Losing sleep over possibly changing my major.

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hello everyone, I'm struggling with the decision whether to continue my nursing career. I wanted to be a nurse bc it seemed like an easy choice. Every other female I graduated with was planning on going to NS. My family is in the field, and I took care of someone close to me which gave me a great feeling even though it was the hardest thing I have ever done. I'm questioning whether I want to apply again (didn't get into ASN program). I work in a clinic now with miserable unmotivating coworkers. I took what seemed like all my challenging classing in 1 semester and I am feeling BURNT OUT! I have no desire to learn anything additional about human physiology or biology. It has genuinely become boring to me. I am thinking about studying human behavior (which has always been an interest of mine). Im thinking management, social work, counseling... still wanting to stick to service oriented careers if possible. My parents said I shouldn't be looking at my path to get there, just my end goal... therefore a psych nurse would be a good fit. My question is: if I'm feeling "burnt out" and uninterested in the medical field and my studies ALREADY could I really make it through nursing school, doing my floor experience, THEN be a psych nurse? (If there is another path anyone is aware of please let me know) I was always told NS was something you have to truly want to do and have a passion for therefore you'll hate it and/or fail.

I decided to take a semester off to research further, but wanted to see other opinions.

Thank you!

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I think you need to figure out if you are trying to do nursing because you have a genuine interest in it or if it's just "the thing to do." In any career, if you don't at least like the job, you are going to be miserable. Did you enjoy A&P before you got burnt out or were you ambivilant?

And I would suggest doing some research into psych nursing and what are the jobs like around you. In my psych rotation, the nurses had very little interaction with the patients other than giving meds and asking a few questions. It was a lot of charting and rounding to note what everyone was doing. That's not to say that all psych nurse jobs are like that, so if could be important to look at the different options.

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I am uncertain whether or not I like nursing. I know I definitely won't stick with it if I don't though. That's why I will be taking a semester to explore more. I never once enjoyed AP2. I enjoyed AP1... but for the wrong reasons I suppose. I was good at AP1 & I gained confidence from it, didn't really think what I was learning was interesting though. I have heard other people say the same thing about psych nursing!! Yikes! So say I find I do like nursing but hate what nurses learn in school... do many nursing student dislike their studies but love nursing??

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Luckily, school is not the real world. The best way to figure out if you want to go on or not is to arrange something with a hospital in your area to shadow a nurse for a day. If you're interested in psych, I'd definitely try to get a chance to shadow there. Psych nursing has a huge range. On one end, you're a typical nurse that specializes in psych care. On the other end, you're part nurse, part activity aide, part social worker, part corrections officer, part parent, part aide. You definitely should try to get a chance to at least get to watch a day in the type of psych nursing that you want to get into.

As for school, it's just school. Whether you love it or hate it, you just deal with it focusing on the fact that it's only a couple years and then you're done and never have to do it again. Then you can focus on working as a nurse, which is so different from school that even my teachers are constantly pointing out "how it's done in the hospitals."

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I am glad to hear someone views school like that. So many people have told me nursing school is the hardest thing they have ever done and you truly have to love it or you won't make it through. Some other people have suggested becoming a CNA to better understand what the roles people play in the hospital. Thank you!

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Of course you should take a semester (or two or three etc) to figure out what you really want. You are young. You can always circle back. Nursing is hard. The schooling is hard. The career itself is hard. Its hard. There is nothing wrong with not knowing at your age what you want. It would be wrong NOT to explore elsewhere.

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