I have been thinking about nursing school for almost a year now, I had a meeting with admissions last week and its making everything too real.
Im sorry if this post is all over the place but I need advice and guidance. I think I'm going to have an anxiety attack soon if I cant find peace with my dilemma.
Everyday I worry if going to nursing school is a mistake for me.
I love the opportunities and advancements nursing provides. I have my heart set on working with babies (NICU,L&D,PEDs) and feel that is the only population I could provide "bedside" care to. I wouldn't mind working in ER, possibly ICU, or in OR. But I know for a fact I would not be happy on a med/surg floor. I currently work in a hospital as a pharmacy technician and I round the units very frequently so I see the type of patients on med/surg and it makes me cringe knowing what nurses have to do. The other units such as Family beginnings and L&D I walk through with awe and wish I could spend more time there.
Personality wise i'm more interested in diagnoses and treatments rather than providing bedside care (with the exception of babies and children) I love learning and im very excited with everything im sure ill learn in nursing school.
Ive had many negative past experiences with the elderly and could be why im so opposed to working with them. im not saying I would not provide exception care if I had to but my heart and passion would not be in it and I would be miserable.
I would like to continue on with pursing a nursing care but the "heart" of nursing is bedside care and that typically is to the elderly. So im torn.
Im interested in nursing because:
3 12 hour shifts is appealing and 36 hours is considered full time.
I love babies and would be very happy to help comfort and take care of them
I would eventually like to advance and become a NP, CRNA, or PA.
Im very interested in travel nursing
There will always be a demand for nurses
I like how im not limited to the work I will be doing and could switch units/specialties
I like knowing I will have basic knowledge of heath care
I know many new grads usually work on med/surg floors to gain experience and this makes me very nervous because I do not know if I could handle that even for only a year.
I'm also interested in diagnostic sonography but there is not much advancement with the career and I feel I would become bored. I like the idea I will still somewhat be working with babies, it is not beside care, the salary is about the same as a nurse, and schooling would only be 2 years instead of 4 for my BSN.
Please help me and give me your insight.. any other alternative careers will also be welcomed. I need to figure out what I want to do ASAP as I do not have much time to waste if im going to continue with applying to school.
Thank you so much in advance this has been weighing very heavily on me and I don't know what to do.
Why do you say you will only be happy working with babies? Do you have experience with babies, children, or pregnant women? If not you are making an assumption based on a rosy idea that everything is always sunshine and rainbows in these departments. I also want to work in l&d or nicu, but the difference is I have 2 kids, I've known what a pregnancy loss is like and what those patients will experience. I suffered pre eclampsia and my son was nearly a premie after dealing with over a month of bed rest. I'm not saying that you need to have these experiences are needed to go into these fields or that not having children bars you from entry into them but you can not say those are the only roads to nursing happiness for you. I will be keeping an open mind through nursing school and my job hunt!
I can understand having doubts about nursing school. I start a 11 month accelerated second degree program in June after deciding I didn't want to pursue a masters in psychology.
Do you have any experience in healthcare? I would recommend taking a year to work in the field you went to school for. You will have a better chance of getting into nursing school if they don't just think you are going to jump ship on nursing as well. Shadow a nurse, talk to nurses, speak to a college career counselor, but most importantly don't have a closed mind or think any part of a profession is below you or something you won't like unless you have any experience to base that on.
Visiting a unit during a shift to drop something off does not constitute an understanding of what a nurse does. It doesn't.
Exactly.
No one understand what a nurse does UNTIL they hit the floor during clinicals; and even then you find yourself not understanding until you form your own nursing practice.
Find a way to shadow a nurse so you have some idea of being a nurse, then make your decision.
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
You do realize that it's the sickest, clinging barely to life premature infants and other neonate in NICU. It's not all baby hugging. It's watching infants suffering from drug withdrawal, receiving surfactant because they were born with extremely premature lungs. Children hospitalized aren't there for babysitting. They are there (often with their parents) because they're seriously or critically ill or injured. This isn't high paid babysitting.
Look into child life specialist. It's often therapeutic play and interaction to ease the trauma of hospital care and procedures. Not a high demand but a demand just the same.
"Personality wise I'm more interested in diagnoses and treatments rather than providing bedside care (with the exception of babies and children) I love learning and I'm very excited with everything I'm sure ill learn in nursing school."
OP, you seem to be one giant ball of contradictions.
Bedside care *is* composed of your nursing diagnoses and, thus, treatments; I'm confused by what you even mean here. Part of learning in nursing school will include weeks of working with those populations you deem 'undesirable.' 16 weeks of your clinical experience at a time could place you working with the elderly (making you miserable). Can you deal with that? Most importantly, will your patients be able to tell that you're miserable?
I just want to comment on the fact that OP seems to be assuming that care for the elderly is confined to MedSurg. That is a very inaccurate assumption. Elderly patients are treated in all types of "adult" units, from ED to Rehab. I wonder what is so off-putting about caring for older patients? Seems to be a very age-ist viewpoint.
I meant I wouldn't want to work on a med/surg floor with older patients just from what I have seen at my hospital. I grew up in a home with many elderly people as they lived with us while my grand mother took care of them. I also volunteered at a nursing home for 6 months as an activity aide for school and usually felt really sad for the people there and it was depressing although we played games and had fun. I also witnessed my grandmother who I was very close to me, suffer for 6 months throughout many hospitals and care homes while she had multiple medical problems, she turned into a completely different person before she finally was a peace.
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Galvingirl
9 Posts
Why do you say you will only be happy working with babies? Do you have experience with babies, children, or pregnant women? If not you are making an assumption based on a rosy idea that everything is always sunshine and rainbows in these departments. I also want to work in l&d or nicu, but the difference is I have 2 kids, I've known what a pregnancy loss is like and what those patients will experience. I suffered pre eclampsia and my son was nearly a premie after dealing with over a month of bed rest. I'm not saying that you need to have these experiences are needed to go into these fields or that not having children bars you from entry into them but you can not say those are the only roads to nursing happiness for you. I will be keeping an open mind through nursing school and my job hunt!
I can understand having doubts about nursing school. I start a 11 month accelerated second degree program in June after deciding I didn't want to pursue a masters in psychology.
Do you have any experience in healthcare? I would recommend taking a year to work in the field you went to school for. You will have a better chance of getting into nursing school if they don't just think you are going to jump ship on nursing as well. Shadow a nurse, talk to nurses, speak to a college career counselor, but most importantly don't have a closed mind or think any part of a profession is below you or something you won't like unless you have any experience to base that on.