Why I would tell you to stay out of nursing

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Specializes in Surgical Specialty Clinic - Ambulatory Care.

I have been a nurse a decade this month. I have worked Tele, med Surg, emergency, travel, coordinator, and now home health roles. I have a BSN. I have never been fired, I have never had any complaints against my license, and I have received awards at several of the institutions I worked for. But being a nurse has made my life miserable. I have 30K of debt I still need to pay from getting the "ever so necessary" BSN. Which hasn't done a damn thing for my pay because I don't want to be a manager....which is all you can really do with a BSN to get more money unless you care to go further in debt get a masters. So should any of you decide to continue your endeavor into nursing please don't believe the hype that you need a BSN. Do LPN or ASN and find any job and get a year of experience and the big bad hospitals will hire you anyway, especially ASNs. You get paid like $2 hour less and have half as much debt...so maybe you won't feel as jaded about your pay. Then the hospital can pay for your BSN or MSN when you decide you want that....but I have no ambition to do the jobs of a BSN or MSN so my life would have been a way better had I just done the bare minimum required to get a bedside job.

I like people, it is a big reason I went into nursing, but now I really kinda wish I lived somewhere I wouldn't see another soul for weeks at a time. People are demanding and often entitled and ungrateful. I am not a nun and didn't sign up to be a door mat. I wanted to help people and then go home and have my life. That rarely happens. You never get off on time and on your days off people are calling to see if you can work...all the time!!! And now that I work home health they get upset when they can't get a hold of me on my days off to ask me about my patients. I turn off both of my phones on my days off and have been told by my boss that it is unacceptable for me to do this. Really?! I work part time...it is suppose to be 48 hours a pay period and I am often hitting 60 to 70 a pay period. This is why I will NEVER work full time as a nurse again. If I were full time I would be hitting 100 hours a pay period. I am tired of being to exhausted to live my own life on my days off. I don't care about what you think is appropriate dedication to the patient anymore. If I can't have my own life then I don't want to take care of any patients. Again I am not a nun, I didn't sign up to be one when I took my oath as a nurse. Please quit confusing dedication to my patients as something I need to sacrifice my life for. Hire enough nurses and we can both be happier!

If if you are not prepared for the oxymoron of nursing which is, "Don't do anything you don't feel comfortable doing to a patient without asking for help." You then ask for help. " We sent you the policy and a YouTube video, how come you weren't able to accomplish this procedure you have never done successfully by your self? You should should have let us know you weren't comfortable and asked for help." Really?!?!?!?! I have worked at 8 different organizations...this is how "training" happens at all of them. If you are not prepared to spend a crap ton on your degree and then work at a facility that will give you half assed training and then use you as a scapegoat the first time an error occurs, you don't need to be in nursing. I go to work and do the best I am able to do but still get done on time. To do that I often have to take shortcuts. I often forget things. Every nurse will tell you that he/she doesn't do that because the environment requires that to be the CYA response. But unless that nurse won the lottery for nurse employment then she/he is lying. I have worked at 8 facilities and 2 of them had fairly good expectations and support for their nurses. That is 1/4 of the facilities I have worked at. And even those 2 facilities would occasionally get so overloaded with patients that the "fake it until you make it" nursing was required. "Fake it until you make it" is pretty much the motto of nursing because there is not enough money to appropriately train and maintain training for the nursing staff. You will be put in a position you are uncomfortable with often and really the only way you are going to get the assistance you need is to be a mean *****. And that part of nursing stresses me out terribly. Because prior to choosing this profession I was a fairly optimistic, kind, bend over backwards for anyone, kind of person. I am a great deal more cynical and realistic than I use to be.

I am greatful to this career for the many patients I have met and lives that I have seen, mostly because I know that I can't waste anymore of my life in this career that is stuck in a futile mission that doesn't even come close to putting the one thing we promised to put first when we took our oaths of care. Our patients. So if you were thinking about going into medicine because you like and care about humanity, please don't. You will suffer a great deal and never accomplish that goal. Be a nutritionist, a physical therapist, occupational therapist, a fitness instructor, a massage therapist...but do not be a nurse...or a doctor.

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Preach... although I'm not convinced the grass is always greener in other professions, there are others that get paid more for putting up with all the corporate crap.

At the very least, I now know the un- sugar coated truth about Healthcare and can more accurately navigate it for my own and family's sake.

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...And now that I work home health they get upset when they can't get a hold of me on my days off to ask me about my patients. I turn off both of my phones on my days off and have been told by my boss that it is unacceptable for me to do this. Really?! I work part time...it is suppose to be 48 hours a pay period and I am often hitting 60 to 70 a pay period. This is why I will NEVER work full time as a nurse again.

This is the exact reason I left home health care, never had a day off. There were things the agency expected us to do on our day off and not be compensated for it. Worked "over" all the time to complete charting-unpaid of course. Nope, never again.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

I've learned to try and convince the patient it's me and you against "the system". Easy to do since dialysis in the US is not patient driven and there is so much information out there from other countries on better practices. Unfortunately I only really succeed with new patients. Once they have been habituated to corporate dialysis they think I'm an idiot.

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I dunno, my rn-bsn program is only costing me like 10K...i'm going Univ Texas Arlington. My ASN was around 20K. So all in all, roughly 30K in education for a career where I'm making more than double my school debt in a year with not even 2 full years under my belt. I do have rough days, but I'm not jaded...yet.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

I get what you are saying, but....

