No sick adults please.....can I still be a nurse?

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Jun 20, 2011

I usually try to be very encouraging of students but I keep thinking about your post and I have no idea how you will make it if you can't stand to work with sick adults. In my program I spent 2 days on peds (was supposed to be 3 but census was very low so I went to the ED for a night) and 2 days in mother baby unit and 1 day in L&D. The other 99% of my clinicals was taking care of adults of all ages but primarily older adults.

The chances of New Grads getting into L&D, Mom and baby and Peds is also slim to none here. I was actually an exception to getting into Peds right off the bat as a new grad in my area. So although it's not impossible as a new grad to get one of these units, if that is the only place you are willing to work you might be without a job for quiet a while which will make you less desirable to an employer as well.

If you didn't want to work with kids, then that might be more doable and tolerable because you will encounter them a heck of a lot less. But to be turned off to working with adults period, not quiet sure how that will work because that will be majority of the patients you see.

JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN · Jun 20, 2011

I must agree with Mi Vida Loca. The hospitals have sick/injured/recovering adults. At our local hospitals the ratio is something like 30:1. Unless you are having your clinical rotations at a large children's hospital, you may not see many kids or young adults during your clinicals. Maybe you'll see the occasional appendicitis, RSV, or other acute illnesses but you won't get much experience in other diseases because thankfully, they are rare and are handled at bigger facilities.

leenak · Jun 20, 2011

There are also other jobs out there. I've known a few people who were Doulas although I don't know much about doulas but if you want to be involved in the birthing process, seems like a good way to go. Also, there are advanced nurses such as Peds NP/CNS and Midwife that may be something you'd be interested in. You'd need to get your RN first and may need to work a few years as an RN before pursuing those degrees but that is an option.

Anne36, LPN · Jun 20, 2011

LOL, I have 4 kids too and I am opposite of you. I dont want OB and peds, I just want sick adults. It looks like we all have to do some things we dont want in Nursing.

tkm2005 · Jun 20, 2011

Being a nurse means caring about all of your patients equally. If "sick adults" gross you out, you should find another profession. I don't mean to sound harsh, but you are going to deal with A LOT of sick adults in nursing school - and going in with this attitude, you probably won't make it out of nursing school alive!!

AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP · Jun 21, 2011

Here is my dilemma. I have a HUGE passion for labor/delivery and pediatrics (having had 4 children myself). However, I do NOT want to deal with sick adults. I understand that NS is mostly about sick adults and we will only spend 8 to 10 weeks total on mother/child and peds. Is it possible for someone like me to make it through nursing school (as a means to an end)? I keep thinking as soon as we start clinicals in a nursing home I will run the other way. Does anyone else feel this way and if so, how do you get through it?

I'm a midwife and hated my hospital OB rotation. I don't know why anyone wants to be a L&D nurse! Peds was depressing with all the sick kids... anything from flu to asthma to infections to cancer to outright abuse (mom's new boyfriends often beat the kids to show her what's what) and neglect (my unit was raising an abandoned failure to thrive toddler with CHF). All those kids come with parents with opinions and fear. And 16 year olds are a ton of fun :eek: . Give me a good old med-surg patient on tele :yeah:

If you have a goal, you'll survive the learning experience. After all, L&D isn't all about glowing mothers and happy babies. You'll need to know what you learn in your med-surg rotations. Wound care (cesarean infection anyone?), meds (diabetes, hypertension, etc.), psych (hello!).

KristeyK · Jun 21, 2011

My thought was if you don't like sick adults, what about the laboring moms? Sure, they may not be sick, but they still need a high level of care. I'm with you in that I want L&D and Peds, I thought I would LOATHE med-surg, but I actually kind of liked it! And it's a GREAT stepping stone to other areas and lets you get your feet under you as a nurse. It's unusual that a new grad gets to walk into a specialty position, as most hospitals require a year or two of patient care before that happens. Heck, even the techs in a couple of hospitals in my city have to have experience in pt. care in other areas before they get to go to L&D.

Good luck! And GO IN WITH AN OPEN MIND!!! Once of my classmates started school dead set against anything other than L&D...she just finished that rotation and has decided that it's probably the LAST thing she'll ever want to do as a nurse now. However, she's enjoying med-surg and psych.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Jun 21, 2011

So, the fact that I say "eeeewwwwwwww" when I even think about doing bed baths, catheters, wound care, etc. on adults.....this will go away in time?
leenak....EXACTLY! What if I can't get a job in OB or PEDS after I graduate? It seems that a lot of pre-nursing students I know all want these areas as well so maybe they are in high demand. I guess I'm not opposed to "paying my dues" somewhere else for a year....but right now I just can't imagine working with adults.
Funny, my husband asks WHY I want to go into nursing when I can't stand it when HE is sick!
Oh, how I wish there was just a program for OB or pediatic nurses!

