My son wants to be a nurse????

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Hello everyone,

First, I want to thank each of you for selecting nursing as your career. I have experienced many hospital experiences (surgeries, childbirth, death, etc) and appreciate all you do.

Quick summary: I have a son (single, 32) who lost his job (real estate) and needs more "job security". Nursing has been suggested and he is looking into a community college for either a LPN or RN program. He has Anatomy II and Microbiology left as pre-req and most likely will be accepted into either program.

Is money/job security a valid reason to change careers?

I would hate to see him fail....nursing seems so hard!!!

Thanks for reading and responding.

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Well, I sure think so, especially if he's part of the about-to-implode CA real estate business.

Nursing is hard, but it's also rewarding.

And Mom, he's 32. Gotta let that big baby bird fly!

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Personally, I think money/job security is a very valid reason to change careers.

However, with a service oriented profession, I think that if your motivation for doing one of these careers is money/job security alone, than you (in this case your son) will probably have a hard time succeeding in.

From being on all nurses.com for awhile and from working with nurses, the 11th hour into a shift when you are covered in various "gross" liquids, are being yelled at by five different people to do 20 different things, very rarely is the thing that gets a nurse through it the 25-35 dollars per hour. Usually, what gets them through it, is an intrinsic desire to care for their patient.

While clearly altruistic reasons are not the only reasons people become nurses (otherwise, they would all be working for the peacecorps or the like), I do feel like this has to be where atleast part of the motivation is coming from.

In my limited, humble opinion I believe that to succeed in nursing one must:

- care about their patients, be hard-working, flexible, able to work as a team, be able to seperate work life from personal life, and have a thick-skin (or atleast the ability to thicken what they have!).

Money is ofcourse important. As is job-security. But if those are the ONLY reasons your son wants to go into nursing....he should probably look elsewhere.

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Money and job security are both valid reasons to want to be a nurse. Sounds like he's serious about it too as he only has 2 pre-reqs left to go. I wish him all the luck in the world. Nursing school is tough but he can do it if he puts the time into it. I would suggest the RN program as that will leave him with more options and the pay is better. :)

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LOL...I was afraid I would come off as the "overly" protective mom. Lord help me, I know it's a personality disorder!!

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Specializes in RN CRRN.

I think it is a great idea....if he is thinking about it now then he probably has thought about it for a while now, now he is maybe just making a decision. I like to think he isn't just doing it for security--for those that do I think schools have their way of filtering out those who may be in it for JUST job security or money (aren't we all to an extent though) from those who really feel it is a calling. It all breaks down to skills in the end....but if they don't have the desire or "calling" then I really feel that will show in their skills, and schools will hopefully give students an accurate picture so their is no 'career shock' when they graduate.

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Specializes in med/surg/tele/neuro/rehab/corrections.

Nursing doesn't have to be a calling. Yes it's okay to do it for money and job security. Nursing is a great profession. :) And nursing in CA is especially good because we have limits on the number of patients we can take. It makes for a rewarding career. Good luck to your son. He will be fine. :heartbeat

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Recognize, however, that many places in Cali are seeing a glut of new grads on the market so a local job upon graduation is hardly a sure thing.

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Fortunately, we live in a University/Med Center city where there is a nursing shortage; however, real estate has taken a nose dive.

Just curious, how do male nurses relate to patients vs. female nurses? I never had a male nurse.

Thanks for your response.

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Specializes in med/surg/tele/neuro/rehab/corrections.

Yes I have been reading that thread about the bay area new grads. Thanks song for bringing it up. I had forgotten. :) It does depend on where you live and if you want to travel to a different area or not.

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Fortunately, we live in a University/Med Center city where there is a nursing shortage; however, real estate has taken a nose dive.

Just curious, how do male nurses relate to patients vs. female nurses? I never had a male nurse.

Thanks for your response.

I can honestly say as a patient, a nurse is a nurse. Skills and attitude are what the patient needs to worry about.

Having said that, I notice that the patients and families are far less to be abusive to my male co-workers.

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine, Dr. Office, Psych.

:yeah:I applaud your son for entering into a more secure field! I havent found any place around our nation that isn't hiring nurses! Even in the Caribbean there are currently many many openings for Nurses! SO no matter where he wants to live & work nursing is a great place to get that job security! :up:

I am a mom of a soon to be 18 and he is leaning toward medicine or law (my career has encouraged his desire to learn about medicine & my fiance is in law)......... I hope he chooses whats best for him. He has applied to a local college for the Police Academy & has applied to Ohio State University for Pre-med............. I hope that your son does well, but if he can make it through the Pre-req's than i am sure he will do fine! :up:

Support his decision & give him a pat on the back!

Don't worry about our kids failures thats how they learn!

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