LindseyPar

Do you guys have any advice on how to decide if nursing is for me? I tend to be a very indecisive person, so when it comes to college and picking a major, it has been a tough decision for me. I have done a lot of research into the field and I believe I would be happy being a nurse. But, again, I always second guess myself. So, how do I know if nursing is for me?

So, I am a sophomore in college in a BSN program. I went last week to job shadow an RN in the med surg department at a local hospital. I was nervous about this experience being that it was my first time being in a medical work environment for several hours and I wanted it to go very well. Soon after I got there, the RN was called into a room to draw blood from a patient so I followed her into the warm room. As she was drawing the blood from the patient, I was very focused on the needle because I wanted to get myself used to (and desensitized to) blood and needles being that I'm going to be having to deal with them a lot. Anyways, it was taking her a long time because the vein was giving her trouble. One second I was fine and then I started seeing spots everywhere and knew I was going to faint. I took off my jacket and sat down and sure enough blacked out. Needless to say, it was kind of embarrassing that I passed out just by looking at the needle and blood. However, I do have a history of fainting from getting too hot or having blood work. And I'm pretty sure I was locking my knees and not breathing right because my sinuses were messed up at the time. (And yes I did eat breakfast) But, I thought for sure that if I watched someone else having blood work done that it won't bother me. Afterward, I was upset, thinking maybe nursing is not for me but I looked up the topic online and saw that other students have had the same problem with fainting and that made me feel a lot better and made me think this is something I can work on. So, I was wondering if any of you have had this fainting issue while starting out in school and if you have grown out of it or any advice you might have for me? Thanks!

Do you think it is necessary for nursing students to work as a CNA to gain experience before they graduate? And, (After graduating as an RN and applying to jobs-->) do hospitals look for experience on resumes or mostly at what your grades are? Would they hire someone with a 3.8 GPA over someone with experience as a CNA and a lower GPA? Thoughts?

Do you like working in one area/specialty a lot more than the others you have worked in? And what specialty do you think is best for new nursing graduates?

Thank you for your detailed reply! Great points!

Just a positive question for this nursing community: What are the best things about nursing and what do you enjoy the most about nursing?

I am a nursing student interested in working as a CNA. I would only like to work one (12 hour) shift a week so that I can devote most of my time to my classes. Is this possible for hospitals to work CNAs only one shift per week? Or, what is the usual work schedule for CNAs who are nursing students?