To RNs: Would you encourage students to get into nursing from a practical standpoint?

Palliative Care, DNP · Oct 26, 2013

If your heart is in it and you truly want to be a nurse then yes. I on other hand discourage my own children from nursing. I told them do anything else OT, PT, pharmacy, MD, PA, or respiratory. Nurses are treated like dog poo on society's shoe. We are worked to death with expectations that are unrealistic. Often working in understaffed and possibly unsafe situations.

Dewman · Oct 28, 2013

My sad but true advice is to NOT go into nursing.

I was an engineer for over 20 years, and saw my last two jobs basically shipped to Mexico. I went back to school to study nursing, partially because I liked it, and partially because of the supposed job security and demand for nurses.

Well, there IS no demand for nurses these days - at least not for new nurses. Every hospital wants 1-2 years experience, but none are willing to GIVE you that experience. The only RN positions are ones that can be filled by an RN or an LPN, in long term care.

In my last position in LTC, I had responsibility for 35 patients. I called it "McNursing", because there is no way to provide quality nursing care for that many patients.

I didn't go to nursing school for this. My time in nursing school seems to have been a waste.

Dewman · Oct 28, 2013

I should add: The only places I've found willing to hire an inexperienced nurse are LTC facilities, and these positions can be filled by an RN or an LPN. So if you REALLY want to become a nurse, I would suggest that you NOT waste time and money getting an ASN, so you can get your RN license. Getting an LPN is quicker, you'll incur less student loan debt, and you will still be qualified for the only jobs available for new nurses.

PMFB-RN, RN · Oct 28, 2013

Hi guys! Im a 22 year old MALE student who just applied to nursing school (BSN program) and I'm from the NYC/Long Island area. I have no doubts about getting in however, i do have some doubts about the future of nursing. Call it a last minute freak out or whatever but I'm seriously worried that i will get out of nursing school with loans, and not be able to find a good job. My mom is a nurse, and so are both my uncles all of which have been very successful and entourage me to enter the field. Getting into nursing was indeed my own decision and i do feel it would be a satisfying and rewarding job for me. However, i know that if I'm struggling finically i will regret the decision. At my moms job alone there were large cuts and many people were laid off (thankfully she was not one of them). Apparently, from what I've heard there are cut backs everywhere. So to all the nurses out there would you encourage me to still go into this field or back out now while and do something else?

*** Like your uncles I have had and am having a good career in nursing. However I do not recommend nursing as a career for young people. Nurses are not treated with enough respect, our pay and benefits are falling, jobs are hard to come by. Even if you do get a decent nursing job you will still be slaving away at it until you are 67, or into your 70's.

I suggest a career where you have the opportunity to get out with a pension while still relatively young.

If I was your age right now I would be trying to get into law enforcement at the federal level.

CSteffen_RN · Oct 28, 2013

I'm a 24 year old RN in neuro icu w/ 2 years LPN exp. @ a nursing home and 2 years RN exp. @ a hospital and I can honestly say I wouldn't trade this job for the world. Some people are very comfortable stopping at the LTC level and doing that for the rest of their careers, and others like me aren't happy until climbing a very difficult unit like the icu. It's all about working your way up through positions that you don't necessarily enjoy for questionable pay to get to the area of nursing you really like.

MBA2RN, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2013

RNs in the acute setting are treated as Disposable. We are regularly forced to work in unsafe/hostile conditions, where we face patient assaults, verbally abusive doctors, and relentlessly hostile management. The RN is the Point of Contact for almost all the care given in the acute setting. And as such, receives almost all the blame when that care falls short. Patient receives wrong breakfast - blame the nurse (not Food Services), doctor didn't round today - blame the nurse, doctor forgets to write orders - blame the nurse, doctor writes the wrong orders - blame the nurse, doctor does something really stupid and the patient is hurt, watch out...that doctor with 10-15 years of college level training and $200,000 in student debt to prove it, WILL NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY for their errors) when there is a convenient punching-bag RN who can take the fall (and loose their 2-year ADN job/license). I've seen it happen too many times. A career in nursing means you have a accept the blame for every shortfall in the system, up to and including the bedside. Go be a PA, make more money, and forget about playing the blame the nurse game.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Oct 30, 2013

MBA2RN ^^^ is providing a very accurate picture of where RNs lie on the health care hierarchy. For a lot of people, the hassle is just not worth it. I think that this is where the 'vocation' thing comes into play. If nursing is your passion, it IS worth it. If not, the bad will outweigh the good. You're the only one who can make this determination.

