Registered Nurse…hated nursing school, but enjoying the flexibility.
I am a Registered Nurse, currently working as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Geriatric Nursing. I have been a Nurse for 22 years-that in itself is amazing, because I absolutly hated Nursing School. I fainted dead away at my first clinical rotation site. My instructor told me I’d never be a Nurse. (For all Nursing students- trust your own judgement- not that of your nursing instructors) My second clinical instructor thought I was great as a Nurse. I learned not to trust the opinion of instructors.
I was so unsure of myself I joined the Military right after graduation-I figured I was theirs for three years, even if I was the worst Nurse ever! The Military did offer me a 5 month Nurse internship program, which allows the new Nurse to gradually learn the Role of a Nurse, with a supportive Mentor. The lesson here is no one is ready to be a Nurse right out of school. I did general medical surgical nursing in the military, and was sent to Flight Nurse School. That was fun!
After I left the military, I stayed in the reserves as a Flight Nurse. Lesson three: Nursing offers great job flexibility and part time opportunities! In civilian life, I worked Medical Surgical nursing in hospitals, home health nursing in the community, and did some agency nursing for extra money. Again- if you don’t like one type nursing, try another- it’s important to fit yourself to the type nursing that’s right for you. I also worked Psychiatric nursing.
Good things about nursing jobs also include good pay for “off tour” shifts- working evenings or nights- this allows you to do other things with your life, like take care of family, or go to school.
I went back to grad school, working part time evenings in a hospital-and because of the pay differential for evenings, I made as much money as if I’d been working full time days. The hospital offered me a management job when I graduated. I soon found that management wasn’t for me- at least long term-I really enjoy working with patients and thier families. Fortunately there are good paying nursing jobs that are clinical, not management.
Lesson 4-keep up. Although I’ve been a nurse for a long time- I have kept up by going to school and getting certified in a specialty. I’ve never had any trouble getting a job as a nurse. Even in the days of downsizing, it was possible to get work if you were willing to work in home health or outpatient areas. I have worked as a nurse in 5 different states-my husband is transferred a lot in his job-I work for a large government agency as a nurse, and have been able to transfer with no loss of grade. I am currently working as a Nursing instructor-helping new grads make the transition into nursing.
What makes me happy? Flexibility, the ability to transfer when we move, the pay, being able to be creative
I did quit a nursing job once- it was in a private home health agency (for profit)My boss didn’t have any ethical standards- and I felt patient care suffered-
Another down side to nursing- risks of getting a blood borne disease like HIV or hepatitis from a needlestick or blood exposure. I’ve had two friends exposed to HIV through needlesticks-both got immediate medication and never got HIV, but it really tore them up worring about it.
I am a 22years old . looking for sonme great advice on my choices in gettting start to becvome a RN I awould like to get my B.S ine day
Sorry
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To not be totally negative, I want to say that there are a few staff that are really a pleasure to work with but they are unfortuneatly the minority.
hello....i am a student researching different carreer paths. I am considering physiotherapy, nursing and dentistry. I was wondering what kind of traits must a person aquire to be successful to be a nurse? What aspects of nursing are horrible or what aspects of nursing are wornderful? I want to choose a career that I will be successful in and enjoy. Thankyou.
I hate nursing school!!! Have 3 more semesters until my BSN. So difficult, takes up your whole life. A very painful process, not sure if it is worth it. Is there hope?
For those nurses telling people what a horrible job nursing is, you are making ME sick. I am a nursing student who realizes everyday in clinical what I can expect in the future. But for you to attempt to discourage young people from pursuing this profession is disgusting. Unlike you all, I have a passion for helping others. When I see the nursing shortages and countless people in need of decent health care, all I want to do is help more, not run away. I certainly didn't choose this profession for the autonomy or the respect, I chose it because I want to make a difference in people's lives. It scares me to think that patients have to rely on nurses that rather have a root canal than be there. Do the patient the favor. If you don't want to be there then get the hell out and do the patient a favor. Maybe the problem today does not rest on the shortages of nurses, but rather the shortages of good nurses.
You are still a nursing student, therefore, you don't have a clue as to what really happens when you're out working on your own!
