Whatever happened to going to school to be a nurse?

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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.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to advance your career. For a nurse to have a "hands off" disposition toward work is a little weird. But I can't blame someone for trying to forge their career to suit their interests. Meh...

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Specializes in Surgery.
Just a nurse? You are more than "just" a nurse. You give when others quit. You comfort when no one else can. You push yourself when your body says "you've got to be kidding me!". You usher people into this world, you hold their hand when they leave. You chase doctors down in order to get that order signed. You advocate for people that sometimes you'd probably rather just leave you along. You do so much more than be "just a nurse".

I don't get the sense that she meant "just a nurse" in a demeaning manner. I think she meant "just a nurse" as in remaining a dedicated bedside, hands-on patient care type nurse. As nurses were meant to be. Not a manager, not a higher degreed, away-from-bedside-care office dweller.

"Just" the nurse that nurses went into nursing to be twenty or thirty or more years ago. To care for people. Not to be a bean-counting, pencil pushing, office dwelling automaton that so many nurses think they must be in order to be respected in the profession, to make a "decent" salary, and who puts on some kind of a uniform, be it colorful scrubs or a facility-required color coordinated outfit so that people can allegedly "tell the nurse from the housekeeping staff" and then goes to work to help people recover from their illnesses, or their physical infirmities, or to leave this planet peacefully.

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I spent 43 years stomping the halls doing direct care, doing clinical education and caring directly for patients. I tried admin and fled, yes fled back to direct care. I have a BSN and Masters and am retired now due to orthopedic issues that stop me from "stomping" anywhere. If I could I would be back at it. I loved working directly with patients, managing care, planning, working through problems, tapping into the wider medical community to help people. It was a blast, I worked all over the country, had some beautiful, special experiences. I think some RNs need to get out of themselves, stop focusing on the minutae of their lives and what social activity they are going to after work and hone in on what is important. Sometimes when you do that all the social opportunities and personal worries take care of themselves. There are so many opportunities in nursing it's mind boggling. You can do anything but you got to want to get it. I married, raised two kids on my own because my husband died. Nursing gave me the flexibility of schedule and the salary I needed to raise them up, send them to school and get them independent. One is a University Administrator the other is an EMT/fireman. Both HELP PEOPLE in their own ways. I'd call that success. My daughter the administrator even says, "you did good for a mom working night shift for 20 years". You gotta want it and do whatever it takes to get it.

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I am 50 and in nursing school and all i want is to care for others. I was accepted to Baylor in 1982 and my father passed away, i got pregnant and never went, so now that my children are grown, and i am expected to work until 70 for my SS check, i am doing what i always wanted to do.... Love others and help to heal them! God willing! I'm so glad i live in Texas, home of the greatest medical network besides John's Hopkins. We are out here, but i do agree with you, Most of my fellow students are only about education, i don't hear them talkin about caring for people or contributing to the well being of others. I guess some nurses are 'called' to nurse and others are only drivin to succeed. I want to do both.

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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

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My head professor in my BSN program told me that he could train a monkey to be an operating room RN. He pushed the idea that the more advanced nurses there are, the more nursing, in general, would advance.

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Specializes in Psychiatric, Med-Surg.

I'm the only one in a class of 23 students that has mentioned wanting to be a practitioner. But I went into school for that sole purpose when I realized that a masters in psych wasn't going to satisfy me professionally or financially.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Critical care.

I went to school to be "just a nurse." All I wanted to do was to help people and to save lives. I have been a cna for over ten years, so I'm definitely not afraid of hard work. After graduation, I only lasted six months in a hospital. It is a business. They care more about patient satisfaction more than patient care, and they run you right into the ground. The older nurses were miserable and made eating their young a competitive game. There's so much documentation and quality assurance measurements and cute acronyms for what the hospitals feel like nurses should be doing (icare and iwatch) which has nothing to actually do with the parient's health, that takes away from caring from the patient. I have been hiding out in a doctors office until I can go back to school to become a NP. Everyday it makes me sad that I'm not in the hospital setting saving lives like I originally set out to do, But I couldn't do it for my own mental health.

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Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

I think the career focus isn't something unique to nursing, but perhaps part of a broader cultural shift. I don't think I've ever been on a job interview in any field I've worked that didn't ask me where I saw myself in 5, 10, or 15 years. Even my nursing school interview I was asked where I saw myself going in 5 years time, and what my future career goals were. This social aspect I think has students also focused on "where am I going next?"

I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing for nursing students to be considering where they might like to go in the future. Having career goals doesn't immediately mean "going to work for 1-2 years then become an FNP" which is I think one of the areas I've seen the most angst from current practicing nurses. It can mean being open to becoming a clinical instructor in the future, knowing that the student has a strong interest in working in pediatric oncology and will want to take a job position after graduation that will start building the skills that lead that direction, it may also look like knowing that they have a strong interest in working critical and truama and have aspirations of gaining additional knowledge and certifications that will allow them to excel int hat area. Nursing is a field of life long learning and I think having career goals can build motivation for that continued learning and growth.

That being said, as much as future career aspirations can inspire and motivate students, I do see where it can detract from learning in the moment, or draw new nurses away from the bedside faster than employers and colleges might like.

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I've been a bedside nurse for 22 years now and cannot wait to be done with it. The reason is that I feel like a punching bag at the end of a day. Between the administration that is so focused on HCAP scores that they want to treat the hospital like a luxury resort, the patients who don't want to take any responsibility for their own health care or maintenance, and the physicians who are exhausted and looking for a scapegoat, I feel like nurses get little or no respect. So, that is why nurses don't want to do bedside care forever. It's demoralizing.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Critical care.

Yes. I knew there was one more cute acronym that I was forgetting... HCAHPS í ½í¸¡ But I agree with Diane524 100 percent.

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Specializes in OR, Med/Surg.

I think at some point this is true. When I was at school the clinical instructors put more emphasis of the academics. Encouraged us to take courses for masters in RN after graduating from nursing school. Then I observed, that they are not proficient in bedside care and oftentimes their idea is more of theoretical or based on books and does not know how to adjust their nursing care base on the actual situation with the patient's present condition. Then they bragged that they will have their MN, MAN or PhD in nursing soon. But duh, your masters diploma/credential will not save a patient life if you do not know how to insert an IV to a patient in case of emergency because you have not master the necessary basic bedside nursing skills per se ;-)

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