I'm_reilly

Willowita: definitely shadow! You need to know what you're getting into. For some people, it's perfect, but for me I struggled a lot with how fast-paced everything was, how often you're just thrown in and have to figure out how to make things work. You have to critically think quickly and make decisions quickly and effectively, something I'm just not good at. I love caring about and helping people, but the actual skills/hands-on part of the job is the part that I'm not good at. I actually had one professor ask me if I was ADD or if I'd been home schooled, neither of which was true (and I don't even understand why being home schooled would make me bad at my job :-/). *disclaimer: I have not yet had a nursing job, I'm a new grad and I'm seriously considering changing careers after my experiences in nursing school, so, the following is just my :) it may be biased lol* Nurses work long hours, sometimes evenings/nights, often every other weekend and holiday, and it's physically demanding, involves lots of bodily fluids and risk for contamination, and can be stressful and emotionally draining. If you don't love nursing, these aspects of the job might get in the way of your sense of satisfaction with the job. Of course, if you can handle that for a few years, you can eventually move on to other areas of nursing with better hours or away from the bedside all together, but you're going to have to put in those years first. Oh, and as a new grad, it's really hard to find a job so you might have to start in an area you don't like first. whew...my posts are chronically too long. sorry!

Ugh, the job market really is terrible, especially for new grads. And I completely agree about the unrealistic idea of moving across the country for jobs. I moved a couple states away and have spent almost a year looking for a job after looking at jobs in my home state. Now I'm out of money and have a SO, so moving would involve us both finding something in the same place and might be too expensive anyway. After reading this thread and another one, I'm becoming increasingly interested in other areas of nursing, areas completely away from bedside nursing but that I could still use my degree for. I'm just concerned that I won't be able to get a job without any experience. Any ideas? Unlike the original poster, I have absolutely no experience in anything other than nursing school clinicals. Are there other parts of the medical field I could get into? Non-nursing areas but that are willing to work with someone with a BSN?

Mangopeach and Sugarmagnolia018: ahh yes, I've been considering other options, however, most require experience, sometimes as much as 3-5 years. I haven't found a position in a doctor's office yet that will take a new grad, at least in my state. Informatics, research, insurance and administration all need experience as well, unless I'm mistaken. I don't really want to waste my degree, so I've been looking at what I can do with it. I definitely think bedside nursing is not for me, however, most other types of nursing require you to put in that time first and I'm just not sure I can do that considering how miserable I was during clinicals. Additionally, I feel like the jobs that get you away from the bedside tend to be desirable and thus have high competition--I feel like nurses with experience looking to get out of the stress of floor nursing would edge me out, if i could even find a job that would be willing to take a new grad who's going on two years out of school with no job experience at all. not even outside of nursing. :-/ thanks for all the ideas though! maybe something will work out.

Wow. I thought it was just me! I too chose nursing without really knowing what I was getting into. When I started nursing school I immediately noticed that I wasn't really enjoying the classes. In fact, I enjoyed my first two years of college so much more than the last two--the part that was nursing school. I'm a really good test taker, and have always gotten above average grades in school, so the tests were never a problem for me and I thought maybe I would like it better if I just gave it a shot. Then clinicals hit. And I was terrible. I struggled throughout nursing school with clinicals. I never felt on top of things, always worse than the other students. I could never remember what we learned in school and I'm not the sort of person who picks up skills after watching them being done only one time. To be honest, I almost failed a clinical because I got behind one day and gave meds late to a patient. D: The whole time I was in school I felt trapped and depressed about nursing. But, like you, I hated the idea of "quitting" and on top of that I had no idea what I would do if I didn't follow through with nursing. So, feeling completely stuck, I finished school, somehow managed to get B's in most of my clinicals and began the job search. After about 1 1/2 years I still don't have a job and I just had an interview in which I couldn't answer most of the interviewers questions with specific examples from nursing school. She told me most new grads would be able to answer those questions which pretty much took away any confidence I had in my ability to be a nurse. Granted, that was the hardest nursing interview I've ever experienced, but I'm starting to face the reality that nursing may not be for me and am starting to look at other careers. I'm a little scared about giving up without really trying it, but at this point I've had two years of clinicals I did not enjoy and over a year without any skill practice. I feel like I need to go through nursing school all over again just to be able to be a competent nurse. :-/ Don't do what I did! Maybe try shadowing a nurse in a hospital for a bit if you haven't had any clinicals. If you don't absolutely love nursing, going through nursing school is a waste of time and money and creates a lot of heartache for you! There has to be another solution! Do something you enjoy, not something that makes you cry when you come home (and believe me, I've done plenty of that too, and my parents kept being supportive that nursing was for me, but I'm not really convinced) Maybe I'm not the best person to listen to, since I'm going through this right now and I still may get a job as a nurse but at least you know there's someone else who's in a similar situation to you. :)