scared of nursing

Nursing can be very rewarding, but it does involved weekends, holidays and different shifts. It does required contact with bodily fluids. It is still possible and likely, even with new technology, to make a med error. But you can do a lot of good also.

Try shadowing at different facilities. During my clinical rotatation I have seen some hospitals where everyone seemed miserable, but others where everyone seemed happy.

I went into nursing school knowing full-well that I could end up working nights/weekends/holidays, which I knew was perfectly fine for me. I was (and still am!) afraid of messing up at clinical but that is what motivates me to always be thinking, double-checking, and on my toes. So far I haven't made any real mistakes, just freshman fumbles. I've never worked as a sitter but trust me, when you're at clinical you are never just sitting around, you are on your feet the whole time, doing real work and running around looking for people/supplies/whatever. It is far from boring - which is one of the reasons I love it.

thanks for replying:) My heart is not really in teaching, but I will graduate with a degree in teaching in about a year. I figured I can try teaching or try the accelerated bsn program and the school I was doing nursing in, that way I already have credits completed because its the same program. I'm not sure I'd mind holidays, nights and such..I'm only 21, but I know I may mind more when I have children or a husband and want to spend the nights with them or holidays with them. I guess I wouldn't ALWAYS want to work christmas morning or ALWAYS work Thanksgiving and so forth. I can't say I'm meant to be a nurse..I'm not exactly sure, I love the medical field, I love pregnancy, babies, and studying about diseases. I'm interested in health and I'd love to care for other people. Are you a nursing student or new nurse, experienced nurse? How do you like it so far? If you work already, what unit are you in?

Did you start pursuing a teaching degree after dropping out of nursing? If so, was it partly because of some of the nurses telling you that you should become a teacher?

I dropped out of NS because 1. I failed patho and 2. The school was super expensive I thought I was wasting my parents money especially since I failed. I transferred to a cheaper university and pursued teaching. Not because the other nurses told me to do teaching because a lot of them actually told me to do like ultrasound and such, I just felt that was a tad limited. I would say the reasoning for me leaving nursing would be 1. my bad experience in a hospital. The nurses were HORRIBLE. I know their are great nurses out there but after seeing numerous floors and units of this hospital..there are no nice nurses there I can tell you that. 2. I was scared by what everyone on here is saying how nurses are treated and a lot of people here tell other students to look for other professions. I know I shouldn't always listen to other people and do what I want, but these are experienced nurses advising me to steer away from nursing because of the conditions and such. I have bad anxiety and even thinking about it makes me like clam up. I guess thats why I take everybodys words into consideration, because of my anxiety

no I don't have a "unrealistic vision or fantasy of nursing." Honestly, I'd love to work with pregnant woman or babies. Just something I've always been very interested in actually, I always thought..peds, labor and delivery, or postpartum..

Re: scared of nursing

"You don't seem to have a clear idea what it is like to be a nurse. You say you really want to be a nurse ... but you seem to hate so much about it. Is it just the vision of helping people in a heroic sort of way that interests you? Do you have idealized visions of saving people or making them feel better -- and those images are fueling your thougths about nursing?"

In response to the last post:

I'm just curious as to what made you decide to stick with nursing with all the negative aspects of it. There must be a mixture of both, right? Helping people and feeling valued has to be there along with the stress, holidays, and grouchy people, I would think. I doubt many people say they go into nursing because they love grouchy people and stress. There must be positive aspects of it and maybe beyond just helping people, but the challenge, the ability to critically think, to work with new technology, to work with different people?

To be honest, I'm not looking to get into a glamorous profession, if I was I wouldn't go into nursing. I would love to work with pregnant woman and or babies, I would love a job that is secure and I make a decent pay check. I would love to help people and go home with a sense of satisfaction of what I did at the end of the day.

no I don't have a "unrealistic vision or fantasy of nursing." Honestly, I'd love to work with pregnant woman or babies. Just something I've always been very interested in actually, I always thought..peds, labor and delivery, or postpartum..

I think that's awesome! And though I may be a naive nursing student myself, I believe that every successful career started with an interest. I may not know you very well, but I think that if you could work through your anxiety and biases from your past experiences, you can become a great nurse in those areas of specialty and really enjoy what you do. I would consider making a post in the Peds and OBGYN specialty nursing forums and talking to some nurses who work in the fields of your interest.

Hello you could always work for a Dr's office and never work holidays

I felt the same way for a while... I worked on-to-ones by sitting for hours upon hours with a patient and never go a break too.....

I know that once i am done, there are always going to be things that i don't agree with.... like working holidays and such.... but you do get paid more on those days so that is a positive....???

Also, another idea would be to work causual, that way you have the power to say when you do or dont want to work and there is nothing they can do about it... you do lack benefits like dentil and such, but you get more freedom before you are ready to settle down etc...

its a stressful job, medication errors scare me too... but I find that if I go slowly and do my med research before administering and my 7 checks, I feel much better. Its good to be a little OCD when dealing with things that can potentially harm others.... but I am sure that it will come sometime (for me).... its like in any job if you really think about it... takes time to get comfortable!