Hi. The campaigns that began maybe four years ago stating that nurses would soon be in very short supply were impressive. They were launched or supported by J & J, state health departments, hospitals, and schools. And I believed them.
After two solid years, from prerequisites all the way to Med/Surg 1, I have seen and heard enough to realize that what they said is not true. I've had many a frank, hushed conversation with RNs, LPNs, resp. therpists, etc. There are lots and lots of nurses but many have LEFT hospitals or nursing altogether. The working conditions in hospitals are inhumane, totally absurd, and unfair as heck.
I don't know what to do now. I know I will not become a RN but wish to stay in the healthcare field. Serving the underserved is what I will do, somehow. I am 45 and have alot to give.
Do you have any suggestions? Is anybody else in this situation?
The good thing about nursing is that there are enough jobs to go around - if you get treated like crap, leave and go somewhere else. You can also do things other than clinical bedside nursing - I've just started case management and so far I love it. Outpatient clinics, even things like legal nursing and permanent makeup :) :) are all available. I am not fond of the standard bedside med/surg unit job, so I just say no.
However, there are also other jobs that are in demand you could try and you should if nursing is not your bag! :)
if you want to go into diagnostic imaging, you should know that there is shortage in most of the modalities and many hospitals overwork and underpay their imaging techs. If you think that ultrasound would appeal to you, then more than likely you will have to go through a rad tech program first. Most u/s schools require that you be a registered tech or at least registry eligible. There are other advanced certification fields that might interest you but for the most part you also have to be a registry eligible rad tech. These fields include MRI/CT, radiation therapy, nuclear medicine, and mammography. Being a general diagnostic x-ray tech might also be appealing to you.
I originally planned on being a nurse, so I got my CNA and started working at a hospital and shadowed some of the nurses and it just did not feel right to me. One day, I transported a patient to the imaging dept and happened to know one of the techs, got to chatting and I went back down for my lunch break to see more. Sometimes you just have to find your niche. I am about to finish my first year of rad tech school and I work as a student tech for a children's hospital and I absolutely love it. If you think that a career in imaging might be what you want, you can check out http://www.arrt.org for a list of accredited programs.
Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.
if you want to go into diagnostic imaging, you should know that there is shortage in most of the modalities and many hospitals overwork and underpay their imaging techs. If you think that ultrasound would appeal to you, then more than likely you will have to go through a rad tech program first. Most u/s schools require that you be a registered tech or at least registry eligible. There are other advanced certification fields that might interest you but for the most part you also have to be a registry eligible rad tech. These fields include MRI/CT, radiation therapy, nuclear medicine, and mammography. Being a general diagnostic x-ray tech might also be appealing to you.
I originally planned on being a nurse, so I got my CNA and started working at a hospital and shadowed some of the nurses and it just did not feel right to me. One day, I transported a patient to the imaging dept and happened to know one of the techs, got to chatting and I went back down for my lunch break to see more. Sometimes you just have to find your niche. I am about to finish my first year of rad tech school and I work as a student tech for a children's hospital and I absolutely love it. If you think that a career in imaging might be what you want, you can check out http://www.arrt.org for a list of accredited programs.
Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.
A
also there are people who have there own practice as ultrasound techs and do the nice 3d imaging.. There is a lady up in bellevue washington that works from home and charges about 200 per appointment and is doing quite well.
The good thing about nursing is that there are enough jobs to go around - if you get treated like crap, leave and go somewhere else. You can also do things other than clinical bedside nursing - I've just started case management and so far I love it. Outpatient clinics, even things like legal nursing and permanent makeup :) :) are all available. I am not fond of the standard bedside med/surg unit job, so I just say no.
However, there are also other jobs that are in demand you could try and you should if nursing is not your bag! :)
Absolutely :) . You also have options of trying something else and still remain in the healthcare field.
