Community Chat

[azureblue]

Thank you to all that have responded - this is great information. I'm going to start from the bottom with my responses and work my way up.

Lulu2 - Thank you for the suggestion. I reached out on the forum. I hope she sees my message.

Thank you to everyone who has responded, very helpful information. If anyone else would like to add their experiences, please do. I am trying to get as many outside perspectives besides my own.

Skylands - Yes, I have heard it can be pretty intense. I have also heard horror stories about patient loads. I guess that would vary depending on facility and specialty. You read my mind. I am planning on volunteering at my local hospital to make sure prior to committing to anything. Stay tuned.

Peachysue - I remember LPNs being everywhere and just as valuable as RNs. It is crazy how things have changed.

RedTop - I have read about discontent in the field due to less patient interactions.

Irishmama5- Thank you the well wishes and sharing your story. It sounds like you had a great career with varied experience just about everywhere. I really want to have that patient advocate experience.

pepes mom - Thank you for the well wishes and sharing your story. Do you feel the future of nursing will keep up with new technologies (especially since they are always changing?

pitdakota - Great information and perspective especially since your teach. Thank you for sharing your well wishes and observations.

If anyone else would like to add their experiences, please do. Thanks again in advance.

azureblue

[pitdakota]

Azure,

One last thing, I have to say that I have loved nursing. It is a demanding profession, but one that can be very rewarding. And if one area isn't something you necessarily like, there are other areas to choose from. So best wishes again in your decision!

[151949]

I am a retired RN - retired 7 years. I started out graduating from nursing school in 1969, got my RN and worked in critical care from the very beginning of the field.I later got my BSN and even later became a certified critical care nurse.(CCRN) I really had the pleasure of watching critical care to grow and become important. I have always been very glad I was chosen for this field of nursing. I loved watching it grow. You asked what I hated about my field - I would say it was the intrusion it took into my personal life. I had to work my 40 hour week and also be on call and a few times a year at least I worked 24 hours straight. I was often called in to work on my days off due to someone calling off or just a high count of severely critical patients. So - though I never made the income of a person who was very important - I was never allowed the peace of a full personal life. About 25 years ago my DH told me he was taking a job travelling and I asked him why - he said because I am tired of being home alone all the time. Of course i also had to work all shifts, and weekends and holidays. Another negative of this field - esp critical care is you have the patient to deal with, the patient's family to deal with, the doctors to deal with and your nursing supervisors to deal with. That is a lot of people telling you , often incorrectly, how to do your job. The up side of critical care was the all RN staff - we had equipment aides but all the patient care is done by RNs. What do I wish I had known before pursuing this career? Humm - I think that I could have made a different choice like say a physical therapist or a speech therapist where I could have helped people and still had a personal life. looking back that would have been my choice had I realized it was a possibility. Because now, at 65 years old, I look back and realize that the job I gave my life to really did not care about me at all. When i was severely injured on the job and required a lot of care - that job deserted me and forced me into the care of a workmans comp doctor who was incompetent.I can't address the subject of job security in the field right now. I do personally know 2 nurses with masters degrees who are working in direct patient care.

[sfnative]

My original degree was in education, followed by nearly two years of grad work for a lifetime secondary teaching credential. This did not pan out, as hiring practices in California at the time were _________. With a husband abandoning law school after 3 years to return to college for an engineering degree, I had to get an office job. I did this for 12 years before going to nursing school.

In the end, I realized I went to nursing school for the wrong reason. Though I loved patient interactions and especially enjoyed helping families understand procedures/surgeries, etc., what I really loved was the science. There was not enough science in being a floor nurse to keep me even 0.01 happy. Upon graduation as a "baby nurse," floor nursing was it at that time. There were pitifully few options. So...I did a 180 and used my admin and clinical skills in healthcare admin, which I worked for 14 years, before taking up a position in research. This was followed by what was probably my dream position. With my Ed and nursing background and love of the "science" aspect of just about everything, I had the opportunity to become the Head-of-Surgical-Training at the teaching hospital where I worked.

The reason I took the time to tell you this is that you must be absolutely committed to doing just about anything that is thrown your way and be prepared to further your education by earning an MSN. If I were back in my 30s with a BSN, I would definitely go for the MSN. (Recently retired from the above position and am 67.)

The best of luck to you!

~R

[151949]

BTW - i wanted to add - EVERYONE wants to go into pediatrics and /or NICU - thus it is not easy to get in to.