I was so happy when I found this site cause it's a great place to vent what nursing is really about. You can't do that among your co-workers cause then you become "the target" and they'll be wondering "what's wrong with you!".
Most of us have many years of nursing experience and are past the "honeymoon" phase. Mostly everyone who has stated how disgusted they are in nursing have many years of experience. Some of us get the reality check in nursing school...you just didn't get yours yet! I myself have 8 years experience mostly in Canadian ER's. No more honeymoon phase.
And you have the gall to say how we don't care about our patients! I have not met one nurse in my career who hasn't gone into nursing because they care. And because we care so much, we tolerate so much and ultimately are the ones who have to suffer.
So Instead of mocking the ones who have gone before you, its time you listen and learn...cause right now you don't know what the hell your talking about!
And please, if anyone knows of any similar sites like this where nurses vent let me know!
For once I would love to hear a nursing administrator or someone from the College of Nurses show some balls and respond to all of this.
"tables") of ratio of patients to aides or nurses. I frequently have 20 - 25 or more patients on my hands and that's a lot. No help from nurses. Still I have to do my job. And if I don't get to finish something, I get the heat. The oncoming shift gets mad and bitch to the boss.
Then I am in trouble. I am afraid to make a mistake because I take care of too many patients at the time.
The administration seems to care about "patient satisfaction" by passing surveys around, at the same time not willing to pay for having adequate help. Then again, some patients are less than satisfied but aren't able to fill out survey forms for a number of reasons.
We had a patient being transferred from the unit, who was actively dying and he passed within a few hours. This was done in order to lower mortality rates on the unit. Another example: an elderly patient was confused, had multiple restraints on, they put him in the private room and left alone. They didn't administer him any drugs to calm him down, so imagine this poor man,
alone in his room, tied up and still struggling to get out of his restraints, full of skin tears and all, and nobody does anything. You don't want your mother or father end up in this situation, do you. He certainly could not fill out the survey form, I can assure you of that.
And what about some patients creating false accusations? They could say anything, and I mean anything even something that don't add up, yet they are always believed to and us caretakers are in trouble.
You can lose your job on the spot, just because a patient feels sorry for themselves and takes it on everybody else who happens to be you. Sounds scary, doesn't it. It is to me. I don't want to have my career in mercy of a crabby patient who is always right anyway, even though they are not always right but nobody cares. This probably sounds politically correct. The image of a big strong nurse or aide taking advantage of a poor fragile patient. And nobody works as a team or together, this must be a practical joke. So everybody, wake up and don't you even think of being nurses.
Tell your children not to take this path either. You will get burned out, sooner or later.
I recently have gotten accepted into nursing school in North Carolina, at first I was very excited now after reading these comments I feel down, I 'm 29 years old and before this I was a Flight Attendant for Delta Airlines people always thought my job was "glamorous" it's not but I stayed with it until I got laid off, it's definitely under appreciated, I've been treated like trash by passengers on the plane and by rude pilots!!!! As far as I can tell every job has its down side. I 've been kicked at, spit on, called terrible names all while being trapped on a metal capsule with passengers I can't get away from, so I figure it can't get worse then this, besides I love helping people and have wanted to do something for someone who needs me!
For those nurses telling people what a horrible job nursing is, you are making ME sick. I am a nursing student who realizes everyday in clinical what I can expect in the future. But for you to attempt to discourage young people from pursuing this profession is disgusting. Unlike you all, I have a passion for helping others. When I see the nursing shortages and countless people in need of decent health care, all I want to do is help more, not run away. I certainly didn't choose this profession for the autonomy or the respect, I chose it because I want to make a difference in people's lives. It scares me to think that patients have to rely on nurses that rather have a root canal than be there. Do the patient the favor. If you don't want to be there then get the hell out and do the patient a favor. Maybe the problem today does not rest on the shortages of nurses, but rather the shortages of good nurses.
<<Before you started did any of you who are bitching ever work in healthcare? It is not a bed of roses and sure it sucks at times, but buck up or get out! I chose to go into nursing because it is challenging and just having that one person every now and then say thanks-it makes everything seem small. If you are so unhappy with your career choice then leave!>>
SMH, as a matter of fact I did have nursing assistant experience before I got into nursing. And you know what? I will complain just as much about the sorry work conditions as I want to. Instead of telling other nurses to get out of nursing, maybe you need to examine your own attitdues and how they contribute to making the for-profit health care system the total disaster it has become?
