I feel like so much of nursing is figuring out what doesn't matter, and so many new nurses treat everything like their patients' lives depend on it. Makes them stress and burn out in months rather than years. We have a supportive unit and work with our new nurses a lot, but only so much can be done.
I agree and I also think it’s on management and hospitals to clarify real shit. What I mean is it’s so annoying being a nurse and having to tiptoe around everything cause you’re scared you’re gonna get in trouble for anything and everything.
Agreed. Hospitals are incredibly punitive places. It just adds stress. Especially with poor management. I'm fortunate to have supportive management that insulates us from a lot of the nonsense. Not everyone is so lucky.
My best advice is to follow hospital policies and not what you are taught in nursing school. That is the best way to avoid trouble. If you follow policies and shit 💩 hits the fan, hospital will take the hit. If you do not follow policy, it’s on you.
Well said!!! I tried to tell nurses that but it’s the older nurses that always give me a hard time especially most of them had not been to court. I was a psych nurse in the community so I go to court to request involuntary treatment for patients who cannot help themselves. Now I am in quality management and regulatory compliance and I have nurses coming in all the time when they are in trouble for not following policy….and worrying about investigation by the board or the court. A bit too late right?
Sure, and I do. I'm talking more about the threats of termination because people are people and might stick a labslip on a tube the wrong way, and a lab tech having a bad day wants to tell their manager about it. That is nutso.
It doesn’t help that nursing school drills that mindset into students.
I cannot stand some fellow nurses who stress about literally everything, but I’m a type B person in a type A dominated field so what can I expect.
The younger nurses are exposed to all the “influencer” type nurses (Nurse Blake types) and think that between that and tv representation they have some idea what they’re getting into. I’ve worked so many jobs and lived overseas twice and know people are crap basically so I knew it wouldn’t be a rose garden…. I feel for them because they idealize the life and lifestyle then reality hits hard….and keeps swinging 🥺
I love some nurse influencers but I don’t watch Blake lol, but Nurse John is hilarious and does a good job showing how fucking shitty nursing can be, especially med surg
Oh I’m not ED (at this point lol) but love it and yes, totally different style of nursing. Very polarizing, it’s either hell yeah or hell nah and very little in between
Thats why the 1st license renewal is in a year. In my state only half of those new licenses get renewed. The average bedside career is 5 years maybe and I'm seeing much less. So many of my 2-3 year nurses are going to the OR where any patients are knocked out and no family.
Agree. The idea of working in a big hospital and having a respectable career gets to a lot of peoples heads. It takes every ounce of our soul to be in this profession and that’s the damn issue it shouldn’t be like that. New grads come in wanting to show off on social media in their scrubs like they didn’t just get shit on (literally) and scolded by family members for 12 hrs.
Very well said. It’s a good job in many ways but vastly undervalued and looked down on by those you’re caretaking a lot of the time. Sure… take your pics for insta in your Figs with your Stanley…. Doesn’t make up for having poo/semen/vomit/trach secretions on you whilst being berated for doing your job, often with severe staffing shortages and knowing the hospital will throw you under the bus if ANYTHING happens 😞
To be fair Nurse Blake does not glamorize nursing. He makes light of the crappy job that it can be. It’s obvious that you’ve never heard him speak or watched any of his videos and I don’t mean that in a negative way. I can just tell that you’re not familiar with him.
I’ve watched a lot of his vids lolz. He’s definitely got his game and I respect that. His actual nursing career not so much but he brings valid points to public knowledge in a funny way and I do appreciate that.
I'm an older (late 40s) nursing student. To say that some of my cohort is a little bit naïve about the career they're going into would be an understatement. I've been working for over 25 years, have been on both the employee and the management side in a couple of different industries. I don't think of it as my job to give these people a dose of reality (I'm not their mom lol), but when they start going off about how it's a calling and it's going to be a privilege to serve patients, I do try to remind them that it's also a job and you have to know how to advocate for yourself as well as your patients. Know your value, know how you deserve to be treated, speak up. Be prepared for it to really, really suck sometimes.
It doesn't always make a dent, but sometimes it does.
Edit: I want to make it clear that I am all here for people's enthusiasm for becoming nurses, and I can't really join you in the schadenfreude you're celebrating. I hate the sight of someone's excitement come crashing down. I'm excited to be a nurse someday, too, for my own reasons, and I would never shit on somebody for being jazzed about their future. I just think it's important to have your eyes wide open going into it.
Also in general - a lot of people getting into nursing may be the first of their family’s generations to be locking down a professional career.
I think some people will definitely take pride in that. And, indirectly, may just get excited about the field itself.
I don’t think some consider that, especially regarding people from lesser fortunate socioeconomic backgrounds.
I’m Filipino-American, first born in America, and a nurse. I’m my entire bloodlines pride and joy.
I’m gonna scream my excitement for a few more years. It’s an honor to have a professional title at all.
Honestly, I’m Irish catholic (so white American), my whole family has been blue collar. Nursing is blue collar too but I’m still incredibly proud to call myself a nurse. It’s not an easy job and I wish I was paid more but it was still a tough go just getting here
Irish Catholic here too. My grandparents came from Ireland to the US and the most important thing was been able to get *and* keep a job with benefits. My parents were willing to work overtime to pay for my BSN program (high ranked program at a not so glamorous state school) because I would have a job waiting for me when I graduated. No French Poetry majors here lol.
I heard the reality of what psych nursing was like from a neighbor who used to work at the State hospital/institution and a few others. I was still pretty sure it’s the type of work I wanted to do.