[151949]

I am surprised more nurses did not come on to answer this poster's questions.

[azureblue]

happy housewife - I am surprised too!

I am hopeful fellow nurses will come forward and share their experiences. When Joan passed, I remember seeing several posts from RNs unless it was only one or two people, ha. I did not really focus in on that. Time will tell.

To everyone: I heard about a big nursing strike that might be taking place at one of the largest hospitals in Delaware County. I am hoping this is not a sign of future times. I do know the economy always cycles. While I can't predict the nursing future I could always best prepare myself for the potential market. A big thank you to all that continue to respond. Every little bit of information is helpful.

azureblue

[just bee]

Hey!I saw this when it was posted, but I couldn’t respond right away because I work both days and nights and I wasn’t quite awake enough to type a response that would be coherent.Hopefully, this response will be. Let’s give it a shot.

1. How long have you been in the field and what is your specialty?

I graduated with an ASN in Spring of 2013, took the NCLEX (just 75 questions!) in August, and was offered a job after my first interview.I’ve been working as a psychiatric nurse for almost a year now.

2. Did you take a traditional career path?

I went off to a university at age 17 and had a roommate who was a Nursing major.I clearly remember thinking that nursing would be the LAST thing I’d ever want to do.After September 11, 2001 I knew I had to do something different.I spent a lot of time talking myself out of going back to school and changing careers, but then I finally made the decision to test the waters.I took one course, became a Health Unit Coordinator, and got a job in a local hospital – on an infant unit – just to see if I’d like the environment.From there, I took more classes and trained as a tech.I worked as a tech the whole time I was in nursing school.Initially, I was interested in Geriatrics and thought I’d work with dementia patients.My classmates all knew where they wanted to be and I had no clue.One night, during my psych clinicals, my instructor pulled me off the geri-psych unit and told me that he thought I’d like the psych emergency room.The one thing I knew was this: I did not want to work in an emergency room. Not no way, not no how. So guess where I’m working.

3. What do you love the most about your job?

I’ve only met one nurse who loved nursing school.One of the things I hated about it was the thought that I was investing time, energy, and money in a career where I would be little more than a PEZ dispenser.I trained on units where med passes took hours.The second thing I hated was the interaction with patients.Sounds weird, I know, but it frustrated me that there was so little emphasis on listening to the patients.We were being trained to listen to their organs through a stethoscope.Every time I had to nip a conversation in the bud in order to listen to lung or bowel sounds, I questioned what I was doing and why I was doing it.Sometimes all a patient wanted was a minute of my time – some human interaction – but so much of nursing was telling the patient to be quiet.Don’t talk – I’m listening to your bowels.Don’t talk – swallow these pills.Don’t talk – I have to do my charting.The first time during clinicals where the students were instructed to listen to what the patients were saying was during the psych rotation.Strangely, the majority of my classmates hated that rotation.And I thought it was strange that it was the first time I couldn’t wait to get to clinicals.

I like that I work in an extremely challenging area – a place where many nurses don’t want to work. A lot of the charting we do is more like the charting the physicians are doing – more writing, more narrative notes. The environment is never boring. I like working a 12-hour shift. I like the concept that it’s job-hopping in just about every other field, yet a nurse can go from job to job, area to area, and no one thinks it’s a bad thing. If a nurse discovers one area isn’t working out, she/he can do something completely different. There are options.

There is no end to learning.I learn something new every day.The hospital requires that we complete competencies so we are always taking online courses or going to classes.It never ends.And you have to take a certain numbers of courses to keep your license.

I like that I can use all the skills I’ve acquired over the decades and put them to use in one occupation.Nurses have all sorts of interesting experience from past lives and they can apply it to nursing.That’s very cool.

They say that 98% of nursing is teaching.There’s some truth to that.

I also like going to work in my pajamas.Some nurses hate scrubs – I don’t.And I like that I get to wear Alegrias on my feet.(Invest in good shoes – you’ll need them.)

My patients offer variety.I work with children and adults.

4. What do you dislike the most about your job?

It is so hard to earn that license and it’s so easy to lose it. One mistake and all that work goes poof. The Board of Nursing sends me a magazine and there’s a whole section in it that lists the names of nurses who have lost their licenses. It’s not like it’s a secret. There it is in black and white for everyone to see: You screwed up and now you’ll never work as a nurse again.

