Hello, nurses! Before I officially decide to go for nursing school, I wanted to get a general idea of the lifestyle of a nurse (though I know it differs for everyone). So, I have a list of questions and I would really appreciate it if you could answer any of them for me! Please include what type of nurse you are!
How often would you consider your work life to be stressful? How stressful?
Do you believe you have a healthy family life? I'm a family-oriented person and wouldn't to completely sacrifice that for my job. How much time do you have with your family?
What mood do you return home in most often?
Do you feel like you have time for going out?
Thank you in advance for any answers you are able to provide!
I think the aim of what you're seeking should be directed more towards the life of a nursing student. There was a lot I had to put up with that made me sometimes feel like it simply wasn't worth it (especially dealing with the board in my state and getting my authorization to test for the NCLEX). I made it through, however, and am looking forward to simply just having to show up for work. However, I wish I had known a bit more about that before I decided to jump in headfirst. What I go through at work far and away is so much more pleasant than the nonsense that school put me through.
I think the aim of what you're seeking should be directed more towards the life of a nursing student. There was a lot I had to put up with that made me sometimes feel like it simply wasn't worth it (especially dealing with the board in my state and getting my authorization to test for the NCLEX). I made it through, however, and am looking forward to simply just having to show up for work. However, I wish I had known a bit more about that before I decided to jump in headfirst. What I go through at work far and away is so much more pleasant than the nonsense that school put me through.
The reason I chose to ask about working nurses rather than students was because I figured that, even though nursing school may be very difficult, it's more likely that someone could complete it and end up unable to handle the actual job. I could be wrong, though! Thanks for sharing with me.
Does this make you regret your decision to become a nurse? Would you do it all over again?
Thanks to everyone who has posted thus far.
Absolutely regret , well mostly. I know some of my reasons for not being able to find different work( where I am , you are either a hospital nurse, or planning to move on as NP. Dr offices usually dont hire RNs) spouse wont move.
Also more regret- being a nurse with all this customer service jhaco baloney going on.
No, I would not do it all over again. Actually am looking to go back to school for something else. > 10 years down the toilet bowl, but it will be so worth it to not be abused in that way any longer
Nursing has various layers of stress, which I think is dependent on the situation and specialty; for someone who has worked in various specialties, it is difficult to quantify "how stressful" nursing in genera can be; you can be stressed because you are frustrated for your patients; stressed because a patient is potentially unstable and there are no beds in the hospital and you have to manage that assignment along with others who are entering who are just as sick and had to wait for hours becuase patients are boarding; you can be stressful because corporate management can be not the nicest people to work for (I'm putting that VERY mildly... ) again many things, and it can vary shift to shift, week to week, etc.
When it comes to holidays, I'm always willing to trade certain holidays to have off-Memorial Day (becuase I one of the lucky ones whose birthday fall on that day every 5-6 years) and Christmas (mostly becuase of tradition); I usually find someone to trade those days and will work all the other holidays to have those only off during the year.
Mood: I go home "normal"; I treat this as a business; I got to work, utilize my nursing skills, critically think, educate, try to empower, try to have fun amidst the craziness, and when I clock out I get to be a regular person until the next shift; depending on the shift I either can go home and cook, if it's a mid evening shift, I'm headed to my bed.
Going out: yes, I have a social life outside of work, some with my colleagues, sometimes with my family, and sometimes by myself.
I also love to travel, so I make time for that as well.
Nursing has various layers of stress, which I think is dependent on the situation and specialty; for someone who has worked in various specialties, it is difficult to quantify "how stressful" nursing in genera can be; you can be stressed because you are frustrated for your patients; stressed because a patient is potentially unstable and there are no beds in the hospital and you have to manage that assignment along with others who are entering who are just as sick and had to wait for hours becuase patients are boarding; you can be stressful because corporate management can be not the nicest people to work for (I'm putting that VERY mildly... ) again many things, and it can vary shift to shift, week to week, etc.
When it comes to holidays, I'm always willing to trade certain holidays to have off-Memorial Day (becuase I one of the lucky ones whose birthday fall on that day every 5-6 years) and Christmas (mostly becuase of tradition); I usually find someone to trade those days and will work all the other holidays to have those only off during the year.