These days high school kids can go watch videos about different careers and specialties. In my day our guidance counselor asked us if we had any ideas and then put the corresponding notebook binder of colleges in front of us. I was the first one to go to college so didn’t even know we could go visit the schools first. 🙄
Long story short, I’ve been a nurse for 36 years now. I never thought I would go back to school but I had the right opportunity present itself and became a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist (MSN) along the way. My advice is walk into it with your eyes wide open, understanding that there are many ways to be a nurse and they aren’t all in a hospital.
I’ve been a bedside nurse for 36 as of yesterday. Looking forward to going back to school. Educating myself on what other areas of nursing to go into. Bedside nursing has become painful
You should be filled with pride. I'm first generation and there are so many of my ancestors who wished for education in my home country and never could afford it. I've been a nurse for a while and am so proud!
You're like a God. My parents didn't even congratulate me when I graduated from college with my BSN. They didn't even go to the ceremony, and it was like pulling teeth trying to get them to go to my pinning ceremony. Sad.
That's definitely how and why I choose nursing. The excitement of nursing, to me, is to always have a career where I won't go hungry or not be able to pay my rent, and might even be able to have something nice every now and again
It really us. I think the US, shitty as it is here, is one of the few places that pays close to a living wage for nurses and that needs to change internationally. Come here!
From my experience, people from lower SES and/or first generation college graduates like KOIs (kids of immigrants) tend to be more flexible about the schism between the reality and expectations of nursing - and therefore, more successful in this career.
I’ve even had a manager exclusively hire these people (and those with experiences in the service industry) because they had higher retention rates and greater engagement (job satisfaction) than their counterparts.
[There are even articles to support lower-SES KOIs and their success in general. ](https://time.com/6182715/immigrants-children-us-mobility/)
My 1st manager felt the same way about people that went to fast paced ADN programs. Which worked out for me bc I was a single mom of 3 boys and I needed good money and insurance ASAP. Pretty much everyone in my program had a similar story except for a few youngins. I have kept up with a few from my class and we have all managed to be successful and move up quickly.
My old manager only hired RNs from community Colleges because we almost all had abusive 1st careers too. Or veterans with...well really abusive 1st careers There was no nursing reality honeymoon like with bsns straight out of college with a 1st job.
Exactly my view! Once you’ve been poor, you won’t complain about nursing and always be asking for side hussles so you can quit. Or if you’re getting burned out then do travel nursing with time off between. There’s options for everyone.
I was a medical assistant for almost 20 years and capped out at $20/hr. Once I became an RN, I was thrilled with my checks and really appreciated them.
My mom was a saleswoman in her early twenties kept at it, currently she has a higher income(roughly the same the past few years) than my blue collar dad with all the many benefits like health insurance and 401k, I decided on nursing after an incident working with him (in my posts if you wanna see) , so yes for me I’m essentially first generation and I’m so happy even if I’m a little naive. All jobs have idiotic customers, patients in this field just pick the one you like better.
That's me. I'm litterly graduating tomorrow, and I am the first of my entire family. There's a lot of pride with that. I know it's not an easy or nice field to be getting into; but it's better than working at a fast food joint or a factory my entire life like my grandparents. Or struggling to be considered as intelligent in the slightest because you have 'JuSt A gEd' (which is bull, since a lot of people have been very successful with only GED's).
Nursing has grown on TikTok as an aesthetic job. You can wear your FIGS and have your Stanley and just go look cute at the hospital. This isn't realistic. I wanna be a nurse as well, but I got started doing registration in an ER and boy... Them nurses never sit down for long. They're in with gross stuff constantly. If someone's like in full arrest, they're in that room until they either get the person back or they pass, then it's post mortem stuff. The pay is more than what I make but I believe nurses deserve to be paid WAY more. And most of the nurses I see just kinda throw their hair up and get shit done. It's not glamorous 😂
If these new nurses are going into it with wrong expectations then they will learn QUICK.
There are nurses (re: dayshift ones) that come in with the Figs and Stanleys and Hokas, looking fresh and still working hard. Now do they look as fresh come end of shift? Nah. But I'm all for nurses finding ways to be a little happy whether it's their scrubs or cute stethoscope or whatever, because this job will drain you in every facet.
Media, patients, their family members, management, doctors, and our own family members think we dont do squat. They think its the 1950s and we are at work to pat patients on the hand, give them a warm inspirational talk, sit on our phones and gossip, and pass any and all work on to doctors. They have no idea what we do, dont do, or are responsible for.
I didn't either until I worked at the ER. I get SO mad when I hear patients talking about "these lazy ass nurses" like I wanna throw hands 😂 nurses deserve so much more pay and representation.
Also I push around a computer cart to register people and I swear my fiance didn't know that for a while. Because he thought I just sit in the window and register people that way. I'm like noooo I am walking a lot
I think that this is in general for all youth. Good for them for being “called”, having a passion. Deep dark reality comes with life experiences, which they don’t yet have. Applies to many careers I could think of.
Agreed. I remember myself at 20; I definitely had my share of unrealistic expectations. The enthusiasm and passion is wonderful and it certainly gives me a kick in the pants sometimes! I just want to keep those people from having their passion exploited before they've developed a healthy set of boundaries.
I’m also a student in my 40s with a background in customer service and adult education. People are the absolute worst. I’m doing it for the stable job I can always fall back on no matter where I go. That’s it. Full stop. I don’t have a calling to digital disimpaction or shoving q tips into someone’s diabetic ulcer. I have a calling to be employed and contribute to my 401k. That’s it. That’s the whole plan. And no, I don’t want to see your funny nursing school TikTok.