And it’s frustrating that so much of nursing is charting.Yes, documentation is important.But you will be documenting constantly and in the back of your mind you have to be thinking: “Will this hold up in a court of law when I am sued by a patient?”If I had a dollar for every patient who said they were going to sue, I wouldn’t have to work.

And a lot of what you do as a nurse really has very little to do with nursing or patient care.

It’s also a frustrating experience seeing how health care works.There are patients who abuse the system and there’s really no way to stop that.Government regulations that may have sounded like a good idea at one time are now so complicated that I feel like I’m working in law instead of medicine sometimes.Doctors are leaving the profession.Nurses come and go.Turnover is common.

5. What is one thing you wish you knew that you did not know upon pursuing this field?

I guess I wish I’d known that an ASN would mean that I’d never stop going to school.Another poster mentioned Magnet status and the master plan for nurses.A lot of nurses never thought they’d see the day, but several hospitals have already stopped hiring LPNs.And now many hospitals won’t even hire someone with an ASN unless they can prove they’ve started a BSN program.Some hospitals won’t even consider an ASN now.Guess what?I’m starting a BSN this month.And it won’t be cheap.

And the certifications never end.My next project will be certification for psychiatric nursing.Another big test and another big check.

I’ve been working in a hospital since 2007 and I’ve seen a lot of changes.If you don’t like change, you won’t like this field.I’ve seen techs take on more nursing responsibilities and nurses taking on more doctor responsibilities.Many departments seem to be phasing out MDs and hiring more Nurse Practitioners.A BSN won’t be enough; nurses are constantly pressured to keep earning degrees.I haven't even taken my first class yet for my RN to BSN program and I’m already getting pushed to get an MSN.I’ll be 55 next month – let me catch my breath, will ya?

6. How is job growth/retention for you?

Behavioral Health is not a moneymaker for hospitals.After years of working without a raise, our hospital recently broke down and gave staff a 1-2% bump.Woo-hoo!

Baby Boomers are aging so there will be no shortage of patients.When I started looking for work I considered the two populations that seemed to be growing quickly: Older patients and psychopaths.

But there is no job security.A nurse can lose his/her position at any time.Depending on geography, the market can still be good for nurses looking for jobs.Other areas… uh, not so much.But, like I said, there are options within nursing and there are jobs that most nurses don’t even know exist.

When I worked with infants I worked with a lot of withdrawal babies.I actually liked that.Very challenging.And good training I guess for all the patients I work with now who have substance abuse issues.I’m surprised how much I actually enjoyed the babies and I often miss them.I liked talking to them and singing selections from Broadway musicals.But I was fortunate: I worked on a unit with less critically ill babies – not NICU.I floated to other Peds units to work and I trained on units for school, but I knew I wasn’t cut out for NICU.I felt that a nurse spends more time with equipment than with the actual patient.There are babies who are so ill that they can’t even be touched.I was used to things that someone would see on the unit, but several of my classmates were absolutely traumatized by the experience.Strangely, I enjoyed my L&D rotation because I was one of the lucky ones – I got to assist in two back-to-back deliveries.Wouldn’t ever want to work there, though.

The most interesting thing about nursing school is that you may discover that you don’t want to work with kids at all.You might just find something that you had never even considered.But there’s only one way to find out.

[Retiredpsych]

On 9/19/2014 just bee said:

Hey!I saw this when it was posted, but I couldn’t respond right away because I work both days and nights and I wasn’t quite awake enough to type a response that would be coherent.Hopefully, this response will be. Let’s give it a shot.

1. How long have you been in the field and what is your specialty?

I graduated with an ASN in Spring of 2013, took the NCLEX (just 75 questions!) in August, and was offered a job after my first interview.I’ve been working as a psychiatric nurse for almost a year now.

2. Did you take a traditional career path?

I went off to a university at age 17 and had a roommate who was a Nursing major.I clearly remember thinking that nursing would be the LAST thing I’d ever want to do.After September 11, 2001 I knew I had to do something different.I spent a lot of time talking myself out of going back to school and changing careers, but then I finally made the decision to test the waters.I took one course, became a Health Unit Coordinator, and got a job in a local hospital – on an infant unit – just to see if I’d like the environment.From there, I took more classes and trained as a tech.I worked as a tech the whole time I was in nursing school.Initially, I was interested in Geriatrics and thought I’d work with dementia patients.My classmates all knew where they wanted to be and I had no clue.One night, during my psych clinicals, my instructor pulled me off the geri-psych unit and told me that he thought I’d like the psych emergency room.The one thing I knew was this: I did not want to work in an emergency room. Not no way, not no how. So guess where I’m working.

