Nursing not for me?

RunBabyRN · May 16, 2014

Aw, hugs! What is it that you don't like about clinicals? Do you feel like you're inept? That's SUPER common among nursing students. I have classmates who cried every day on the way to clinicals, but finally *got it* once they got to preceptorship. We're all still nervous as hell about that first nursing job, but no one is totally sharp out of the gate or in nursing school.

If you hate working with patients or just don't like the job, that's another issue, and that's when it's time to re-evaluate. But I think what you're feeling is VERY common among nursing students, even those approaching their final semester. It doesn't mean that nursing isn't for you, it means you have the necessary fear and humility it takes to NOT make a dangerous mistake.

If you decide that nursing isn't for you, what do you WANT to do? Do you still want to be in healthcare?

Also, remember that not all nurses are on the floor or even working hands-on with patients. There are research positions, public health positions, administrative, and others where you're not emptying Foley bags and flushing IVs. Would any of those kinds of jobs appeal to you? At least then you're not abandoning your nursing degree, and you're using it. It might be something to think about trying, and then if that doesn't work out, you can head in another direction. You're still very young (even if it doesn't feel that way), and there are A LOT of people who go back to school and choose something else later on.

Don't beat yourself up! You still have options. Take a deep breath and reassess the situation. Really look at WHY you don't like clinicals, and decide what to do from there.

Good luck!

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · May 16, 2014

I'm not going to say that you absolutely must stay in nursing. What I will say is that there's a huge variety of different ways to be a nurse. What you are being introduced to in nursing school is primarily medical/surgical nursing and that generally forms the basis of everything else. However, as I have alluded to earlier, there are many, many ways to be a nurse. If you have an interest in IT, you can certainly pursue those courses and become a nurse that specializes in IT. That type of job does not deal with patients very much, if ever. Nursing informatics is a very new field that is up-and-coming, and does not generally require direct patient contact or patient care, but it does require knowledge of these topics.

If you decide to change your major entirely, I think you are right in that you will not have sufficient financial aid leftover to be able to completely change your major.

There are certainly some aspects of nursing that I don't find entirely pleasant, but I do them enthusiastically because they are part of the job in general and in total. It really doesn't matter what they are, it matters that there are some aspects of nursing that I find distasteful or unpleasant. In your case I hope that you find an answer for what you seek. I don't think that it's necessarily nursing that you dislike, rather, it may very well be that you just don't have a connection to doing patient care the way nursing does. You might want to look at the possibility of becoming some mid-level provider, like a PA or nurse practitioner. They practice medicine in a different way than nurses do and they are heavily science-based, which you seem to like so far. If that's the way you want to go, look at nursing as a means to an end.

I have been a full-time security guard for the past dozen years or so and is much as I like the contact with the people I served and the people I work with, being a security guard is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, and it does not pay the bills as it should. However, I am sticking with this particular job for a while because it is a means to an end. It provides me with fairly decent health benefits. It provides me with sufficient time to study while at work so that I don't burn myself out trying to do it all at home. It purely is a means to an end at this point. Perhaps you could look at nursing the same way, if you are too far along to change your major, and simply use it as a way to earn some money to finance a return to school to figure out what you really want to do. And that is okay.

Not everyone is cut out to be a nurse and sometimes we figure that out too late. It's why I generally recommend that people take some entry-level course in patient care such as CNA or EMT and work in that capacity for a while to see if they really like taking care of patients at a very basic level. Once you know for sure, then it makes perfect sense to pursue your career dreams.

I truly hope that sometime in the future that you are able to pursue your own dreams and find something that truly makes you happy. Why? When you are doing something that you love, you will never work a day in your life.

BusyBee91 · May 16, 2014

Hi mermaid,

I'm no expert but I am so sorry you are feeling down about your career path. Is there something specific that you don't like about clinicals? As a non-expert I just wanna remind you that nursing is a diverse field; you could do nursing education, you could do anesthesia, you could do home health, or something in community health, like being a school nurse. There are lots of positions that don't put you managing 5-10 patients for 12 hours at a time. Keep your head up, hang in there and finish the degree. It would be a waste of time and money to pass on the degree that will take you less than a year to complete, and will give you a skill that you can use to support yourself and pay off your loans. Cheering for you!

