"Tell Him Not To Go Into Nursing"

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Hello everyone,

My son told me he was changing careers and was going back to school to be a RN. I told him I thought it was a great idea and he would make a great one.

Today, I went to a new doctor for an exam. The person who took my blood was very nice and we starting talking about my family and I mentioned my son was going back to school to be a RN (presently taking pre-reqs.)

She told me she would not want her kids to be a nurse, especially in a hospital! She went on and on how I should convince my son to forget nursing and go into something else. Needless to say, I left a bit perplexed and wondering if I should tell my son to reconsider his career change.

It seems everyone I've talked to says the say thing....nursing is too stressful, bad hours, terrible work conditions, poor management, hateful co-workers.....

Is this true?

As a Mom, should I tell him what I've been told?

Thanks for reading my post.

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Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

tell him to follow his dreams and become a nurse. it's the best choice i ever made for myself.

wishing you and your son the best. :)

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Since it sounds like your son is an adult hopefully he will follow his heart and not listen to the naysayers. For me nursing is a great, flexible and decent paying career. I love it.

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Since it sounds like your son is an adult hopefully he will follow his heart and not listen to the naysayers. For me nursing is a great, flexible and decent paying career. I love it.

EXACTLY!!!!!

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Specializes in NICU.

I was told the same thing when I was considering a nursing career. Because of that, I didn't go into nursing when I originally wanted to and instead did something different. I was never happy with my second choice. About ten years later, I decided I didn't care what others told me about the profession, and I went to nursing school. I've never regretted my choice. As a matter of fact, I wish I went to school the first time I thought of it. I feel that I lost ten years of experience! I can't think of a more rewarding career. I help patients and families who are so appreciative of what I do; it's challenging - never boring; there is so much room to grow; versitility of type of nursing to do. If you don't really like one type of nursing, there are so many different choices to make (dr office, hospital, school, military, correctional facilities, psych, adult, peds, ICU, ER, Travel nursing, etc., etc.) I feel like the sky's the limit. Where else can you work 3 days a week and get 4 off? The benefits are good and the pay is good. Yes, it can be very stressful, but I think any important, well-paying job is. I'll stop rambling now, but I hope your son decides to do what his heart is telling him. If he's not sure, see if he can shadow a nurse for a day in the area of nursing he's considering. Let him see first hand what a day in the life of a nurse is like. Good luck to you both!

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Thanks so much for your note!

May I ask one question? Who do you contact to "shadow" a nurse? Do you call the nurse manager? What would you ask to get an OK?

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Thanks so much for your note!

May I ask one question? Who do you contact to "shadow" a nurse? Do you call the nurse manager? What would you ask to get an OK?

You could contact a nurse recruiter at a local hospital to see about setting a shadow. Some facilities, you also can go thru the nursing education dept.

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1) The people who say "run!" are a type - there's always one saying it no matter what field you tell them you're going into. Ignore 'em.

2) Anyone who knows of this stress free occupation they keep pointing people in the direction of please login and share with the rest of us.

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The career opportunities for a man in nursing are fantastic. (Just as for women.) I don't regret my career change at 47 in the least.

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2) Anyone who knows of this stress free occupation they keep pointing people in the direction of please login and share with the rest of us.

Had a chat with my cardiologist before I even bothered attempting a career change. The upshot was that some people could melt-down working at Wal-Mart; others could be completely unflappable in an emergency. "Stress-free" is apparently more dependant upon the individual than the environment. Kinda funny how "happiness" follows the same pattern.

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just think about where the advice was coming from, was the adivce coming from a person happy with their career/job? sometimes its in the eyes of the beholder. Just because it is bad for them means nothing for your son.

I wish him all the luck he may or may not need.

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i would say that you should follow your dreams. i was an enginner b4 nursing. now i am serving my country in the navy as a nurse and love it. i also worked in the civilian side as a nurse too. no problems there either. there are always those that say its too stressful. well, they are the lazy ones. nursing can be an adreniline junkies dream..;-P

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