Second Guessing Future as an RN

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Jun 19, 2009

Floor nursing is stressful, but in my opinion, Med/Surg would be especially demanding. All that pain and nausea, and all those hovering family members expecting "service with a smile".....not my cup of tea. I suggest you don't base your entire future career choice on this one experience. There are many other areas of nursing out there.

jjjoy, LPN · Jun 19, 2009

Hi there,
something to think about while considering if nursing is truly for you, are the variety of nursing positions available. Not all careers must begin in the hospital. Many new grads go directly into other areas such as a dr.'s office, clinic, school, etc that will certainly have stress but perhaps not on the level of working at a hospital.
Also, don't forget about positions in areas like nurse consulting, researching, administration, and education. Assisted living and nursing homes may also be something to consider.

I just wanted to point out that while there are many different areas of nursing, it can be difficult to break into other areas outside of bedside nursing as a new grad. Imagine a questioning pre-med student who sees stressed out physicians with high patient loads, low reimbursements, and every increasing beaucratic loopholes to jump through while being pressed on all side to be "more efficient" while still providing "top quality" care. Would it be helpful to encourage them by saying "Well, not all doctors' work is like that. Some physicians work for pharmaceutical companies, in universities, in research, in administration. Or open a boutique practice where you have more control"? Or someone thinking about going into teaching, seeing stressed teachers dealing with disrespectful students, lack of support and resources, and encouraging them "Not all teachers work in the classroom! Some teachers work as reading specialists or get into research or administration."

Some consider the first year or two of bedside nursing the final years of one's nursing education and given the minimal real-world clinical experience most schools offer these days, it makes sense. Yes, it IS possible to bypass beside nursing, though one may find themselves pigeonholed and have difficulty getting into any other area if they ever need to find another job. Those with a passion for a particular specialty will likely be able to do whatever it takes to get where they want. However, for someone without a clear career goal besides "being a nurse", the bulk of available opportunity for new grads will be in bedside care.

The kind of stress and work environment the OP is seeing is realistic. Luckily, not all places are like that, but it's not THAT uncommon, either. A new grad who doesn't have the experience to quickly judge the workplace culture nor to be picky about accepting job offers in order to get that initial experience could easily find themselves in such a workplace. So I'd recommend the OP use this job as am opportunity to observe what parts of the job and the environment she likes, doesn't like but can deal with, and those things she absolutely detests. It will be useful down the line when evaluating job opportunities. I'd also recommend the OP seek out the approachable RNs, ask them questions, watch them work, ask them to show you interesting things and explain what they're doing. You can learn an awful lot that way, so even if you hate the job, you are getting more than just money from it. Finally, if it still seems just too terrible, consider asking if you can change to a different unit or applying at another facility (do any classmates work somewhere they would recommend?). If the grass isn't greener, at least you'll know. But you're new to this and don't have a basis of comparison, the grass just might be much greener and sweeter somewhere else.

Try not to get too far ahead of yourself. You are a nursing student. You are a nurse tech. You have questions about what kind of work will suit you and what the realities of nursing are. No need to have any answers now about that now, though. Each day you will learn more. At some point you just might reach a conclusion... "this isn't so bad!" or "this isn't worth it to me!" or "that was miserable, but THIS is MUCH better!" I hope you can utilize this frustrating experience as a learning experience... not only as a nursing student, but as a student of life. Best wishes!