1. Block your job or turn off your phone if it bothers you that much to be contacted on your day off.

2. Don't trade or pick up hours unless you want to. Don't let an entitled little coworker try to guilt you into switching unless you want to trade or it is convenient for you.

3. People are butt holes in general. Unless you find a job where you don't have to work with anyone, you will always be surrounded by butt holes.

4. The real reasons I wouldn't recommend nursing is because the pay doesn't match the responsibility and workload or bull crap nurses put up with, nursing is super saturated with not enough jobs to go around, and there are just some days you will want to cut a patient. It is so stressful.

5. I like nursing enough but in the end, it is a job. I am there to take care of patients the best I can and make money. I don't let the entitled butt holes or the ridiculous managers get on my nerves on my days off. Life is too short.

6. And if I have to hear another pre-pre nursing student say they want to go into nursing to be compassionate and "help people" I'mma just stroke out. There are so many ways to help people (I'd recommend PT, OT or SLP first) without being a nurse....nurses aren't magical martyrs with angel wings and halos.

Get your money and forget the BS.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I send you hugs and much gratitude from nurse to nurse. I feel you, I am burned out as well.

Only been a nurse for a little over four years. Nursing is not for me. I am not a worker. I am good at following rules, and being a worker bee but I highly dislike it. I am a creative person. I enjoy speaking and motivating others. I enjoy articulating my thoughts, my passions are creative and forward thinking. The worker bee/assembly line mentality is killing my creativity and soul.

This is the truth. I am not sure how I will escape, but I must do so soon. I have a thirst for knowledge and independence. I crave independence. I have so much to offer, and nursing places a limitation on what I can offer this world.

I want to help those that WANT to be helped. I want to focus on wellness and holistic care. I want to leave behind the ICU and the revolving door of noncompliance.

I'm confused how to go about this.

Didn't mean it o hikack your post, but I just wanted to give my personal relationship with nursing to my fellow nurses.

Again. Many hugs to you. I sincerely thank you for all the gooodness you've imparted upon the lives of many, I'm sorry that nursing is such a thankless job. But you are hard working and you are a hero. Your hands are invaluable, and I pray the universe compensates you accordingly, with whatever makes YOU at peace.

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Get away from acute care, there is a lot out there which has not yet turned into cookie cutter, rote folling regulatory agency (i.e. FDA, CDC, DEA) nursing.

Occupational was great, I got to know all the blue-collar folks I relate to well and created a wellness program.

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I say it at least once a week - I used to be an extremely nice person. compassionate, helpful, sweet, always had a bright smile for everyone. Then I became a nurse.

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I work PRN in a plastic surgery OR and I couldn't be happier. No nights, no holidays or weekends, nice docs and patients. There ARE good jobs in nursing.

As to OP's comments about BSN, in some areas it's not at all required, but it's definitely not accurate to guarantee all nurses can be employed without it. In some markets, it's an absolute requirement. Just research your local market well when choosing your school.

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I have been a nurse for 14 years. When I went to school, my wife became a teacher. Accustomed to living well on low wages, my part time job while in school paid for school. Went in with no debt, came out with no debt. In that time we paid for a house and put away somewhere around $300,000 toward retirement. I work per diem only, and often take school holidays off. Plenty of time off, which is good because we have a sailboat, a camper, multiple canoes and kayaks, road bikes and mountain bikes. And we travel overseas.

No reason to get my BSN, but if, as the OP suggested, it was worth 2 dollars an hour, I would balance that against 4,000 a year in increased wages. Pick your program wisely, and that is an investment that pays of faster than most Or get a hospital to pay.

Anyone who knows me knows I am often out of cell service. Regardless, my choice whether to answer the phone. Then, if I do, I choose what to say. I often go with- "Thanks for thinking of me. Sorry, I am already committed." I consider my plans to grill on the deck and have a beer to be a firm commitment. Nobody can make me feel guilty, though I suppose I could choose to feel that way.

I often hear about what jerks people are- patients and families. I hear that where I work, working with the exact population, but I don't feel that way. And, I am not some sort of optimist who sees the best in people. But, I set boundaries and never personalize anything. Not my fault if your bad life has culminated into this bad day. If I can make it better for you, great. Regardless, it has nothing to do with what kind of day I am having. I think my co-workers often filter out the positive and grateful people, and focus on the negative. Sort of a confirmation bias.

I also hear a lot about toxic work environments. There are so many healthcare environments, I just don't believe it is not possible to find a healthy one. I think some people gravitate toward unhealthy environments because that is their expectation. Also- a certain percentage of humans are jerks. A certain percentage of those jerks are nurses. They all have to work somewhere. Now, they can't work in a healthy positive environment, as they will stick out and be ostracized. So, they find places with other jerks. If you find yourself surrounded by jerks, you have found such a place. Take an example from them, and find a work environment with people more like you.

Unlike the OP, I often recommend this field. It is what you make of it.

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Specializes in Adult and Pediatric Vascular Access, Paramedic.

30K For an RN-BSN???? Sorry, but that may be partly your fault for not finding a more reasonably priced school! Mine cost 12K.

I agree that nursing isn't a fun job to say the least, but at least there are ways to move up to either management or as a mid-level provider. There are also so many different areas of nursing, so far I have not found my niche, but I am going to keep looking. Maybe you haven't found yours yet.

Annie

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