Sismom

I was so taken back with your lengthy response to my message that I shared it with one of my instructors. Following is her response: ----------------- Thanks for the email. I took a very quick read of it, and can relate to both sides of the discussion. Yes, there are alot of frustrations in nursing; conversely, the rewards make up for some of the obstacles that are posed before nurses and nursing. Some of it stems from gender issues, i.e. nursing is a predominantly female profession; but society holds paternalistic views about women, i.e. subservient; nurturing people who do good work, but whose work is not really that important, certainly not important enough to recognize as we do with other professions. Some of these attitudes are perpetuated by nurses themselves. Bottom line: nursing is very challenging, very rewarding, and I can think of no other profession I would rather be involved. This also means, though, that nurses have got to become active in projecting themselves as professionals, and advocating for themselves and our profession, as professionals. Remember, a BSN will give you a tremendous amount of mobility, which an ADN nurse does not enjoy. You've made a good choice; don't doubt yourself.

I recieved this message today and wanted your input. ---------- Well, reading this board has given me pause. I am currently a househusband with a BS in Physics, but the kids will be off to college soon and I was considering changing careers from a former lab technician to a RN. My motivations are similar to others I have seen posted here. My time in the Peace Corps gave me a taste of helping others that I would like to return to. I wonder how I would be accepted as an older male, who is also 6' 2" and 200 lbs. I have no desire to be stressed out in some understaffed hospital, and I don't need to work full time. Maybe I should not look too far ahead and worry about the job after I finish school. Many thanks for your advice.

I am in my second year of the BSN program. I am also 41 years old. I have been lurking in these rooms and have read quite a bit of disturbing information. Why should I continue in the BSN program? I read horror stories about being a nurse, mean Doctors, Nurses that fight with each other, lack of help, all sorts of things. I wanted to be a Nurse since I was a child. Now I am not so sure. In class we are taught about the kindness of Nurses. From reading your posts I must ask, Where is the kindness? Don't you become a Nurse to help? What's all this complaining about money, staffing, etc? What happened to job satisfaction? I need you to give me some positive reasons to be a Nurse.