Nursing as a Career!

Just because you go to nursing school doesnt mean you can get a job as a nurse. There are soooo many people going to school for nursing, its too hard to get a job as one now.

Hiya! I've been a nurse for about 3.5 years, so I'll throw some of my input in here and see if it's any help.
Firstly, one positive and one negative: a positive, certainly, is knowing, with certainty, that you are directly helping people. Your patients are, quite often, encountering you during some of the most trying and difficult days of their lives, and you are the person who is there to help them through that. Sometimes that's incredibly rewarding, and sometimes it's its own challenge (people who are hurting and afraid are not necessarily at their best, so nurses have to be prepared to be patient and understanding of that), but it's definitely a job that feels meaningful, if that makes any sense. Conversely, the negative would be the powerlessness, I guess. Ultimately, you are only able to do so much for your patients. Sometimes, even if you and the doctors and the respiratory therapists and everyone else are doing absolutely everything you can, things aren't going to turn out how you want them. That's a really scary feeling sometimes, and it can be difficult to come to terms with.
Ok, next questions: pay--I feel like I'm payed a decent living wage. I'm not rich by any means, but I'm not destitute either. I will say, with certainty, that nursing isn't a career you choose for the money, because it's not worth it, from that perspective. There are less disgusting and less emotionally draining careers that pay better. That said, I feel that I'm compensated fairly, most of the time. I feel like I answered that question pretty ambiguously. :laugh:
I do sometimes feel that the ratio is dangerous. In fact, I recently (within the past year) went from working acute care ("the floor") with up to 5 patients at a time, to working in the ICU, with one or two patients at a time, and the difference is amazing. Even though my patients are way more time consuming and sicker, I cannot stand feeling like I don't have time to know what's going on with my patients thoroughly, and I genuinely feel that, with 5 patients, there are times when you're hoping like h*ll that at least 2 of those patients can essentially function on auto pilot, because the rest of the patients are requiring so much attention. It's terrifying to me, though some people love working the floor and say that ICU is terrifying. Guess it depends on the individual nurse.
In terms of balancing life--this can be a major struggle, especially because I work nights. If you work several 12 hour night shifts in a row, it's difficult to not feel isolated from family and friends. My advice here is to set boundaries. Hospitals are notoriously short-staffed, and they will work you to death if you let them. This actually segues into the burnout thing: I know nurses who work 5 12-hour night shifts a week. I don't think that's safe, from a patient-care perspective, or a mental-health perspective, and I definitely think it's a recipe for burnout. Again, though, individual nurses are different, so maybe that's just me. I like to work 3 12 hour shifts a week, with an occasional extra shift thrown in. I feel that I need personal time to purse my other interests, otherwise I'm not going to be a balanced person, and that's no good.
In terms of fitness, the 12 hour shifts are challenging, for sure. This is something I'm still learning to make work, so I'll have to get back to you on that, lol.
Whew, did I run off at the mouth there? Sorry you asked?:yawn:

There are pretty much always nursing jobs available at the hospital where I work. I think maybe it's difficult to get jobs in some of the more coveted areas (being a nurse who works directly for a physician, for instance), but I don't know anyone from my graduating class who was unable to find employment in nursing.. Maybe the overabundance of nurses is a regional problem that's not affecting my little corner of the world, though?

Hi. I've been a Cardiovascular nurse for > 20 years. I've worked both in the critical CVU unit at the hospital and eventually as a charge nurse in Florida....and also for private Cardiologist offices. I currently have worked for the same cardiologist for almost 12 years. There is a BIG differece between the 2. Short staffing at hospitals just happens...no matter the planning. Nurses call in, there is unpredictable patient volumes, etc. You will have a lesser patient volume if you specialize in either ICU or CVU....but you will have much sicker patient's...and more deaths....so you need to have a good perspective on the death and dying process and that you can't save them all...no matter what you do. You don't develop strong relationships with patient's in those area's because as soon as they are better enough, they are transferred to the medical floor....but you are responsible for SAVING THEIR LIVES! The Dr's are only there for 15 minutes.....you are there for the other 11 hrs and 45 minutes to ensure they remain stable.

Working for a Cardiologist office is completely different. You do develop very strong relationships with your patient's and feel their loss on a more personal level (I've been to lost of funerals)....but you gain so much joy in directly helping people. I do feel appreciated by my Dr. He has told me directly that his practice has doubled since I have been there and that he told another one of his colleagues who asked him if he had been in any law suits....and he told him no...and that it was due to having me as a nurse and my clinical judgement.

Compensation I think is fair. I make over twice now that I did when I started out as a new nurse 20 years ago. The practice I work for only hires nurses with a minimum of 5 years cardiac experience....and they compensate accordingly.

Oh...by the way...when I was a charge nurse....we hired "travel" nurses for Florida ALL THE TIME. A large percentage of my staff were "travel nurses" who had sign on bonuses....then renewal sign-on bonuses....and a housing allowance. We actually had "permanent travel nurses" who would just keep renewing as it paid for their house payment and we always needed them....so they had been at the same hospital for years...making more than my staff nurses hourly and getting their house paid for along with their bonuses....just a thought:) Good luck to you.

I think the 80 K nurses are working out East or in California where the cost of living is so much higher. I would not expect that as a new nurse. You will make more if you go in to CVU or ICU or if you work the "night shift" due to the shift differential pay....just a thought!

40 K is reasonable to get your degree in today's college market....and your monthly payments should be reasonable over long-term.

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