I am 37 years old and working on my nursing prereq's. I am hoping to actually start the BSN program in the fall. This is a complete career change for me (I currently only have an AAS degree). I picked nursing for several reasons; helping people, having a field that has a lot of possibilities, job security, interesting/learning something new, using my mind, having a skill, marketable, feeling of bettering someone life, etc... After being on this site, now I am doubting some of those reasons. So my question is if you had to do it all over again would you still pick nursing? Why, why not? What would you pick if answer was no...
Unfortunately no. Let's all focus on prevention/education and healthy minds. You can't fix someone with 10 major comorbidities especially when there is absolutely no accountability. What there is though, is a feeling of entitlement among most patients, what I like to describe as the culture of sick. It's sad and depressing. A pill can't fix everything, but maybe changing some minds can, but you have to get through to people way before they are obese, diabetics with heart disease or substance abusers. Habits manifested over several decades don't die hard, they die when the patient dies. Thats been the majority of my work and my word.
Heck no! I look and feel so much older than I actually am. The stress and hours of nursing will put you in an early grave. Becoming a nurse has been the worst thing I have done for my health. No time for breaks or to pee. Starving by the time I get home. Sneaking into the bathroom for a bannana or protein drink. I am too tired to exercise, and my feet hurt too much. My whole body aches. My job has become my life. I would do something else, anything else if I could start over. I love science, math, and history I also love being a student. I think teaching college would be a lovely job but it takes a lot of school to get there.
I think one of my biggest accomplishments was becoming a nurse. But I see it taking a turn for the worse with the over working, understaffing, more emphasis on politics than actual patient care.
Now, if we were dreaming, I would open up the ice cream shop I always wanted to open up. My favorite job ever was working at Carvel. I always dreamed of having my own shop.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I would for sure. Nursing has been very good to me. I went to college for two semesters, 9 months, to obtain my associates degree and RN license (after challenging the LPN NCLEX based on army medic training and experience). I have worked in several ICUs, burn, surgical, medical, trauma, ER, critical care transport. Currently work as full time rapid response nurse for a large medical center and have about as much autonomy as a hospital nurse can. I am paid well over $100K/year, have my prefer shift and schedule, good benefits, lots of vacation time. I get to help people when they need it the most and really make a difference in patients lives. For the most part I work with a great bunch of people (some exceptions of course) and usually have fun at work. I actually look forward to going to work a lot of the time and never dread it. I get to spend a lot of time teaching nursing students and new grads and very much enjoy watching them grow and become more confident and competent as nurses.
I wonder if a new grad today would have the same opportunities I had. When I graduated I was offered every job I applied for and accepted exactly what I wanted and got great critical care training and $5K bonus to boot. I don't think that is happening much today.
Pretty good for a career that cost me $2600 and took two semesters to obtain.
*** I have been thinking about this discussion. While nursing has been a wonderful career for me for all the reason I list above, when I consider the current reality I think maybe I would not choose nursing again. Nurses wages, never comparable to the level of responsibility, are now starting to slide lower. Benefits are under attack and retirement plans are disappearing. Add to this the very anti nursing agenda we see going into full force, as evidenced by the call for DNP for advanced practice nurses, hospitals clamor for Magnet certification, and the BSN only hiring being practiced by many short sighted hospitals. My experience and skills have insulated me from most of these concerns but if I were just starting out I would reconsider.
Before nursing I was in IT and have a bachelors in Network Administration. Nursing is a great idea on paper, but in reality it is very flawed and broken.
At first I used to love nursing and this changed when I joined all nurses. Judging from what ive read, it seems to me that most nurses here hate their job or hate being a nurse. The stupid comments are affecting me, i am kind of scared to face reality lol.
Nursing is my third career. I have an EE degree. Spent 8.5 years as a "rocket scientist" and 18 years in IT (Mainframes).
After 18 yrs of being laid off every 2 to 3 years and having to relocate to a new city, state everytime, I got tired of it. I saw nursing as the best was to replace the bulk of my income for the least amount of investment.
I am getting ready to study for my MSN in Nursing Informatics. My 18 yrs IT coupled with the few years on the floor should land me a decent income. Nursing is a 50% pay cut for me. I do love where I work and have great co-workers. There is the frustration of being understaffed at times and not being able to be there for my patients as much as I would like to be.
So, would I do it over. Some days I say yes. Others no. Time will tell, I suspect.
i wouldn't. i have been a bedside nurse (icu, step down, tele) for over 14 years. i feel my health, both physically and mentally, have taken a beating from my career. i don't have any chronic health problems, just feel old beyond my years. and i suffer from severe depression. i do blame the chronic stress of the job for a lot of this.
ideally i would like to own a little shop where i would sell killer vintage couture pieces and old furniture into which i have breathed new life. it would be small and quirky and i would bring my pug to work with me.
my experience in nursing is mine, and yours will be yours. i am guilty of being careless with my career, having gone from job to job, travel contract to travel contract, agency to agency and never thinking about tomorrow, or the day when there wouldn't be endless options. unsolicited advice - have clear cut goals for your career. reevaluate them frequently and always be moving forward toward them.
