I have a question..... a serious one. Should I in fact be a nurse? I am a registered X-ray and Cat Scan tech of 10 years. Im almost 30 years old and i am considering Travel Nursing. I also finish Nuclear Medicine school in about 7 weeks. I immediately then will attempt nursing school for the ONLY reason of being a travel Nurse.
I firmly believe i have the skills to be a nurse clinically. Im not quite sure i have the people skills though. Being a CT / Nuclear Medicine tech, i love the fact that i can take solid care of my patients for their exam and send them about their merry way. Im not sure if i could deal with a patient for 8 or 12 hours along with their family, friends, needs etc. I know what its like to be short staffed along with other issues nurses face but im just not sure if i could handle certain issues.
Also.... i hate to say this.... but im an *******. I pretty much care NOTHING about others peoples issues. Dont get my wrong, i LOVE my patients but all the nit picky political ******** of a hospital i just dont get into. I dont care about what he said, she said, hes gay, shes cheating, blah blah blah. I really just dont care. I dont care about nagging family members, i dont care about the reasons you are in my care. I am considered all business to some, an ******* to others. I foc
us on the task at hand and do not care at all about circulating issues around the hospital or patients life other than their care.
I dont brag, but im considered a stellar CT tech and i really think i will enjoy nuclear medicine while in school for RN. This career change is strictly for travel nursing. The field of travel radiology in any field is dried up and i see lots of travel nurse jobs everywhere.
My reasoning for wanting to be a travel nurse is basically this: I want to make good money, housing and car allowance paid, and if i dont like the facility, i can screw in 6-13 weeks. Thats basically it. A good friend is a Travel Nurse and lives in her hometown, takes the housing stipend and pays her mortgage on her home. I want to be just like that since i live in a metropolitan area. If i feel the urge to move away for 13 weeks, the travel company still pays my housing.
Anyhow, this is getting long and my apologies..... but i want to know this. Am i being delerious to think i can be a nurse? Like i said, i think clinically i think i can handle it. Intrapersonally, im not sure. Im all business in the hospital, I dont get caught up in politics and im VERY straight foward even to the point where im not afraid if my truth hurts your feelings. Anyhow, thanks for the input. Unlike SOME (not all) radiology staff, i have the utmost respect for nurses and have thought for a long time now that i will be one some day. Thank you.
I'm a little like you. I work in critical care mostly, because unconscious patients can't talk back. haha.. only kidding.. kind of.
Disregarding the patients (if you can, sounds like you can!), you need to have good interpersonal skills to succeed as a worker in ANY field, but most especially in a team-oriented field like healthcare.
Perhaps if you're well aware of this apparent character flaw, you could work on becoming more receptive and/or pleasant to deal with? The older I get, the more I realize it's just not worth it to be difficult to get along with. Nod and smile, it makes life much easier.
To the OP, you sound a lot like me before I started NS. In my last career, I worked mostly with television broadcasting equipment, and considered myself very technologically adept. My interest in nursing was to make a positive difference in people's lives and to contribute to my community, but my focus was on technical skills, not so much people skills.
My time in health care has changed me. I now understand the importance of interpersonal skills in nursing, and that the "customer" really doesn't care how skilled you are, but how nice to them you are, especially when they are facing life and death health crises. They don't give a hoot whether you got straight As in nursing school or are the best in your unit at starting IVs, or can rattle off the pathophysiology of every disease known to humankind. They just care about the kindness with which you treat them, and are more willing to forgive your bad IV skills or your not knowing as much about their illness as you should, because they like you.
Whether you like it or not, your people skills (or lack thereof) are at the top of the list when it comes to customer satisfaction.
Not that the technical skills and knowledge are not important; they are. The "customer" expects a lot of us nurses. They expect us to be both skilled AND compassionate.
Maybe you should go to NS. Maybe it will help you grow.
To the OP, you sound a lot like me before I started NS. In my last career, I worked mostly with television broadcasting equipment, and considered myself very technologically adept. My interest in nursing was to make a positive difference in people's lives and to contribute to my community, but my focus was on technical skills, not so much people skills.
My time in health care has changed me. I now understand the importance of interpersonal skills in nursing, and that the "customer" really doesn't care how skilled you are, but how nice to them you are, especially when they are facing life and death health crises. They don't give a hoot whether you got straight As in nursing school or are the best in your unit at starting IVs, or can rattle off the pathophysiology of every disease known to humankind. They just care about the kindness with which you treat them, and are more willing to forgive your bad IV skills or your not knowing as much about their illness as you should, because they like you.
Whether you like it or not, your people skills (or lack thereof) are at the top of the list when it comes to customer satisfaction.
Not that the technical skills and knowledge are not important; they are. The "customer" expects a lot of us nurses. They expect us to be both skilled AND compassionate.
Maybe you should go to NS. Maybe it will help you grow.
Ain't it the truth- pts usually prefer nurses they consider "nice." Most of them really don't know enough to be able tell how skilled we are.
Wow. To be a true nurse, you have to give a small part of yourself to every patient you come in contact with. Otherwise, how can you care? I have tempered the loses with the knowledge of having given them my best. Sometimes that can be accomplished with a simple conversation as you do some vitals, or administer their meds. Other times it's the extra effort you give to contact a Doc with a phone call instead of a fax (LTC here). Other times it's holding the hand of a dying patient as they pass away.
The bottom line is you will fail as a nurse if you lack compassion.
To the OP, I hope you have read all these posts and have had some deeper thoughts on the emotional aspect of being a nurse.
ghillbert, MSN, NP
3,796 Posts
I'm a little like you. I work in critical care mostly, because unconscious patients can't talk back. haha.. only kidding.. kind of.
Disregarding the patients (if you can, sounds like you can!), you need to have good interpersonal skills to succeed as a worker in ANY field, but most especially in a team-oriented field like healthcare.
Perhaps if you're well aware of this apparent character flaw, you could work on becoming more receptive and/or pleasant to deal with? The older I get, the more I realize it's just not worth it to be difficult to get along with. Nod and smile, it makes life much easier.