3. What do you love the most about your job?

I’ve only met one nurse who loved nursing school.One of the things I hated about it was the thought that I was investing time, energy, and money in a career where I would be little more than a PEZ dispenser.I trained on units where med passes took hours.The second thing I hated was the interaction with patients.Sounds weird, I know, but it frustrated me that there was so little emphasis on listening to the patients.We were being trained to listen to their organs through a stethoscope.Every time I had to nip a conversation in the bud in order to listen to lung or bowel sounds, I questioned what I was doing and why I was doing it.Sometimes all a patient wanted was a minute of my time – some human interaction – but so much of nursing was telling the patient to be quiet.Don’t talk – I’m listening to your bowels.Don’t talk – swallow these pills.Don’t talk – I have to do my charting.The first time during clinicals where the students were instructed to listen to what the patients were saying was during the psych rotation.Strangely, the majority of my classmates hated that rotation.And I thought it was strange that it was the first time I couldn’t wait to get to clinicals.

I like that I work in an extremely challenging area – a place where many nurses don’t want to work. A lot of the charting we do is more like the charting the physicians are doing – more writing, more narrative notes. The environment is never boring. I like working a 12-hour shift. I like the concept that it’s job-hopping in just about every other field, yet a nurse can go from job to job, area to area, and no one thinks it’s a bad thing. If a nurse discovers one area isn’t working out, she/he can do something completely different. There are options.

There is no end to learning.I learn something new every day.The hospital requires that we complete competencies so we are always taking online courses or going to classes.It never ends.And you have to take a certain numbers of courses to keep your license.

I like that I can use all the skills I’ve acquired over the decades and put them to use in one occupation.Nurses have all sorts of interesting experience from past lives and they can apply it to nursing.That’s very cool.

They say that 98% of nursing is teaching.There’s some truth to that.

I also like going to work in my pajamas.Some nurses hate scrubs – I don’t.And I like that I get to wear Alegrias on my feet.(Invest in good shoes – you’ll need them.)

My patients offer variety.I work with children and adults.

4. What do you dislike the most about your job?

It is so hard to earn that license and it’s so easy to lose it. One mistake and all that work goes poof. The Board of Nursing sends me a magazine and there’s a whole section in it that lists the names of nurses who have lost their licenses. It’s not like it’s a secret. There it is in black and white for everyone to see: You screwed up and now you’ll never work as a nurse again.

And it’s frustrating that so much of nursing is charting.Yes, documentation is important.But you will be documenting constantly and in the back of your mind you have to be thinking: “Will this hold up in a court of law when I am sued by a patient?”If I had a dollar for every patient who said they were going to sue, I wouldn’t have to work.

And a lot of what you do as a nurse really has very little to do with nursing or patient care.

It’s also a frustrating experience seeing how health care works.There are patients who abuse the system and there’s really no way to stop that.Government regulations that may have sounded like a good idea at one time are now so complicated that I feel like I’m working in law instead of medicine sometimes.Doctors are leaving the profession.Nurses come and go.Turnover is common.

5. What is one thing you wish you knew that you did not know upon pursuing this field?

I guess I wish I’d known that an ASN would mean that I’d never stop going to school.Another poster mentioned Magnet status and the master plan for nurses.A lot of nurses never thought they’d see the day, but several hospitals have already stopped hiring LPNs.And now many hospitals won’t even hire someone with an ASN unless they can prove they’ve started a BSN program.Some hospitals won’t even consider an ASN now.Guess what?I’m starting a BSN this month.And it won’t be cheap.

And the certifications never end.My next project will be certification for psychiatric nursing.Another big test and another big check.

I’ve been working in a hospital since 2007 and I’ve seen a lot of changes.If you don’t like change, you won’t like this field.I’ve seen techs take on more nursing responsibilities and nurses taking on more doctor responsibilities.Many departments seem to be phasing out MDs and hiring more Nurse Practitioners.A BSN won’t be enough; nurses are constantly pressured to keep earning degrees.I haven't even taken my first class yet for my RN to BSN program and I’m already getting pushed to get an MSN.I’ll be 55 next month – let me catch my breath, will ya?

6. How is job growth/retention for you?

Behavioral Health is not a moneymaker for hospitals.After years of working without a raise, our hospital recently broke down and gave staff a 1-2% bump.Woo-hoo!

