Nursing options???

[littlesquirt]

So I want to go into nursing, but I don't want to be a floor nurse doing the "dirty work" and 12-hour shifts. What are some other options?

[littlesquirt]

What about a nurse administrator or case management?

I appreciate everyone's opinions, especially the last one.

[Kymmi]

Nurse adminstrators and case managers really SHOULD have true nursing experience before taking either of those jobs only because without the experience it is really hard for them to understand the way things are. Nurse adminstrators currently now sometimes forget what it was like to be 'in the trenches' so to speak which causes alot of problems between the staff and adminstration so if I had a nurse adminstrator who NEVER worked 'at the bottom' and saw nursing thru rose colored glasses I think I'd have to find a new job with different adminstration.

As far as case managers from what I know of the hospitals I've worked at most of them require experience on the floor and I know this hospital requires ICU experience also because otherwise when you are trying to figure out what is best for the patient if you've never really dealt with the realities and are going only on what you've learned in a book then it is difficult to assess what is truly needed for that patient.

I think I agree with the others......nursing isnt all glamour and there are days when I've done things, touched things, smelt things and saw things that most average people would never dream of so if you are in it for the $$$$ and glamour to say you are a nurse but not really interested in the real job of nursing then find something else where you dont have to get your hands dirty (when you find it--let me know).

[Butterfliesnroses]

OP you come across like you are above doing the dirty work. That is really not a good attitude to have. How do you expect to make it through school with that attitude...With that said maybe you should examine why you want to go through nursing school...if its just to get a desk job, you have plenty of other options.

[littlesquirt]

well then. off to pharmacy school i go. peace out!

[jennileigh8182]

I agree with the other posters, but also to speak from a patient's perspective...

A nurse's willingness to help and do the dirty work is a very important and touching thing to the patient. When I was in the hospital to have my son, I ended up having a C-section. The first evening that I was up and moving, I got out of bed to use the restroom and had a little drop of blood on the floor. On my way back to bed, I tried to clean it up myself, ended up falling, and after 10-15 minutes of struggling without calling the nurse, got back into bed. When my wonderful, wonderful nurse came in a few minutes later to see how I was doing, I mentioned still not being too steady and told her what had happened. She was on the edge of tears to hear that I'd fallen (I wasn't hurt - it was only to my knees, which were partially numb still from the epidural - tried natural labor first and child was stubborn) in an effort to save her from cleaning up that little mess. She made me promise to call her for anything and everything rather than trying to do it myself, and made the point that it wasn't my problem as a patient to take care of things like that - it's what she's there for. I had been embarrassed to leave it there, and wanted to save her the work, but I think I ended up hurting her feelings that I'd endanger myself instead of calling her to help me. She was, by far, the best nurse I've ever encountered as a patient, very young, had her BSN, but still very willing to do the "dirty work" to benefit her patients.