Leave Good Job for Nursing?

LilyBlue · Mar 9, 2009

Heck no, I wouldn't leave that job for nursing. Nursing is probably not what you think it is. The horrible hours are, imo, the least of the stressors with nursing. I would find a way to maybe be a PCT for an 8 hour shift a week while keeping your good job now. Don't just "think" it's a good fit for you - make sure it is.

LilyBlue · Mar 9, 2009

I have a very low threshold for rude/mean people and it scares me to think of not having a helpful preceptor.

Do you feel like this is something you could change? Remember that as a nurse you are going to be dealing with all types of people at their very worst. That includes patients, stressed out physicians, scared or guilty-feeling family members, and nurses in the same boat you are. Nursing is a GREAT fit for some people. But if you truly have a low threshold for unpleasant people, my guess is it would not be a great fit for your personality.

Sisyphus · Mar 9, 2009

I became an RN at the age of 43. Fourteen years later I think of it as the single biggest mistake of my life. A sentinel event. People are different. However, not a day passes that I don't regret that late life decision and wish that I could go back and change the path that I took. I'm too old now to try a new career. I just wish that I had known then what I know now. I won't bore anyone with details but I advise EVERYONE that expresses an interest in nursing to turn quickly and run the other direction. I have so much to say but I need to rein in my emotions and leave it at that.

kathy732

LilyBlue · Mar 9, 2009

I'm sorry Kathy . My mom is the same age as you, and it breaks my heart to think of her having to bust butt the way I do on my unit. I don't mean that as an ageist remark - many women in their 50s have more vitality than I ever have! What I mean is, she's worked so many years of her life, and I'd hate for her remaining working years to be so filled with the stresses I face.

Many blessings to you.

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2009

Has anyone noticed that only posters on this thread who aren't nurses yet think leaving a good job for nursing is a good idea?

mntgrl · Mar 9, 2009

Hi Valerie,

I did not notice until you pointed it out. I posted a reply and I am not a nurse yet. So I am not an expert. However, having worked in the corporate world for the last 20 years and for several different companies, there are no guarantees that a good job will continue to be a good job. No matter what you do. If someone has the urge to try nursing as a career and finds that direct patient care is not for them, there are non-clinical options someone with a RN can pursue. When looking for a career change, I did research my options and felt that a nursing education gave me the best options. I really do look forward to clinical days in school and plan to pursue direct patient care, but when I get there and if I find it is not for me, I like knowing that I have other options.

chicarn, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2009

Run for your life, nursing now is not what you read in the books. I feel stupid that I choose nursing. I warned you

:hlk:

oramar · Mar 9, 2009

I would never leave a good secure job with good hours and bennies to go into nursing! Nursing is a very, very tough career, and many nurses are ambivalent about nursing. I know you are going to do whatever you want to do- but nursing is a very difficult, demanding career, and is very unsure in our current economy.
Read the "first year in nursing" forum before you make your decision!

Glad you posted this. Some people will flame you for saying it but I won't.

rholman · Mar 9, 2009

Hey,

I also work in the corporate world for 20 years as an Admin. It was not a career choice but something I fell in also to support my daugher and myself. For the first time in my life I feel like I am pursuing a career. The 8 to 5 monday thru Friday is draining the life out of me. I really am looking forward to a 3 day work week. I am so tired of making my managers look good, making coffee and doing daily lunch runs. I am looking forward to really help people in need and lead a fullfilling life. I can't wait to be accepted into nursing school and hand in my notice to my employer. Will I be scared.... yes, every life changing major decision is scary because you don't know the outcome, but you feel the fear and move forward if you truly believe it's the right decision for you.

Life is not a dress rehearsal, this is it. If you have a chance to do something you are passonate about don't pass up the opportunity, why look back with regrets. Some of the other admins in my company think their jobs are the greatest thing since sliced bread and will stay in that position until hell freezes over or the company boots them out. Great for them, but that's not me.

Throughout the last year, I have read quite a few post from unhappy, burned out nurses. I realize it will not be an easy job and will have a different set of stressors, however it has not deterred me at all. I have a few friends that are nurses and they all love their jobs despite the normal stressors that accompany the profession. I will be approx 47 when I graduate and realize that bedside nursing will probably get physically challenging early on, so I have already decided to pursue a master degree which will give me other options in nursing.

I say go for it and don't let anyone discourage you. You heard the saying "What is one man's garbage is another man's treasure". If there are nurses that are unhappy with their profession, they should do whatever it takes to change their situation.

ShiphrahPuah · Mar 9, 2009

For the current nurses out there that think the grass is greener in the corporate world...I can tell you that is not necessarily so. I usually never work a 40 hour work week. It's more like, 50 hours or so. My brain has turned to mush and I am not challenged at all.
The things that appeal to me about nursing are the hours...3 twelve hour shifts sounds great, not having to constantly update my work wardrobe, LEARNING and ultimately...helping people....and having a purpose.

