Should I be a Nurse??

TazziRN, RN · May 25, 2008

Not to be cruel but if your personality is the way you describe it then I would not want to work with you, and you will find it difficult to keep a job. I have worked with travelers who think like you and some of them have been let go from their contract before it was up because of their attitudes. It will not matter how good a nurse you are. People who have loved ones in the hospital are scared and they often need gentle handholding. Patients can be downright terrified.

joolia · May 25, 2008

No. Sorry to be blunt, but with an attitude like that, I think you would make a horrible nurse.

Besides, you do realize that you will need 2-3 solid years of experience as a staff RN before a travel agency will hire you, right? That means, 2-3 years, as you describe it, "dealing with bs and politics."

For the sake of us who are dedicated to becomming compassionate, caring nurses, please skip nursing school. It's hard enough to get into nursing school as it is, without people like you taking up precious seats.

wildmountainchild · May 25, 2008

I appreciate your forthright presentation of your feelings. Some people consider me to be.....very honest. For lack of a better description. However, I care very deeply about my patients and have realized at this stage of the game that playing well with others makes my life easier, even if I have to deal with what I feel are petty and useless upheavals in my work environment.

As mentioned above, you have to have experience before you can become a travel nurse. Most places want a minimim of two years full-time RN experience. Why go through the hell of nursing school if you already know that it isn't for you? Sounds like a losing proposition to me.

There are other ways to get to travel. Be creative. Find another field that doesn't require much in the way of people skills (I mean, you're going to have to tell people that thier mother, child, loved one is dead...you really need to be compassionate). Accountants actually get to travel a fair amount if you get the right gig.

jessiern, BSN, RN · May 25, 2008

I personally would not want to be your co-worker or patient if you don't think you can "deal with" patients 8-12 hours.

That one statement makes me say no, you shouldn't be a nurse. You don't seem like you would take the time to listen to a patient, and to try and make their experiences better.

Also, the worst reason to get into nursing is money. You will be miserable, and so will everyone around you.

Last, if you have never been a nurse, the you do not possess the skills needed to be a nurse. They must be learned, and it takes time and dedication. You need experience before starting to travel-tavel nurses recieve very little if any orientation. That is no place for a new grad.

leslie :-D · May 25, 2008

while i reject the image of the pervasive, compassionate nurse, nsg does require people skills.

it sounds like you'd do well w/the science of nsg:

not so much in the art of it.

and while i admire you for not wanting to get dragged into the bs, gossiping and politics, you still need to deal w/pts and families concerns in a sensitive fashion.

if you feel you can do that and also wait a couple of yrs before taking on travel nsg, then go for it.

but if i were to assess your potential just based on your post, i'd say no.

best of everything.

leslie

ctnjason · May 25, 2008

Thank you for the insight. Im really contemplating this. I guess my main issue is i look at healthcare as a business. It is NOTHING but an industry to me. Its a service. The United States economy is kept alive by service based jobs and in my opinion only, health care is just that..... a service. Im all business at work in CT. If a patient refuses a scan, i dont hold their hand and act all oh but the dr thinks this is sooooo important, please try to have this test. Im like ok, thank you, have a good night, and back to the room they go. Im not mean, im just to the point. If you dont want the CT, ill gladly take it out of your shopping cart.

Anyhow, please dont think of me rude, mean, and not compassionate. I think more and more as i weigh nursing over my current situation is that my job is good to me, im good at it, my patients like me, yet i think im so happy due to my short time with them. While they are in my department i give them competent, efficient, and good care yet i consider them my CUSTOMER, not my patient. Im sure i will get critiqued till the end of time :)

medsurgnurse, RN · May 25, 2008

Is there any reason that you can't be a travel CT tech? I see ads for travel radiology positions. LIke you said you only have to deal with the patient for a short time in radiology. In nursing you have them for 12 hours and many days. You will hate nursing so why do it.

TazziRN, RN · May 25, 2008

Okay, you say you don't want to be caught up in the emotions of your pts and their families, yet you claim to be a compassionate person. You don't want to "hand-hold" but you claim to be a compassionate person. You don't want to do a lot of things but you claim to be compassionate. How are you going to tell someone that their loved one just died if you aren't going to hand-hold? How are you going to deal with the pt who is terrified out of her ever-lovin' mind about having a CABG but knows she will die without it.......are you going to just shrug and walk out of the room saying "Okay, it's your decision, let me know if you change your mind"? These people are NOT customers, they are patients with fears and feelings. You do not have to deal with this as a nuclear med tech but you definitely have to deal with it as a nurse.

ctnjason · May 25, 2008

Basically, i think im compassionate in the sense that i want to do the best job i can do while they are under my care. The point of this whole thread is to get some opinions to whether not i can do it or not, not a bashing session to me. I firmly agree with some of your opinions on this situation. I believe that when i am a patient, and i know i will be one day, i want the most highly skilled nurse. They dont have to be the sweetest or dandiest or paint the most colorful picture for me. I want the highest skill just as if i needed an ultrasound tech to US my testes, nurse to give me an IV, surgeon to cut me. I just want the highest skilled.

Im sorry that you do not feel as if patients are customers. That is the beauty of internet forums. Everyone has an equal say of their opinion. I can guarantee you that the people that sit in the board room and make desicions about YOU and your care at your hospital see these patients as a customer. That i can promise you. We on the front line of care are to deliver the best "experience" we can.... this is a FIRM example of the patient being a customer. ANY business or marketing class will tell you the power of the "experience".

Anyhow, i really do appreciate all of your opinions. It is really helping me make my future desicions on my education and career. Call me jaded or mean or whatever. It may be true. Im not really denying anything. Im just here to seek the best path to take in the next few months/years.

TazziRN, RN · May 25, 2008

We are not trying to bash you. You said you wanted our opinions on whether or not you would make a good nurse based on your self description. We are all telling you that you probably would not. Nursing is not just about clinical skills, it's also about people skills. There are some people who think like you do, that it doesn't matter what the personality is like as long as the skills are there. I'm telling you now that most people, many nurses included, do not feel the same way. There are those of us who will take the second best if the first best is a total horse's patootie, because if we don't feel comfortable with the caregiver we will be tense and will not recover as well or as easily as we could. Most patients don't care too much about the personality of the ancillary staff, because the interaction is so brief, but your nurse is with you 8-12 hours at a time. If the pt is having pain she will probably not mention it to you as a CT tech because you do not come across as warm and caring, but if the nurse isn't a caring person and this inhibits the pt from voicing her pain, she could get into some serious trouble.

HM2VikingRN, RN · May 25, 2008

Going into any profession for the money is the wrong reason for picking that profession IMO.

I think that shadowing a nurse may help you realize what personal work you may need to do as a person to socialize to the profession of nursing. It might be wise to ask yourself "can I learn to play nice in the sandbox with others?"