Whatever happened to going to school to be a nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

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The other day as I sat at work listening to coworkers talking about career paths and what degrees they should pursue I couldn't help but think back to when I was a new nurse 32 years ago. I went to school to be a nurse, as everyone in my class did. The discussions were where do you want to work, not what is your career goal. It seems no one wants to just be a nurse anymore. This is all pushed with the magnet statuses, national push for more and more education and I wonder what is so bad about being a nurse caring for patients year after year. Most young nurses I hear talking are appalled at the thought of your entire nursing career caring for people. I am sure there are some new nurses who just want to take care of patients, but I haven't talked to many. I find this sad.

I absolutely love hands on patient care. I wanted to be a nurse since I was 4, but I never believed I was smart enough. It took me until I was in my 30s to work up the courage to go to school. I really never had any plans to continue my education after getting my ADN. Life had other plans for me, though. I've been a nurse 6 years and 4 of those years I've dealt with some moderately serious health issues. I can't work the floor forever. I have no choice but to go back to school. I totally understand why new nurses want off the floor so badly, though. Admins hire new nurses, mold them the way they want them, then run them into the ground so severely with planned short staffing or ridiculous acuities, excessive demands, etc., that the new nurses understand that a pace like that and demands like those are going to be detrimental to their physical and emotional health. If your nurses are drained of all that is good in them or if their health is slowly sucked away, how can they be there to care for patients long term... and why would they want to?

Specializes in Critical Care, Ortho-Surgical.

I've only been a nurse for about 5.5 years and I've noticed this as well. I came into nursing with a bachelor's degree and like others have said, during our schooling they were always talking about the next step and going into management/leadership positions because we would have our BSNs. I can honestly say I love working bedside. My first job out of school was at a medical spa doing laser hair removal (only an RN can do this in CA) and I was ecstatic when I was finally hired into a hospital. I worked med-surg and didn't experience too much of the "what's next" discussion but now that I'm in ICU, that's all everyone seems to be talking about. Even nurses that only have 2 years experience are just itching to get into CRNA school or become an NP. I can see how the bedside burnout is real but for now, I'm happy where I'm at.

I'm a new nurse and I want to be just a nurse. I have to get my BSN or risk losing my job. All because of an inappropriate study that has become "evidence" upon which to base practice about the outcome of patient care by BSNs vs RNs. There were two variables studied at the same time - decreasing the patient to nurse ratio and those nurses with less patients having a BSN. That is a failed scientific study and amazingly the one variable that surely had the most to do with improved patient outcomes is the one that gets ignored in the workplace!

Specializes in OR, transplants,GYN oncology.

You know, I earn a good salary. It took me 30 years to get here, but the truth is, I have no complaints about my salary. And I'm "just" a staff nurse (by choice).

I have hundred complaints (a day!) about working conditions, both labor related and physical conditions And about the corporate nature of medicine. My nurse-colleagues agree with me on this. It's NOT the money that's the big problem.

I work in a university hospital, and it is still an extremely corporate mentality. PR is their biggest concern, because they think that telling the public that their staff does community service, or that their staff has advanced degrees or that we have every available surgical robot will foster public admiration for and loyalty to the institution. At the bottom line, patients care about the CARE!

Specializes in Pediatrics.

The world of education has changed. Undergrads (nursing or otherwise) are being heavily encouraged to continue their studies sooner rather than later. There are many reasons behind this: young adults who may still be able to live with parents (if they continue to grad grad school), staying on their parents insurance, deferring undergrad loans, or just wanting to get it over with. From a financial/practical perspective, its not our place to judge what works for them and their families. The problem with this, as I see it, is that these brand new advanced practice nurses (or administrators, educators) are not ready to work in these capacities, because they don't even know how to be a nurse! I was just talking to a new grad at my job, who said all her other college friends went right on to grad school- most of which are in a medical related profession (ST, PT, etc). These kids have no choice. She said she wasn't ready for that and WANTED to go out and get experience before she went back. She also admitted to wanting to make some $.

On the other hand, what's wrong with wanting to move up the ranks in a profession? Sure, there is nothing wrong with good old fashion bedside care. But I think to put someone down for wanting to advance is not fair. Think of any profession/business: there are the front line workers, middle management, then upper management. When a potential employer asks you "where do you see yourself in 5 years from now" they don't want to hear "doing the same thing you are hiring me for now". That answer doesn't show determination or motivation. In theory, there is nothing wrong with doing the same thing in 5 years from now, but employers want people who strive to be better (whether you are a nurse, a bank teller or a barista at Starbucks). Of course, when you ask for days off to go back to school or hand in your resignation, they give you a hard time (but that's a whole other topic!)

