New Here, The Good/ Bad /Ugly

[Howardhughes]

First I would like to say hi to all my brothers and sisters nurses out there. Now to the issue, I Made a Huge mistake becoming a RN. I spent 25 years in the Aviation industry where you were bumped/transfered all over the US to keep a job. After 3 years of Nursing School (very hard) I became a RN thinking I would have a stable job and perhaps find meaning to my last 10 or so years in the work forse. Whew what a mistake. I kept thinking that it surley couldnt be this bad while in school...I must be seeing things through the eyes of a newbe...WRONG. Upon Grad I spent 6 months in the ER (Would NEVER do that again,running at 120% ALL the time and making critical judgements all the time ( from checking the "Docs" bad med orders to having 3 sick peds pt's hit your rooms back to back). Quit. Then I did staff nurse/ supervision with the Dept of Corrections....slower pace but between the dim-wit corrections staff, killers, & child molesters *itching about their care and rights I had to go after 10 months. There is a reason why head hunters are paying $45.00 a hour for nursing staff...NOBODY WANTS TO DO THE WORK. I learned so much in school...and yes Ive had a handfull of exc paitent encounters where the team saves a life, or you realy did a exc job from Dx to dischage...but its rare...Most of the time its 120% work, low pay and stress, hell Im still not up to my pay level that I was making in 2001.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I thought I did my homework when I became a parent. Boy, was I in for a suprise. Like becoming a parent, my first year of nursing was harder than I expected, more stressful than I expected, and well-not what I expected. After sticking with it for a while and finding a field I am more compatible with. It is not a perfect match, but but I would choose nursing if I could do it over.