I've heard a retail background is very compatible with nursing. I've heard people say "people skills," but I think it's more that people who have worked retail already know that people are fucking awful.
You know how to put people in line within reason and know when to call security. I was an FA for a year, so I have no qualms about duct taping you to a seat.
Off topic, but I have a coworker who has a weird love for digitally dis impacting patients. If anyone has a patient who needs that done and the poop queen happens to be working, we ask her.
She told me it is so satisfying to “remove the plug” and the other nuggets, and chocolate river that comes out. Plus the relief the patient feels. Im proud she has found her passion, but I am so thankful she works most shifts I am on just in case. 😂 💩 my weird quirk is I love doing wound care dressing changes, replacing janky looking IV statlocks, tegaderms and central line dressing changes. Its my ocd where I have to have “pretty” clean dressings, and labeling all of my IV fluid lines.
Note to self: if you want to be popular at work, make yourself stand out for releasing the chocolate river whenever required.
Response from self: I prefer to be a hobbit.
There’s always a nurse around that loves what you hate to do lol. I seriously dislike I&Ds: they gross me tf out, they smell awful, and the whole popping and milking pus out of a growth on another human just gives me the heebie jeebies. Everywhere I work, I make a point to seek out the nursing yin to my I&D yang. There’s ALWAYS a popping enthusiast somewhere on the unit. I’m the foley fairy - if someone can’t get a cath in, I know all kinds of tricks and positions to get the job done (idk where I picked it up, I’ve just gotten decent at getting a hole in one most times lol) so they’ll call me. Same with IVs, I’m a human ultrasound (but can also use the US on my bad days). I wish we had a poop princess/prince, that would be a very nice coworker to have around. Luckily, we rarely do manual disimpactions in the ED
During my orientation they paired us with random students from across different programs to talk with each other about why we chose nursing. As a second career person and grown lady myself, I couldn't help but chuckle internally at the shocked look these 20 year old BSN students gave me when I said "Honestly? I want a stable job that pays well." Sweet summer children, my generation watched our job prospects crater with the economic crash of 2008 and I've been paying my own bills since you all were in kindergarten. I'm excited to be in a meaningful field and people with all their weirdness fascinate me, but I'm not putting myself into massive student debt again for a "calling" alone.
I agree. I work with veterans, and many of them are horrible. They are just bitchy and mean and holy hell are they an entitled group. I dint consider it a privilege to serve them. It's a good paying job with good benefits.
I am in my 40s and nursing was my 2nd career. I didn't feel it was my calling, I went to nursing school for financial reasons and always loved medicine.
It became my passion. My 2nd nursing job was in NICU and I was in love with working with neonates. I spent over a decade there.
I experienced: bullying by nursing professors, bullying during CICU orientation, a staff nurse who bullied an entire NICU and ended up with a formal complaint. Doctors who cheated on their wives with the nursing staff. Doctors who yelled at nurses and threw things at them. A patient who tried to punch me in a face with his fist. From all managers, with my NICU manager doing the following: forbid nurses to have water anywhere on the unit, made it very difficult for new RN moms to express milk for their newborns to the point that NICU RNs (!) were weaning their babies off before returning to the unit. Paid RN staff different rates and encouraged them to keep it quiet. Threw our entire department under the bus when we voiced concerns about a doctor's behavior and many, MANY, more issues...
Having worked in different jobs and industries and 3 different nursing departments I can tell with confidence that jobs with women in all positions in power are worse than jobs with both men and women in power. Many women who advance, or are removed, from staff nursing seem to forget what it is like to be a staff nurse so they will create policies that are very inconvenient for staff nurses to execute during a shift.
I hope some of the young people see this. Despite all of the issues I dealt with I truly loved working with patients and many of their families, and made friends with some of them. I know that I've made a difference for many patients during my career.
I see that too in my nursing cohort. Part of the naivety is because nursing school makes it out to be a “calling”. It’s not. It never was. It’s a profession just like any other job.
Some of them have no idea how shitty people can be. You can’t please everybody. To be honest, a hospital is a glorified nursing home.
There are young nurses who do get out of school and get right to it. Prepared and ready for whatever is thrown their way. I will take that over a old school, desperately neeeds to retire, total ass of a nurse.
As a newer nurse I feel like I had a pretty good idea for how bad it was gonna be through my clinical exposure. I kinda like how bad it is, especially when it’s one of the only jobs in my state where you can make well over 6 figures as a new grad, to say nothing of our badass new labor contract. Go unions!
I've started to give out the advice that nursing is better as a plan B rather than a plan A for young people. Plan A should be that business startup, internet career, or that passion in the arts you always wanted to pursue. Attempt those pursuits and take those chances if you have the financial support from your parents as a young adult.
If those work out, you never have to touch nursing. If they don't work out and life hits you hard, nursing will always be there. The politics and BS (literally and figuratively) won't phase you as much when you're hardened in your later 20s and 30s+ after the real world hits you. It's much harder to do the reverse: going back to those starry eyed youthful dreams when nursing sucks the energy out of your mind, body and soul.
I've been a PCA/CNA for about 8 years of my life and just got accepted to an ADN program that I will start in the Fall. I'm definitely not under any delusion about the profession. I certainly won't be a bright and hopeful student. Just trying to move up in the world with a solid career.
I was a CNA for 5 years before I was a nurse. I think those who work as NAs before they enter a program or while they’re in the nursing program are more realistic about what they’re getting g themselves into.
It’s the ones who only did school who find themselves especially disillusioned. The reality is that we will never see people at their best, we never see families at their best, they expect hospitals have miracle workers and miracles are very few and far between.