I worked in the corporate world for many years, then took time off when my kids were young, went to nursing school when the kids were a little older, and am now a first-year nurse at age 44. I do like the things that Woodchip mentions and others. I don't spend money on a work wardrobe since I wear hospital-provided scrubs in my unit. I love making a difference with people, and whenever I am having a hard day, there is always at least one patient who is so appreciative of what I do for them. I often think back to my corporate days and how hard I worked (MANY overtime hours with no extra pay since I was salary) and how I used to feel back then that what I was working so hard at really didn't matter and make any difference to people (I was a computer programmer). I have been fortunate enough to be able to choose to work part-time now, and I love that I can get professional pay in a part-time job. I had wanted to continue working when my kids were born but not work 50-60 hour work weeks, but in my corporate job I could not find part-time options. It is nice to now get paid for the time I end up staying over at the end of a shift when it has been a crazy day and I still have tons of charting to get in since I am payed hourly and not salary. There are a lot of specialties in nursing, so you can move on to something different if you want to learn something new (although this economy is making this plus fairly non-existent right now since people need to hold on to the jobs they have).

However, there are some tough things about nursing that I did not fully understand before I actually started working as a nurse. A twelve hour shift easily and often becomes a 14 or 15 hour shift. When you work back-to-back days, ALL you have time for is work and sleep. I end up feeling so checked-out on my family since I drag myself home and have to get to bed right away in order to get enough sleep before work the next day. I cannot do ANYTHING else on days I work -- forget picking up groceries, helping my kids with school projects, etc. And the day after I work 2 or 3 days in a row I am so beat that I am pretty non-functional around the house. Some patients you have will be wonderful, but a lot will be self-entitled and demanding and treat you like their personal waitress. You start hating carrying a portable phone in your pocket because it rings every five minutes. Nursing is physically very hard. I run my butt off nonstop, and there are some days I don't eat or pee in 14 hours. You have to take time to drink water and get to the bathroom or you'll end up with kidney stones, but by doing so something has to give and you will miss some things and get yelled at by the doctor or the nurse that you give report to next shift for missing something. Your feet and possibly your back will hurt from being on your feet all day (DO invest in good shoes because that will make a huge difference). You will have so much charting to do to cover your butt that you will spend more time charting to prove you are doing patient care than the time you spend actually giving patient care. The hospital will always want to save money and will send nurses home on days that things are a little slower so that you will almost always have a maximum load when you are at work. You will not be able to spend the time with patients and give the care that you want to because you are stretched so thin and feel pulled in a hundred different directions. Some days I feel such distress because I know certain patients really need more and I WANT to give that to them, but my load is such that it is really hard to do that (or I may have to really overlook my most stable patient for a big chunk of time in order to provide that to the other patient, but either way I feel like I am not doing the best for every patient I have). I wish the system was different so I could be the nurse I envisioned myself being when I was in nursing school. I would even take less pay for a more reasonable patient load, but I know if the hospital ever did that, they would eventually abuse that and require more and more at the lower pay rate and it would be worse in the long run. I can see how nurses easily get burned out or get compassion fatigue. I worked full-time my first 7 months, and all the stresses really started getting to me. Fortunately my family situation allowed me to cut back to part-time (two 12-hour shifts which often end up 14 or 15 hour shifts). I am able to keep a more positive attitude since cutting back my hours, but I know some people do not have that option.

Overall, I do feel like I have a purpose and I do make a difference as a nurse, a million times moreso than when I was working in corporate America. I have some bad days, but I often have patients (usually at discharge) tell me I have been a blessing and I made a difference, and that keeps me going. I think you need to go into nursing with your eyes open to the stresses of nursing. I think our healthcare system is messed up and I do NOT know the anwers to fixing the whole system, but if some things could change, the negatives of nursing would be a whole lot better.

As to the question of leaving a good job for nursing...you need to evaluate what is important to you (and unfortunately consider our current economy). There are some things I think about my previous corporate job that I really miss now that I am a nurse, but the deal-breaker for me is personal satisfaction and sense of purpose. Do read the posts in the "First year in nursing" forums so you will know the pros and cons of nursing, and know that often your first year as a nurse is harder than nursing school. Best wishes to you with your decision.

Saifudin · Mar 9, 2009

Until the last several months of increasing involvement on All nurses and the things I have read that has been an education for me about issues in nursing and with the economy in tatters, I serious reflection is needed to make this decision, as it appears you are doing, Seeking advice is a good start.

I have been working outside the US for over 13 years and have been in nursing for nearly 31 and more if you count working during nursing school and high school hospital volunteer work. I left general nursing in 1981 for NP school so lost touch with general nursing and now I am in nsg management. It has been a real education reading the diverse feelings about nursing in these times and issues on hospitals between nurses, b/tween nurses and management, nurses and visitors, etc....For the first time in decades I waver, just a bit, on advising on nursing as a career. As for me, it's, 'until death do as part', but for others, hmmmmmm.

As for leaving a secure, stable job (how stable is it if its in a hospital?) at this juncture, I'd put that on hold, at least for a year or two to see if this 'racing economic train' comes to halt or goes off the bridge. Personally, from indicators and things I read, I think the bridge up ahead is out..

We don't know your age, but I'm going to be 52 in a few weeks and have 16 credits left in a masters program in health care administration and thinking what to pursue after that.

If your still spry enough, I'd say, hold tight for a while, then if things stabilize and the profession rebounds, go for it. A question I have at this juncture, what will the health care landscape look like after this is over.

KalipsoRed · Mar 9, 2009

If you get forced out of your job go for it, but I would not quit a good paying job with those work hours to go into nursing. In fact I'm working as a nurse to pay off my debts so I can get out of nursing...and I just became a nurse in 2008. I love people and I wanted to have a job where I felt like I was really making an impact on peoples lives. It is a misnomer that nursing....or anything in the health field really does that. We might make an impact but most of the time I feel like it is a poor impact. I would say only go to nursing school if you get laid off.