That is something I think about...because if you look back, a few people like me have stated they love it, but aren't sure if they would do it over again. You HAVE to love it to keep sanity.

[nads786]

That is something I think about...because if you look back, a few people like me have stated they love it, but aren't sure if they would do it over again. You HAVE to love it to keep sanity.

understandable, i just finished my first year, but have alot of doubts, we'll see if the summer clears them or increases them

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

Absolutely not- not the way the current philosophies are. We are being set up for failure. I wish I had known this before I wasted 3 yrs of my time for a useless degree.Now I am stuck, because I am still paying school loans, and frankly at 43 am too old to go back to school( for which I dont have the money to pay for tuition anyway.) I go to work hating my job everytime- i am truely disgusted with it- yet have no choice. So I live with it until it makes me so sick . I have talked a couple of techs out of pursuing nursing . If this is what the hospitals and administrators want, well they can just keep it up- eventually no one will put up with this crap.So yes , I would have definitly chosen something else.