20 years about to get the BSN done

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Specializes in Home Health/Wound care.

I started nursing in 1990. Found my area of the country resistant, and my family too. No help from anyone I found myself homeless a year into the program, along with my GF and her 14 year old daughter. So I left my home state and never returned. In my new state after 15 years of $8/hr I found a way to return, found a Dr. that made me her friend, and went back to school. 7 years later and 4 degrees, and lots of A's (good for me right) I have a 4.0 and am about to get BSN in 1.5 months. It is 2014, and about 24 yeas after I decided nursing was what I should be doing. Now the health care system has shifted from trusted physicians and nurses to MBA driven corporations where the bottom line is dollars, and management is expendable and unable to implement changes before another one bites the dust and a new one takes their place. I text my wound care SBAR orders over to the PCP and enter them into a EMR, and do my classes online with other souls from anywhere in the world. Home care is the starting point for new grads, and IV, Med pass, and med/surg are the things dreams are made of but not for new grads.

24 years wow! nursing is the new "in" thing to do, back when I started this journey I never new what would happen next, or how I would ever make the next bill or find a facility to practice at, or pay for the next semester. Now that I am looking at the MSN right in the face I'm asking myself if anything is worth the sacrifice that I have made, and still the answer is "I don't know yet". All I know is that I am a nurse lolol with a 4.0 and only those of you that understand what that means could understand what I have just shared with you.

New Man Nurse

(Sorry this post doesn't have some important topic like "Does prophylactic antibiotics decrease the risk of postoperative infection in cholecystectomy patients"?)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Welcome to the Tribe.

FYI, 20 years ago, healthcare was also controlled by the bean counters. No real differences in that regard. The biggest changes in that time have been driven by unfunded legislative mandates created by bone-headed politicians who are clueless about our industry. I continue to be absolutely dumbfounded about the continuing stampede into nursing. According to my colleagues in higher ed (who spend a lot of time trying to talk nurse wanna-be's into other educational pathways) it's because "civilians" are unaware of all of the other health careers... they are only familiar with doctors and nurses.

Me? I don't regret anything about my nursing career choice. Well, maybe that brief misguided foray into NICU -:rolleyes: I hope you feel the same way in a few decades.

Hang on, you're in for a bumpy ride.

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Specializes in Home Health/Wound care.

Thank you. I'm glad to still be around.

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Good for you we all find a place and sometimes get misguided but I love nursing

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