Not a caregiver type, but considering nursing?

justbee · Aug 30, 2010

Although, come to think of it, I'm not sure I'm looking for a career. I enjoy the freedom of working from home and not really having a "boss". My life is wide open (aside from financial constraints).
You sound like a sort of free spirit, in a good way.:)
Every time I think about doing something different with my life, I keep coming back around to nursing--and then dismissing it because I am TOTALLY NOT the caregiver sort. I don't enjoy coddling people or listening to whinging. I really don't want to be back at the bottom of the totem pole cleaning out bed pans. Part of the reason I keep coming back around to it when considering life options is that nurses are in demand EVERYWHERE in the world, make a decent living, are surrounded by intelligent, educated, motivated people and do good things for others. My first choice would be to practice outside the U.S., and I am even less familiar with nursing in other countries. I am also concerned with the ick factor. I am not comfortable with gore and the awful things that sometimes happen to people.
I am not a nurse, but a student, prospective PTA. I was an EMT for a couple of years in my 20's. Back then I wanted to help people, but I couldn't see myself as a nurse for some of the reasons you stated. I didn't know if I was the caregiver type, but I loved going out on emergency calls. Of course, we dropped them off at the hospital, and our part was done.
I am not sure this is for me, but I wonder if there are areas I could specialize in that will work to my strengths? Or rather, I think I just don't have an accurate picture of what nurses do on a daily basis and what options would be open to me.

I agree with the suggestion to volunteer at a hospital to really see what goes on. I just recently did, and it verified that I was picking the right area for me. There are so many medical areas where one can help people that are not bedside nursing. Other areas that I checked into were Surgical Tech, Speech Language Pathology, Physical, Occupational and Recreational Therapy and Prosthetics/Orthosis. The Nursing degree has so many specialties within there are too many to list. There probably is a niche for you.

Lastly, you are not the only person to question whether you have the "caregiver" personality. It is a skill, and it really is hard to say unless you have had the exposure or experience. You may have more of it than you think. People that never question themselves and think they just have this magical quality of caring usually don't.

Best wishes, L

wide-eyed · Aug 30, 2010

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has responded, all of this information and dialogue is extremely helpful. I'm just beginning this research and examination process, and there are so many things I hadn't considered and so much to learn! Surgical tech strikes me immediately as being incredibly interesting...

When I first entered college my goal was actually not journalism but biology, and I intended to work in research in a lab. Part of my motivation was the diabetes that runs in my family; last week an uncle who had it worse than other family members passed away, and it's brought the medical field back to mind. We lived 1000+ miles apart so I hadn't seen him in many years, but we kept in touch online. He had so many caregivers and hospital visits and eventually ended up in a rehab facility after his foot was amputated. I know all of this is irrelevant to this topic, but I'm very aware that without all the people who attended to him during his many, many hospital visits and health issues, he wouldn't have lived half as long as he did. He stopped his dialysis and had hospice care in his last week (after quitting dialysis he only lived a few days), and there were three different people (healthcare personnel) who stopped to look in on him that last day. It just seems like there's so much good to be done in this field if I can find the right fit.

Edited to add: He took horrible care of himself, by the way, and in every way contributed to his ill health. Buckets of prescription drugs could never have undone the damage, and this also in part contributes to my interest in naturopathy and health and wellness education. So many issues could be prevented or lessened in severity just by doing right by yourself each and every day.

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Aug 30, 2010

It sounds like you don't really know much about nursing. And I say that without malice but as an observation based on what you've written.

It's much more than "cleaning bedpans" but helping a patient with toileting and keeping them clean has important therapeutic aspects (infection, comfort, feelings of well-being). As someone interested in non-pharmacological healing, I think you should make a connection between being clean and self healing. All those "caring" tasks that might not necessarily require a degree contribute to the patient's treatment.

To continue with your natural leanings....how strongly do you feel about "modern medicine"? Would you feel uncomfortable administering medication to a patient? Would you feel uncomfortable if they were only interested in allopathic treatments? Do you think allopathic medicine is of no use at all? There are some non-pharmacological treatments that have support in a number of studies (I'm thinking in particular of positioning, distraction, massage, etc for use along with meds to relieve pain)- would you be satisfied incorporating things like that or would you want to see your patients on St. John's Wort instead of Prozac?

