MEN, dont come into nursing

[DUDERNGUY]

I ve worked in hospitals and nursing homes. It sucks. Dont let people here convince you on how great it is. If you are going back to school dont hang onto the mentality of "nursing is a great career there where always be jobs" that was 10 years ago when that was true. do research, there are no nursing jobs. People from overseas come here by the boat and take jobs. The wage is on the down trend, there are more then enough nurses to replace those ready to retire. Please if you are just getting into college pick a less stressful, good paying career choice. PPLEASE research on forums and here from nurses who are not happy with their career. coorprate has destroyed nursing. Dont listen to the few on here who say nursing is so wonderful, i promise you when they run out of paxil and adivan, which is fueling there happiness, they will no longer be posting on these boards on the issues of how great their jobs are.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

6 hours ago, DUDERNGUY said:

still working in nursing btw, doing my best to climb ranks. things have been working out. Still don't recommend this field. TY for talking crud. I always come back and I always have the last laugh. ALWAYS

If continuing to work in a field for years that you so obviously don't like and climbing ranks in the hope of it improving enough for you to enjoy your job even a little bit is your idea of having the last laugh that's pretty sad.  Hopefully you are at least content with your current job if not actually liking it.

[DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN]

On 9/14/2014 at 10:20 AM, DUDERNGUY said:

 coorprate has destroyed nursing.

Key phrase in the opening post. I think all depends on the system you work in.

I know a lot of people Stateside are anti-socialised medicine, but from somebody who trained in the British NHS and now works in the French system of sécurité sociale, believe me, despite its problems, in general it works.

As a nurse you are more valued in a system where profit is not the main motivation, as are the patients (and I have sampled the private sector both in the UK and France - horrrible!)

We have just had a whacking pay rise because of Covid, not to mention the €1500 Covid bonus we all got. Pay set to increase again in March. Strong unions ensure our working conditions never hit the gutter. It's not perfect - no system is, but I don't think you can effectively run health care as a business, period.

This has nothing to do with being a man. If you're cut out for nursing you'll enjoy it regardless of your gender. Like anything, you get out what you put in.

I left school an academic middling with very mediocre qualifications. Nursing has given me the chance to do a first degree and then a masters, I've worked in clinical practice, management, teaching and research - in hospital, community, outreach and for an international inter-governmental organisation. I've had a wonderfully varied career and a transferable qualification which allowed me to emigrate and  start a new life working in another country. 

I say to any young person: think about nursing. You'll never be rich, but you'll never starve either. No profession is perfect. 

[Jeff Wang]

agree

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

On 12/29/2020 at 3:04 AM, DUDERNGUY said:

still working in nursing btw, doing my best to climb ranks. things have been working out. Still don't recommend this feild. TY for talking crud. I always come back and I always have the last laugh. ALWAYS

I'm curious about what you've been doing to "climb ranks." I've had friends go into administrative positions--some into management, others into employee education, and a few lately have become NPs. Most seem motivated by a desire to improve things for bedside nurses, although I am sure there's at least an element of wanting to get out of bedside nursing, too. I'm hoping to do bedside nursing until I retire, and hoping not to retire too soon. If I can stay healthy enough, I would like to work until I am 70, but there are days I wonder if that will be feasible.

[desert_MP, BSN, RN]

Cool story. 

I spent six year in the Army, 15 months in Iraq. Nursing is a great career choice. I've done OR, ICU, one day surgery, and now PACU. Pay just keeps going up. In the midwest I'm making 40/hr. A gallon of milk is 1.80. With call I made over 85k this past year. I'm not being laid off because of COVID. Sorry you've had such a bad experience. I love this job.

[RickyRescueRN, BSN, RN]

25 years here as a RN, in ICU for years then Trauma & ER the flight nursing for 17yrs and just switched to the OR and am loving being a neurosurgical scrub RN. Nursing has been good to me and the best career ever in terms of allowing me to travel and see the world and work in different countries. I have a great life and this is thanks to being a nurse. Sounds like you need to do something entirely different career-wise, as your bitterness towards nursing and also nurses in general ( your rant against foreign nurses cannot be ignored...hope your employer doesn't read that) is pretty clear and evident. 

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

I have also been in the profession for 25 years, mostly in psychiatry and correctional medicine, with about six months spent in rehabilitative medicine. I am currently a DON in a medium security correctional facility. This has been a great career, in terms of both personal satisfaction and financially. Some strange things have happened (I literally closed one facility and I was on duty when two others changed ownership, for example), and I have become accustomed to regularly being sued (a professional hazard that comes with working in a prison). When I finally retire, I will probably keep my hand in it for a while, picking up a few hours here and there. I can't complain.