Speaking of money, seriously, whats wrong with that? Why do we look down on people who want to make a good living? For those who are in it strictly for the money, many of which don't make it out of school, the rest don't last very long. Many of these will not be the ones making six figures in the field, as they will not advance.

As for me, I do miss the bedside. But there comes a time in our life where you need to do what suits you, your body, you family and your mental health. Everyone's journey and time line is different.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
I work in a very faced paced nursing unit and work very hard as most floor nurses do! We have had several younger new grads that literally complain about how hard it is and then quit after orientation to go to a dr office etc. the work ethic of the 20-25 generation is terrible.... I have seen numerous new grads going straight to np school. Which in my opinion only hurts them in the long run. Rant over! Lol

And the millennial-bashing begins.

Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
I agree, but I would say that a lot of physicians, dentists, physical therapists, pharmacists and speech language pathologists entered the professions mainly for security and financial prosperity, too. However, it may or may not affect their professional skills. I know some nurses who are nurses mainly because the profession brings an okay range of salary, but they are good nurses. On a side note, who really thinks a $60,000 yearly salary is survivable? Studying computer science will bring a 100K+ salary easily.

Considering that the average American HOUSEHOLD income is ~ 53k, I'd say 60k is very "survivable."

Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

I've talked to a lot of seasoned nurses and they've told me that nursing isn't what it used to be. Once upon a time, nurses were treated with respect, not as waiters/customer service workers. Charting wasn't so onerous and while the work load was heavy, it was doable.

Now? Many feel that nursing, as a profession, has declined. RN now stands for Refreshments and Narcotics. Reimbursement is heavily tied into patient satisfaction (when it should be tied to OUTCOMES). Wages have remained stagnant, and the proliferation of so many for-profit schools has devalued the nursing degree.

I have been a nurse for 1.5 years and I see so many people already rushing back to school. Many had no intention of ever working as a floor nurse while others have and decidedly hated it.

It is scary to see so many incompetent RNs trying to pursue an advanced degree with more liability. Many have very little respect for bedside experience.

At one point I wanted to go straight through but now that I am getting that experience, I am realizing just how crazy it is to become an NP with little to no experience. However, nights and every other weekends are getting harder and harder and expectations and workloads for nurses are becoming more extreme...I can't see myself working the schedule that I work forever.

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
One thing I have not seen anyone mention is if the four year BSN and EVERYTHING else it encompasses is so absolutely essential to becoming a desirable, hireable, useful, essential "walk in the door" entry level model nurse,.

It has been years since I have seen a new grad of BSN or higher fit to walk in the door and function with only a brief, reasonable orientation. The expectation is lengthy orientations, hand holding and continued orientation if the first three months were unsuccessful. In the NP arena our physician colleagues are like WTH? Its embarrassing that our programs no longer provide adequate training for basic function upon graduation. In my experience ADNs and LPNs have been the best prepared to practice upon graduation.

And the millennial-bashing begins.

I know--what's up with the millennial bashing? It gets old, fast. I can think of some lazy nurses on my unit who are Gen Xers. I def can think of Baby Boomers who are lazy too.

I think every generation is going to bash younger generations for being such-and-such, ad nauseum.

Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

I loved hands-on nursing. However, at one of my last positions, one of the questions posed in the written self-evaluation portion of our yearly evaluations was "what are your career goals and what do you plan to be doing in 5 years. Ambition was valued perhaps more than technique, good bedside manner or staying current with new nursing practice. This was a med/ surg position at a magnet hospital; many of the nurses there were just starting their careers and there was an almost condescending attitude toward those who chose to remain at bedside instead of moving on to become educators, administrators or at leasT advance practitioners.

Specializes in Government.
And the millennial-bashing begins

I trained a lot of this age new nurses. I found them to be willing to work hard but most had never had any kind of job before so boundaries of work were new to them. Mostly, I had to tell them they could not text all night or walk into patient rooms with their phone in their hand. I don't know why this wasn't covered in school but maybe their professors were my age and it never occurred to them this needed to be said.

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