You're obviously here for information before making a decision. I recommend reading around the forum- maybe not in the student section but the general nursing discussion, first year in nursing, and some of the specialty forums (although there are seasoned nurses who frequent this area, you might get a better sense of what nursing means as a nurse and not a student nurse in another area).

I also recommend trying to shadow nurses in a few different areas. Contact local hospitals and clinics to see if they offer any special programs like that. If you can't shadow, ask if there are some nurses you can interview.

One of the things that no one has mentioned is that nurses provide a lot of patient education about managing/preventing illness. Exercise, diet, the importance of not smoking, stress management....it's really a very holistic view. You'd need to be prepared for patients who have no interest in watching their diet but will gladly take loads of meds to keep them afloat, but there's also the opportunity to teach a healthy lifestyle.

wide-eyed · Aug 31, 2010

It sounds like you don't really know much about nursing. And I say that without malice but as an observation based on what you've written.
It's much more than "cleaning bedpans" but helping a patient with toileting and keeping them clean has important therapeutic aspects (infection, comfort, feelings of well-being). As someone interested in non-pharmacological healing, I think you should make a connection between being clean and self healing. All those "caring" tasks that might not necessarily require a degree contribute to the patient's treatment.

Actually, when I wrote that the image in my mind was of physically taking the bedpan from the patient's room to some other room and literally washing it out like a dog dish, as I often did when working at the animal hospital. I had no idea patients shat themselves with such frequency and ferocity until I read the horror stories! I am well aware (personally, even) that being clean contributes to a general feeling of well-being and I agree with you that this is part of caring for the patient. You're right that I don't know much about what a nurse does, but I have said as much in prior posts. The example, as I later explained, was really to make the point that I did not want to go through the rigors and expense of nursing school to find that I was performing tasks that required no education whatsoever. My exposure to nurses has been minimal. That's why I'm here!

To continue with your natural leanings....how strongly do you feel about "modern medicine"? Would you feel uncomfortable administering medication to a patient? Would you feel uncomfortable if they were only interested in allopathic treatments? Do you think allopathic medicine is of no use at all? There are some non-pharmacological treatments that have support in a number of studies (I'm thinking in particular of positioning, distraction, massage, etc for use along with meds to relieve pain)- would you be satisfied incorporating things like that or would you want to see your patients on St. John's Wort instead of Prozac?

Speaking very frankly here, I think alternative/natural treatments should be the first course of action for many ailments. I'm someone who rarely even takes an ibuprofen for pain unless it becomes unbearable or distracting. I don't think the human body was designed to process or handle the medications we've designed, however well it might tolerate it. I mean, the body can tolerate drugs such as heroin and cocaine for a time as well, but they're hardly beneficial. I recognize that modern medicine has done a great deal of good, but I also think it's created conditions that, in part, make it more difficult for the body to heal itself and use natural methods for healing. I believe there is great strength in the mind to affect changes in the body. I do not think I would feel completely uncomfortable administering medication, depending on the illness. I do have a problem with having so narrow a perspective as to completely rule out alternative approaches or dismiss them as "quackery" as some here have described. I would want to be in a position to advocate for other treatments. I am well aware that there are not very many who feel as I do, and I am okay with that. I know it was just an example, but I am not of the opinion that drugs are always the best treatment for psychological issues. I believe it can help in the short-term, to make it easier for the patient to work on changing their way of thinking, but I don't view it as a long-term treatment. (I have personal experience with this.) I believe it's possible to mostly cure oneself of diabetes and I have read good things about the Gerson Method for treating cancer. I think death is a very natural part of life, and it's unreasonable to attempt to prolong life when the body has quit working to the extent that it requires we end up going so far out of our way to prolong mere existence properly.

You're obviously here for information before making a decision. I recommend reading around the forum- maybe not in the student section but the general nursing discussion, first year in nursing, and some of the specialty forums (although there are seasoned nurses who frequent this area, you might get a better sense of what nursing means as a nurse and not a student nurse in another area).
I also recommend trying to shadow nurses in a few different areas. Contact local hospitals and clinics to see if they offer any special programs like that. If you can't shadow, ask if there are some nurses you can interview.
One of the things that no one has mentioned is that nurses provide a lot of patient education about managing/preventing illness. Exercise, diet, the importance of not smoking, stress management....it's really a very holistic view. You'd need to be prepared for patients who have no interest in watching their diet but will gladly take loads of meds to keep them afloat, but there's also the opportunity to teach a healthy lifestyle.