One of the biggest problems in nursing, are all the supposedly hot shot nurses coming out of school in their 20s and 30s who accept the abusive environment as natural. They skate around a decade or two, and then begin to age some. Then it begins to click in their heads often enough, that the too rapid pace is geared to boot older nurses out. What other so-called profession scraps its workforce in this manneras tehy enter into their '50s and ''60s? My answer! One that also scraps sick and elderly people in the same way. Our money making, phoney health delivery setup is an international disgrace.
The Drug Pusher
What is it, your older and supposedly wiser? I think that it is fine for you to bitch all you want (since you do that well, at least). What I don't agree with is those that bitch and tell others to not go into nursing and to choose other careers. Nursing is challeneging and rewarding. Some will find that it is not for them within the first semester of school, but let them be the ones to find out on their own-it is more valuable to them then.
Plus, there are those that search the internet to do job/career research and find everyone complaining about how unhappy they are and all the other crap you'll find... It sure heck does NOT portray a positive nursing image for our profession, nor does it help with other current nursing issues!!!
If nursing is too fast paced for you, there are other options out there in nursing. That is one of the great things about nursing, there is so many different areas you can change to something that better suits your needs; whether it be for personal or health reasons.
SMH
SMH>>
Well, my take on this, is that you simply are echoing the management attitude that nurses are throwaway people. Yes, "nursing is too fast paced for" me as it is for all the other nurses that are being sped up like they're some part of revved up machinery for management to crank to the max.
And what on earth is wrong with you? Don't you think that this corporate mentality is just the sickest? We have a supposed health care system that runs its work force into the ground and you just brush it off as if that was natural! Get some sense of outrage here. Get pissed off that many health care workers can't even consistently get decent health care coverage for themselves and their families instead of just slinking around with a stupid grin with all your comments about nursing being just lovely and great. Get pissed off that many nurses feel that they are being destroyed as people, and that they can't find energy enough to keep their personal lives and families functioning.
And what gets me the most, are all the nurses who have written and said that the nurse critics are just bad people to have around patients! Well what about the management that burns us out as they screw the patients around royal. As they run us to the bone? And what about witless nurses that never advocate for the population as a whole as more and more of the public falls totally into being without medical coverage, or so undercovered it is almost the same? Some advocates you are as you whine about us critics of the system being bad for not just taking it sitting down like you think we should!
The number one thing that nursing should be about is being in solidarity with the patient and the fellow nurse. Instead, many nurses try to be management toadies and much of the criticism about nursing is how this type constantly is kniving their co-workers in the back. You are painting nursing badly, not us critics of the mess. We are at least being honest, while you are chirrping away about how rosy it is when it isn't that at all.
The Drug Pusher
I, for one, am not offended by someone giving advice to not go into nursing, as I was brought up with the idea that advice was just that: advice. It's clearly not meant as a conspiracy to stop the massess from going into the profession, but just their honest advice. Nobody said you had to follow it; but everyone is entitled to give their honest opinion and advice if they feel it is helpful.
That being said, I am entering my 4th and last semester of nursing school this fall, and I appreciate the hard to come to terms with but honest assessments of all the hardships and stresses that being a nurse includes. I think Lisa sums it up well (for me) by saying "Some of us get the reality check in nursing school": I have, and I've made a decision that once I graduate I will either: 1.) Find a 9-5 at a private practice that is NOT busy but has a steady, sheduled stream of people, and the most I need to deal with are VS and history, patient education, prepping, and assistance with procedures if need be, as well as minor office procedures such as shots, swabs, etc. If even that is too stressfull for me, I am going to 2.) Find something else which is not nursing related. I've learned so much about myself, and what I can and cannot handle. I can't handle juggling patients and having their lives on my hands, I know I will end up having a heart attack within 20-30 years. Once I become settled in whatever profession I decide upon, I am going back to school (nights) to get a degree in a completely different profession that I will actually use. I wish I could leave as I don't want to be a nurse, and even if I find a nursing job I can stand I'm still getting another degree, but I am finishing out my 4th semester to finally have a degree, and because I've put so much effort into it so far, but in the end, I will not be a nurse.