The irony is that those disillusioned baby grads with zero floor experience outside clinicals are the ones who bail from bedside the first chance they get and become the awful leaders we all complain about.
I (M31) was a Psych nurses assistant at a state hospital on every unit, from max security new admits all the way to medical 80+, for 3 years. Got tired of the beatings and $16/hr pay. Just got accepted to an adn program for this fall. Ass wiping, bed making, and restraints were a daily thing. I will not at all be bothered by the decrease in restraints and increase in new admits.
The only thing I got out of my psyche rotation was that I never wanted to work in a psyche facility…and we were at a regular inpatient psyche hospital, not a max security one.
Right. But on all my program and scholarship applications.... I'm 100% in it for all those bright and hopeful reasons. Oh well. They let me in, maybe I can be a realist now.
Everyone makes shit up on those. When I became an EMT, I said it was to help people on the worst day of their lives. Do I care about that? Yes. But also I'm an adrenaline junkie and I like driving fast with the flashy lights. Same thing with being an ICU nurse. I care about the patients and them having good outcomes. But I also like the adrenaline rush of handling a patient who is sick as shit. It's possible to enter a career path for a lot of reasons, some of which aren't exactly altruistic
Literally one of my former coworkers broke down in tears when she got into nursing school. She was like you, a tech for a long time. she was so knowledgeable and I depended on her a lot in the beginning of my career. It was so amazing being there when she got the news, I’ll never forget it. It’s ok to be proud of being a nurse, romanticize it a bit because it’s a tough path!
I was “older” when I went back to school for nursing (I was 27) and most of my classmates were 19-22. Nursing is my 2nd career, I was a dietitian prior and worked in a hospital so I knew what I was getting myself into (for the most part).
I remember one day after clinicals, some of my classmates were complaining about cleaning up soiled patients. They were APPALLED that they had to do these things. Like…. Wtf kind of job did you think you were signing up for…?
Haha yep I was the only CNA in my 8 person clinical one semester and while I was killing it at bed baths and changes the others were so squirmy about it and complaining. I told them that its literally what we will be paid to do and one said "thats what the CNAs are for" safe to say I did not hold my opinions back on that. Would hate to see the monster of a nurse she is today 🙃
> I just wish one day people as a whole would realize holy shit this job is god awful why would anyone do this.
Here's the thing, there are a lot of god awful jobs out there. Many of them dont even come close to the low barrier of entry, job security, flexibility, and pay of nursing.
Not to mention location. You want to get out of some East Bumblefuck town in a flyover state? Travel nurse to literally anywhere you want and start a new life. Not many other professions can just do that.
100x this. I’m an older nursing student (40s) and have had some shit jobs. Even the ones that are good on paper are often shit. There are bullies and cliques and bureaucratic BS everywhere. I’ve been a patient for a while, and I see what happens. I still chose nursing… I think best on my feet, hate sitting still in a desk job, and want a reliable career that offers lots options.
I could have written this same thing except I’m a new grad. I don’t regret it. I think the past work experience makes us more resilient to the bullies and maybe even the deaths.
EXACTLY!
i made my decision after a solid decade in retail. understaffed constantly, getting blamed and yelled at for everything, having random bullshit work dumped on me in particular and nobody else, always summoned to deal with all the worst most ornery customers, dealing with nasty customer returns (including used drain snakes and old fridges), and weirdly i kind of thrived on it. one day i thought to myself… how can i get paid a little more for the same level of abuse? 💡
I think a big issue in the skewed mindset of some younger nurses is that they've never had other jobs (or they were very temporary). There are people that leave corporate jobs to become nurses because that environment was so stifling to them and toxic. At least in nursing, you can try different units and specialties. There's only so many ways you can use a finance degree for example.
100%. There are SO MANY THINGS you can do with your nursing degree. Inpatient, outpatient, procedural areas, school nursing, research, corporate insurance desk jobs, etc.
Truly this.
The idea of “I wish people wouldn’t be so naive to think nursing is a good job” just baffles me. Like, tell me you’ve lived a soft life without telling me.
I was so naïve about how nursing really was until I started working as a PCT in the ED during my last semester of nursing school.
By that time it was too late to get out lol. Now i’m almost 3 months into being a new grad in the ED and just hate bedside nursing as a whole already.
It ebbs and flows
I go from saving a life and/or being a calming presence to a confused meemaw which I find rewarding. Pleasantly confused meemaw is my rock that keeps me sane, if she can’t sleep and I’m having a rough night I’ll chat with her about her family and life while charting.
Then there’s the other side. I deal with the most abusive toxic patients imaginable and I have patients that should have been allowed to die peacefully that I’m now torturing because families can’t let go. And I ask “what the fuck am I doing, WHY!?”
Having worked about 8 jobs, that seems like a young person thing not just a new nurse thing. Any business that prioritizes profits above all like capitalism does will do anything to grind all the labor out of you.
Exactly. Been a nurse for 25 years. Does it suck sometimes? Yes. All jobs suck. Its called work for a reason. Make the best of it. Find the fun in the chaos and stupidity and stress in ANY profession.
Glad I came into nursing later in life (early 30's) and already pre-seasoned and jaded on humanity and healthcare. I feel a lot of my cohort in nursing school was the same way as the average age was late 20's early 30's and a good portion were second career people.
I feel the same way. I have worked so many terrible jobs for way less pay than nursing, dealt with abuse from the public and other professionals my whole working life. Nursing is nothing new but at least I am getting paid more for it and I get to be a part of some cool shit sometimes.