I think it would be great if I could shadow a nurse, but I don't immediately see how that would be possible for someone with zero training and not in school. I am not aware of volunteer programs in hospitals other than "candy-stripers". How would this be done?

allnurses Guide · Aug 31, 2010

Sounds to me from reading all your interactions here with others that you would make a fine nurse, wide-eyed!

Economically, at the moment it appears that the job market is extremely tight, but the ways in which one can tailor a satisfying career in nursing are still pretty panoramic. I can't even begin to catalogue them all, but you can see just on this forum how many sub-categories there are and probably many more that are not listed here.

You can shadow a nurse, or you can read one or more of the many excellent blogs written by nurses in a variety of settings. The quality of their writing and insight provided is sort of a virtual "shadowing". Most cover the day to day activities of their jobs, and their emotional, spiritual and physical reactions to them. It's sort of like watching a really good travel-log film if you can't make it to the actual destination. There are some blogs here at allnurses, and many others out there in the vast web-i-sphere :)

CNA2day · Aug 31, 2010

Get a job as a CNA. If you hate it nursing is prob not for you.

I also looked into scrub tech- dismissed it as it is a LOT of standing in one place and that hurts my back.

X-ray tech- might be an option

wide-eyed · Aug 31, 2010

I just read this on Wikipedia:

‎"Employment of surgical technologists is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations. In fact, according to the Bureau for Labor Statistics, employment of surgical technologists is expected to grow 24 percent between 2006 and 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations, as the volume of surgeries increases."

Sounds promising, yes?

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Aug 31, 2010

Speaking very frankly here, I think alternative/natural treatments should be the first course of action for many ailments. I'm someone who rarely even takes an ibuprofen for pain unless it becomes unbearable or distracting. I don't think the human body was designed to process or handle the medications we've designed, however well it might tolerate it. I mean, the body can tolerate drugs such as heroin and cocaine for a time as well, but they're hardly beneficial. I recognize that modern medicine has done a great deal of good, but I also think it's created conditions that, in part, make it more difficult for the body to heal itself and use natural methods for healing. I believe there is great strength in the mind to affect changes in the body. I do not think I would feel completely uncomfortable administering medication, depending on the illness. I do have a problem with having so narrow a perspective as to completely rule out alternative approaches or dismiss them as "quackery" as some here have described. I would want to be in a position to advocate for other treatments. I am well aware that there are not very many who feel as I do, and I am okay with that. I know it was just an example, but I am not of the opinion that drugs are always the best treatment for psychological issues. I believe it can help in the short-term, to make it easier for the patient to work on changing their way of thinking, but I don't view it as a long-term treatment. (I have personal experience with this.) I believe it's possible to mostly cure oneself of diabetes and I have read good things about the Gerson Method for treating cancer. I think death is a very natural part of life, and it's unreasonable to attempt to prolong life when the body has quit working to the extent that it requires we end up going so far out of our way to prolong mere existence properly.

When it comes down to it, you need respect the patients' needs and wishes and advocate for *them*, not your personal beliefs. If you can manage the conflict between your personal beliefs and your role as a *patient* advocate, I don't think this should be a dealbreaker. Know though that nursing is really big on evidence-based practice: practice decisions are made with attention to research that has a high validity (randomization, large sample sizes, blinded studies, use of controls). Right now there is limited research that upholds those standards in to alternative treatments, although this is changing.

I think it would be great if I could shadow a nurse, but I don't immediately see how that would be possible for someone with zero training and not in school. I am not aware of volunteer programs in hospitals other than "candy-stripers". How would this be done?

You need to contact local hospitals and see what they have available. Check their websites for a volunteer section.

happy2learn · Sep 1, 2010

I think it would be great if I could shadow a nurse, but I don't immediately see how that would be possible for someone with zero training and not in school. I am not aware of volunteer programs in hospitals other than "candy-stripers". How would this be done?

I'm in school, and I volunteer at a hospital. There are no "candy stripers." However, I've never seen a volunteer shadow a nurse, only students in clinical.

You would need to contact a hospital and ask them about the options.