Let's hear how awesome nursing is!

[SummitRN]

I start my BSN program in 2 weeks.

I've been reading non-stop posts on here about how everyone is working at soul crushingly unsafe patient ratios, getting unfairly fired, and how nobody can find a job, particularly new grads. It has me rather apprehensive and down about this whole journey in front of me that I want to last for the rest of my life.

So please, let's hear positives stories about how awesome nursing is, how you used critical thinking and experience to figure out a patient's problem, about how you really helped someone, about how you worked your way up to a position you love, and about how you like to enjoy your days off since many should have 3-4 days off!

[noahsmama]

I changed careers to nursing at the age of 49, and for me it's the best career decision I ever made. I have been working as a nurse for not quite 2 years now: 1.5 years as a bedside nurse in a major pediatric hospital, and now 3 months as a public health nurse working on health access and health education for kids in the foster care system (and their caregivers). Here are the positives about nursing for me:

-- I am doing work that is meaningful and important to me. I feel that I am making a valuable contribution to society.

-- I get to help people, and the people I get to help are children! (I have always wanted to work in peds).

-- the pay and benefits have been excellent in both of my nursing jobs so far

-- my co-workers have been amazingly dedicated, wonderful, supportive people who believe in what they're doing as much as I do (with one or two exceptions at my hospital job -- no exceptions so far at my PHN job).

-- I love to learn, and have learned an amazing amount of really interesting stuff in both of my jobs so far -- I especially enjoy pathophysiology and like learning about my clients health conditions

-- I enjoy teaching patients/clients and their caregivers, and have had opportunities to do so at both jobs.

-- a plus of my hospital job was having a few week days off here and there, to do things like grocery shopping, medical appointments, etc. (but the downside was working every other weekend plus holidays)

-- in my current job, I don't have to work holidays or weekends (but the downside is no weekdays off -- however, I do get to use my sick leave to take time off for personal medical appointments during the week).

-- because I live in California, which has patient ratio laws, my patient load in my hospital job was almost always manageable -- and the other nurses on the unit were great about helping each other when someone was swamped (again, with one or two exceptions -- I learned how to work around the exceptions).

-- I am incredibly proud of being a nurse, and enjoy being able to tell others that this is what I do for a living (I did not feel that way about my previous job)

-- I LOVED nursing school -- again, I love learning, and you learn such an amazing amount of stuff from both classes and clinicals.

Good luck in nursing school -- I hope you love it as much as I did, and hope you love nursing as much as I do!

[BellaInBlueScrubsRN]

I love nursing.

I love working in the ICU. I think its fun and rewarding. And when I complain that I've worked ridiculously hard, usually its because I was doing something to help someone else.

I like teaching. Interacting with patients and families.

I love those times when I realize I know more than I think I do sometimes.