Hi, I am currently taking some prerequisites for a nursing program, but I am having a lot of second thoughts. This is long, so I apologize, but I hope someone will respond.
I am trying to talk to as many nurses as possible and I need more input on this. I have Hashimoto's and some fibromyalgia-like pain and stress seems to severely impact my energy. Other than that I am really, generally a very healthy, fit person (I run and lift weights, and I'm mentally sharp). I am 40 years old and I already have a graduate degree in another field. I thought I was losing my mind and struggled with career issues, I always felt exhausted in every job. I was finally diagnosed with thyroid disease 2 years ago and since getting my meds right, I am now able to reclaim my life. I have thought about going into nursing and started taking the prereqs to apply for the program.
However, I feel that there is a real problem with rigidity in the nursing schools, not wanting to deal with people who might be good nurses but don't fit well in the traditional stressful format of nursing school. I was SO turned off in my first "nursing" class last Friday. We have to take a nurse assisting class- an extra hoop they decided to have us jump through. I'm not opposed to learning what NAs do, in fact I think it's great to learn what the people you rely on have to do.
But the professors really rubbed me the wrong way. They seem indifferent to the students needs for information about the program, they don't seem like they want to help. It almost feels abusive. I am considering scrapping the whole thing.
I am (was?) considering nursing for the following reasons:
1. I like that there are many opportunities to do different things
2. I love to help people who have health problems (I am currently a personal trainer but I only take clients who have health challenges that necessitate modified exercise routines, and I *LOVE* working with these clients)
3. I need the job security and benefits that I can't get while self-employed and at the mercy of a sagging economy
4. I want to be able to work anywhere and I'd really like to do nursing part-time, and in a non-traditional setting (not in a hospital)
I feel I have the following weaknesses:
1. I am energy-challenged at times, especially when I am stressed for extended periods of time. I can deal with acutely stressful events, but it seems that things that wear on me (like a heavy course load at school, for example, or continued sleep deprivation) really affect me. When my meds are right on, I can accomplish everything I want to, but when I start to get hypothyroid (or overtired or overstressed) everything falls apart.
2. And maybe, thoguh this isn't necessarily a weakness, I feel like I am a square peg that won't fit in the round holes of nursing. I just feel like they make it unnecessarily stressful. There must be jobs out there in nursing that aren't so stressful. I can't see myself doing 12 hour shifts. I don't even understand 12 hour shifts. That seems crazy- how would you have time to eat, exercise, sleep, see your family? No wonder nurses get sick and burned out!
Isn't nursing about helping people? Isn't it about helping people to achieve a better state of wellness? Seems to me there's this bass-ackwards approach to the whole profession. I hear of so much stress and burnout, and so many unhealthy nurses who drop out of the profession due to stress. No wonder there's a shortage? Maybe instead of the go-go-go approach and always turning up the volume on stress, we ought to slow down and take it at a slower pace.
Anyway, do you think I'm going the wrong way by choosing nursing?
Does anyone know of any schools that take things at a slower pace?
