RN 12/12

Hi GrnTea, Thanks for the great article! As a new nurse (became one a year ago, but have had hardly any work experience), I appreciated the perspective from someone who has been in the trenches. I agree with what someone else said on here to that throughout nursing school, I often found more support from those who had been nurses awhile than from newer nurses who liked to lord their position over us students. I just want to say to those seasoned nurses-- we appreciate you! How I long to be trained by an "older" nurse! Years of experience, learning, and wisdom that I would LOVE to tap into. If you have an opening for a new nurse that is willing to work their way up the ranks the hard way, please let me know!!

Thank you, rnmama999! I actually interviewed for and would have been hired in a cosmetic nursing role except that I declined....regretting that now! Haha...the way they described the job to me, though, sounded a lot more like a sales job (needing to meet a weekly/monthly upsell target) than a nursing job. Have you ran into that issue where you work? Congrats on being involved in something you love!

Thank you all for replying! Makes me feel like I'm not alone. I do love nursing and consider it my passion- thankfully, no loans to pay back! Just getting discouraged with the lack of opportunity and am afraid 3 years from now, I won't be any closer to having a job, but I'll be four years closer to forgetting everything! :) Thanks again for the encouragement, everyone. I will keep pressing on and look into the suggestions. :) Good luck to you all!

Hi all, I have been a nurse for a year, and I still haven't found a job that will actually help me gain nursing experience (have worked as CPR instructor and am now placing TB tests). I am so discouraged (as I know many of you are!), and I am seriously contemplating leaving the nursing field. It is very sad to think of because I felt like this was my calling and my passion. I just don't know what to do anymore. I was curious if any of you have thought about leaving nursing, and if so, what profession are you looking to enter? Thanks for your input!

My nursing class started out like this, and like you, I felt very disillusioned because I didn't think people wanting to be healthcare professionals would be this way. I didn't make friends at first because I felt like I couldn't trust anyone. I don't know if it will end up being the same way for you, but by the time we graduated, we were one of the closest classes our professors had seen during their time at my school. Sad to say, but it took some of the people who caused drama to fail before we were able to all bond together. Keep your head up...a lot of people act like the way you're describing when they are nervous and feel like they have to prove something. Hopefully you will get to experience what I did with my class because it is so wonderful to feel like you have those people supporting you- even after you graduate.

I am in my 6th class at GCU and have had no problems so far. Back in August, I actually had to drop the class I was in because I had had surgery and couldn't keep up. I ended up taking a 3.5 month break because of various things going on, and they were very accommodating. My educational and financial counselors kept in contact with me and encouraged me throughout my break. I love that the classes are only 5 weeks long...just when I start to get bored with the subject, I move on to another! :) The only regret I have has nothing to do with GCU, just more with online schooling in general. I have realized that I do better in a classroom setting- not grade-wise necessarily, but I just enjoying connecting with my professors and fellow students. i do miss that aspect with doing my BSN online. Besides that, great experience! Good luck, I hope you like it too!

Saw this article through my aunt who sent it to me. Used to log on to allnurses.com a lot throughout nursing school because I loved the support and hearing stories of people experiencing exactly what I was. I haven't been on lately because everything to do with nursing and being a nurse has been so hard to deal with lately. I graduated over a year ago and still haven't found a job as a RN. I've had little side jobs here and there teaching CPR, etc but nothing to actually market me as a nurse. It's so incredibly frustrating. Someone on this forum said that looking for a job is a full-time job in itself! Yes! It is! Except that it doesn't help my nursing skills, doesn't pay, and is unbelievably disappointing day after day. I want to be an excellent nurse. I want to learn, to grow, to share...but will I ever get the chance??