What do you wish you had known?

[MallysMama]

I am going to be speaking about nursing to college students who are undecided on their career path. They know they like the science/healthcare field- but haven't settled on a program yet.

What do you wish you had been told about becoming a nurse before going to nursing school? School questions? Finding a job questions? NCLEX stuff? Working as an RN? Anything!

I spoke for this workshop last year...but I wanted to make sure I was meeting their needs even more this year! I have an hour to talk about everything from pre-reqs to advanced career options!

Any thoughts or suggestions on things you would have wanted to know at that point in your schooling?

[nightfly]

Learn what the job is before you start training for it. If you want a job in healthcare, in any form, go be a volunteer at a hospital and see what the job is like. In this field now for 45 years, I've seen way too many new graduate nurses burn out fast because they don't really like the work, and then all the little annoyances just grind them down until they hate coming to work every day. For most students, all they know about nursing is what they see on TV and in their brief visits to a doctors office or hospital. Then they go to college and get swamped with required courses that have nothing to do with what the job will be. Two years in, a lot of those students just continue on because they don't know anything else. Then before you know it, you have a new RN standing at the nursing station complaining that she didn't go to school to be a nurse just so she could wipe butts and empty bedpans. All because she didn't know what she was studying for. Volunteer. Learn what the job really is. If they know someone who already is a nurse, ask them if they can go to work with them some day to see what the job is really like. Because to come out of school and realize that it isn't what you wanted to do, and now you're stuck with it with a $50,000 student loan, is a horrible thing to look forward to.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

I think the business aspect of healthcare should be emphasized more. Too many people come into nursing with a big heart and don't realize that it's a big business. While comforting, hand-holding and spending time with patients may be important to an individual nurse, the hospital is looking at numbers and making decisions accordingly. People who don't understand and accept that reality seem to struggle.

[AJJKRN]

Their school's accreditation and how this effects ones nursing career!!! I had no idea about this and just got lucky my school was nationally accreditated and boy I would have really of screwed the pooch if it wasn't! They need to know how to research NCLEX pass rates for schools as well, along with how to research their areas job projections/possibilities. Students also need to know about all the different entry levels into nursing so they can understand, not only to respect their peers, but to decide which path is best for them. A reasonably estimated price tag for each path couldn't hurt either (wasn't it just the other day a poster asked if $120,000 in school loans was ok or not...are you kidding me, I have a total of $20,000 in student loans for BOTH an ASN and a BSN...yikes people!!!).

[Libby1987]

Second post..I didn't need to know this myself as it was just easier in years past but what I see with new nurses these days..

The first couple of years really require complete dedication, unless you're exceptional, and trying to have a life with *balance* is unrealistic. I wish nursing students planned on treating their first couple of years the same as a new MD, ambitious lawyer, a soldier, a world class athlete would do..you have to live and breathe it and do everything outside of work to prepare to be successful in learning, keeping patients safe and surviving the grueling hours. Don't come to work tired, distracted or idealistic. Learn the job first then find a good pace.