Is It Just Me...

meadow85 · Nov 25, 2009

I remember when I was in my first year of nursing school my cousin would put me down all the time by saying "at least she didn't have to wash old people". And now she wants to become a nurse because of the job opportunities and generous pay. She has been unemployed for a year and no longer enjoys her field of study which was childcare. I support her, but another part of me feels resentment. Becoming a nurse is not easy and not everyone can do it.

MissFlashRN · Nov 25, 2009

I remember when I was in my first year of nursing school my cousin would tease me saying "at least she didn't have to wash old people". And now she wants to become a nurse because of the job opportunities and generous pay. She has been unemployed for a year and no longer enjoys her field of study. I support her, but another part of me feels resentment.

Awww, don't feel resentment! Just enjoy teasing her with "washing old people" comments. :chuckle

systoly · Nov 25, 2009

If or when I become a patient, I'm results oriented. I'd really prefer the nurse who knows his stuff and is a bundle of efficiency, so what if his primary goal is making money. When I'm the nurse, my goal is to provide exceptional care, but when I look for a job, I'm marketing a resource and my goal is to seek the best solution for my own circumstance.

JoblessRN · Nov 25, 2009

is it just me or does it seem like there are many more people wanting to go into nursing now for all the "wrong" reasons? i feel like anymore everyone i hear wanting to go back to school for nursing just want to do it because they know they will have a job. i understand the economy is horrible right now, but i'm kind of getting irritating hearing all these people becoming nurses just because. does anyone else feel this way?

funny you bring this up. i started a thread awhile ago r/t this same topic and got raked over the coals for it (i had expressed that i was frustrated that people are going into nursing because it's good money, etc.). the thread was eventually closed. i agree with you - i understand that people have families and need income, but i think it's nice when people have other motives for going into nursing.

Fiona59 · Nov 25, 2009

What?

I work with a nurse who has a degree in IT, couldn't find a job in that field, did the accelerted BScN. Let's just say, I wouldn't wish her on the worst patient. Our manager is documenting everything. Lazy, poor skills, poor interpersonal skills. She would have been just the same in IT, I guess the computers of the world had a lucky escape.

Another coworker has a BA in Education. Is a great nurse, good skills, great with people, helps all over the place.

Both became nurses because of limited opportunities in their first degree areas. BUT and this is a big BUT the ones that seem to do best are degree holders in "people" oriented areas (education, social work, liberal arts).

Maybe admissions officers need to start looking at the whole person and not just the degree held.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Nov 25, 2009

is it just me or does it seem like there are many more people wanting to go into nursing now for all the "wrong" reasons? i feel like anymore everyone i hear wanting to go back to school for nursing just want to do it because they know they will have a job. i understand the economy is horrible right now, but i'm kind of getting irritating hearing all these people becoming nurses just because. does anyone else feel this way?

sigh!

here we go again -- someone is judging other nurses or students because they believe that their own motives for going into nursing are more "pure" or altruistic than someone else's motives. it really is none of your business why someone else went into nursing. as long as they are essentially competent and reasonably professional, that's all you need to know. they may have decided to go into nursing because they love wearing white polyester or because they're the next mother theresa. it's not up to you to judge.

Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN · Nov 25, 2009

I had 3 kids to feed by myself. I needed benefits. I needed insurance. I had other people depending on me. I needed the better money and not minimum wage.

And I loved the technical side of nursing. I loved trying to figure out what would make this sick person feel better. I actually loved nursing school. and I loved applying all I learned. Was it a "calling?" No. At the time it was a necessity. I did it for 35 yrs. I retired and there are days I miss the challenges I used to have. I was a very good nurse. But to say people should not be nurses for the only reasons you "Think" they should have is unrealistic.

Katie5 · Nov 25, 2009

Kinda...but majority of people do not make it through. We had 200+ people start nursing, we are down to 76.
So really, alot of people declare it under- estimating it....thinking its easy and they arre guaranteed a job.
NOPE!
it was a huge wake up call for me...but im one of the 76.

In one class.Wow.I like small classes, more personalized I think, may not work for you though.

sunnycalifRN · Nov 25, 2009

Is it just me or does it seem like there are many more people wanting to go into nursing now for all the "wrong" reasons? I feel like anymore everyone I hear wanting to go back to school for nursing just want to do it because they know they will have a job. I understand the economy is horrible right now, but I'm kind of getting irritating hearing all these people becoming nurses just because. Does anyone else feel this way?

To the OP, I never ask nursing students or new grads why they wanted to become a nurse. For the thousands of RN's on this website, there are thousand of reasons they went into nursing, some were "saintly", others were "Trump-like"; it's their business, not mine. So, No, I don't feel that way.

shisalion · Nov 25, 2009

i agree with you ruby!

sigh!

here we go again -- someone is judging other nurses or students because they believe that their own motives for going into nursing are more "pure" or altruistic than someone else's motives. it really is none of your business why someone else went into nursing. as long as they are essentially competent and reasonably professional, that's all you need to know. they may have decided to go into nursing because they love wearing white polyester or because they're the next mother theresa. it's not up to you to judge.

txmusikman · Nov 25, 2009

Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think I know where the original poster is coming from. I've watched over the last twenty years as the same thing happened to teachers and most other professions really. In a "Perfect World" people who can teach well and like it should do it, same with Doctors, Nurses, Lawyers etc... . When teachers pay started going up in the 80's and 90's more people were attracted to the field... of course! Because they wanted to teach or because they wanted to make more money??? Who knows? I think mostly because of the money BECAUSE... there are many teachers that are not happy with their jobs, not happy with the kids and are not invested "as they should be" so to speak. If nursing works out like teaching in the next 10 -20yrs we could all be getting raises and/or keeping our jobs based on how many of our patients get well and go home. I see every month or so how some "brilliant person" wants to pay a teacher based on the score a kid makes on a test. Yes their is a positive coorelation to the teacher and child but is the teacher the only variable? I think NOT! No more than nurses can cure every patient by themselves! Let's just make sure that quaility of care figures into the equation at some point. Like one person said, the ones that think jumping into nursing is a quick easy fix will soon be frustrated just like the many that didn't make it through the teaching classes. Thinking you can make 60K a yr. passing pills to smiling people is as naive as thinking teaching is sitting in a room talking to a bunch of kids until the bell rings!

Sorry I got so windy on that one! :twocents:

want2banurse35 · Nov 26, 2009

Well I tell you this, for whatever reasons that people go into nursing, the days of students having jobs before they finish school maybe over. They have to go out and hunt for a job like the other professions. Many older nurses I talk to say that their whole class would have jobs before they even finished the programs. Its not as easy as people think it is. :rolleyes: