Next year I'll be starting my prereq classes to become a nurse... But this forum is scarring me!
Reading all the posts about the stress, the overwork, the nasty patients, and the difficulties of nursing school has got me thinking. Should I purse nursing? What if I regret my decision?
I have been accepted to a university where I could get a typical four year degree, for a typical office job. Or I could go to my local community college, finish my prereqs and start nursing school.
What questions should I be asking myself to make a decision? As individuals who went through nursing school and nursing, what advice can you give me?
Specializes in Give me a new assignment each time:).
I understand your concerns. Have you worked in healthcare before? Maybe you should train for CNA, monitor tech, or some other job in the hospital, even if it's part time. I think that can really help you to get a feel of what it's like to be working with nurses and other health professionals. After that, you are the only one who can make the decision to become a nurse.
I would definitely get the 4 year degree. It will give you a wider array of opportunities. If you do a BSN and then become a nurse, it's easy to go on to your master's or get a manager type nursing job or a billion other things if you already that that bachelors degree in place.
Also, if you get married and have kids, you'll be less likely to go back and do a BSN later. So do it while you're young.
I think you are more scared cos ur imagining what can happen. Imagination is a powerful thing!
You know what, I'll tell you something straight: nursing IS a scary thing when you first start. When I first started working as a nursing aide years ago, I worked in country hospitals, then I got my RN and went to work in one of the biggest and busiest teaching hospitals in Australia. I had worked there for years (have worked in large hospitals for 25 years now), but not as an actual RN - and I was petrified. You are entering a field (nursing/medicine) that is CENTURIES old with tradition and a high 'calling' that comes with it. People trust nurses more than their own doctors, or anyone else, according to some surveys. We have to deal with humans and their myriad of problems every minute of every day, and that is the hardest thing to do as a job.
A friend asked me not long ago should she encourage her daughter to go into nursing? I said if she has a REAL passion for it, go for it, do a few semesters or a year and see what it is like. You will not know what ANY field is like until you are actually working in it. But I would personally encourage very young people NOT to start off in nursing - some of the things you see and have to do are horrific, and it really scars some people. You can always get one degree, and go onto nursing later on when ur more mature.
You can read all the horror stories on here, it doesn't mean your career will be like that. Yes, you will see and do awful things that your brain can't comprehend, but that's how you learn - also at university you learn coping skills like self reflection, journalling and will have others at work to help you out.
It also depends on where you work and what area you work in. You may find one area you really like, and others you hate. I've worked in hospitals that quite frankly sucked, but now work at a good hospital, with, in the main, great and helpful co-workers.
If you REALLY think you would not cope, do not do nursing. You may find if you decide to do it, you will burn out very quickly and become very depressed. I saw this happen to a friend of mine when we were younger and doing our training. Her relationship disintegrated, she got very depressed and went psychotic. She never finished her degree as far as I know - she just couldn't handle it.
I suggest you see a career counsellor, talk to a close friend and/or family member and then go from there. Not every area of nursing is bad, but we like to come on here and whinge cos it gets it out of our system!
Also meant to add that these forums discuss REAL WORLD PROBLEMS in nursing. We are not sugar-coating anything, and the real job of nursing is very unlike school. Nursing also encompasses many differing duties - we are responsible for a lot not the least being people's lives. And nurses run the hospitals, not the doctors or administrators.
No matter how much we beatch and complain, fight and argue and moan on here, this IS reality. I disagree that it is only the unhappy people who post a lot. Sure, many people moan on internet sites and in real life. But sometimes moaning is a sign that someone wants you to listen and help them. Many people come here for advice re real problems, and they get a lot of help and usually sound advice.
What you need to realize is this forum is a poor representation of the nursing profession. Internet forums in general aren't very representative of anything. It's more or less somewhere for people to ***** and whine and occasionally get an answer or ten to some question. On the internet as in real life those that ***** and are unhappy do it very loudly where as those that are happy and satisfied are generally pretty quiet.
That being said nursing like any other profession can be as fantastic and enjoyable or as ****** and miserable as you want to make it.
Actually I need to disagree here.....
What is vented on this forum is pretty representative of the conditions many of us face.
Just because we vent doesn't mean we are negative people who like to whine.
We are not all Pollyanna's who refuse to see the significant issues in this occupation.
PS I see you are a student ... I would get a few years experience under my belt before forming the opinion that this forum is a 'poor representation of the nursing profession'.
I would definitely get the 4 year degree. It will give you a wider array of opportunities. If you do a BSN and then become a nurse, it's easy to go on to your master's or get a manager type nursing job or a billion other things if you already that that bachelors degree in place.
Also, if you get married and have kids, you'll be less likely to go back and do a BSN later. So do it while you're young.
I'll present the case for going the ADN route and let you decide.
Given your uncertainty, the financially prudent way to go may be the ADN. Given the astronomical costs nowadays for a 4-year degree, you should ask yourself if you want to pay 50K or more to obtain a degree in a field you're somewhat unsure about, and then possibly be faced with having to make student loan payments until you're 40 years old. On the other hand, community college tuition is still relatively reasonable. Were you to decide not to stay with the nursing profession, you would at least be able to support yourself while returning to school to complete a 4 year degree in a preferred area. And if you did decide to stay, it's very possible your employer would provide tuition reimbursement for you to do an RN-BSN program.
I highly recommend what another poster suggested--try being a CNA first. Very little investment--the classes are only a few months long and don't cost a whole lot. If you work as a CNA for a while, it will give you a good idea of what kind of work environment you'd be coming into as a nurse. If you do decide to go on from there, you will already have valuable work experience and contacts in the profession. If you decide not to, that's okay. It may give you some other ideas for other healthcare professions--respiratory therapy? physical therapy? pharmacy?--or it may help you make the decision that you really are happier in the office. I have never regretted becoming a CNA first. I'm also kind of one of those generally-happy-about-nursing-but-quiet-about-it nurses. Good luck!
MursingMedic, DNP, RN, EMT-P
90 Posts
Nothing rewarding is easy.