Nursing Field First Impressions-Need Advice

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I was all set to finish the rest of my nursing school pre-reqs and apply to get my ADN but after getting my CNA license (one of the pre-reqs) and working in a LTC facility over the summer I changed my mind at the last second. I was already done with all my gen eds at a different college and so I decided to just finish a BS there, now I have one year left until I graduate with a hotel and restaurant management degree. The more specific my classes get the more I hate it; I really have no interest in working in that field (my degree forces me to, 1200 hours). I had planned on using it like an entrepreneurship degree later on so I would have the credentials to get financing. I am going to finish the degree so that I still have this option someday but I'm still toying with the idea of immediately pursuing my BSN after I graduate.

The problem is that I think I had a really bad first taste of the nursing world at my LTC facility, and that's why I changed my mind. The scheduling was a mess, in 3 months they scheduled someone two times to relieve me who they knew was on vacation. So I couldn't leave when I was supposed to (it took two hours both times to get someone there to relieve me). All but one of the nurses were quite mean and snarky(most were LPNs), they weren't willing to help us either. And the other CNAs were so sassy and had very dysfunctional personal lives. They would break rules to get work done on time and they were always gossiping about one another behind their backs. The topic of someone's boob job was brought up multiple times. The DON also referred to a private pay resident as a VIP and we were to drop everything and take care of her first. The nurses also threatened to write us up if we didn't follow through with these instructions quickly enough.

I wanted to be a nurse so I could help people, but I am an introvert and tend to be on the quiet side. I am also a vegan and play by the rules, I just felt so different from everyone else. If this is truly the way most of the nursing world is then I don't think it's for me but I'm hoping this isn't the case. What has been your experience? Thank you in advance!

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Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.

LTC can be much different than other types of nursing.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

What is your ultimate career goal? "Helping people" is waaay too nebulous. I mean, what kind of lifestyle to you want to have? How much scheduling flexibility? How much control over your day-to-day job? How much physical labor? Think about these factors.

Most people have an idealized picture of nursing that is far from reality. There are certainly highly fulfilling, well rewarded jobs for nurses.. but all of them require expertise that can only be gained from lower-level, direct care experience. IMO, nursing is similar to the hotel industry... for every manager-type glam job, there are lots of minions in lower level positions who are actually keeping the place going. Nurses are the go-to people for everything from keeping the room clean and stocked, delivering meals, troubleshooting TV reception, etc. Currently, "customer service" is a very high priority, so fulfilling the hotel service requests frequently consumes more time than the health care aspects of the job.

The US health care industry is very unstable right now - since congress is aiming to repeal everything without a clearly thought out plan for anything to replace it.

My advice? Stay on course with your current education. Wait and see what is going to happen. Nursing will still be there if you decide to change direction again in the future.

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Thank you for replying! Before I switched my major I was interested in becoming an OR or Neonatal nurse. Both of which require additional certifications/experience. I liked nursing because every day is different, which is important for me because I tend to get bored easily. For the first several years I'd probably only work part time because I want to be a mostly stay at home mom. Which I'm worried will impair my ability to pursue the additional certifications. I don't have a fairytale image of what nurses do, that's not really the part that I'm uncertain about. I'm mostly concerned I won't like my coworkers or the general environment. The LTC facility I worked at seemed extremely unethical to me and all my coworkers were cranky 24/7 and didn't want to do their jobs. I understand that every workplace is likely to have at least one person that is like that, but I got cold feet because everyone I encountered was like that.

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Nursing is bigger than just LTC. You haven't even begun to see what nursing has to offer.

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