Right now - from a purely practical sense - I am not advising anyone to go into nursing. The job picture is very unstable. The nursing 'job growth' that is predicted will not be in acute care. Hospitals are hard pressed to deal with ongoing decreases in reimbursement so they are going to have fewer RNs working with lower-cost 'nurse extender' roles as much as possible. As the ACA is fully implemented, RN jobs will be in the non-acute areas will increase because there will be more support for chronic illness and 'wellness' care. Maybe it will change in a few years, but it's pretty grim right now.

morningland · Nov 2, 2013

For me, I saw all this "writting on the wall" and decided to work at a rural but acute facility that actually really needs Nurses. I work on a reservation hospital where nurses are hard to come by and retain due to the location. So, I am not as disposable as I would be in other hospitals and I got the job, as a newgrad, like THAT!

I work at a facility that has a lot of issues as far as our charting systems being woefully inadaquate but our doctors are AMAZING and friendly, our staff is generally friendly and the hospital can't afford to "get rid of you" if you make a minor mistake. It's pretty nice

In many ways, nursing SUCKS!!!! I love doing the work and rarely dislike going to work but the pressure and backstabbing and negative feedback from management is very difficult to deal with. However, the GREAT thing about nursing is that there are thousands and thousands of different hospitals out there with different work dynamics. I hear all the time about nurses who "can't even get the time to pee or take a lunch break"... that practice is UNHEARD of in our hospital because people would not tolerate it and nurses are not a dime a dozen in our area.

I knew, I would never make it as a new grad in a big hospital... so I choose a small facility and am pushing two years of experience in December. When I move on from this facility, I will likely have 3-4 years experience with my BSN and I was able to make it work because I went where my odds where the best (I moved from Michigan to Arizona)

So, I would just keep that in mind in regards to nursing. If you are willing to move and relocate to find the best cituation there is no end to the possabilities. Just remember... you don't have to CHOOSE to work in a bad facility

unojoservir · Mar 5, 2014

Finally! Someone asking the question no one will talk about. Do not do this! You will not make enough money to pay for your cookie cutter life and your student loans. You pick, a nice home in a safe area and a worry free car OR a nursing career where like everyone on here has said, you will be treated horribly and you will not make enough to pay for your life. Forget a family, a spouse. You will be broke. If you want to be a nurse, go into the military and let them pay for it. If you want to be respected as a nurse leave the US and go somewhere nurses are appreciated for all they do. There are very few "thank yous". Look at the average student loan debt and nursing income. Look at the cost of living in your area. Can you save for a retirement on that income? We do take the fall for everything. The shortage is real but the jobs do not exist. New grad programs are cut throat. Eating your young is alive and kicking. And if you're a male, life just got that much worse.

cheriedg · Mar 5, 2014

Great question! Its been looming in my mind too. Im one semester away from graduating and can say..... Is it too late to change to a different career? Ive been LPN for 8 yrs at LTC and can honestly say i dont want to be screamed at. Suggestions?.... Wisconsin....

double_minority · Mar 5, 2014

Oh wow guys, although I am already an RN I wouldn't expect so many people to actually advise NOT to be a new RN. With all due respect I've seen some fn members really "gang up" and tear apart whoever came and dared to say that he/she was a new grad, couldn't find jobs, "hated" nursing, "not was expected", etc. Couldn't understand their reactions. It was almost like they, the new grads, personally insulted those members when really they were expressing their feelings concerning their unbearable situations of being a RN who paid his due of graduating with NO prospects of any job what so EVER.

All that to say this, as a poster, and a reader, I appreciate my AllNurses community honesty.

And as 1 year private duty experienced RN a.k.a. "Forever New Grad", OP, NO, do not be a nurse...