Everyone here is so welcoming and informative. I apologize in advance if there are millions of threads about this but I'd love to hear everyone's story. A little about myself (which will lead to my questions I promise!) I'm 27 with a Bachelors and currently completing a few pre-requisite classes to apply for Accelerated BSN programs here in the Dallas area (UT Arlington is my first choice, Texas Tech is my second which is where my first B.A is from). I won't be eligible until Spring of 2017 to begin Nursing school. True to form I have researched, weighed all of my options, compiled many thoughts and such, along with hours of scouring this website. I'm in a fortunate position that I will be able to dedicate my time to Nursing school when the time comes for clinical and such. I feel confident in the fact that the timing is everything and the time is now to do this in my life. Of course, I am a little scared to take the plunge. I know that the risk is worth the reward but still in the back of my mind there is a little worry. Nursing has been something I have toyed with for about a year and a half now and I think I'm finally ready. My job is completely unfulfilling, unsatisfying, unchallenging, typical cold, dull, dry Corporate America. I have realized this is not what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Staring at spreadsheets, worrying if I'll have a job given oil prices, and everything in between.
Cardiology, EP, and Anesthesia have always interested me. My dad had his first heart attack at the age of thirty and has had 7 since. I'm his caretaker and I almost lost him this January. There were so many nurses, doctors, NP's, PA's, CNA's, techs, and more that I remember so poignantly during his stay's in the hospital (he's been in and out about every three months for over a year). I feel compelled to give back to those who have been in not only my dad's shoes but mine as well.
However, I just don't see myself in a bedside nursing role. Being in a clinical setting, a cath lab, EP lab, surgery role speaks more to me than bedside. Even working for a medical device company, like Medtronic as someone who interrogates ICD's. I do know that I want to further my education eventually, like a CNS, NP, or CRNA (I know this requires at least a year of acute care). So my question: when did you know you were where you were meant to be? Did you stumble upon it? Was it what you always dreamed of? Just curious, I know I will find my niche as I already have strong interests.
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
This is a very good and accurate response that I think every person needs to read before they go into nursing. The hard to find a job as a new nurse is still very prevalent in many big cities and many people are still under the illusion that when you receive your shiny new RN that you will get a job the next hour. That's why it's good to be a PCA in school, you have a door in to being hired. I currently work PRN just so I have a spot to be hired on. It actually costs money for me to work there because my husband makes more working over time but I need a back up option to pay my student loans in case working at a hospital doesn't happen for me for awhile. So many do not realize that . And school is very difficult but I have three kids under 6, work PRN, a husband who works FT, and I have maintained a 4.0 at a difficult university. Many students I am in class with who have no kids and no jobs can hardly maintain the minimum 3.0 so that's always been interesting to me....Up until last April I worked 40 hours a week and still maintained all of that, just be prepared for zero social life or extra activities.
And i meant to say Heather's statement was a very good response not mine lol
That's unfortunate. I'm sorry you feel so disrespected by your position. That's why I'm making a change, maybe you should do the same.
I believe the point of her post was to let you know that the REALITY of nursing is a far cry from the FANTASY of nursing. That is, many people have an unrealistic view of what nursing should be (primarily television and movies are to blame for that, novels as well) and when they finally get Job One, they are usually shocked at what they find to be TRUTH.
OP, the person who you are responding to in this post doesn't need to change professions, she was hoping to have you learn why the change you are making TO nursing may not be what you think it is, that's all. To suggest that her report of rampant disrespect within the profession means she needs to leave it is short-sighted at best....and maybe a little judgmental (as in the "if she doesn't think it's rainbows and kittens every day, she shouldn't be a nurse" kind of thinking). Just something to consider.
The reference to a "calling" is a religious one: who, if not a Divine Creator, is the 'calling' coming from, then?
It's interesting to note that lawyers, engineers, doctors, pharmacists, carpenters DO NOT discuss their "calling" to those professions....they simply figured they'd be good at it and wanted to work in that field. Or any other reason, beside a religious "calling" to the post.