PastNursingStudent · May 16, 2014

If you could finish your degree you might be able to land yourself a nursing administration job or maybe nursing clerical (insurance) work for you don't have to deal with to many patients. If you finish your bachelors I might suggest looking at MBA programs or probably master program in public policy if you don't want to completely stick with nursing since the many different majors tend join those programs.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · May 16, 2014

((HUGS)) There is plenty to do with your degree other than bedside nursing. What is it about the bedside that you are not liking? Bedside nursing isn't for everyone. Become a drug rep. A medical equipment rep...do your graduate in IT. THere is plenty to do with the degree when you are finished...don't throw away the last 4 years.

mermaidmotel · May 17, 2014

Thank you all so much for your kind words! I'm trying so hard to just suck it up but its such a challenge. I don't know if I can mentally stick it out. My hair is falling out, I'm on an antidepressant. I completely realize this sounds extremely dramatic. Lol. I've just been pressured into this by family and it is taking its toll along with the rest of life's obstacles. I'm just not really a nurturer. I definitely do enjoy the science of it much more than the actual care. I have been researching medical billing and coding. Its definitely a large salary decrease, but does anyone know the out look on this career? I see so many conflicting opinions online. A woman in my nursing program is in medical coding now and says she will have to take a pay cut when first entering nursing, however online the average pay seems to me around $30-35k. Does anyone have any further information on this? Again thank you all so much for the words of motivation. I really appreciate it.

giraffe4 · May 17, 2014

I wouldn't go into medical coding. Your literally doing papers all day unless that's what you want to do. How about Healthcare Management? Not only do they make a lot of money, there are the bosses of the nurses, etc on the floor of a hospital or any healthcare facility really like nursing homes, etc. You can find a job anywhere just like nursing in that field. My twin sister actually went from nursing into Healthcare Management. But that is if you like being in management. Not saying money is everything but medical billing/coding is a hard to find job and don't really make enough.

ixchel · May 17, 2014

I don't know if this helps or not, but I wanted to share that I really disliked my clinicals until I reached my internship. When I was able to function more independently, I just liked it better. I was also in a more acute environment, as opposed to the rotations I had had before that really had next to nothing going on. I vote hang in there - see if any of the rotations in the future feel better. If they do not, as previous posters have said, there are so may places nurses are. Nurses are in politics, schools, IT, management, you name it. If people are there, so are nurses.

I did want to ask - you said a private school. Is your program accredited? Make sure it is before you continue into further debt. If it isn't, you need to make sure your state will accept it for licensure.

RunBabyRN · May 17, 2014

Ugh, hard pursuing a career you felt pressured to pursue. One thing to take from this is that your PARENTS dreams for you aren't always going to be in line with YOUR dreams, and part of becoming an adult is doing what works for YOU. It's hard, I know! Are they paying for your schooling? (Doesn't sound like it from your OP) Did they pressure you to attend the private university as well?

The market for medical coding got WAAAAAY saturated when 42 million for profits started offering programs, and now most billing is done electronically and there are fewer jobs. The people I know that are trained to do medical coding aren't doing it. Plus, the pay isn't so great, and it's REALLY boring (that was one aspect of my job when I was a hospital corpsman). I liked the suggestion of being a drug rep. You make BANK. You get to travel a lot, you develop relationships with people. If the budget ever comes back (used to be there, but not as good as it was), you get to do a lot of wining and dining. I know my step mom made really good money doing it (I don't know how much).

I would take some time to do some research and even talk to your professors about how you're feeling and get their input on careers that you can pursue as a nurse where you're not doing patient care. It sounds like there are some areas that would be a good fit for you, if that's the direction you want to take, and again, if at some point you choose to do so, you can always go back to school for something else. At least nursing will pay the bills while you pay off the student loans. :yuck:

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · May 17, 2014

I would go to your school and speak to an advisor on what other career options there are for you. I know my school has an online thing that you can do that runs an audit of all of the classes you have completed and what you would have to do to complete a degree if you were to switch majors. I thinks it's called a degree tracker. Like mine tells me if I wanted to do medical assisting which classes I would need to take to complete that degree or health care support. There are tons of jobs in the medical field that might interest you. I didn't realize how many programs my school had until I looked at it. It also tells me which credits will transfer to another school if I decide to go on that path. It's a pretty helpful program.

la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN · May 17, 2014

I'm about a year and a half behind you and I admit that, when I first started clinical rotations I hated them as well. I knew I was likely going to hate them especially because the first site was not where I wanted to go and it was a place that brought up a lot of emotional trouble for me. I didn't let it get to me, too badly, however and found mentors in my instructors that helped me really see the big picture of it all. It seems like you're really missing the big picture and are getting caught up in the negatives of it all. It sucks that you were pressured into this by family (that seems to happen a lot with nursing) and that money is a problem but what are the positive things about nursing for you? You mentioned the academics and the research aspect of it lit your fire a bit -- why not focus on where you can go with that instead of looking into how you can totally jump ship? Be gentle with yourself but know that you can change this around. You have put SO much into this already that it would be a travesty to let it slip through your fingers.

Also, if you're on antidepressants, why not also see if you can go to therapy and work through some of this stuff a little more actively? I went to therapy when I was about your age and also took antidepressants (which I hated because they made me feel sick) and got through what ultimately was a bit of an early "quarter-life crisis." You can make it through, too. You just gotta give yourself a chance. Take a break from focusing on what you can do outside of nursing and try reconciling what it is about nursing that you just don't like. You wouldn't have made it this far if you truly hated it. There is something about nursing that kept you coming back to get this far in the program.