I don't know where you are, but it isn't like that where I am. I am sorry to hear what you are saying, how sad. I don't know what to tell you except good luck. Maybe you should give it a try for yourself and see exactly how YOU feel. People who spread negativity are usually negative people, maybe you aren't getting an accurate picture from those hushed conversations.
>> Thank you all for taking your precious time to reply! I am very grateful.
I live in Miami, Florida.
My experiences during clinicals have been both wonderful and horrendous, you know, life in med/surg. And my grade point average is 3.4 so I was doing relatively well.
No, I did not come to nursing by way of trying to find $ money or job security. I am middle aged and have a long career and a solid reputation that back me. I entered nursing because my aim is to work with psych patients. It is a calling. However, working conditions in at least three of the main local hospitals are deplorable. I am too old to go through that from the start all over again. For you young 'uns: it's just different when you're my age. I think it's also better.
Your suggestions of ultrasound tech and rad tech, social work, registered dietician all sound like excellent possibilities. I will research job availability and working conditions for these fields and their relation to psych. Social work sounds like the most applicable one.
There are many possibilities in nursing aside from bedside care. You could work for HMOs, medical supply companies, teach/train patients or even nursing students. Hang in there, nursing opportunities abound.
>> Thank you all for taking your precious time to reply! I am very grateful.
I live in Miami, Florida.
My experiences during clinicals have been both wonderful and horrendous, you know, life in med/surg. And my grade point average is 3.4 so I was doing relatively well.
No, I did not come to nursing by way of trying to find $ money or job security. I am middle aged and have a long career and a solid reputation that back me. I entered nursing because my aim is to work with psych patients. It is a calling. However, working conditions in at least three of the main local hospitals are deplorable. I am too old to go through that from the start all over again. For you young 'uns: it's just different when you're my age. I think it's also better.
Your suggestions of ultrasound tech and rad tech, social work, registered dietician all sound like excellent possibilities. I will research job availability and working conditions for these fields and their relation to psych. Social work sounds like the most applicable one.
You guys are wonderfully generous. Thanks again.
I had a wonderful clinical rotation in psych during nursing school. It was on an acute hospital floor for adult psychosis. I loved it so much that I worked as a nursing assistant there for a semester. The conditions were excellent -- very professional, nurses in street dress, lots of OT ("art" mainly) therapy for pts, the floor set up more like a hotel lounge than a hospital (couches, fridge, game room, ping pong tables, tvs, etc...). I enjoyed sitting down with the pts talking to them one-on-one. The nurses administered medications & did a lot of documentation, but they had plenty of time to talk to pts & employ "therapeutic communication". Pts were respected -- it was a far cry from "one flew over the cuckoo's nest".
My nursing instructor that semester was an ARNP & had her own private practice as a counselor working with disturbed adolescents. We all met at her office at the end of the rotation -- it was in a beautiful restored house, and her office was huge & warm & comfortable. She was very established in the community. Other psych professionals had offices in the same house, including MSWs.
Anyway, the point is -- conditions are NOT deplorable everywhere in psych. Also, an ARNP can do exactly the same thing as an MSW in psych (counseling, providing referrals) PLUS prescribe meds (in some states). There are many social workers that feel limited in their roles -- if you are already through the nursing program, it may be more beneficial for you to finish the program & take an alternate route to your end goal -- and since you call yourself "ARNP someday", you should really research all of the options that degree provides.
It's not as "black and white" as some people seem to think it is. However, for political purposes, many people would like to see the problem as being ONLY a shortage due to demographics etc. while other people want to see it as a problem ONLY of working conditions. Both extreme positions that fail to acknowledge the legitimacy of the other is too simplisitc to be helpful.
I agree. I personally think it's mostly a combination of both demographics and working conditions ... the demographics being both an aging patient population as well as an aging RN workforce.
And, there's also the factor of nursing being a female dominated profession. Some people, like one of my instructors, simply quit to raise their kids and come back when their kids are grown.
Or ... they come back because they need the money. The 130,000 RN's who returned to work in 2001-2003 did so during the recession, mostly in states with higher unemployment rates where their spouses may have been laid off.