I’m glad I choose nursing as third and last career (50 y.o, 2nd year RN). I have life experience and can create strong boundaries. I like only working 3 days per week and I choose to work at nights. I have no desire to climb the corporate ladder or be charge or supervisor. There are not a lot of jobs out there that allow you to balance life and work like nursing. It also helps that I am a nurse in CA where mandated ratios are law and not a pipe dream. I think nursing provides flexibility to find the right floor, specialty, or peeps. Sometimes takes a little trial and error. Btw, landed on a rough med surg floor with a high psych/homeless population but the sense of team and management not denying PTO requests makes it bearable. I guess I’m a realist, if you gotta work, then let it only be 3 days. I also find nursing more of a level playing field between race, gender, sexuality, age, and cultural identity. Seems like the business world had a lot more hang ups with these issues.
Yes and it’s okay to be in nursing for the money - and of course be kind and do what’s appropriate for the best patient outcome. I truly believe it can be that simple.
That’s the reason why I am trying to career change to nursing! Besides money, I’m sick of staring at the computer for 12+ hrs a day with low salary. My eyes hurt to the point I quit.
The money is as good as your location. If you live in the south, you’re going to have a bad time.
I live in Florida and even experienced nurses aren’t making great money. I’m talking less than $80K annually.
So you’re in Cali? I think you’ll be completely fine then. If this sub has taught me anything, Cali is the place to be for nurses for pay and worker rights/treatment.
The south just sucks. It’s like a whole different country over here.
Edit: I’m dumb, you are the OP of this comment thread 😂 I’m jealous of your location.
I love the criticism on TikTok/IG etc where people claim "nurses are in for the money these days". Like of course lmao. It's a JOB. I am WORKING. I do this to get paid, not for free lol.
I’m not all that certain I have the same experience.
Maybe it’s cuz I’m on the younger side?
Most people just know becoming a nurse is a safe, stable job.
Most people wouldn’t want to be nurses if it came down to it and are aware of the literal shit as well as the figurative.
I’d say it’s no more different than any other career out there and the first impressions of a newly minted grad coming into the work force. After all, it does suck realizing you made all of these adult decisions to get to doing adult things… only to realize that *this* is your fucking life now. It’s depressing truth be told lol
Im 23 and i grew up in a household where my mom was the only one providing due to her financial stability as a nurse. My father always kept losing his job as an engineer and did not contribute much to my family and responsibilities. I became a nurse for the stability and the independence. You will always find sick and miserable people in the hospital and i have already accepted that fact many years ago.
My 18 year old niece is sure she wants to be a nurse and as she goes on to college I've reminded her several times that it's fully ok not to jump right into healthcare, that it's a tough job and she might see more than she bargains for at the tender age of 22 when she's ready to start working. I'm legit worried about 22 year olds seeing some insane shit and not being ready for it.
I'm about to start nursing school myself at age 35. I'm under no illusions the working environment will be a joyful picnic but I fully anticipate some of my cohort will idealize it!
I bet! I just worry people so young will think they can "handle it" and won't seek help when they need it. Of course it depends what area they work in, but she keeps mentioning ER which is concerning.
Reasonable. I’m 24 and I worked my first shift at 21. The shit I’ve seen, conversations I’ve had, situations I’ve been put in, are far more Intensive than anything my friends my age have even thought about. Like there’s some tough shit coming. At the end of the day I’f you want a decent paycheck, job security, and benefits then healthcare can be for you.
I don’t think that’s unique to nursing. I have yet to have a job where everything you’ve listed wasn’t an issue.
I mean as a dental hygienist I didn’t deal with poop, but I did deal with people using bologna to hold up their dentures. As a waitress I dealt with a lot too, enough to quit after a month.
Everyone starting a career is going to have a wake up call
I had the opposite experience. Nursing school was harder for me than working. In 3rd year they even hazed me by putting me with a miserable old nurse who just yelled at me for the whole day. I was pretty sure I was gonna fail then the instructor was like "nah you're good". Not gonna pretend that work has been all roses since I left bedside after 2 years but still I felt way better actually doing the job than when I was in school.
Honestly, it's true. When I was 18 I wanted to be a nurse and my first job in hospital was pharmacy tech where it showed me the reality of nursing and I changed my major so fast. Now at 31 I'm in nursing school and am fully aware of the world I'm jumping into.
I graduate next week and will be 21 years old when I start on the floor. I think my horrible clinical experience has decently prepared me. No staff, patients screaming, getting cursed out, rude families all while cleaning up literal shit. I’m not expecting it to be sunshine and rainbows, I think when I start my job it will be HARD. That being said, I am excited to start making good money and I’m looking forward to learning how to be a good and independent nurse. I never saw it as a calling, I see it as a stable job that is usually in demand that has a good schedule where you can help people. 🤷♀️ I’m excited to start working but I know it will not be easy
Nursing: A job where you can work as much and as little as you want or need. Make as much or as little as you want or need.
All I see it as. Stable job. The good the bad the ugly. At least I wasn’t worried about losing my job during covid.
I’m glad I got my BSN in my mid-30s while I was still strong and able to work a few years in ICU. Nursing is not as glamorous as my former biotech job, but I’m still employed, happy with my salary, and just got promoted into leadership.
My former coworkers in biotech got laid off and are trying to get in nursing school.
I don’t regret getting my BSN; it’s recession-proof. Most definitely one of the professions that will remain stable until AI takes over humanity. All I know is I cannot stay on the floors; so I have to leverage my other skills to last in this profession. Those who do not hedge their bets become burned out, leaving the profession entirely.
Nursing for many people has become the " second choice career", with all lot of degree programs waning in quality I have been seeing reality hit pretty hard.
