I a firm believer that learning something in a classroom environment is totally different than actually applying it.
I have an interest in nursing, and have had it for some time. I like learning all of the nursing/ medical theories, am a pharmacology nerd, love anatomy, micro, patho, etc. Additionally, my desire and compassion to help people with physically and mentally is above and beyond.
However I am afraid that if I were to graduate nursing school and started actually practicing nursing that I wouldn't like it like I did when I was studying it, I'm afraid I wouldn't be good at it and would be fired and or burnt out and make an error in my work. I know that if you get let go of one nursing job your chances of getting another are like zero. I see all these stories on here of people who are miserable, burnt out, stressed and urge people to do a different career and it worries me. I'm afraid I will be one of those people but I feel as though I have know way of knowing until I actually am doing it. I wish there was someway to predict ahead how I will be!
I already have a degree so the though of going back for nursing to end of not liking that makes me feel like I'd be a failure.
Anyways so what happens if you go back and get a second degree in nursing and find you don't like it. What do you recommend?
Fortunately, I enjoy what I do so far. I spent extensive amounts of time researching the realities of this profession, so I wasn't surprised by anything once I graduated (from the difficulty of getting a job to all the ups and downs of hospital politics).
If I didn't like anything having to do with the medical field, meaning management/NP/whatever isnt an option, I'd get a few years experience ( because I believe in sticking anything and everything out) and go into pharmaceutical sales or something where my BSN would be somewhat useful. I don't really have any interest in going to grad school for my first degree like I used to, and definitely won't be getting a 3rd bachelor's.
There is a wealth of information here on nursing. For guidance in decision-making ... you'd be better served by discussion with family, a wise & trusted friend, partner, faculty, clergy, and/or a professional career coach. Asking internet strangers the same question 27 times doesn't add anything of value to your life.
Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.
When I was looking to go to school to be a teacher, I worked as a teacher's aide to see if I could hack it. I work in a high school behaviorally/emotionally challenged boys. It was really tough, but I liked it so I went to school to be a teacher. Due to economy in the state I live, I lost my job as a teacher and needed a job. I had thought about going to nursing school instead of teaching, but didn't, so this time, when I decided to try nursing, I got a CNA license and worked as an aide to see if I could do. I learned that I LOVED it! I love being a nurse, much more than being a teacher. You can test the nursing waters without making a huge commitment.
When I was looking to go to school to be a teacher, I worked as a teacher's aide to see if I could hack it. I work in a high school behaviorally/emotionally challenged boys. It was really tough, but I liked it so I went to school to be a teacher. Due to economy in the state I live, I lost my job as a teacher and needed a job. I had thought about going to nursing school instead of teaching, but didn't, so this time, when I decided to try nursing, I got a CNA license and worked as an aide to see if I could do. I learned that I LOVED it! I love being a nurse, much more than being a teacher. You can test the nursing waters without making a huge commitment.
I agree! Why not try a per diem job or volunteer at a hospital, see if you like the healthcare environment.
I was the opposite--I was just about done with school and thought I'd made a costly, awful mistake. Then I started my final preceptorship and realized that while I didn't like nursing school, I did like working as a nurse.
You'll never know the answer to your questions until you become a nurse. It's up to you to decide if this is a risk you want to take.
At some point your work ethic needs to kick in and you just go to work and do your job. I'm all about loving what I do but I was also raised by a man who not only didn't have any of my options, he never sniveled day in his life.
I think you should finish this current degree, go out and gain some maturity, then make a decision and follow it through.
Y'know, I recognized your Username from a good many threads asking a lot of questions about nursing school, and nursing in general, and I was wondering if I was having some weird de'ja vu or if you really were posting that many threads, asking similar questions. So I took a look.
Do you realize you have posted TWENTY-SEVEN threads in the last NINE months, all with a question related to whether you should enroll in nursing school, whether you would like nursing school and/or nursing, what everyone thinks about nursing, and whether you would be good at nursing? Many of the threads repeat the same questions....and even though you receive answers, you continue to ask the SAME questions.
There are, of course, many other questions as each thread gets responses; I simply have to wonder WHEN you are going to feel that you have enough information to finally make a decision?
I realize your UserID is "infofreak", lol, but.....at some point you have GOT to have enough info, to (as my sweet grandma would say) "Poop or get off the pot"!
RNsRWe is a reliable poster so I won't replicate her research. So based on that, this is another useless reply to your obsessive questioning.
I'd say your problem is not knowing what nursing is about but rather what happiness ("liking it") is about.
A contract with an employer is work in exchange for money. Is the work I do worth the money I receive. I'm not paid to like my job. As Abraham Lincoln would say "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds up to be."
I would say given all the downsides of nursing, you would have to have a compelling reason to decide to go into nursing anyway eyes wide open. What is so bad about your present job that makes you feel the need to change? Are you still paying off student loans from your last degree? The dangers of student loan debt are real and it is truly the worst debt out there so I would be wary of going back to school for nursing when you can't even make up your mind now. If you wanted to find out what it was like you could become a CNA get a job in the hospital and pay attention to the nurses and their work and talk to them what they like and dislike. Although honestly all you have to do is read all nurses the problems are very self evident, widely discussed and almost universal and seemingly never changing! I'm not even going to list them all because if you have been reading all nurses you should be very aware of them already! So given what you know why do you still want to be a nurse? Do you want us to lie and say even though working conditions suck and the job is stressful and dangerous that the chance to help others is all rainbows and sunshine! I'm sorry I just can't do that. When people warn you against nursing it is to spare you the frustration and burnout they are already suffering from. It is not some secret master plan to keep competition down! We are simply telling it like it really is!
I am a second degree nurse, earning my degree in 2012. I was a lot like you in the beginning, researched every facet of nursing I could. Still, nothing prepared me for what I was in for. Nursing school does not teach you about multiple discharges and admissions while still safely caring for your patients, they don't teach you about core measures, they don't teach you about a lot of things.
Also, I recently left a job at one of the best hospitals in my area (my dream job) because the personalities on the unit were awful. The nurses were fantastic, but the PCAs and unit secretaries not so much. I had critical VS go unreported (70s/50s), blood sugar levels were not reported either. One PCA even decided she did not have to chart VS until the end of her 12 hour shift. I witnessed a unit secretary have major screaming matches (sick patients would come out of their room to see what was going on) with a PCA simply because the PCA asked for some help with something easy. When asking a PCA to do something, there was always an excuse why they could not help the nurse or patient. I decided no amount of money or prestige was worth enduring that sort of behavior from people who are supposed to be professionals and it wasn't worth losing my license because someone "forgot" to report such critical values (even though they charted they informed the nurse).
Now, the place I worked before this hospital was amazing, and I am returning there next week in a charge nurse position. It will be great to be back home, even though it is a small community hospital.
Why don't you research other jobs in the medical field that AREN'T nursing? Just because you like A & P and pharm doesn't mean you have to go into nursing. What about sports medicine, like athletic training? Or become a PA. The medical field is so broad and there are so many options. You're clearly extremely unsure of your career choice based off your 30 other posts asking the same exact questions so if I were you I would ask to shadow a nurse for a week in an area that you're interested in or explore your other options. Any nurse would be lying if they said this job wasn't emotionally or physically draining and stressful but I genuinely like what I do. You just have to figure out if this is the kind of lifestyle you want.
rearviewmirror, BSN, RN
231 Posts
I suggest people to not get into nursing. I wouldn't have if I have known what healthcare business was all about.