100% pro-life, considering nursing school

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I am feeling very conflicted about making a decision in the near future about this, and I would appreciate reliable and honest advice. I am finishing a very difficult 5 year degree, and have wanted a job in healthcare for a long time. I still want to pursue a career part time in what i am studying, which is to be a band and music teacher, and am considering going to nursing school part time during the year and taking summer courses while i teach. I think nursing would be a very rewarding profession, and I think that I would be very happy to be a nurse. I do feel a calling toward a job in the medical field, and I am still young, I am 23 years old, and I feel that if I am going to devote so much more energy, time, and money into a second career I need to decide now.

With everything going on in the United States ( I live in Canada), I am extremely concerned about whether I would actually be able to work as a nurse by the time I graduate or not. I am unapollogetically pro-life, and would never have anything to do with abortion whatsoever. This to me even includes post abortion care. How much trouble will I have? It seems that every hospital that is not a Catholic hospital runs into this situation. I have friends in nursing that tell me that you would jsut work in a different branch of the hospital but then I hear stories about nurses still having to walk away from certain situations having to do with abortion. I would actually really like to work in Cosmetic surgery, but I am not sure how the job market is out there for that. I feel something telling me I should go ahead with it because this is something that I feel I really may be meant to do in my life,, but I will NOT participate in anything to do with abortion ever. My husband has a good career here in Canada, so the chacnes of us moving to another country are slimto none until retirement,

I do not want to start up a debate, I am just an exhausted student who is trying to make a really big decision and is increadibly overwhelmed at what i should do. I really appreciate your responses!

Thank you so much,

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Specializes in ER.

It's easy: just don't work in an setting that does abortions. You'd want to stay out of an OB/GYN floor/office and Planned Parenthood type clinics. Other than that you will be fine. You have ER, ICU, Med-surg, Psych, PACU, OR, Tele, etc to choose from. I work at a non-Catholic hospital and they don't do abortions. Don't let your this hold you back from being an RN.

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I think as long as you care for your patients as you would want to be cared for, you will be fine. You will not be performing abortions. You can tailor your career to suit your particular interests/passion; nursing offers a wide variety of specialties and many of them have nothing to do with abortion.

Best of luck to you as you pursue your dreams.

"Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle" ~ Philo of Alexandria

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i don't think you would be asked to participate in something you do not want to do, especially if that something results into compromising your beliefs. moreover, why would anyone such as you, who is a pro-life, would want to choose to work in a facility which caters to pro-choice. i would imagine you would be smart enough and of sound mind in doing your own thorough research about that facility or that department--to know exactly what goes on and what not--before actually asking for a job interview there.

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I respectfully add this to the above.

You must realize that to be a nurse you must always think of your patient. You can always have your own ideals, but you must rise above all that because you are not the focus when you are at work. It is a slippery slope when you begin to pick and choose who has the right to medical care. You will need to go on the journey we all do and find out a few things you might not have known about yourself, and your ability to care for others :heartbeat

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I'm still pre at this point, but I would assume that you have a moderate chance of running into the afore mentioned situations in clinicals but can probably avoid it by telling your instructor your objections. Otherwise be sure to pick your area well and you shouldn't have an issue. Obviously OB would not be the place for you if you were against such a procedure as they are done for numerous reasons on that floor.

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even if "by accident" she was to encounter an event in a hospital that she might personally deem as an act of abortion, still and rightly so the pro-life nurse has every right to excuse herself from the said proceeding; that is, courtesy of the law passed in the last hours of the bush II presidency enabling any health care provider to object to any proceedings that would jeopardize that person's morals and beliefs. i think it's called the conscientious objector or something like that...here's a link:http://www.madisoncatholicherald.org/opinion/editorial/466-2009-03-05-editorial.html

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personally, i dislike the law and i hope it gets repealed (as obama vowed to do) because it FURTHER expands the government involvement and thus power into the healthcare industry and in the lives of many people.

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This to me even includes post abortion care

This one might be a problem. Abortions, like any medical procedure, can cause complications which might come up in a number of nursing environments. I work primarily in the ER of a Catholic hospital. If a nurse refused to care for a post-abortion complication, a bleed, for example, that would be a pretty big problem.

I am sure there are other nurses who share your beliefs who manage a professional life without compomising their moral beliefs.

Good luck.

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Not to be a PITA, but I'd like to see anyone attempt to refuse a patient during clinical and not find themselves out of favor in a big way. Sure you might technically have a right to refuse, and at clinical they might allow you an "out" but you will pay for that patient refusal dearly my dear at some point along the way.

Having said that, it's very doubtful you will come across that particular situation.

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regardless, while the federal law is in effect, the pro-life has the upper hand on this one.

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when i did my ob rotation, we only took care of post-partum mothers. i do not recall ever taking care of a pt that had an abortion.

if it did come to you getting assigned a pt who was a "post-abortion" pt, you could always ask your preceptor or clinical instructor to re-assign you. i don't know that that would happen though...aren't abortions done on an outpt basis?

please note, though that it is required (at least in the u.s., and i'm fairly certain canada as well) you must do an ob rotation. you might have a pt who has had an abortion in the past. with all due respect, if you cannot be re-assigned to another pt you might need to take care of that pt and put your personal feelings about her past medical hx aside.

good luck!

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