Mood: I go home "normal"; I treat this as a business; I got to work, utilize my nursing skills, critically think, educate, try to empower, try to have fun amidst the craziness, and when I clock out I get to be a regular person until the next shift; depending on the shift I either can go home and cook, if it's a mid evening shift, I'm headed to my bed.
Going out: yes, I have a social life outside of work, some with my colleagues, sometimes with my family, and sometimes by myself.
I also love to travel, so I make time for that as well.
I think I would treat it in the same respect as you when you say, "like a business." Also, it's nice to hear that you have time for travel, as I enjoy doing so as well. Thank you.
I'm past the age where I have any desire to go out after work. Been there, done that.
If I had a stretch of days off, it might be different, but I work 5 x 8's. After work, I usually want to go to the gym and go home.
My work isn't usually stressful (tiring sometimes, talking all day if I have presentations back to back). I don't work floor shifts anymore. I'm an educator.
Work is a small part of my life. I have many other interests.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Your lifestyle as a nurse will be largely what you make of it. Your family time will be largely what you make of it, as will be your stress level. Life is largely what you make of it.
Bankers hours as a nurse are difficult to come by and mostly require experience at the bedside FIRST. Fortunately, not everyone wants banker's hours. Nursing schedules can be very flexible as opposed to a Monday through Friday job. You may have to work every other weekend, every other holiday and rotate shifts, but you can get your anniversary, your kid's birthday and Valentine's Day off every year if you plan ahead. When my father was dying, someone (several someones, actually) traded shifts with me so that I could drive 1000 miles and cook him a turkey for Thanksgiving. I'll never regret the week I spent with my Dad before he died.
You may work your child's first Christmas, but the child will be too young to read the calendar and the wonder of "Christmas morning" will be just as beautiful on December 22 or 27 as it would have been on December 25. Your twelve year old may be delighted that he gets more loot on "Christmas" December 27 because you shopped the post Christmas sales and your 17 year old may be delighted to spend Christmas Day with her boyfriend's family while you worked -- and excited to show off the Christmas presents she opened December 23 when your family celebrated. As for myself -- I found that "I'm working" was a great way to get out of showing up at mean Uncle Abner's house for the family holidays, even when I wasn't working.
Yes, nurses work nights, and that's a drag. Although sometimes, it can mean the difference between having to have daycare and not. You can drop your kids off at school, go home and sleep, and pick them up later. If you work 8 hours, you can still have dinner and help with the homework, and if you're working 12 hour shifts you know you have four days a week when you're not working.
Work is stressful, there's no doubt about that. I have a cousin who owns a plant nursery, a cousin whose job consists of sewing crotches into underwear all day, a cousin who is a pig farmer, a cousin who works in IT and several cousins who own their own businesses. They all say their work is stressful, too. In fact, I don't know anyone who thinks their job isn't stressful. Not working can be stressful as well.
I come home from work tired, but sometimes I'm tired and satisfied. Sometimes I'm tired and angry or frustrated. I think most people come home from their jobs tired. The thing is, when I walk into work past the big sign announcing the name of one of the top hospitals in the world, I'm proud and happy. Some days, I think I have the best job in the world.
How often would you consider your work life to be stressful? How stressful?
Always. Very.
[*]Do you believe you have a healthy family life? I'm a family-oriented person and wouldn't to completely sacrifice that for my job. How much time do you have with your family?
Fairly. Not enough.
[*]What mood do you return home in most often?
Exhausted and overstimulated.
[*]Do you feel like you have time for going out?
Doesn't matter, I don't like to "go out" in the currently accepted sense. I do socialize, if that is the question you meant.
These are good questions, but they don't give you much of a sense of what it's like to be a nurse.
As other PPs have said, these questions are very subjective. A lot of the answers depend on external factors, too, such as type of nursing job, day vs evening vs night shift, 8 hr vs 12 hr shifts, hospital system, state, etc.
Working in acute care in AZ is hard. The local hospitals treat nurses poorly in comparison to other states where I've worked.
