10 Questions from a pre nursing student

sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN · Sep 19, 2009

Hey everyone,
I am new to this site and recently started my pre-nursing classes at my local community college. I need help with an English assignment and I'm hoping a RN will be willing to answer my questions.
Name (First Name):sallyrnrrt
Job Title: RN, RRT
Place of Employment (Hospital, Doctors Office, Etc.): LTC
Interview questions:
How long have you been a nurse? 37yrs
What kind of education or training does your career require? varies, from 3yr. diploma, 2yr asoc, 4yr bs
What led you to choose this career path? always drawn to health care
Can you give me a brief overview of what you do in a typical day (or week)?you have got to be kidding, assessment of health status on people, from subjective and objective data, participate in an nursing diagnosis, and implimentation of health plan, review, and implement orders and plans of other professionals as doctors etc.
What do you like most and least about your work? I can heal, patient may be resistant
What challenges do you face in your work? staffing levels, patient's participation, phsyician compitence, reimbursement
What do you find most rewarding about your work? i affect the outcome of another's life
What special skills, abilities, and personal attributes do you need to succeed as a nurse? intellegence compassion
If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? If not, what would you change? no change
What advice would you give someone who is considering this field?

be objective and patience a virtue

EarthChild1130 · Sep 19, 2009

Name (First Name): Tisha

Job Title: RN

Place of Employment (Hospital, Doctors Office, Etc.): county mental health office

Interview questions:

How long have you been a nurse? 4 years

What kind of education or training does your career require? For this job, they required a BSN and 3 years of psych nursing experience.

What led you to choose this career path? I like psychology and wanted a rewarding job in that field, in which I could make a decent living.

Can you give me a brief overview of what you do in a typical day (or week)? TONS of prescription refills; taking telephone calls from patients about meds, conditions, etc; taking calls from other agencies about patients; teaching a wellness class once a week; weekly injection clinic where patients come for long-acting antipsychotic injections; appointments with some patients for med box fills; and tests such as AIMS, MMSE, and stuff like vital signs checks and weight checks.

What do you like most and least about your work? Most: a ton of patient education, advocacy, and interaction. I also have a lot of autonomy in my job. Least: trying to advocate for very ill people who may not always think they need my help, and trying to navigate a very broken system.

What challenges do you face in your work? As I said, the system is in need of revamping to accomodate the challenges faced by our patients. We also face budget cuts, which results in everything from short staffing to poor equipment (but at work, our attitude is we do what we can with what we have and get inventive!). And even though the vast majority of psychiatric patients are more likely to be victims rather than perpetrators of crime, we do work with a number of criminals who make the job...well, interesting.

What do you find most rewarding about your work? I get to make a real difference in the lives of people who are usually 'cast off' by society. And I like the autonomy.

What special skills, abilities, and personal attributes do you need to succeed as a nurse? The ability to think on your feet; be firm but fair; assessment skills are a must; you must be able to see where your patient is coming from. You don't have to like him but you have to treat him.

If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? If not, what would you change? Yep, would do it again in a heartbeat.

What advice would you give someone who is considering this field? Go for it!

NeoNurseTX, RN · Sep 21, 2009

How long have you been a nurse? 2 years

What kind of education or training does your career require? At least an ADN, but I have a BSN

What led you to choose this career path? Love of A&P

Can you give me a brief overview of what you do in a typical day (or week)? I work nights on Sat/Sun only so my week is allll ME time. 12 hr shifts.

What do you like most and least about your work? Most - critical care aspect and seeing my patients grow up and go home. Least...short staffing.

What challenges do you face in your work? Short staffing, sometimes unfriendly podmates

What do you find most rewarding about your work? Getting to know the families and kiddos going home or at least improving.

What special skills, abilities, and personal attributes do you need to succeed as a nurse? Flexibility, outgoing personality, ability to advocate for your patients, TIME MGMT

If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? If not, what would you change? Yes although sometimes I wish I had a "normal" job. But I love the flexibility in scheduling.

What advice would you give someone who is considering this field? Don't do it for the money and don't take shortcuts.

dianastephens · Nov 26, 2009

I really appreciate all the posts. As a pre-nursing student it gives me great insight.

BeatDownNewGrad · Jan 3, 2010

Overall, as a new grad, if I knew what this job search was going to be like I would have gone into another field.

My advice to others going in is to stay away. It's nearly impossible to get a job as a new grad and nurses really don't look out for eachother when you get in. The degree really is a waste of time. Hospitals admins are greedy and only look out for their bottom line.

MJB2010 · Jan 4, 2010

As a current Nursing student about to graduate, I would suggest getting a job at a hospital as a Nuses AId or Patient Care Tech, the clinical experience will really help you decide and you can see what the nurses do. Having that experience will make school clincials easier.

Now here the controversial part of my advice. When you get this job at the hospital, smile and make firends with everyone!!! Make as many friends/connections as you can as this will help you get a job after school, or a great reference. SOmetimes you will have to bite the bullet (I am not a big brown noser, it does NOT come naturally to me) but you need as many connections as possible later on. Never burn any bridges! Network network network! When you go to clinicals, same thing applies, make friends with everyone on your floor. This will keep your opportunitites open and many of the floors where we do clinicals have offered some fo us jobs.