No two careers are alike, and different people like different things. I believe that it is irresponsible to try to dissuade everyone from pursuing a particular career path because of one's own negative experience.

[NurseNate1]

Very strange post and I wouldn't suggest taking too much advice from a nurse who spells ativan as he did and suggests it makes those who take it happy.  Is he actually a nurse in real life?

My experience 11 years in as a male nurse.  It's a very good job.  Definitely draining when patients get physical with you but it pays well and allows for a good quality of life outside of work as I generally work at least 3 nights in a row before taking a several day in a row stretch off.  There are nursing jobs of all kinds everywhere here in Michigan, but I can't speak for the rest of the country.  I would recommend finance or actuary science over nursing for sure, but nursing is a "good" career choice from my personal experience.

[Kenneth S. Veillon]

On 9/14/2014 at 3:20 AM, DUDERNGUY said:

I ve worked in hospitals and nursing homes. It sucks. don't let people here convince you on how great it is. If you are going back to school don't hang onto the mentality of "nursing is a great career there where always be jobs" that was 10 years ago when that was true. do research, there are no nursing jobs. People from overseas come here by the boat and take jobs. The wage is on the down trend, there are more then enough nurses to replace those ready to retire. Please if you are just getting into college pick a less stressful, good paying career choice. PPLEASE research on forums and here from nurses who are not happy with their career. coorprate has destroyed nursing. don't listen to the few on here who say nursing is so wonderful, I promise you when they run out of paxil and adivan, which is fueling there happiness, they will no longer be posting on these boards on the issues of how great their jobs are.

This must be determined by your location? Because where I am, we literally cannot find nurses to fill positions. Nursing Homes, Hospitals- they all depend on agency, d/t the fact that they cannot build up the staff. The Nursing Schools just don't turn out enough grads. Of the ones that they do turn out, probably half of them just continue their education full-time, since actual experience is not a pre-requisite for NP school, only having an unencumbered RN license is. Of the other half who actually work in the field, even if they all worked as nurses, they don't put a dent in the staffing needs. To make matters worse, a good 1/3 of that 1/2 each semester takes their skills out of state. 

There is such a shortage here that ALL NURSES- LPN, RN- they are all getting the sign-on bonuses. The only area of nursing that is not in shortage here are APRNs. They are over-staffed, and most of them refuse to work in a lower level of nursing, so they go to teach at the schools.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

2 hours ago, Kenneth S. Veillon said:

This must be determined by your location? Because where I am, we literally cannot find nurses to fill positions. Nursing Homes, Hospitals- they all depend on agency, d/t the fact that they cannot build up the staff. The Nursing Schools just don't turn out enough grads. Of the ones that they do turn out, probably half of them just continue their education full-time, since actual experience is not a pre-requisite for NP school, only having an unencumbered RN license is. Of the other half who actually work in the field, even if they all worked as nurses, they don't put a dent in the staffing needs. To make matters worse, a good 1/3 of that 1/2 each semester takes their skills out of state. 

There is such a shortage here that ALL NURSES- LPN, RN- they are all getting the sign-on bonuses. The only area of nursing that is not in shortage here are APRNs. They are over-staffed, and most of them refuse to work in a lower level of nursing, so they go to teach at the schools.

I work in a city with at least a dozen colleges, yet they can't keep RN's because they are treated crappy, poor working conditions and no respect.  Even with sign on bonuses, nurses were quitting anyway where I worked.

Maybe you are in a rural area, but in the city the nursing shortages are due to poor pay, respect and working conditions and the refusal by corporate to fix things.  They've decided travelers are a better option.  My hospital spent over 2.5 million in a year for 50 or 60 travelers this last year!  We were stable till Wrongway took over and destroyed the place and drove most of us out!  If not for them, we would have been stable.  It was the crappy, piss poor leadership that wrecked the place in two short years and they should be sacked!  But they got off the hook blaming Corona and Corona was not the issue.  Very sad!

[Kenneth S. Veillon]

We have that too. LOL. Add that to the above assessment and it compounds the issue.

[Leonardo Del Toro, RN]

One of the biggest and persistent lies ever invented, is that there is this "nursing shortage" THERE IS NO SUCH THING.