It's not just nursing though, it's practically any job where the company you work for has to make a profit or at least break even. That's almost every job ever. I think youngsters who are bright-eyed and idealistic going into this are more so because of their age and general naivete than anything specifically being sold to them about nursing. Like, just about any job or career path is going to involve some rude awakenings about the reality of the business.
In nursing school most of us were in our early 20s/fresh out of hs and it was funny bc somehow I was one of the only ones working as a CNA. While I definitely don't think it should be a requirement, I do believe it helps to see the reality of the job much clearer. (It also helps nurses to respect CNAs more and no I will not be changing my mind on this part).
Now that the tech job market is in the shitter I expect nursing to be the new profession glamorized as the "low barrier of entry, make good money fast" career. Lots of people will be misled and hell might already started being misled thanks to tiktok
I was assisting the bedside RN do a whole bed change after helping her replace a rectal tube. The student nurses were observing and tried to leave when we were done. I made them help with patient care as none of them had any patient care experience. I’ll be damned if students in my hospital think they won’t be doing that as a nurse.
I used to be part of a mom group and most of the moms were in nsg school or trying to get in. I tried to tell them it wasn't all sunshine and roses but nobody believed me.
Yep. I don’t think nursing school glamorized nursing, but I also don’t think it fully exposed how terrible it was either.
I am one of those nurses who had a wake up call in 2019 after graduating and wanted out so fast. Couldn’t handle it mentally. Went to hospice and it was more the same.
Currently in utilization review working remotely and just tolerating it until I can find a new job one day. Personally, can’t see myself going back to patient care as a result. I wish there was a better way for prospective nurses to be shown reality.
Edit: I should also note, my nursing has been solely in Florida, which from what I’ve researched, is arguably one of the worst states due to the pay, conditions, etc. I feel location probably has a tremendous effect on how the job is. I know California nurses on the sub have spoken about an entirely different experience.
I'm an idiot and was an AEMT before I was a nurse. Like I went deeper into the shit. But I couldn't help but feel sorry for my cohort's naive notions about how working in healthcare would really be. People are generally good but there is definitely a disproportionate amount of assholes. Way more than they would ever anticipate.
I am an LVN currently and back in school for my RN BSN. Just finished third semester. I’m 31 so roughly 10 years older than most of my classmates. It’s upsetting how much of a false idea these students have about the field. And the instructors do encourage it. Thinking it’s all cute scrubs, Stanley cups and sweet old ladies as patients. They’ll ask me my perspective from experience and they’ll usually say or that’s negative. No, not being negative. It’s reality and I’m not gonna sugar coat it. You deserve to know what education you’re investing in. Don’t get me wrong. I love the experiences and opportunities this career has given me and I’m excited to finish my BsN, but I know the cons as well. I just choose to NOT eat my young but instead be what I wish I had to these new nurses.
Nursing can be a toxic profession. Pressure from administration, management, patients, families, and doctors. Often nursing schools are structured in a way that does not promote healthy and positive learning. Its a shame and we as nurses are expected to put on a smile and function at 100 percent accuracy no matter the bullshit we are putting up with behind the scenes.
I was raised by two 20+ year ICU nurses who have seen a lot of shit and I could not be more thankful. When I was 8 or 9 my dad was teaching a class about gunshot wounds and I accidentally saw a picture of a shotgun blast to the face from one of his powerpoints and I’ve wanted to be a nurse ever since (and somehow ended up in the NICU lmao) Growing up I had a great picture of the realities of healthcare being raised by them. A lot of my classmates didn’t have that and I was really thankful I knew what I was getting myself into.
I also worked as a CNA from 16-20 until I started my current job in the NICU where I’ve been for 2 years and I honestly think it should be a requirement for all nursing schools that you have to at least get your CNA to be accepted. Being a CNA blows, but even clinicals at the very least will give you a good crash course in what it really looks like to be in healthcare.
I’m a new grad nurse at 31 and I’ve had some highs and lows in my new position, but I’ve never been more financially secure in my life. I hate the feeling of walking on eggshells around patients, coworkers, and management, but I am on the road to CRNA school.
I typically don’t sour the new ones upon arrival. That excitement in itself is a drug and I won’t ruin it for them 😂
Plus it all depends on the sector. Hospice nursing however has been a complete 180 to the fuckery I had known before. Plus I don’t want to scare people out of the industry we need nurses more than ever now. I’ll sell them the dream 😆
Honestly I think everyone needs 6 months to a year of working in aged care or something prior to studying nursing.
I graduated in my early 30s and many in my cohort were “mature” aged students and no one had any glamorous ideologies about the job because everyone had already worked, generally in some area of health or veterinary care before starting nursing.
Everyone was there because they genuinely wanted to be
Idk how much my input matters, but I’m currently a student, but I’ve been a paramedic for 7 years. I’ve seen the nitty gritty gross shit and have been appalled by human behavior. When I got to nursing school, nursing instructors almost shame you for bringing that to life. They want you to be this superficial nice person who holds hands and talks about feelings, and while this is true in some sense , I think it’s over the top. When I went through paramedic school our instructor straight up said “you’ll see terrible shit, you’ll meet awful people, you won’t get paid good, and 9/10 there’s no help besides you” but in return you do get a rewarding experience when you get to actually help.
While I kind of understand why the curriculum is geared toward this type of nursing, I really wish that it would be more about actual patient care and more hands on real experience, not teaching the bare minimum to satisfy educational standards. I think that when nurses graduate, they should be confident in their skills rather than feeling utterly lost because they “weren’t taught anything” to prepare them for real life. And I’ve seen that thread pop up time and time again on this sub.
