Not sure if I want to be a nurse....

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2004

Can't say that I have. But what a shame to have been through all that nursing school entails, as tough as it is, then decide not to do it. But just because I don't understand it, doesn't mean a thing.

But I do know this. If I didn't have to work to make ends meet, I certainly would not work in nursing or any other field. LOL

Good luck in whatever you do.

Ari RN, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2004

Why not work as a school nurse?

It sure beats Med/Surg and almost all other areas of nursing. (Huge workload)

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Sep 12, 2004

Why not work as a school nurse?
It sure beats Med/Surg and almost all other areas of nursing. (Huge workload)

I'm sure there are some school nurses out there who would beg to differ with you Ari!! State-mandated ratios in my state are one nurse per 3,000 students. Hows THAT for a nurse to patient ratio? Some states don't even have mandated ratios. You just take what you get.

There are kids in the public school system now that most likely would not have been able to attend school back in the 70's (think NICU grads!). There are kids with g-tubes, catheters, asthma, diabetes, CF complications, seizure disorders, etc. According to some statistics I came across, the number of kids that have some sort of prescription medication that must be taken during the school day has increased by 50% in the last 5 years!! Juvenile diabetes is present in about 3/2000 school-age kids. It's not just head lice and bandaids anymore. Doesn't sound any less stressful to me...

Ari RN, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2004

I'm sure there are some school nurses out there who would beg to differ with you Ari!! State-mandated ratios in my state are one nurse per 3,000 students. Hows THAT for a nurse to patient ratio? Some states don't even have mandated ratios. You just take what you get.
There are kids in the public school system now that most likely would not have been able to attend school back in the 70's (think NICU grads!). There are kids with g-tubes, catheters, asthma, diabetes, CF complications, seizure disorders, etc. According to some statistics I came across, the number of kids that have some sort of prescription medication that must be taken during the school day has increased by 50% in the last 5 years!! Juvenile diabetes is present in about 3/2000 school-age kids. It's not just head lice and bandaids anymore. Doesn't sound any less stressful to me...

My bad. I honestly thought it would be easier. Thanks for the explanation!

CCU NRS · Sep 12, 2004

I agree with Tweety...If you don't have to work for a living by all means why would you?

Barring that, is there any area that interests you specially? I think what it is for most nurses is finding their niche. There are all kinds of jobs out there, you may need to do some med-surg or CCU to get a year or two of experience but then when you are experienced you might want to look at infection control or wound care/ostomy nuring, perhaps you would like to take care of peds, or maybe you could work in an office, there is GI in which you can do office nursing or endoscopy and cancer docs usually have ATC(ambulatory treatment centers)where you can basically give people their chemo meds all day and monitor IV's, or outpatient sugery centers, you might want to look into IV therapy which is something a lot of people don't know a lot about.

What I am saying is most likely the experience you had as a student is not actually what you will experience as a graduate, I don't know where you are perhaps after some experience you could even be a nursing instructor or adjunct watching over students while they are in school.

I guess I would like to know more about what exactly turned you off of nursing?

ps don't forget the FEAR FACTOR or post graduate blues... you may be just having feelings of inadequacey or fear.

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Sep 12, 2004

My bad. I honestly thought it would be easier. Thanks for the explanation!

Oh, I knew you had the best of intentions - sweet guy that you seem to be! :)

I just didn't want anyone to take a leap looking for less stress and be very disappointed - especially if nursing was already turning out to be not what they had in mind. I wouldn't have known about the school nurses either, except I was wondering one day how our little NICU grads would get along once they got to school and found the info. I am glad we have colleagues out there that can do that - I would pull my hair out.

BTW - am I hallucinating at this early hour of morning or do you have some kind of a rotating avatar thing going on? I thought this was the picture I saw earlier, then there was another one (I think?) but now that I see this one I'm not sure anymore, LOL!

talaxandra · Sep 12, 2004

Has anyone known of someone who graduated from nursing school, then never worked as a nurse?

I trained through one of the last hospital schools - a couple of my classmates passed the whole thing, met registration requirements, and decided not to nurse. For at least one of them, nursing was a dream her mother had had for herself and was unable to fulfill, so the situation isn't wholly analogous. She's never looked back!

That said, it does seem a shame to have made it this far and not give it a go :)

good luck!

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Sep 12, 2004

after many years of thinking i wanted to be a nurse, i went to nursing school in my forties. just graduated this summer and thought i would take some time off. now i feel like i "should" start looking for a job, but deep down i don't want too. i don't want the stress of today's nursing jobs. not sure i want any job. has anyone known of someone who graduated from nursing school, then never worked as a nurse?

if stress and workload are concerns--and why wouldn't they be?--you might consider just working part time or prn.

doctor's offices are often less intense that hospital nursing.

some school nurses do deal with normal healthy kids who scrape a knee or need their mom called. check with your local school nurses and see what they do.

if psych was interesting in school, you might look at a community mental health clinic. they have their "busy" days, but it's not like med surg "busy."

i always thought the work of health department nurses looked interesting, when i worked in a health department as a therapist. they give do patient education, bcp's, immunizations, screen for htn, tb and other stuff, again, fairly low key duties, relative to some others.

some nurses work for companies like managed health (been there--real stressed), or pharmaceutical companies (also a lot of work, sometimes paid on commission--stress, pressure and low pay potential)...

your real answer, of course, can only come from inside you. you do sound as though you are ambivalent, rather than not wanting to work. nursing is so varied, there's a niche for practically everybody. you'll find yours!

good luck and let us know what you find out and/or decide!

NurseRachy · Sep 12, 2004

Thought has on occasion passed my mind and a lot of my friends. You are not alone.

SmilingBluEyes · Sep 12, 2004

Just do what you can live with. After all, life is short and in the end it's up to you. If you want, try it, perhaps on a part-time basis. If it does not work out, or you can't continue, so be it. Do what works best for you, forgetting about what others may say or do.

OBRNinTN · Sep 12, 2004

I do know a girl who went through all the pre req's, then got her BSN, worked as a nurse for 6 months, and quit.

And it's okay. No judgement passed. She had a baby, and just decided to stay home. Also, I'm not sure nursing was for her what she thought it would be. But, none of this means she won't go back to nursing. People have their own personal reasons for their decisions, and I respect that.

Good luck to you in whatever you choose. Just be the best person you can, and I'm sure happiness will follow.

Christy