Thinking of Nursing need some Guidance?

[pw079]

Hello I am Senior (male) in High School, and here the jokes all the time when I mention nursing as my future occupation, and have always been interested in the medical field. I have shadowed MD's and RN's. Nursing right now is appealing to me because I want to be there taking care of people and not just coming in and diagnosing them then thats it. I would also like to pursue the NP route later on most likely. The ED and OR dept's are attracting me the most right now. I am currently in the interview process to get a job at a local hospital doing transport so i hope that that will give me more of an insight.

So please give me some advice and things I need to do THANKS :)

[max1x]

If you want to make a lot of money, but have very little free time, go to medical school. If you can be happy with a decent salary (but a lot less than a doctors salary) and you value your leisure time, go to nursing school.

I only work 36 hours per week (3 12hr shifts per week). I make 60-65K, and I have more leisure time than anyone I know!

[Paranurse77]

Nursing is the best decision I've ever made. I, like many other "male" nurses used to be a firefighter/paramedic. What makes nursing an amazing career is that you can work nearly anywhere, geographically to specialization.

I have guy friends who have done travel nursing from Australia to Martha's Vineyard. Others are doing military nursing from army units to flight nursing in the air force. Flight nursing, pre-hospital nursing, home health, community health, management, CRNA, NP, ER, OR, ICU, Med-Surg, etc, etc, etc. Still others use nursing to fund their "big" dream(s), ie. Artists, writers, pilots, etc. The opportunities are endless for someone who is very motivated and is unafraid of not conforming to some bizarre "male" social standard. When all the above options are combined with self scheduling, good benefits, and decent pay make for a far better job than laying bricks, or pushing paper from behind a desk

The drawbacks are that nursing can be hard work, standing on your feet and lifting, walking, running, squatting, etc for 12+ hours a day. Of course that is relative to what area you work in. School can also be a bummer. Many of my fellow (female) private school BSN classmates spent their daddy's money doing stupid s@#t in school, while most of the guys I knew were working, in addition to school. You won't find any sympathy from the faculty (female) or classmates (female) when it comes to earning a living (see: bizarre "male" social standards). ADN/public school programs would probably be different.

But the truth is, I now work in an ER and could not be happier with my decision to become a nurse.

I think many dude nurses would tell you that they love the personal freedom to do and go where they want. There are few jobs where if things suck you can just quit and walk down the street to another job... No problems...