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Discussion

Nursing in 2017?

I'm a student finishing up my pre requisite. I was just curious due to all this talk about new grads having a seriously hard time finding a job. Is it worth going into nursing in these coming years, or should I find another career path in medicine?

Thanks

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    • Expert

    Difficulty finding a job is dependent on several factors:

    1. Location, location, location...the new grad in NYC, Boston, or any saturated market will have a harder time finding work than a new nurse in somewhere like Albany, Georgia or Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    2. Workplace setting: those who insist on coveted specialties such as ICU, ER, pediatrics, L&D, postpartum, and NICU might be jobless longer than those who will 'settle' for employment outside a hospital setting.

    3. Networking: sometimes, obtaining a job is less about what you know and more about who you know. Therefore, make some connections.

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    • Author

    I would be totally willing to relocate, so long as I can live off of the salary. I would also only be willing to work in ICU, ER, or psych.

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    It depends on where you are. I'm a new ADN grad in an under served area and landed a job in my specialty of choice (NICU) right out of school at a unionized hospital with amazing pay and benefits.

    If you are willing to relocate and want to work psych, you will have no problems! I wish I wanted psych, a recruiter recently contacted my school offering $7300/month to start for RN psych positions in a very desirable area of the state. Alas, it was my least fave specialty.

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    • Expert
    I would also only be willing to work in ICU, ER, or psych.
    You may wish to reconsider this tunnel-vision view. A year or two of experience in some of the less-coveted specialties such as med/surg and telemetry can lay a solid foundation for the areas you wish to enter.

    Are you willing to remain unemployed if you do not immediately secure employment in ICU, ER or psych?

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    I would be totally willing to relocate, so long as I can live off of the salary. I would also only be willing to work in ICU, ER, or psych.

    If I were you I would be willing to accept close to any offer than came your way. Beggars can't be choosers.

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    Let's face it, you come out of school you are a blank slate.

    In the old days if you were lucky you would find a head nurse who would give you a chance and put you in the CCU at night with a great preceptor who taught you all the things the BS nursing school didn't.

    I am forever grateful to these two women who helped me learn the ropes, take care of my infant son, and get out of my mother's basement. All that was in N.Y. And yes we were living in basements back then too.

    After that I went to Augusta, Ga and was lucky enough to find another angel of mercy who hired me into the shock/trama SICU.

    Do they even do this anymore?

    New nurses with motivation and a guiding hand can learn anything if given the chance.

    Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everyone.

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    I would be totally willing to relocate, so long as I can live off of the salary. I would also only be willing to work in ICU, ER, or psych.

    Then the answer to your original question is yes, you should look for another career. Limiting yourself to 3 areas in which you are "willing" to work not only limits your opportunities, but says tons about your attitude toward nursing in general.

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    If you're not even in a nursing program yet, how do you know you will enjoy psych, ICU or the ER? You have no nursing experience in those areas. It's great to have an idea of where you would like to work but closing yourself off like that will make things hard for you. You haven't even been through clinicals. You could end up hating those specialties & fall in love with something else.

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