Need help from new nurses..

Read several of the posts in this forum and you can get a pretty clear picture of the first year as a new nurse.

For myself, I was a CNA/Tech for several years before nursing school and during it. I thought that I new what I was getting into. As a CNA and again as a nursing student you have no true understanding of what it takes to be a nurse. Nursing is hard work. There have been days when I work as hard and as fast as I possibly can and at the end of the day/night it was not enough. 8 months in as a new nurse and there are less days/nights like that, but I still have a long way to go.

See if you could shadow a nurse at a local hospital.

Shadowing a nurse is such a great idea, I can't believe I haven't thought of that!! Thank you!

I think shadowing a nurse is a great idea. To be honest with you when I decided to go to nursing school I had no idea what it entailed. I was originally a pharmacy major who just let organic chemistry get the best of me. My mother told me she didn't care what I majored in but I could not do business. I had a few of my sorority sisters in nursing so I decided to pick it. I left it up to fate. If I didn't get into nursing school the semester I applied I was going to choose something else. I got in, had my first clinical and the rest is history.

It's very hard and a very demanding field. I would make sure you're in it for the right reasons. There are much easier ways of making money than to go into nursing. Your heart really has to be in it to survive. I'm new, but from what I've seen in clinicals you can tell those that went into it for the right reasons and those that went into it for money. There is a difference in their attitude and sad to say even sometime in their care. I would highly suggest shadowing someone. Or talking to someone who went through the schooling to get a full picture of what it is like. If you are interested in hearing what I have to say about nursing school feel free to pm me w/your email and I will be glad to share my full experience.

There was a post here with a bunch of links to some different websites to help you find out if nursing might be the right career for you (like a personality quiz, job descriptions, etc.)

I would personally ignore the negative threads here, not because I think we should all have our heads in the sand about things, but because everyone has different perceptions and ideas about nursing and their job in general. Some people truely get taken advantage of by their employers and of course they will have a negative experience in those cases. And I've noticed that people are more likely to talk about negative things (in general) than positive things, so that can skew your judgement as well.

In my limited experience, so far everything is great!! Nursing school is very tough but I believe it is intended to be that way to prepare you for a challenging profession. It IS hard work, but it is also very rewarding work. I think if you can make it through nursing school then you will make it in the real world. There are a lot of options out here for nurses; if you don't like bedside nursing you are bound to find another job after you gain some experience. It is good money and good benefits, with the ability to make some extra cash working overtime if you choose to. Of course you won't be as rich as an actor or professional athlete, but there are many professions out there that don't pay nearly as much as it should (police officers, firefighters, teachers to name a few, as well as nurses).

I don't think people are "born to be nurses" or they have to be "a special type of person", that is an old stereotype. There are some aspects of personality that lend to making the job a bit easier, but most of those qualities can be learned, too. I think if you have a thirst for knowledge, an interest in science and the human body, and a determination to succeed, you will be a fine nurse :)

I knew I wanted to be a nurse before I started school.

Then during my first semester of clinicals, I got overwhelmed and came to dread going to clinicals. I questioned myself constantly about wanting to be a nurse and doubted whether I should finish....

I stuck with it and with each semester, there may have been a diminishing feeling of doubt when faced with something new, but by the last semester I was in love!

So much so, that I cried on my last day of management because I was done and I was going to miss everything about school, and I was overwhelmed with what I just accomplished and of course just being so happy I did it. :loveya:

Good luck!