The system I work for now is awful. The hospital I work at is poorly run. The unit I work on has constant turnover and ineffective management. The patient load is ridiculous and the patient population can be very challenging. I am a floor nurse and I have very little autonomy or power over the decisions that rule my workday. With the recent changes in healthcare and the lack of responsibility and ethicality in the business world, healthcare has devolved into paperwork to CYA in the case of an inspection by one of many governmental bodies that oversee hospital function. Then there are the legal issues from lawsuits.
The hospital I work for recently had a patient who had a stroke with a poor outcome and was sued successfully. Now we have to do ICU-worthy neuro checks on observation patients. All the hospital really needed to do was reduce the patient to nurse ratio, but since it is run by reactionaries without much sense, it just increased the amount of charting we have to do and further limited our time with the patients. Kinda shot themselves in the foot.
I don't see my family much, but that's mostly because they are across the country. I have no children (thank you, Lord!), two dogs, a cat, and a wonderful husband who I do not see enough. My husband and I work opposite shifts. He gets weekends off and I am mandated every other F/Sa/Su.
I work nights, so I come home exhausted. I live in a state of sleep deprivation. I have ADHD and I am alternately zombified and near-manic.
"Going out" isn't even on my radar. My husband and I travel occasionally and pursue hobbies together. I get together with work friends from time to time. My social time is mostly spent on schoolwork, since I am working on a BSN. The rest is reserved for phone calls to my family, who are approximately 2200 miles away.
The answers to your questions are entirely subjective and individual. Nursing is a stressful career and it impacts their family differently.
Your family life WILL suffer. You will be working nights weekends, and holidays. They will NOT understand why you will not be available.
Despite the fact that the OP did not like this answer I found it to be rather realistic. I fear that I will be dubbed one of those "Debbie Downers" but the truth is that when I was in the midst of working weekends, holidays and nights I too thought it was fine. After 23 years of it I switched to a M-F no weekends or holidays job. It was only then that I realized the toll my job had on me and my family. When I was finally able to go to all family functions without having to switch or try to get PTO the relief was enormous. My mom doesn't stress about Christmas anymore. Now they can call me whenever they want during regular people hours. There were many occasions that they got confused about my schedule and called while I was sleeping and felt terrible about it ( I always answer if it's my family. They don't usually call just to chat). Without knowing it my schedule actually WAS stressing my family out. Working M-F has its difficulties as any schedule does (work really gets in the way of my living) but I feel more human and normal now than when I was working traditional nursing hours and my family no longer has to worry about interrupting my sleep or trying to figure out how to celebrate holidays so that I can be there. I have to give them credit for NEVER complaining about it but the first year we didn't have to juggle Christmas their relief was painfully obvious.
You may work your child's first Christmas, but the child will be too young to read the calendar and the wonder of "Christmas morning" will be just as beautiful on December 22 or 27 as it would have been on December 25.
That's funny, yet smart. Haha. :)
The system I work for now is awful. The hospital I work at is poorly run. The unit I work on has constant turnover and ineffective management. The patient load is ridiculous and the patient population can be very challenging. I am a floor nurse and I have very little autonomy or power over the decisions that rule my workday. With the recent changes in healthcare and the lack of responsibility and ethicality in the business world, healthcare has devolved into paperwork to CYA in the case of an inspection by one of many governmental bodies that oversee hospital function. Then there are the legal issues from lawsuits.
That sounds awful. Have you ever tried to leave? Or are there no better options? And by "going out" I really just meant eating out for dinner, going to a movie, or going to the mall! Thanks for sharing!
Despite the fact that the OP did not like this answer I found it to be rather realistic. I fear that I will be dubbed one of those "Debbie Downers" but the truth is that when I was in the midst of working weekends, holidays and nights I too thought it was fine. After 23 years of it I switched to a M-F no weekends or holidays job. It was only then that I realized the toll my job had on me and my family. When I was finally able to go to all family functions without having to switch or try to get PTO the relief was enormous. My mom doesn't stress about Christmas anymore. Now they can call me whenever they want during regular people hours. There were many occasions that they got confused about my schedule and called while I was sleeping and felt terrible about it ( I always answer if it's my family. They don't usually call just to chat). Without knowing it my schedule actually WAS stressing my family out. Working M-F has its difficulties as any schedule does (work really gets in the way of my living) but I feel more human and normal now than when I was working traditional nursing hours and my family no longer has to worry about interrupting my sleep or trying to figure out how to celebrate holidays so that I can be there. I have to give them credit for NEVER complaining about it but the first year we didn't have to juggle Christmas their relief was painfully obvious.