good luck!
i have to agree with pinthe, the stress in nursing is unbelievable at times (most of the time), the hospitals continue to demand more and more for less, there's no end to it and they seem to be completely oblivious to what they do to us? in retrospect, i am certain there are better ways to make a living, even if they don't pay as much (which nursing doesn't pay that high anyway, not for what we have to put up with). i would never recommend this as a career to anyone that i cared about. i thank my lucky stars every day that i have a horrid day and i'm completely worn out, emotionally, psychologically and physically, that my daughter didn't become a nurse because i know that she would not like it and i don't wish that kind of misery on anyone but especially someone i love and care about! sorry to be such a downer but that's the sad pathetic truth about nursing. i have approximately 8 more years left before i retire (if i retire when i'm 60) and i want to move somewhere on the gulf of mexico where it's sunny and beautiful most days and forget i was even ever a nurse!
I don't know. I believe I went into with all the right reasons, but it has been hell at times! Funny thing is, it is really easy now, but back when I was a new nurse trying to make a difference it was so stressful and a hostile work environment due to bullying and lack of team work between coworkers and my own fears of making a mistake and performance anxiety. I used to fret whether to call a dr or not and sad to say I pestered many dr's in the beginning, but they were really kind and would even thank me. But now with confidence I know it's not necessary to call the doctor in many situations the patient will be just fine!
I know I've made a difference and helped many people and cared for family friends, neighbors, classmates, etc and crossed paths with people in a way was at time God sent. Maybe when I get to heaven, God will show me all the difference I made and that this was his plan for me, but it sure hasn't been easy.
So now when everything comes easy and pretty stress free, what gets to me is the micromanagement and cutbacks in healthcare. It really bothers me the way nurses are pushed around, yet the sad truth is, when I talk to others I find my place is still better than most places out there! Still we are being put in needless danger of injury because the hospital refuses to spend the money on lift equipment. Over the years I've watched coworkers be injured and disabled and live in chronic pain because of the refusal to spend money on lift equipment! I've been injured myself and I don't want to live in chronic pain, yes I've recovered but it could happen again.
If I could do things over I would have gone on to school when I was younger and a new nurse and become an NP, I think I would be happier because I could use my brain and not my body and actually be respected, at least more than floor nurses are! Now I don't want to go back to school and be saddled with more student loans and have to worry about paying them off in my retirement from my social security. I'm more concerned about getting my house paid off and saving for retirement. There are plenty of older nurses my age and even 50's going back to school to get out of bedside nursing and I guess time will tell if they succeed or end up with the regret of falling behind financially. Truth is many of the older single nurses struggle to pay their bills and live on the edge, many were single mothers and never got ahead because of that. You'd think nurses make a living wage, but so many I know are struggling to pay their mortgages, taxes, etc and can't get ahead or save money for retirement. One of the nurses went back to school, didn't finish, owed the hospital like $30,000, was let go and I don't know how she is making it!
I tried to copy the part about lift equipment but it quoted the whole thing. Anyway, my sentiments exactly about the lift equipment. It's absurd that we're expected to lift a 350 lb person from the bed to the chair or from the chair back to the bed (after Physical Therapy with their expertise has put them in the chair and left for the day!) with just our bodies. They don't care that for years we give it our all and then when we're ready to retire we're left with a chronically aching back from years of lifting, too heavy for us, patients and a small pension check! Another reason why I would not become a nurse! If someone had told me how unvalued they would make us feel . . . ?
Absolutely not! It's not worth the supposed "job security" and "high pay". I would have completed a master's degree in the field I was already working, which has nothing to do with healthcare. Nursing is overrated and until more men join the profession, or women realize their worth, it is a profession I would not pursue. I am now too old and do not feel up to going back to school for a fourth degree. I made a lot of poor choices in my life and nursing is definitely at the top of that list.
OMG! I can so relate! It's too late for me too and most days I kick myself for being a nurse. There has to be a better way to make a living?
Heck no! I look and feel so much older than I actually am. The stress and hours of nursing will put you in an early grave. Becoming a nurse has been the worst thing I have done for my health. No time for breaks or to pee. Starving by the time I get home. Sneaking into the bathroom for a bannana or protein drink. I am too tired to exercise, and my feet hurt too much. My whole body aches. My job has become my life. I would do something else, anything else if I could start over. I love science, math, and history I also love being a student. I think teaching college would be a lovely job but it takes a lot of school to get there.
My sentiments exactly! Ditto same observations, same complaints, same aches and pains!
coldnclammy
5 Posts
Unfortunately no. Let's all focus on prevention/education and healthy minds. You can't fix someone with 10 major comorbidities especially when there is absolutely no accountability. What there is though, is a feeling of entitlement among most patients, what I like to describe as the culture of sick. It's sad and depressing. A pill can't fix everything, but maybe changing some minds can, but you have to get through to people way before they are obese, diabetics with heart disease or substance abusers. Habits manifested over several decades don't die hard, they die when the patient dies. Thats been the majority of my work and my word.