Would you do it all again?

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I am just curious to know how many of you would still choose a career in nursing--knowing what you know now--if you had the chance to travel back in time and perhaps pick a different path.

Specializes in Oncology.

I would do it all again for sure! I wish I did it sooner, I graduated from nursing school at 27. My first year was a struggle, but now I have been a nurse for almost 5 years and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. I am considering changing specialties, but always a nurse. :)

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I would choose something else. Something with better hours, better pay, and easier on the body.

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No way! I would have gone for something else. Heck I'm in school for a non-nursing degree now. I work the bare minimal now and even that's too much.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I don't know......some days, yes, others, no.

I wish I had told my parents to "F" off when I wanted to be an artist back in high school. They told me I would get NO WHERE as an artist and I was "stupid" to study art or languages. SO nursing seemed practical enough and we had many nurses in the family....

But I LOVED art........I won national awards and was very good. I was also an excellent linguist, picking up Spanish, French and some Italian quickly. I am an artist and dreamer. The art of nursing is very likely what drew me. But it is in a way------ I think----- it's becoming a DYING art as things change and we do everything for the gov't----charting gets heavier and assessments that are not for the benefit of the patient, but the races for reimbursements get more numerous. I spend less time with patients, more on paperwork.

Truly, I get a lot of feedback that my patients love me. I get thank you's and little gifts all the time and they make me feel a bit sad and guilty because I feel I should be giving more of myself.....some days, I feel like I don't want to deal with the emotional needs of my patients cause I am spread so thinly......but I do it FOR the patients. I chose dialysis because I get to know my patients and I desire greatly to make a difference in their lives....

Does any of this make ANY SENSE?????

So I guess after all this, I really didn't answer very well.

Some days, yes.....many days, NO I would not do it again. I would have pursued my dream of being an artist in the first place. I learned a valuable lesson from my parents. I have never, ever stood in the way of my own children's dreams of pursing what are their passions. I want them to have no regrets resulting from pleasing their parents.

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I work in acute care now I don't think I would do it again. Teaching is what I enjoy I think if I would have went to school to become a nursing instructor I would have enjoyed it more, but hind sight is always 20/20.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
After 43 years I would do the same thing!! I would also start my education sooner and not wait till mid-life! I would have entered teaching sooner, but then I don't want to negate any of the experiences I've had as those experiences have made me what I am today.

I often muse....maybe forensic nursing sound interesting... :yes:

Not me! I'm glad I didn't become a nurse right out of high school for so many reasons. First just to have experienced sane, normal pleasant jobs that were not stressful, even my worst micromanaging word processing job was cake compared to this. Plus HIV was just rearing its ugly head and nobody even knew what caused it and in the past nurses weren't even provided gloves and had to deal with infectious body fluids without protection! Heck even safe needles weren't required till 10 years after they were available which literally took an Act of Congress to get! Consequently leaving us unprotected and some poor souls HIV and Hep C positive from needle sticks that could have been avoided with proper safe supplies! Not to mention my back would be even more damaged if I had started sooner. If you are lucky you will work somewhere with ceiling lifts and sit to stands but since it isn't required by the govt there is no guarantee!

So you did yourself a favor starting later in life, although the cost of tuition is like what 100% more than it was when I went! I'm not joking! Good luck to you. I hope you find success and a good job and don't end up regretting becoming a nurse too!

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I wish I could go back to being a secretary! It was so much easier and pleasant. People were nice at least decent and you did your job not everyone elses and you didn't have to beg people to just do their job! You weren't held responsible for everyone else's job. I've never dealt with such nasty coworkers as a nurse granted only a few but they can be truly evil! Not to mention all the violent, agitated never ending psych patients. Seriously sometimes I think of cashing in my retirement paying off my mortgage and getting a dead end job. If I didn't have a mortgage and a car payment, I could afford to be a secretary or some other simple easy job. I dread going into work I never know what sort of assignment I will get, how many unstable patients that should have been in the ICU and useless coworkers that let you do their job for them while your drowning with all your nurse work they cannot do! It is a joke the turnover is constant and never ending and I know I'm not the only one that feels this way. We are a revolving door of new grads and now they are making them sign a contract that they will get their BSN or be out the door, with just a token reimbursement that would barely cover one class a year, while working full time! Sad add another $10-20,000 student loans and not get paid one iota more!

Dang, girl. If you hate it that much, maybe you should work in home health or a doctor's office. Or just do something else altogether.

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I'm 34 and a nursing student. Don't feel bad honey, 24 is nothing 😉

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I think so. I originally wanted to be a physician, but now I'm glad I chose nursing because of the flexibility. I love healthcare, but I don't think I'd love the schedules that MDs have.

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This is a reply to CBlover.. not sure why it didn't post as a reply.

No problem with dedicating your time to your kiddos while they're still little. It's true that school is very time consuming as you well know. I felt the same way about devoting time to my kids not schooling. I decided to become a nurse after being by my 10 year old daughters bedside and caring for her for 2 years as she battled cancer. When my youngest was a Junior in high school I started college for the first time and graduated with my BSN at 52 years old. No regrets on the time I spent with my children. There are many women who choose to go to school while they still have little ones at home and it has worked just fine for them. I agree it is a personal decision. P.S. My daughter who survived cancer became a nurse 3 years before I did :-)

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Specializes in ORTHO, PCU, ED.
This is a reply to CBlover.. not sure why it didn't post as a reply.

No problem with dedicating your time to your kiddos while they're still little. It's true that school is very time consuming as you well know. I felt the same way about devoting time to my kids not schooling. I decided to become a nurse after being by my 10 year old daughters bedside and caring for her for 2 years as she battled cancer. When my youngest was a Junior in high school I started college for the first time and graduated with my BSN at 52 years old. No regrets on the time I spent with my children. There are many women who choose to go to school while they still have little ones at home and it has worked just fine for them. I agree it is a personal decision. P.S. My daughter who survived cancer became a nurse 3 years before I did :-)

Wow. I couldn't imagine my child battling such a terrible disease so young. You're strong mom. Thanks for the reply. :)

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Specializes in CMSRN.

Going on 9 years that I have been a nurse. I work General Surgery/Med Surg and I honestly love it. I would do it again. I have no interest at this point to change anything. Except to increase my knowledge, which happens everyday.

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