Bones17

Would I be best off working in the ED as an RN if I wanted to do: 1) Crisis Intervention/Well-being Support 2) Saving life Interventions/First Aid Treatments Would I need to be a NP?

Were these nurses working in certain areas or just in general terms? I don't belong to a health facility as of yet. Do you think having natural nails past the fingertip area that are kept clean and not sharp enough to break gloves should be fine?

Education pathways for nursing?

How are you allowed to have your nails in nursing? Could certain areas allow them to be longer (even if they're natural, well groomed and you wear gloves)?

Thanks everyone. As in you could help people's respiratory issues along with other medical needs?

Why did you choose to do nursing over other healthcare careers (e.g. paramedic, doctor etc.)?

What scope of practice does a nurse in Australia have?

So if you are working 12 hours, it’s actually an additional 30min because of hand over. So 15min before and 15min after the shift? (12 and a half hours in all).

Do those times include the change over period from one nurse to the next?

What are common shift hours then?

Marienm: Would that count as part of your annual leave if you take personal time off?

Was that from working as a nurse?

Thanks everyone! I don’t work as a nurse. I just want to know what it’s going to be like and how to cope. Are you able to change your scheduled work time/day for another or take time off if there is a special event that you want to attend? (as in like a family member’s birthday, wedding etc.). Maybe you could switch your scheduled work time with a colleague. Is it kind of like retail work?

Sorry, I meant how do you cope with working within irregular work hours (like early mornings, evenings and nights). I just wanted to know how you cope with the following: 1) Sleeping at different times 2) Eating at different times 3) Seeing family/friends when your work and sleep schedules are different or even if you are working weekends/public holidays etc. and they are not. It seems like you would never really get to see them. I'm not sure how to edit my original post to include that.

Is shift work as hard as what it sounds? How do you cope?

Thanks everyone! How do you cope with long hours on your feet and with doing shift work? Do you find that it physically wears you down over the years or is it something that isn’t as bad as what it seems?

Could you not combine it with a teaching degree?

Thank you everyone for your comments!! What type of nurse are you? I only know of the alarms that alert you when a patient has buzzed for you to go to their room, or in emergency when their vitals must be crashing or something.

Yeah that’s another thing I’m afraid of because I already had bad depression and anxiety. I don’t know if there is something for you to able to tell if you will be physically and mentally ok to do nursing. I wish there was. I guess you don’t know unless you are a nurse, which is when it will be too late anyway.

Thanks everyone! Would you say that the three captions that I posted which list the physical demands of a nurse is fairly accurate? (Hopefully not).

Thanks everyone for your comments! I've read on all nurses about nurses getting injuries like neck, back or leg problems from working as a nurse. Someone said they can't return to work. I've also read someone's post about how they work in emergency. They said that they have worked with nurses with a black eye, broken arm and a fractured hip from violent patients and that they have worked with/seen nurses kicked, punched and spat on. They said that some nurses have even left the profession due to the injuries that they have suffered or are being overexerted/burnout from work. I thought it might have been how well you care for yourself but then I found websites like this: shift Work: https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/shift-work#1 I also found this (fitness for practice as a nurse):

Hi all, This is my first posting on here. I just had a question about working as a nurse. Is it basically guaranteed that working as a nurse will result in becoming injured through time? I love the sound of nursing but I'm afraid of getting life-long injuries from prolonged periods of standing to do your work, lifting patients, from doing shift work (health risks to disrupting the regular sleep-cycle) or from exposure to fumes/liquids/hazardous substances/radiation/illnesses. I understand that patients can become violent so I guess that is unavoidable unless you learn restraining techniques or are strong which I’m not. I just don’t want to start and then become unable to even work after the first 5 years of starting. Would you say it’s how you look after yourself? Do you know nurses who aren’t injured from doing nursing for a long time? Thank you! I appreciate your answers.