We tell the student nurses to run for their lives."

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Jan 22, 2004

Well, good luck to all of you who are planning your future in nursing.

I really hope things are different for you than they have been for many of us.

I used to be totally enthusiastic about my future in nursing, too. I just could not understand all the negativity and "get out while you can" stuff I would hear about nursing. I just knew I would never have such an attitude!

Well, now it is years later and I now have a totally different perspective. I would highly discourage anyone I care about from going into nursing.

I had to find out the hard way, and I'm sure many of you will as well.

I truly hope things are different for you. However, you can't say you haven't been warned- in numerous ways, and by numerous sources.

Much success, satisfaction and happiness to all nursing students in their chosen career.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Jan 23, 2004

Originally posted by mattsmom81
Most of us cannot live with ourselves if we allow a future nurse to enter our ranks unwarned. That is why we are so vocal about the problems we encounter in our profession. Best wishes for a rewarding career...nursing does have its rewards! I try to take the good with the bad, and search for reward in my work, .....but if 'I knew then what I know now' I would honestly not have chosen nursing. I could not in good faith advise my daughter or son to become a nurse.

Now I'm old, have invested 27 yrs in it and too tired to start over..LOL....so I do the best I can, work part time and take things day by day. But...it is rough...and getting more 'customer service' oriented daily. The Burger King mentality of today's 'customer' is draining me....even in critical care patient and family expectations are unbelievable now...I am pulled in too many directions and every person and dept seems to think they are the nurses' boss... That coupled with the lack of respect is most discouraging for many of us. We are as a whole a great bunch of good hearted people who go in and try to do our best in less than optimal conditions, with little support from administration.

Perhaps this next generation of nurses will be the one to bring nurses together to promote positive change...I wish you all the best in your chosen career! When I was a young nurse I did not understand the sadness and frustration in older nurses' faces...but it did not take me long to figure out why.

Wonderful post, mattsmom, from another nurse who understands.:kiss

NCScrubgirl · Jan 23, 2004

I am determined to stay in school and get my nursing degree. My mother and grandmother were both nurses and I saw the truth of the profession growing up, and I think that overall they were both very satisfied in their careers. I am very supported by other nurses that I have met and have found no truth in the "horror stories" that I have heard. The bottom line is recruit, recruit, recruit! I know that at my school we are turning very qualified students away simply because of increased interest in the field.

mattsmom81 · Jan 23, 2004

Originally posted by NCScrubgirl
I am determined to stay in school and get my nursing degree. My mother and grandmother were both nurses and I saw the truth of the profession growing up, and I think that overall they were both very satisfied in their careers. I am very supported by other nurses that I have met and have found no truth in the "horror stories" that I have heard. The bottom line is recruit, recruit, recruit! I know that at my school we are turning very qualified students away simply because of increased interest in the field.

You have found no truth in the horror stories you have heard? Do you think nurses are lying to you? To what end??

Recruitment IS the bottom line...because when a new generation is burned out and discarded facilities need replacements. Good luck to you. Sorry we cannot project all goodness and light regarding our chosen career....it is just not reality based. I prefer honesty...and wish I would have been warned.

I wish you well.

needatag · Jan 31, 2004

Well, I worked for 20 years at a job I did'nt like . Now that I'm in school after 27 yrs. I can ask do nurses eat thier young? In the hospital I was given a pt and never saw the nurse again ! Should'nt nurses encourge students? Or are they afraid? If someone is only making 3 dollars more then a newbie maybe it's for a reason.I'll stick with it thank you :confused:

Roland · Jan 31, 2004

I have a friend who is a VP at the second largest Public Relations company in Indianapolis and my wife will earn as much in her first year out of nursing school as he does after seven years experience (He earns 40K for about sixty hours per week, she already has offers on the table at $27.00 per hour). He (let's call him R.S.) hates his job so much that he is going back to school on weekends to become a TEACHER and take a pay cut.

My brother Vic, worked for twenty years as a VP of sales at a major tellicommunications company only to be let go due to downsizing. He was a top salesman in his earlier jobs, but at fifty-two he can't find any "serious" sales jobs that are interested in taking a chance on an "old guy". Granted he made 80K plus at the tellicommunications company, but he also worked eighty hours plus a week, seldom seeing the three kids he raised, and having a neglected wife divorce him two years ago!

My wife and I had a mortgage and appraisal company before deciding to go into health care in our early thirties. We put everything we had into those companies (indeed more than we had since we mortgaged our house to the hilt for start up money). We worked one hundred hour plus weeks, and for a few years "got by" earning around 50K per year after expenses (that's 50K between us, not each). We worked twelve hour days including Saturday and Sunday's and NEVER took a vacation of more than two days (that was our honey moon). When my wife became pregnant we no longer "got by", and ended up losing our business, and our house.

Granted, this may not be a "reflective" survey, but almost everyone I know here in Indianapolis, Indiana works like a dog just to sustain a meagor existance. In my years in the mortage and appraisal business I saw MANY people working like slaves at jobs that paid no more than ten per hour, that were slowly crippleing them of carpel tunnel and other repetitive, stress disorders. I guess, that I'm not buying this "eighty percent think work is bowel of cherries stuff". Life is hard, and earning 40K a year or so for under fifty hours of work, doesn't seem that bad. Neither is it perfect there are many downsides to nursing. However, I believe that WE have the ability to influence our destiny. We can help to improve the very conditions that we bemoan. Administrators, are subject to stock-holders and to the public, both of which WE can influence (as well as being involved in directly). Also, remember that not EVERY nurse works in a hospital. Some work in industry, schools, and for governmental institutions. Those who really hate bedside care might consider changing fields within the profession or going back for their NP, CRNA ect.