When you look at the shortage, there's all kinds of potential factors involved. There's not enough data to pin it on one thing over another.
Or ... they come back because they need the money. The 130,000 RN's who returned to work in 2001-2003 did so during the recession, mostly in states with higher unemployment rates where their spouses may have been laid off.
I was just reading yesterday that the unemployment figures are the lowest they have been in several years. Maybe that's why my hospital is having increasing staffing problems lately. We've weathered the shortage fairly well over the past few years and thought we were on the right track with retention strategies, etc. but have experienced a noticable downturn over the past 6 months. Our healthy local economy might be the reason.
It's good to see us on the same page, lizz. Now if we could only get the rest of the world on this same page with us .... :-)
Hi. The campaigns that began maybe four years ago stating that nurses would soon be in very short supply were impressive. They were launched or supported by J & J, state health departments, hospitals, and schools. And I believed them.
After two solid years, from prerequisites all the way to Med/Surg 1, I have seen and heard enough to realize that what they said is not true. I've had many a frank, hushed conversation with RNs, LPNs, resp. therpists, etc. There are lots and lots of nurses but many have LEFT hospitals or nursing altogether. The working conditions in hospitals are inhumane, totally absurd, and unfair as heck.
I don't know what to do now. I know I will not become a RN but wish to stay in the healthcare field. Serving the underserved is what I will do, somehow. I am 45 and have alot to give.
Do you have any suggestions? Is anybody else in this situation?
Maybe I'm not reading something from the right angle, but what has what you've heard about hospital nursing (locally, right?) got to do with whether you finish your education and get your RN? Who says you have to work in a hospital?
Near me, there's LOTS of demand for nurses, good ones always grabbed up first. There's nursing homes (skilled and assisted living), clinics, county public health nurses (various health department positions), home health care (a BIGGIE need), plus physician's offices and substitutes for school nurses. That's just off the top of my head....surely there's more than just a hospital employer in your area?
i've done med/surg 1 clinicals. the things i saw are: rns working a 12-hour shift, going home and sleeping for 6 hours, then being called back in for another 12-hour stint. they told me confidentially that the money was definitely not worth it, but they were there and might as well deal because they have children and elderly relatives to think of. they said they were not treated the way they would like by their supervisors but did not complain about the mds. they usually had 8 patients and their loads were uneven. some rns had 4-5 acutely ill patients and 3-4 very ill patients. most of them took a break to eat for 15-20 minutes. others did not, at least during the entire time i was there working on their shift (about 6 hours).
why must you work in a hospital?
why am i set on hospital bedside nursing? i've read alot here on these boards and gather that it would be best to have at least some practice in hospital before going to home health care, a clinic or other venue.
is your heart set on becoming a nurse? then go for it.
my heart is in it. unfortunately, it's a matter of too much stress making me ill. some stress is good! it motivates and keeps me on my toes. but if it's too much i do get sick. i can't afford to put myself in that situation. i guess we should know our own limitations.
without sparking a debate about which is better or superior, and without thinking about money, please share your thoughts about this: i am ignorant but think that maybe going for an lpn certificate would be better for me. it would mean doing maybe 1-2 more semesters. i haven't found out yet. i know it depends upon each state, but i think (am not sure) that an lpn does not have the same burden as an rn because there is no passing narcotics, hanging blood, and other similar highly stressful tasks. i am under the impression that lpns are also able to spend more time with patients. am i totally mistaken here?
featherzRN, MSN
1,012 Posts
The good thing about nursing is that there are enough jobs to go around - if you get treated like crap, leave and go somewhere else. You can also do things other than clinical bedside nursing - I've just started case management and so far I love it. Outpatient clinics, even things like legal nursing and permanent makeup :) :) are all available. I am not fond of the standard bedside med/surg unit job, so I just say no.
However, there are also other jobs that are in demand you could try and you should if nursing is not your bag! :)