Peds nurse here. Your attitude of not wanting to care for sick adults is actually quite common among my pedatric nurse co-workers. You may say that nursing school will be hard for you to get through to do foleys, wound care, etc but you need to realize that pediatrics includes teenagers, which oftentimes have adult bodies that you are doing adult skills on. Teenagers come in after a trauma and need wound care, need a foley, are on bedrest and need a bed bath, etc. I just want you to realize that not all kids are cute and cuddly.

But my opinion is going to be different that most of my fellow peds nurses as after 2 years of peds I wanted some variety and sicker pts so I cross-trained into med-surg.

Nomijen · Jun 21, 2011

You're gonna have to suck it up until you get where you are going. Honestly, I don't like kids, or SICK people at all. I always wanted to work with the *hurt*. I think I am gonna have to work in an ER...Trauma....but I know it most likely won't be the first job I get. However, I want it bad enough to hang in there. I think it's great that you know exactly what you want :) That tells me that eventually, sooner or later, you will get there.

FLhusker · Jun 21, 2011

You're gonna have to suck it up until you get where you are going. Honestly, I don't like kids, or SICK people at all. I always wanted to work with the *hurt*. I think I am gonna have to work in an ER...Trauma....but I know it most likely won't be the first job I get. However, I want it bad enough to hang in there. I think it's great that you know exactly what you want :) That tells me that eventually, sooner or later, you will get there.

Nomijen.....are you in NS now? How do you deal with the sick people when what you really want to do is deal with injuries? How do you just "suck it up"? I just keep wondering if 2 years of NS dealing with stuff I don't like is worth it to get where I want to be. I guess it depends on how badly one wants it. I think I want it pretty bad, I mean whenever I read articles about PEDS or LD, I'm totally interested, but I just get bored with the other stuff. Then again, I really had NO desire to take Chemistry or Algebra, but I got through those with flying colors....I guess I will have to look at this the same way?

themommy · Jun 21, 2011

OP, I can relate pretty well... I'm actually not a huge fan of sick people in general. Well actually, I take that back... sick people are fine, and I do enjoy helping to make them feel better (even my husband when he's sick, and that guy can be the biggest baby on the planet). But I don't like the thought of working with critically ill patients, especially those who need total care. I wasn't sure how I would like hospital clinicals, and after my first clinical rotation in oncology, I knew 100% that I don't want to work in a hospital EVER.

It probably sounds like nursing school is the wrong place for me, but I've always wanted to become a nurse because I want to work in preventative health. I see myself doing education, and teaching people to stay healthy so that they don't end up in hospitals. I think there is definitely a need for nurses to work that kind of work. I currently work per diem as a health educator (which I LOVE), but I'm looking forward to having BSN, RN after my name so that I can help those people on a greater level and with even more knowledge.

It's going to be even tougher than it already is to get through nursing school when you don't like a majority of what you'll be doing, but just know that every single thing you'll be learning, every skill that you'll be performing, and every patient you encounter will be invaluable to you becoming a fantastic OB or pediatric nurse one day.

ReinventingMyselfAgain, MSN, RN · Jun 22, 2011

I have been a peds nurse for the last 11 years (now teach med surg and peds, both theory and clinical).

What many new nurses fail to realize is that peds IS med surg. While the variety does not exist as much as it does in adult nursing, they are the same disorders, same skills, same physical nursing care. I have worked with many Peds Princesses in my day, who thought they were the cat's meow b/c they did not have to pay their dues in M/S. The very same nurses had no idea what to do with the post chemo kid with hemorrhagic cystitis who needed a CBI (to name one instance).

Now that I do most of my clinicals in M/S, I can honestly say that caring for adults is so much easier! Don't get me wrong, I love kids, and being a peds nurse. But it is a challenge (I think that is why I enjoy it, especially doing clinicals with the students). You need to be creative, negotiate, bargain, and deal with the families. Very rarely does a kid want the interventions you offer them. And many of the parents have the "do you really need to do that to my child" attitude. So yeah, while the diapers (and output) are smaller, the bedbaths are a walk in the park (unless you have a comatose or delayed teeneager), and there are a lot less meds (in general peds, that is), it is psychosocially draining and challenging.

I cannot speak to OB, except for this one thing: 20 years ago, I could have written your original post (except for the 4 kids). I so badly wanted to work in OB. Now, I have absolutely no interest in it (and never really did once I became a nurse).

Keep your mind open... and your distaste for MS as far away from your patiets (and instructors) as you possibly can.