“clinicals are work you do for free at hospitals” “clinicals can take up to 2 years completing four semesters” “single moms can’t work and do clinicals” “feeling like everyone in the room is watching you” “my self confidence dropped” …….. I was thinking that I really wanted to be a nurse. These statements were made on a nursing link website, in the exploring the avenues of nursing section. I was floored. Is it really like this? How CAN it be a rewarding experience with this… the clinicals I can understand… (and still, one wonders how much a hinder a nursing student is, or can they actually be help served in the hosptial… to at least earn minimum wage for their time and troubles, especially when were facing such a nursing shortage).. I really, really wanted to be a nurse. I accepted the fact that it would be hard all the studying involved… Help me understand? It almost sounds like an abusive career! Your thoughts please.
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Nursing school IS brutal. Period. You are being watched constantly–which is understandable because nurses have patients’ lives in their hands. If you do not do your job or do it wrong, you can maim or kill someone. The job itself is brutal. Many nursing shifts are 12-hour shifts. Places always want to skimp on staffing, so you are constantly on the move without enough staff. RNs have to “supervise” LPN/LVNs and CNAs and all the other little job titles periodically created. You can’t just delegate and let it go, you have to follow up and make sure it’s done and done right. Your notes are LEGAL documents, yet many docs don’t want to be “bothered” reading nurses’ notes.
I remember when I was starting out that I had a nursing home patient (where you always start) who I was examining. I didn’t like the disparity in or quality of, her pedal pulses and got my instructor ASAP with MY assessment which was beyond what I had been officially taught, but I’d had other coursework so I knew the significance of what I’d found. She came a-running, assessed the patient, came to the same conclusion, talked to the charge duty nurse who came and did HER assessment because she knew what was in store for her. She had to call the resident’s physician and advise him the patient was in a SERIOUS state and he needed to get there. He chewed her out on the phone–he was “busy.” Long story (and trust me it took more than HER shift to get it resolved) he eventually got over and discovered the nursing student and the two experienced RNs were right–this woman had a serious cardiovascular situation and had to go to the hospital.
If I had not caught that, there is a high probability the lady would have had a stroke or an MI and perhaps died. IF my instructor had blown me off–same possibility (although I would have gone over her head to the charge nurse. The patient was always my MAIN concern.) In a hospital setting, the lady would likely have had better trained folks supervising her. In a nursing home, your staff usually won’t pick up on what I did until the situation is so advanced it’s an actual crisis.
Interestingly, though we all get yelled at, effectively, by the doctor (reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare is poor), if we’d have missed this DEVELOPING problem there would have been PLENTY of blame to go around and even though I was NOT trained to pick up what I did, I would have had my head handed to me.
So if you’re looking for fair, or we’re all part of a team, etc. while you’re in training: forget it. When you’re a real nurse, if you get intelligent doctors, they WILL appreciate you–only the not-so-bright ones write off nurses (but there are quite a few not-so-bright docs out there and they rarely get smarter with experience).
IF my back had survived, I would have survived the program–I was pretty close to being a nurse. Should have done a ladder program AND should not have let the one “instructor” bully me into handling a patient I knew was too heavy and a paraplegic to boot and destroyed my back.
This career takes commitment. It IS worth it though–absolutely invaluable skills (I’ve been able to get better care and PROVIDE superior care to family as a result of my training and ed.)
I have been a nurse for 30 years, and if it is something you are doing for ANY other reason than you REALLY want to help people (some people do it for the money, “I want to meet a doctor”, etc), you are doing it for the WRONG reason. If you are waiting for someone to THANK you, don’t hold your breath. On the other hand, if you are SELF MOTIVATED and don’t need someone to pat your head every time you do something good, go for it. Helping people is a reward that you get IN YOUR HEART, not anywhere else. Yes, you are free labor for the clinicals..no getting around that. And the studying is secondary…..the hours are long, you are on your feet the whole time you are at work, and I can count the number of times I have had a lunch break in 30 years on both hands. On the flipside of the coin, I have ALWAYS had a job, the hours are flexible, and the joy that I have felt as a person when I see one of my patients make it out of the hospital (I work ER and the Burn ICU) is irreplaceable..When I became a nurse 30 years ago, there were only 2 choices for women….Nurse or Teacher. Now you have SO MANY other choices that pay as well….Good Luck.
Nursing clinicals can’t be paid–as you need constant supervision (that would be like paying 2 people to do the same job) and you have no license/legal standing as you are not a hospital employee.
If you are a good, conscientious nurse, you will rarely, if ever, get yelled at (except maybe, under a case of extreme stress & then its not personal) or blamed for things. Unfortunately (and please, no thumbs down–this is reality). I have worked with some really awful nurses and sent some home (also some great ones, don’t get me wrong!)–ones that truly were a danger to a patient–they got all the blame they deserved.
The field of nursing is so large, that I think you could find something that fits your tastes and needs & one that you find rewarding. School is hard but maybe you could do a 2 year RN and then later bridge up to help spread some of it around. Good luck, we DO need good nurses.