Should I give nursing another try?

PMFB-RN, RN · May 23, 2012

Law enforcement. Plus in 20 years when you are retiring at age 40 or so you can laugh at all the nurses who must continue working to 65 and beyond.

Stephalump · May 23, 2012

I am extremely depressed. My whole family are nurses mother and all my aunts. They kept on telling me nursing is the only way to make money quick. So I enrolled in nursing school but I didnt pass the practicum and failed med surg II. I was going to a school where a class is 5,000 and I had a loan but since I failed I would have had to pay out of pocket and also to retake the class I would have to go a different campus that was a really far place. So I left the program and went to school to get an english degree because I am passionate about writing and magazines. I want to be a magazine editor. Unfortunately the writing market is going down and I am kicking myself for leaving nursing. I was only one semester to go. I can't think of a job that makes as much as a nurse. Does anyone have an idea for a non medical job that is high entry level and not too much schooling?

Holy moly lack of good decision making.

1) Chasing after a career for "quick money" is what brought you to where you are now - careerless. Most careers that make money quickly seem to be more " blue collar" jobs, likud welders, pipe fitters, electricians, NURSES, law enforcement, Speciality jobs you must be good at. You can't just decide to do them because someone told you they make good money. When you do, you fail.

2) I appreciate following your dreams as far as the English degree, however, the writing industry has been dying for a long time. I'm sure there are magazine editor positions, but you're going to have to fight for them by working long and hard and making your way up the chain.

I don't even WANT to be a writer, and it took me 5 seconds to realize that.

Sooooo, we all make mistakes. It's cool. However, you seem to be doing the same thing again.

Since you feel so passionately about writing, have you considered finishing your degree (I assume you didn't, correct me if I'm wrong) and teaching while you write on the side? You can also make money by tutoring on the side.

NutmeggeRN, BSN · May 23, 2012

Seriously?

Taking on a nursing program with sole purpose of making $$.....I'm glad you will never have to take care of me.

allnurses Guide · May 23, 2012

There are lots of ways to make money. None of the reputable ones are get rich quick types, including nursing. You learned it isn't as easy as your relatives' lips made it sound.

Magazines are going the way of the dinosaur.

You aren't the first young person to struggle with what they want to be when they grow up. Pick something you won't hate doing every day, then pursue that, recognizing it will take time, effort and probably some time being "poor". You'll survive it....as so many others have. A job is nothing more than selling your time. What would you like to sell your time doing that you realistically CAN sell your time doing? That's the direction you should head in. Best of luck.

llg, PhD, RN · May 23, 2012

Prostitution, drug dealing, robbing banks, etc. -- but those jobs have definite downsides

Movie star, rock star, professional athlete, etc. -- but those jobs require talent (and some luck -- and lots of practice -- and life on the road gets lonely)

Physicians get paid well early in their careers -- but they have to go to school for a long time and work long hours before the money comes.

Corporate executive -- again, requires talent, education, and hard work (or extreme brilliance and/or luck to found a quick start-up company in your garage and sell it for millions).

Lottery winner -- pure luck.

If there were a legal and moral career that paid big bucks at the entry level -- that did not require a lot of education, special talent, hard work, and/or luck -- then everyone would be doing that kind of work. My guess is you're going to have to what most of the rest of do: choose a career and then stick with it through good times and bad to earn your way to a good paycheck..

almostmadeit · May 23, 2012

Prostitution, drug dealing, robbing banks, etc. -- but those jobs have definite downsides
Movie star, rock star, professional athlete, etc. -- but those jobs require talent (and some luck -- and lots of practice -- and life on the road gets lonely)
Physicians get paid well early in their careers -- but they have to go to school for a long time and work long hours before the money comes.
Corporate executive -- again, requires talent, education, and hard work (or extreme brilliance and/or luck to found a quick start-up company in your garage and sell it for millions).
Lottery winner -- pure luck.
If there were a legal and moral career that paid big bucks at the entry level -- that did not require a lot of education, special talent, hard work, and/or luck -- then everyone would be doing that kind of work. My guess is you're going to have to what most of the rest of do: choose a career and then stick with it through good times and bad to earn your way to a good paycheck..

RN's in my state start at 50,000. Entry level nurses are the richest proffesion in the world!

almostmadeit · May 23, 2012

Seriously?
Taking on a nursing program with sole purpose of making $$.....I'm glad you will never have to take care of me.