Mdarnold · Jan 28, 2010

I think the demand for new nurses depends on where you live - I live in East Tn and the hospital nearest me has at least 15 opening for RN's and more for LPN's and is well known for hiring new nurses.

Don't give up hope =]

Kiringat · Feb 7, 2010

Name (First Name): Kirin

Job Title: Clinical Nurse

Place of Employment (Hospital, Doctors Office, Etc.): Hospital

Interview questions:

How long have you been a nurse? 18 months

What kind of education or training does your career require? Started working with ADN, am working on my BSN at the moment.

What led you to choose this career path? Knowing lots and lots of nurses growing up and loving all the stories they told.

Can you give me a brief overview of what you do in a typical day (or week)? On work days: sleep from 1000-1600ish, work a 12 hour night shift. 4-8 acute care patients a night, sometimes with a CNA. I stay busy!

What do you like most and least about your work? Most: Being a good nurse. Least: management getting in the way of me being a good nurse through short staffing, budget cuts, shorting supplies, etc.

What challenges do you face in your work? See above. Also, calling grumpy, not really awake doctors at 3 am.

What do you find most rewarding about your work? When a patient asks me to take care of them the following night.

What special skills, abilities, and personal attributes do you need to succeed as a nurse? Compassion, a sense of humor, thick skin, loads of common sense, and a big bladder.

If you could do it all over again, would you choose the same path for yourself? If not, what would you change? No. I would have become a veterinarian.

What advice would you give someone who is considering this field? Get all the health-care related work experience you can, whether its as a CNA, unit clerk, volunteer, whatever!

diane227, LPN, RN · Feb 7, 2010

I graduated from Texas Womans University in 1978. I have worked in Med Surg, ICU, ED, Psych but most of my experience has been in management. I made the decision to go into nursing because I had difficulty deciding on a major. The college counseling service assisted me with taking tests to determine my area of interest and nursing came up high on the score so that is how I came to the decision to choose nursing as a career choice. Nursing school was not hard for me and I did not spend a lot of time reading required reading etc. I went to class and took good notes, read them over once before the exam and that was about it. I made A's in clinical and overall was an average student. I worked during my senior year at St. Luke's Hospital in the Texas Medical Center in Houston where I rotated throughout the hospital so I was able to get a lot of on the job experience and I had a job waiting for me when I graduated. My goal was to work in the ED. So I got a few years of critical care experience under my belt and moved over to Ben Taub Hospital, the county Level I trauma center when I worked my way up from staff nurse to director of emergency and pediatric services there. I did leave for a while to take a director position at another facility but I came back to Ben Taub. I've had advanced training in emergency and trauma nursing and of course ACLS etc. I have taken numerous management courses and have had a legal consulting business on the side.

I left management a few years ago because I was very burned out. We live just outside Seattle now, moving here from Texas to be close to my husbands family. I work at a very small community hospital as the charge nurse of a 34 bed medical, surgical, orthopedic floor on the 3-11 shift. We are very busy and the job carries it's usual frustrations of trying to get the staff to play together and be part of the team, to get people to do what you need for them to do, etc. The worst part of any job, no matter where you go, is learning how to properly communicate and interact with people. There are times when I get so frustrated that I just want to yell and scream at someone, but you can't do that. Proper communication is key and it is the most difficult skill to learn. I read a lot of books on the subject and I attended courses to help me develop those skills.

I have been extremely lucky in my career to have worked for wonderful managers who were great nurses and who were great mentors for me. There were two in particular who really helped shape me as a manager and I will be forever thankful to them for all the kindness and guidance that they have shown me.

I think that for me nursing was the best career choice. Medicine is so interesting and I love the study of disease and the human body. Also, nursing is a portable career where you can find a job almost anywhere you live. It is my VERY STRONG recommendation that you get hospital experience either before you go to nursing school or while you are in school as a CNA or tech or what ever so that you can get some hands on experience because that is where you really learn nursing. Trust me, it will help you A LOT.

jcmoore07 · Feb 17, 2010

To EarthChild - since you work in psych nursing. I have been trying to decide between going into social work, occupational therapy and nursing. I am very interested in psych patients and I know that interaction with patients is very important to me. If I become a nurse, I know it will be important to me to reach the patients on a hollistic level. Can you tell me if psych nursing or nursing period gives you these opportunities? Thank you

Crystal112 · Feb 26, 2010

As a current Nursing student about to graduate, I would suggest getting a job at a hospital as a Nuses AId or Patient Care Tech, the clinical experience will really help you decide and you can see what the nurses do. Having that experience will make school clincials easier.
Now here the controversial part of my advice. When you get this job at the hospital, smile and make firends with everyone!!! Make as many friends/connections as you can as this will help you get a job after school, or a great reference. SOmetimes you will have to bite the bullet (I am not a big brown noser, it does NOT come naturally to me) but you need as many connections as possible later on. Never burn any bridges! Network network network! When you go to clinicals, same thing applies, make friends with everyone on your floor. This will keep your opportunitites open and many of the floors where we do clinicals have offered some fo us jobs.

I mean this... Just because you choose to network to help develop your career, doesn't mean you are a brown noser or that biting the bullet is somehow morally wrong...It's not. It's about tact, absolutely nothing wrong with it.