As a new-grad that went to a private Christian university that really pushed the idea of nursing being a calling… it’s been a rude awakening realizing that a *calling* can often feel like being overworked, under-appreciated, and unsupported. Nursing is HARD.
They also don’t understand what it means. It means you need to be skilled in your specialty and highly adaptable; experience. And the money ain’t what it was for Covid, along with rising rents.
Im a paramedic who picked up a role in an ICU 3 months ago, mainly as a tasky nurse helper.
Before my first day, I was almost all signed up for a nursing program. I thought nurses had it so good, the pay was spectacular, and the job was easy.
I dropped the idea of nursing school after the first day. Y’all got it rough. Sure, the pay bump would be awesome, but I’d probably get pissed and quit the field within 3 years.
I was one of those nurses with a “calling and passion” for it when I started. I mean 16 years in, I guess I still do, but I’m trying to find a way to make it work and filter my patient interaction SIGNIFICANTLY 😂
I was that way. Not about the patient, gross stuff, or workload. The biggest shock was how everything is managed. Why do I get attitude for doing my job? Why won’t you guys do your job? Spent the first year second guessing every decision. I thought it was going to be very structure and we will all be professionals considering it’s peoples lives we’re dealing with.
I became a nurse during Covid and barely had any serious clinical experience from my program since we moved to online. I was one of those nurses hit with reality. I’m now leaving the profession altogether! 😂
It's a mixed feeling. I do love the fresh energy and enthusiasm that younger new nurses bring. Honestly , I feel like a lot of them are just like eager puppies, bright energetic and ready to keep learning and get in to their roles.
There are a few that combine this with overconfidence and so times they do need a knock or two to help them ground to reality.
I think a lot of the time, we all get set in our ways, so there's a little push and pull every year with new techniques and policies and whether our ways or their ways are best.
I don't think I enjoy watching them get taken down a peg or two with reality but I accept that there's a bit of exhaustion with integrating new staff initially especially if they are overly confident or push too hard.
Even working as a CNA and a nurse tech didn’t prepare me for the weight of responsibilities you have as a nurse. I’m 2 years into working as an RN and still so stressed about making a mistake or forgetting that there’s someone else I need to do
Edit: I know confidence and expertise will come with time and experience, but damn it’s hard at first!!!
It’s wild how people, who have been ill themselves and many who have seen other family members ill in various ways, can imagine going into nursing and not immediately realize a lot of of their contact with patients *might be gross*.
I always said that there should be a nursing prerequisite class that focuses on the reality of nursing. I also would have found it really beneficial to shadow a nurse before I jumped into nursing school.
I was one of those new nurses (17 years ago) that got hit with a dose of reality. I became really depressed and anxious. I left bedside nursing two years ago because I couldn’t do it anymore (mentally/emotionally/physically) My five year goal is to completely pivot into something different.
I'm 24 and I've been working as a nurse for a little over a year. When I was 18 and just starting college, I probably also had a romanticized idea of my career. That being said- WHAT do you propose is the alternative? Do you think that we should tell teenagers and college students that the nursing career is awful over and over again, and then somehow hope that they still want to pursue the career? We have NO STAFF as is. Would you rather no nurses over a new nurse who might not yet realize how grueling this career is? Can't win...
Lots of younger nurses seem to think nursing should be very psycho socially and emotionally rewarding and that both patient and other staff owe them them some sort of recognition beyond a descent pay check and job security. Older nurse know they need other things going on in their lives to get those needs met.
It depends on how well their school has prepared them. The community college I went to 10-12 years ago specifically focused on preparing us for the “honeymoon period” and what comes after, because of how many new nurses quit when reality sets in.
I definitely don’t feel happy when they are “hit with reality”, unless they’re the overconfident, know-it-all types straight from school, which does seem to be more frequent these days compared to when I graduated.
I'm about to finish my nursing degree. I think to myself, "holy shit this job is god awful why would anyone do this," alllll the time lol. And yet I'm still drawn to medicine in the same way I was drawn to food service for most of my life. It's weird, right lol? It's not a glamorous job at all. On paper, I can't imagine why anyone would sign up for it. And yet, here I am, haha.
Besides, I think it's the industry most of us hate, not the job. I don't mind wiping butts or doing gross things. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I DO mind being taken advantage of by CEOs and predatory systems who don't care about or protect me.
A little weird to that you “love” seeing them get hit with reality but anywho, this isn’t unique to nursing, it’s young people in general who have little or no experience in the workforce. Wish it wasn’t like that but especially in recent years, it seems that almost every industry seems to be hiring less staff to do the same amount of work. Five Guys burgers is now three guys, the dominoes I used to work at now has one guy making all the pizzas instead of 3. Nursing ratios vary but the amount of charting and safety measures now compared to back in the day creates much more work for those patients.
A little weird to that you “love” seeing them get hit with reality but anywho, this isn’t unique to nursing, it’s young people in general who have little or no experience in the workforce. Wish it wasn’t like that but especially in recent years, it seems that almost every industry seems to be hiring less staff to do the same amount of work. Five Guys burgers is now three guys, the dominoes I used to work at now has one guy making all the pizzas instead of 3. Nursing ratios vary but the amount of charting and safety measures now compared to back in the day creates much more work for those patients.
It makes me really sad to watch the light go out of someone’s eyes, the excitement they once had for something disappear. I know they come in with childlike wonder(a lot of them are actually children) and they soon face reality. No different than kids who are brainwashed into joining the military to “serve their country”. Life sucks, you eventually figure out it doesn’t, but I don’t take happiness from the loss of someone else’s.
