Hi, I would really appreciate any good advice/suggestions. I am planning on becoming a second-degree nursing student. I am chaning careers because I want to work WITH people, not books/computers/numbers... and I want to help people, in the healthcare setting. My ultimate goal right now is to work in a primary care setting, or a specialty care/urgent care setting. However, it seems like EVERYONE has sooooo many negatives to say about their nursing careers. Even my close friend out of nowhere says she is so tired of pushing meds she's been in med-surg for 20 years, I thought she loved it. And on this forum, I keep reading about so many things (stress, co-worker issues, patient ratios, long hours & body pains) and am wondering do I really want to deal with all of that AND patient drama (no I'm not a maid, and don't yell). I know that it's only a few years of hospital RN experience before working as a FNP (yes I know MSN & certif exam), but I'm really wondering if those 3-5 years of RN hospital work will be satisfying for me. I'm changing careers so that I will enjoy a new career field, so I want to be sure that I will enjoy it. I've read on this forum about someone working as respiratory therapist and loving it bcse it's very low stress. I've visited the RRT forum, and they all talk about actually sitting and eating on breaks and studying too, some for the majority of their shift. So now I'm wondering if I should go the RRT-PA route to my primary care dreams. I say RRT bcse you must work in a healthcare field before being admitted to PA school (and I want to actually put in meaningful healthcare work if I go this route). I guess I could do a LPN to PA route, not sure if the working condition for LPNs are any better than RNs though. I honestly like the "idea" of nursing, treating the whole person, being the patient's advocate, but it seems like that is a disillusionment nowadays with all the paperwork, charting, and high patient ratios. As far as the FNP vs PA, lots of people here speak about the autonomy that the PA has, higher salary, etc. I'm sooo confused, I need to figure this out, but I may be missing something. please give your suggestions, thanks in advance
she's been in med-surg for 20 years, I thought she loved it. And on this forum, I keep reading about so many things (stress, co-worker issues, patient ratios, long hours & body pains) and am wondering do I really want to deal with all of that AND patient drama (no I'm not a maid, and don't yell). I know that it's only a few years of hospital RN experience before working as a FNP (yes I know MSN & certif exam), but I'm really wondering if those 3-5 years of RN hospital work will be satisfying for me. I'm changing careers so that I will enjoy a new career field, so I want to be sure that I will enjoy it. I've read on this forum about someone working as respiratory therapist and loving it bcse it's very low stress. I've visited the RRT forum, and they all talk about actually sitting and eating on breaks and studying too, some for the majority of their shift. So now I'm wondering if I should go the RRT-PA route to my primary care dreams. I say RRT bcse you must work in a healthcare field before being admitted to PA school (and I want to actually put in meaningful healthcare work if I go this route). I guess I could do a LPN to PA route, not sure if the working condition for LPNs are any better than RNs though. I honestly like the "idea" of nursing, treating the whole person, being the patient's advocate, but it seems like that is a disillusionment nowadays with all the paperwork, charting, and high patient ratios. As far as the FNP vs PA, lots of people here speak about the autonomy that the PA has, higher salary, etc. I'm sooo confused, I need to figure this out, but I may be missing something. please give your suggestions, thanks in advance 