Baby Boomers are aging so there will be no shortage of patients.When I started looking for work I considered the two populations that seemed to be growing quickly: Older patients and psychopaths.

But there is no job security.A nurse can lose his/her position at any time.Depending on geography, the market can still be good for nurses looking for jobs.Other areas… uh, not so much.But, like I said, there are options within nursing and there are jobs that most nurses don’t even know exist.

When I worked with infants I worked with a lot of withdrawal babies.I actually liked that.Very challenging.And good training I guess for all the patients I work with now who have substance abuse issues.I’m surprised how much I actually enjoyed the babies and I often miss them.I liked talking to them and singing selections from Broadway musicals.But I was fortunate: I worked on unit with less critically ill babies – not NICU.I floated to other Peds units to work and I trained on units for school, but I knew I wasn’t cut out for NICU.I felt that a nurse spends more time with equipment than with the actual patient.There are babies who are so ill that they can’t even be touched.I was used to things that someone would see on the unit, but several of my classmates were absolutely traumatized by the experience.Strangely, I enjoyed my L&D rotation because I was one of the lucky ones – I got to assist in two back-to-back deliveries.Wouldn’t ever want to work there, though.

The most interesting thing about nursing school is that you may discover that you don’t want to work with kids at all.You might just find something that you had never even considered.But there’s only one way to find out.

Hi Just Bee! I saw your name as a post and wanted to read what you had to say. You are so articulate. Whether talking about our Lumene BB Cream or the complex world of nursing. Your answers were so well formulated and painted such a clear picture of the job. I remember when you graduated from nursing school last year (on a post here on the boards.) I bet you are a cracker jack nurse and anyone would be lucky to have you taking care of them. You are so right to advise that the poster might just find something that they had never even considered. I started out as an Art teacher and ended up becoming an Educational Psychologist.. accumulating degrees to assist my work..and I loved every minute of my job. Retired, I now teach School Psychology at a University and I always tell my students to keep accumulating experience and credentials. Don't stop learning. I have seen requisites for jobs change all of the time. Be one step ahead. So I am so happy for you that you will be starting your BSN. I will serve you well, and something tells me that, if you want it, you will go far. I agree with your advice.....to the poster....jump into the water and get your feet wet. Try all areas of nursing and see what calls you. You will be entering a tough tough field, but I am sure it is full of rewards.

[just bee]

On 9/19/2014 ednapsych said:

Hi Just Bee! I saw your name as a post and wanted to read what you had to say. You are so articulate. Whether talking about our Lumene BB Cream or the complex world of nursing. Your answers were so well formulated and painted such a clear picture of the job. I remember when you graduated from nursing school last year (on a post here on the boards.) I bet you are a cracker jack nurse and anyone would be lucky to have you taking care of them. You are so right to advise that the poster might just find something that they had never even considered. I started out as an Art teacher and ended up becoming an Educational Psychologist.. accumulating degrees to assist my work..and I loved every minute of my job. Retired, I now teach School Psychology at a University and I always tell my students to keep accumulating experience and credentials. Don't stop learning. I have seen requisites for jobs change all of the time. Be one step ahead. So I am so happy for you that you will be starting your BSN. I will serve you well, and something tells me that, if you want it, you will go far. I agree with your advice.....to the poster....jump into the water and get your feet wet. Try all areas of nursing and see what calls you. You will be entering a tough tough field, but I am sure it is full of rewards.

Thanks for the kind words! I was an Art minor back in the day and I probably learned more from my Art courses than from my Education courses. My original plan was to teach high school English and Theater, and I took all sorts of classes -- art, music, history, film, philosophy, science -- so I'd be prepared to teach about what was going on in the world when Chaucer, Shakespeare, William Blake, and Tennessee Williams were writing. The hours spent drawing! Not time wasted because years later I was drawing body parts again for Anatomy and Physiology courses.

Isn't it interesting where we start out and where we end up? Ironically, I had been interested in psychology when I was younger and my stepfather even gave me a subscription to Psychology Today when I was in high school. But I took a general ed psych course in college that turned out to be one of the worst classes I ever took. And I have a story about a psych professor that convinced me that I'd never consider another course in that department. Working on a psych unit today scratches that old word-that-is-not-allowed-on-this-board. What I learned from nursing school -- and from working in a hospital -- is that every unit is a psych unit.