It's not that I disliked that answer, I simply misinterpreted the tone of it. But I am a pretty realistic person, so I understand that a career in nursing is not going to necessarily be fun and games! Thanks for elaborating more on that matter. I'm glad you have your holidays off now! I may not have that issue though, as my family and I celebrate holidays that are nontraditional for the vast majority of people in the U.S. (we are of Islamic faith), so I would most likely have no problem getting those days off. Thanks for sharing!
The reason I chose to ask about working nurses rather than students was because I figured that, even though nursing school may be very difficult, it's more likely that someone could complete it and end up unable to handle the actual job. I could be wrong, though! Thanks for sharing with me.
Well, I mean to say that, seeing both sides of it, all the awful stuff I have gone through as a student makes a lot of nursing a cakewalk. I have dealt with angry customers (and, soon to be, angry parents/patients) and I have always worked a horrible schedule so I am thrilled to work nights (only 3, maybe 4??) and I am not bound to work every single holiday (unlike retail where I got absolutely no choice). I have put up with the awful madness of scheduling, budgeting, and other mundane necessities that can really suck the life out of nursing. I have shouldered responsibilities that no one in nursing school really should be dealing with (I spearheaded a uniform change with minimal support from the faculty that mandated the change -- as usual) and I have come out the other side ready to take nursing by the horns and do what I love to do.
I am blessed to be specializing right out of school (pediatric hemonc) but I worked myself insane getting here. I just came off a 7-day break because that's the way my schedule magically fell after I swapped a shift out to cover for someone. I definitely have time for family and to do whatever I want to in life now but I had to kick butt throughout nursing school (and that was 3 years of a lot of sacrifice and not getting to see family and having literally NO interests outside of school and work) to carve out a place for myself that was reasonable. So, that's why I mention nursing school first. Because 2-3 years of near-isolation and having practically no life can really take it's toll by the end. Once you get into it, you can see how you can place yourself somewhere that is awesome and be surrounded by awesome people in a supportive environment and it shouldn't end up being as stressful as it often ends up (especially if having time for your family is a priority -- but, in nursing school, family will not be a priority).
How often would you consider your work life to be stressful? How stressful?
In my current nursing position, I have almost 0 stress. I am an LPN in OK and work for a rural hospital in administration. I spend 16-20 hours per week at the local schools as a nurse and the rest at the hospital working on data extrapolation. Previously, I have worked as a weekend doubles charge nurse in LTC/SNF- very stressful but I only worked 2 days each week and was paid for 40 hours :) I was in private duty (stressful at times) for almost 2 years, and then in LTC/SNF as an MDS/PPS nurse (stressful when I had call and worked as a charge nurse but otherwise only stressful some of the time) for another 2.
2. Do you believe you have a healthy family life? I'm a family-oriented person and wouldn't to completely sacrifice that for my job. How much time do you have with your family?
I've always chosen to make my family a priority. There are plenty of nursing jobs in my area offering a variety of pay, hours and working conditions so I have thankfully been able to balance my work and family. I think a lot will depend on the demand for nurses in your area.
3. What mood do you return home in most often?
I am generally in a good mood but tired :) I have fibromyalgia and that causes fatigue but I usually have the energy to cuddle my little one.
4. Do you feel like you have time for going out?
Well I have a 4 1/2 year old daughter so time with hubby is at a premium but it isn't my job, it's the fact that my little one is a mama's girl :)
) again many things, and it can vary shift to shift, week to week, etc.
Thanks for sharing!.thumb.gif.9c97ffa9443a5f22ff38e1eac832292c.gif){kind=avatar}
la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN
1,260 Posts
I think the aim of what you're seeking should be directed more towards the life of a nursing student. There was a lot I had to put up with that made me sometimes feel like it simply wasn't worth it (especially dealing with the board in my state and getting my authorization to test for the NCLEX). I made it through, however, and am looking forward to simply just having to show up for work. However, I wish I had known a bit more about that before I decided to jump in headfirst. What I go through at work far and away is so much more pleasant than the nonsense that school put me through.