Nurses, however, still seem to evoke this overly-dramatized, over-glamorized image of a nun being "called" to attend to the sick and dying on a battlefield.....or the image of said Creature of Comfort offering care to a newborn. That's nice imagery...but not the reality of today's PROFESSIONAL nurse.
We are not martyrs. We expect fair compensation for the work we perform, and reasonable respect as a human being in a healthcare profession. I do not volunteer as a nurse, I WORK as one.
Im not trying to invalidate this or anything, just have a question - what are the common reasons that are cited for not wanting to work peds?
I guess as a peds nurse myself, I dont have as much experience with people who dont want to do it
The people I talk to, when I tell them I'm a peds nurse, they say they could never do it because it's too sad, too hard to see kids suffer and sometimes die. I didn't want to do peds because I was kinda traumatized by the suffering of my own child when she was sick. However I work with a totally different set of patients than my child was, and it's very different being a nurse than being a mom of a sick kid.
... the 60yo mom of a 30yo patient who was asking me for more toilet paper for the PATIENT's toilet, whom she was unapologetically using despite being repeatedly directed to the visitor toilet, with the result of nurses continually walking in on her taking a dump... oy vey.
OMG, you just gave me a flashback to several years ago. Needed to get a stool sample from Patient X, and placed a plastic 'hat' in the toilet to help facilitate that. Patient X's family member stops me to ask why that is in there, and I say "so that we can collect a stool sample". Told family at bedside to please not use the bathroom, as it was important we get this sample when next possible. Instructions given to Patient X for said hat use, and to let us know when the mission was accomplished.
Fast-forward to me checking the hat a few hours later, finding hat full of stool, urine AND toilet paper...and asking Patient X if he forgot the instructions. Ummm....nope....HE hadn't used the bathroom at ALL...but his FAMILY had! Eewww....icky AND stupid.
I find it interesting how so many new nurses are second-career folks from corporate America who are used to working in an environment with hours that many bedside nurses would LOVE to have.
OP, snarky humor aside here, there is some good advice. No job or career is a panacea. Asking generally when others discovered their calling, begs the question (that they did have a calling to nursing).
When I applied to nursing school, the application asked us to complete an essay about how we knew nursing was right for us, which is a roundabout way of asking how we were called to it. There are a lot of paths to nursing. Sometimes people are called to it; sometimes they're not. One of the hazards of "being called to it" is that once the bloom is off the rose, you might feel disillusioned that it has both positive *and* negative aspects to it. All careers do.
If I might borrow and skewer a quote from Mark Manson, just be sure to like the flavor of the $h** sandwich you choose (his full article is here: 7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose. . . personally, I think every high school junior ought to read it and then read it again once a year for about four or five years, but I digress.)
On a more positive note, I did feel called to nursing during a fairly long career in teaching, so I finally left teaching and dove in. From my perspective, I'd take nursing over teaching a million times over. I have found my calling on the NICU and can't imagine being anywhere else.
There are all types of nurses in the real world of nursing. Nurses who are task oriented, charting oriented, and people oriented. It doesn't matter how others feel about nursing, because it is a profession, and you make it your own.
Whatever you feel you bring to the profession, you incorporate that into your practice. Master that which doesn't come easily to you, become good, but don't try to be a jack of all trades.
Your nursing practice is what you make it. With that, go with whatever population you feel plays best to your natural abilities.
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
I did a degree in social policy, to work in the field I would have had to do a masters level and I didnt really like it enough. My choices were either a practical masters in social work or nursing. Didnt really like social work, so hence nursing
. And school is very difficult but I have three kids under 6, work PRN, a husband who works FT, and I have maintained a 4.0 at a difficult university. Many students I am in class with who have no kids and no jobs can hardly maintain the minimum 3.0 so that's always been interesting to me....Up until last April I worked 40 hours a week and still maintained all of that, just be prepared for zero social life or extra activities.
(his full article is here: 
llg, PhD, RN
13,469 Posts
Never got "called" -- just got jobs -- and built a career out of them.