RN to Teacher

[missnurse92x]

I have been a nurse for about a year now. But, I dread going to work everyday. My days off are spent dreading the fact that I have to go to work. I am miserable. I hate the stress of the job. I hate knowing my every move can determine whether someone lives or dies. I go home wondering if I did enough that shift. See I always wanted to be a Nurse or a teacher. I loved teaching and whenever I studied, I pretended I was "teaching a class". I loved being a tutor in nursing school and I loved the learning. But I was never a big fan of clinicals. I always wished I could love clinicals as much as my friends. The only ones I truly loved were peds & OB. So you are probably wondering why I didn't choose teaching as my major? My mom wouldn't support me. She refused to help me with school, if I was going to be teacher. So here I am working her "dream career" and not mine. I am miserable. I see people pass away and realize life it so short. I want to enjoy life, not be counting down the days till I am free. How do I go about doing this?! Any advice?

[Mom2boysRN]

Former teacher here. Check into what requirements are to substitute teach in your area. In the state where I taught you only needed 65 credits in college to be able to sub. You may be able to be a sub on your days off from nursing and see what you think about being in front of a classroom of kids. It won't be the same as having your own classroom, but it will give you a bit more perspective.

If you decide to continue with nursing much of the home health nurses job is teaching.

Good Luck!

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

Another former teacher here. Teaching has changed so much. There is very little teaching, really. Just as in nursing, a good portion of your time is spent doing other things. I had a Bio degree and went through a program similar to an ABSN. VERY difficult to get a job as a first year teacher with a masters and then you are not guaranteed tenure. I did not get tenure because I was a non-tenured teacher with a masters. Lots of us lost our jobs. It is better in some areas than others, but I was making twice as much money as a 2 year degree nurse that I was as a teacher with a masters.

Try home health, school nurse if you want to work in the schools although that is not all it is all it is cracked up to be. Parts of teaching are wonderful, just as parts of nursing are wonderful.

I worked as a teacher's aide and then a sub before i committed to school to be a teacher. I don't regret teaching, but I burned out REALLY fast in teaching. I ended up bringing too much of it home.

Give it a try so you have no regrets. :)

[PA_RN87, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

As several other posters have pointed out, there are oodles of teaching opportunities and positions within nursing! Have you considered getting your master's in nursing education? You may not even have to wait for a master's to teach if you already have your BSN. I'm currently working as a clinical instructor for a practical nursing program while I study towards my FNP degree. Many PN programs only require a BSN to teach, and I believe CNA programs have teaching opportunities for BSN-prepared nurses as well. I've also heard a few people on here say their local ADN programs hire BSN nurses to teach clinical. The point is, theres lots of opportunities to teach in nursing, and a huge need for nursing educators!

[CriticalThinker88, BSN, RN]

I'm a current teacher working to get into nursing, so I'm on the flip side of things. I enjoy teaching and working with children; however, I do not enjoy getting paid so little and spending thousands (yes thousands) per year in my classroom (my easel costs $400, classroom rug $400, classroom books $3380 and counting, in addition to the monthly school supplies costs: paper, pencils, construction paper, snacks, I could go on) and not getting reimbursed, having to go home to do more work for school, working through the weekends, working outside of my scheduled hours (coming in and hour or more early and leaving hours later) and not getting paid, among other things. It's unfortunate, but I've spoken with other teachers who feel the same way.

I've also gotten to the point that I feel dread when I think about continuing in this field, and I know that me feeling this way isn't allowing me to be the most effective teacher I can be. When I came to this realization, I knew that I needed to make a change. I believe that if you have reached the point where you're dreading going into work, a change needs to be made. Consider your options of being a nurse in a different environment or if you're dreading all of nursing, I say follow your dream and become a teacher. You need to do what will make you happy and productive. Hopefully your family can accept this. Good luck!

[HelloWish, ADN, BSN]

Have you considered school nursing, like being the nurse at an elementary school?

[Kristenlaurenw]

As a nurse, you can teach Healthcare science technology classes in schools. With a higher degree, you can teach at nursing schools or teach nurses in a hospital. As a teacher you can only teach.