<<If nursing is too fast paced for you, there are other options out there in nursing. That is one of the great things about nursing, there is so many different areas you can change to something that better suits your needs; whether it be for personal or health reasons.
SMH>>
Well, my take on this, is that you simply are echoing the management attitude that nurses are throwaway people. Yes, "nursing is too fast paced for" me as it is for all the other nurses that are being sped up like they're some part of revved up machinery for management to crank to the max.
And what on earth is wrong with you? Don't you think that this corporate mentality is just the sickest? We have a supposed health care system that runs its work force into the ground and you just brush it off as if that was natural! Get some sense of outrage here. Get pissed off that many health care workers can't even consistently get decent health care coverage for themselves and their families instead of just slinking around with a stupid grin with all your comments about nursing being just lovely and great. Get pissed off that many nurses feel that they are being destroyed as people, and that they can't find energy enough to keep their personal lives and families functioning.
And what gets me the most, are all the nurses who have written and said that the nurse critics are just bad people to have around patients! Well what about the management that burns us out as they screw the patients around royal. As they run us to the bone? And what about witless nurses that never advocate for the population as a whole as more and more of the public falls totally into being without medical coverage, or so undercovered it is almost the same? Some advocates you are as you whine about us critics of the system being bad for not just taking it sitting down like you think we should!
The number one thing that nursing should be about is being in solidarity with the patient and the fellow nurse. Instead, many nurses try to be management toadies and much of the criticism about nursing is how this type constantly is kniving their co-workers in the back. You are painting nursing badly, not us critics of the mess. We are at least being honest, while you are chirrping away about how rosy it is when it isn't that at all.
The Drug Pusher
that's right DP.
I hate nursing school!!! Have 3 more semesters until my BSN. So difficult, takes up your whole life. A very painful process, not sure if it is worth it. Is there hope?
okay. we make you sick now. you know what will make you sick once you have your license?having a unit with 34 pts.. having 8-10 fingersicks with coverage plus routine insulins to do at 7:30 and 8:00. along with over 300 pills that are all scheduled to be given to those people at 7:30 and 8:00. plus dealing with all the falls, skin tears, dialysis ports spurting blood, q 1hr. morphines, 10 or more people on oxygen, neb. tx's, drsg. changes, charting, incident reports, getting physician updates ready, doing MD rounds, checking and taking off orders, dealing with families that think their family member is the only one in there, taking phone calls. ordering supplies, doing i&o's, pri's, pain assessment sheets, dealing with over 50 cards of narcs most of which are used for both routine & prn's. everybody's gen. complaints for the day. that's not all of it, but it's a good start. then it's time to start the 12:00 noon meds. and fingersticks, get them done, and try to catch up on the paperwork. we are good nurses. how the hell would you even know who's a good nurse and who's not? you arent even a nurse yet. standing there watching or helping your instructor take 20 mins. to put in a foley catheter or something isn't even realistic. in real life you struggle and are lucky to get 5 mins. from start to finish for something like that. you dont know what you are talking about.
The great thing about nursing is that if you can't handle it...(whether you're complaining about the # of patients, # of fingersticks....or you just can't handle the demanding aspects of it) you can always try different avenues. For instance, VIR (vascular interventional radiology), Cath lab, procedural suites, etc. If you really wanna slow it down, stay in a clinic. You don't have to be in an ICU or on a floor. Research your stuff first, shadow someone on the unit before you accept your job please. If it's anything like the one that one person was bitching about several comments above, you wouldn't want to work with coworkers who are so stressed out they seem angry.
Nursing is tough, and sometimes the hospital or unit you're working with can make it or break it. What's important is if you don't like it, whether you have been doing it for 20 years or not, get out. Nothing is worse than a nurse TRULY hating their job. Sometimes you have bad days...but if you don't like it, quit bitching and do something about it, because it's just sad that it sounds like so many people on here are unhappy and yet are still nursing or have been a nurse for 20 years. I would hope my nurse or my family member's nurse wasn't one who hated their job.
Good luck