trekker76

Hi Lizz, I chuckled at the Mother Teresa comment. I think nurses need to be compensated their market value, which they're not, because they don't negotiate for salaries and allow managers to manipulate them with bleeding heart tactics. Although I have not met a nurse who doesn't like the job but serves as an effective team member, I am willing to entertain the thought that this is possible. Afterall, I was a great cashier in high school even though I didn't *like* the job. The way nurses are evaluated is totally different from one place to the next. And with the shortage, I don't think they're held accountable for a lot of oversights. This includes nurses wiht all motivations. Could you write a brief list of what entails doing a great job as a nurse? I think this could differ greatly from one person to the next. Thanks!

Hi, I guess it depends on the programs in your area and their cost. I am finishing a second degree B.S.N. in August, and could not be happier that I chose that route. I had to quit work for one semester to go to school full-time, but once I got that experience I secured a Nurse Tech job at a local hospital which pays 15/hour before differentials. That's how I'm working out my final two semesters. It would take you years to earn your B.S.N after you earn your R.N. I know some folks doing that where I work and they are constantly annoyed at all of the repeat clinical and busy work they have to do. If you can afford it, even if you have to take out loans, just get it over with is my advice. In the third and final term, many of my classments have paid their tuition with credit cards. It's not the best financial approach, but they're going to have their B.S.N. in two months rather than three years. Although R.N.s have similar jobs whether they have two or four year degrees in nursing, I doubt things will stay that way for long. Hospitals are beginning to advertise their ratios of B.S.N.s to potential patients and they're willing to pay for good ratios. Personally, I think the two-year R.N.s I've worked with are every bit as good as the four-year ones, but the research and hospitals are working against them. Whether it's fair or not, B.S.N.s are much more desirable by employers than Associate's prepared R.N.s. The hiring managers won't shut up about it. Oh, and don't forget to negotiate starting salary. It appauls me that so many second career nurses don't negotiate. Starting salary in my area is 21/hour, but I'm negotiating for more due to my experience.

These experiences do suck. Even more so if you take them personally. Work with your co-workers if they are taking advantage of you. Set solid boundaries. Set boundaries with the patients as well. Did you take psych nursing in school? I did and it helped immensely. As a person, I haven't been good at drawing boundaries in the past. LOTS of people who become nurses have this problem--that whole caring for strangers thing. Phych nursing clinical and a great prof. taught me more than I could say about boundaries. It may seem harsh and uncaring, but drawing boundaries with those who are taking advantage is best for everyone. As for the mean patients--do they know better? Are they responsible for their behavior? If so, draw boundaries and don't take it personally. If not, draw boundaries and don't take it personally. Seriously, you will come up agianst this kind of stuff almost everywhere. Here's a good book to start with: The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense by Suzette Haden Elgin Good luck and take care.

Ideally, nurses should be invested in the outcomes of their care beyond earning a paycheck. Vulnerable people's physical and emotional health are at stake. Teamwork is necessary for patient safety, and the foundation for that teamwork should be genuine care for patients and willingness to meet all of their needs. Being a good nurse requires educated, intelligent people to do BOTH interesting AND devalued tasks like those mentioned in my previous post. Nurses are the eyes and ears of the health care team. If you are not fully present in your job, you will not see or hear pateint's needs until they have gone neglected for so long they cannot be ignored. That involves unnecessary suffering. When you don't really want to be there, in an often unpleasant job like nursing, you will grow to resent your work. It could become about not having to do more menial work than so-and-so, which downward spirals the unit into very poor nursing care and outcomes. You could find yourself trying to get assigned to the "easy" patients as a matter of everyday life. Your co-workers could resent you. The way I've seen this play out in the real world is that nurses like me end up picking up the slack for nurses who are there for the paycheck, else the patients suffer. It totally sucks for everybody. Please shadow a nurse on a medical/surgical unit for at least one day before you apply to nursing school. Without experience, applying to nursing school is like applying to be a CS major having never seen a computer because you hear the pay is good. I'm not saying you couldn't be a good, caring nurse. I just haven't seen evidence of that in what you've written. Not everybody is cut out for nursing. Have you considered the ethics involved in caring for extremely vulnerable people? Do you realize that patients are sicker now than they ever have been? That many develop bed sores in two hours laying in the same position? If you discover a passion for nursing, awesome. But if you go into it for the money, realize that you could be degrading the work environment for those who have a passion for it, and negatively influencing patient outcomes.

Hello, I know the job market can be frustrating in IT, my husband is an IT professional in DC. This area has experienced quite a slow down in IT and pick up in nursing over the past five years. As a result, many IT graduates are disheartened and trying to get into nursing. Your letter sounds very much like a lot of them. But I must warn you, no matter how well you did in your previous degree, wanting to be a nurse for the job security just won't cut it with admissions committees. I'm graduating from a competitive second degree program in August, and one of the admissions reps told me when I was applying that they had hundreds of IT people applying because they were out of work and none were accepted. I don't want to discourage you, but I think you should know this before you start applying places. Also, even though you can eventually go into nursing informatics you have to do you time in nursing school and afterwards as a bedside nurse to gain the knowledge and experience unique to professionals in this field--their bedside experience is why they're so valuable. Are you willing to give bed baths, pack bed sores, clean up after incontinent people for a couple of years? This is the reality of nursing school and the year or two after. There is a nursing shortage, but ill people need nurses who want to be their nurse. You seem to love and be good at IT, perhaps you shouldn't give up at that quite yet. Maybe you could go back to school for further education in the field you love. At the very least, don't write anything like what you wrote in your post for your admissions essay. Volunteer and get some real nursing experience to talk about. Good luck and take care.