I know, I am not evil. I just need to find a way to survive! I am almost on the streets right now. I am 22 no job and since I failed, my parents want me to move out unless I can find a high paying job like nursing. Nurses make 50k entry level. I am so stupid to let it go

0402 · May 23, 2012

I work FT, as an RN, and my husband makes about 2.5 times as much money, as I do- he's in the military (Marine Corps). Heck, if I were to go back into the military, on active duty, I would make twice what I do, as an RN; in one day of drilling (reserve duty), I make as much money in 8 hrs, as I do in 12 hrs as a nurse, and not once am I kicked, hit, spit on; I get to eat when I'm hungry and pee when I need to, and in general, I'm actually spoken to in a respectful manner by all that I encounter.

I am definitely not one to say that nursing must be a higher calling- there are many reasons to go into it, and most are valid ones, but at the same time, not everyone is cut out to be a nurse, and doing it solely for the sake of money just isn't a good enough reason (and doing it for 50K/ yr definitely isn't).

itsmejuli · May 23, 2012

If I knew then what I know now I'd pick something in the oil and gas industry. Anything from engineering to skilled trades such as pipefitter, there's lots of jobs..at least here in Alberta. I read an article today that Kansas has oil jobs.

destova · May 23, 2012

Firstly, what state are you in and where did you get that data? Remember that average salary reports are an *average* of all reports. So cities with higher cost of living and therefore higher paychecks pull the average up, but those nurses still don't have tons of play money due to the cost of living in their city.

Secondly, I hate to break your bubble, but there are few jobs that require minimal effort and pay amazing right out of the box. Well, legal ones that is.

Third(ly?), most people eventually figure out that even the most well intentioned loved ones give advice that isn't the best. Sometimes it's that they are projecting onto you, other times they don't know you as well as they think, or any other number of reasons. You need to make choices for you and no one else.

Best of luck.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · May 23, 2012

RN's in my state start at 50,000. Entry level nurses are the richest profession in the world!

The richest? Really? :uhoh3: IF you can find a job.

I have been a nurse for 33 almost 34 years. I am not, nor have I ever been, considered the "richest"of anything except having the love of my family. The recession has not been kind to nursing either....nurses are graduating every day and not finding jobs. Hospitals are laying off and there are hiring freezes. Some new grads have been unemployed for over 14 months and that is IF they passed their boards.

The Big Lie?

Without a doubt, the main source of frustration experienced by recently graduated and licensed but still unemployed nurses is what could be called "the big lie."In other words, the television commercials that encourage young people to become nurses -- and then abandon them for months (or years) without employment; and the educators who tell them that the associate's degree is perfectly adequate to guarantee employment, that they will have their pick of jobs when they graduate, and that there is plenty of time to get a BSN later on. Who knows whether it is greed, ignorance, or wishful thinking that underlies the fairy tales told to nursing students about their future job prospects? Whatever the motivation, the disillusionment of our new grads is palpable. The jobs they expected after all of their hard work just haven't materialized, and some grads are getting pretty desperate.

Will Work for Experience

The strongest motivator for the working population is money, but for some newly licensed registered nurses, getting valuable clinical experience seems to be taking precedence over the paycheck. Without that experience, the financial future of these nurses will remain precarious because they will be unable to find jobs.

"I am willing to take a 50% pay cut or even work for free so I can get the darned experience," said one frustrated new graduate who has been unable to break out of the unending cycle of "no job without experience, and no experience without a job."

She was not alone. Other readers wrote.......

The rest of the article can be read http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/755051?src=top10 it requires registration but it is free.

Has the Nursing Shortage Disappeared?

It's that time of year again. Graduating nursing students are preparing to take the NCLEX and are looking for their first jobs. This year, many are finding those first jobs in short supply.

Reports are rampant of new graduates being unable to find open positions in their specialty of choice, and even more shockingly, many are finding it tough to find any openings at all.

These new RNs entered school with the promise that nursing is a recession-proof career. They were told the nursing shortage would guarantee them employment whenever and wherever they wanted.

So what happened? Has the nursing shortage—that we've heard about incessantly for years—suddenly gone away?

The short term answer is clearly yes, although in the long term, unfortunately, the shortage will still be there.

The recession has brought a temporary reprieve to the shortage. Nurses who were close to retirement have seen their 401(k) portfolios plummet and their potential retirement income decline. They are postponing retirement a few more years until the economy—and their portfolios—pick up.

Many nurses have seen their spouses and partners lose their jobs and have increased their hours to make ends meet for their families. Some who left the profession to care for children or for other reasons have rejoined the workforce for similar reasons.

In addition, many hospitals are not hiring. The recession brought hiring freezes to healthcare facilities across the country, and many are still in effect. Help wanted ads for healthcare professionals dropped by 18,400 listings in July, even as the overall economy saw a modest increase of 139,200 in online job listings.

To view the rest of the article...http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/NRS-254907/Has-the-Nursing-Shortage-Disappeared.html