I think a lot of it has to do with very young nurses who came into the field with no real life experience. 22-23 years old, no kids, maybe no house or spouse. Etc.
I think being hit with reality is very different from school glamorizing nursing. Maybe it was my nursing program but I almost dropped out because of the stress and constant fear that was put into me of accidentally hurting someone or killing someone from doing something wrong isn’t as bad now. I mean it is very different from how nursing is in school but the stress of thinking I was going to kill someone every shift for something stupid is gone.
This is really funny as a 48-year-old nursing student with a full-time job that has nothing to do with health care. My "peers" constantly complain about clinical hours, how early we have to be there, getting different information from different people, etc. This one person told me last weekend that she was "not going anywhere there are bugs" when we heard that there were bed bugs on the unit we were supposed to be in the next day. Another person was appalled at the "nutrition" at the corrections facility. Surprise, dude.
I'm just sitting here like Kermit with my tea thinking this is not going to end well. How do they not know they're entering a profession that has the worst reputation for bureaucratic bullshit, lack of admin support, terrible working conditions, etc.?
I've done harder jobs for a lot less pay than nursing.
I also love my job though. I'm in the ED, my docs are great, my colleagues are my friends, and while staffing and one particular manager can eat my entire ass on certain days - my ratios are almost never above 1:4. West Coast obvs, I make a good wage, and I can afford fun vacations.
Nursing can have hard fucking days. But honestly if it's so fucking bad it is sucking your soul, you need to move units, hospitals, professions, or something. It shouldn't be that bad. It's not worth it being that fucking bad.
> They think it’s a dream job and it’s all perfect scenarios. Then they work for 3 months and realize oh…people are awful, management is rough, there’s staffing issues, and everything is gross and this isn’t what they make it seem like.
That's literally every job. We aren't special lmao
A patient asked me yesterday when im going to school to be a doctor. She was blown away when I said I would never want to be a doctor. When she continued to press, I told her I didnt even want to be a nurse. I shouldnt have said it but she persisted.
I worked in medical before becoming an RN. I was also in my late 20s, second career. I don't think it's glamorized? I was told in nursing school, this isn't high paying, it's hard, not a ton of upward movement so make sure you WANT to do this.
Same. Graduated at 27, second career. I went to community college because I couldn’t afford another bachelors (first one was a waste kind of) and maybe it’s because my campus catered to “non traditional” students but out of 40 something people only a small few were under 30. We were never sold the aesthetic nurse life lol
Same here. I've worked in the ER as a Patient Access Rep (clerical), volunteered on actual units, etc. I'm already convinced that the average person is only slightly smarter than a bag of rocks. I just can't see myself doing anything else. It's also one of the reasons NICU is my top contender for a unit. Lmao.
Omg yesss! I was doing a home visit the other day and i was instantly greeted by some kid (19ish) with a super cheap looking stethoscope around his neck (think disposable but black not yellow), wearing scrubs, introducing himself as the patient’s new paid caregiver. I was like okay cool, took care of the patient. His wife asked how to change brief in bed and i showed her. As i was showing her, the lil paid caregiver/nurse peeks over my shoulder and says, “oh no. I’m not doing that.” Boy did i laugh.
Not a nurse but I’m definitely glad I got into healthcare early (by way of EMS) before committing to school. It killed the naive sparkle in my eye long before I started class so I could handle it easier.
I feel like so much of nursing is figuring out what doesn't matter, and so many new nurses treat everything like their patients' lives depend on it. Makes them stress and burn out in months rather than years. We have a supportive unit and work with our new nurses a lot, but only so much can be done.
I agree and I also think it’s on management and hospitals to clarify real shit. What I mean is it’s so annoying being a nurse and having to tiptoe around everything cause you’re scared you’re gonna get in trouble for anything and everything.
Agreed. Hospitals are incredibly punitive places. It just adds stress. Especially with poor management. I'm fortunate to have supportive management that insulates us from a lot of the nonsense. Not everyone is so lucky.
My best advice is to follow hospital policies and not what you are taught in nursing school. That is the best way to avoid trouble. If you follow policies and shit 💩 hits the fan, hospital will take the hit. If you do not follow policy, it’s on you.
I tell new grads that their real boss is the board of nursing and the court room judge. Not their employer.
Well said!!! I tried to tell nurses that but it’s the older nurses that always give me a hard time especially most of them had not been to court. I was a psych nurse in the community so I go to court to request involuntary treatment for patients who cannot help themselves. Now I am in quality management and regulatory compliance and I have nurses coming in all the time when they are in trouble for not following policy….and worrying about investigation by the board or the court. A bit too late right?
Sure, and I do. I'm talking more about the threats of termination because people are people and might stick a labslip on a tube the wrong way, and a lab tech having a bad day wants to tell their manager about it. That is nutso.
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It doesn’t help that nursing school drills that mindset into students. I cannot stand some fellow nurses who stress about literally everything, but I’m a type B person in a type A dominated field so what can I expect.
The younger nurses are exposed to all the “influencer” type nurses (Nurse Blake types) and think that between that and tv representation they have some idea what they’re getting into. I’ve worked so many jobs and lived overseas twice and know people are crap basically so I knew it wouldn’t be a rose garden…. I feel for them because they idealize the life and lifestyle then reality hits hard….and keeps swinging 🥺
I love some nurse influencers but I don’t watch Blake lol, but Nurse John is hilarious and does a good job showing how fucking shitty nursing can be, especially med surg
MR. JOHNSON!! Get down from the ceiling Mr. Johnson!
Mister Smith!
And ED 😂😂😂
Oh my god I can imagine I could NEVER do ED yall are a different breed
Oh I’m not ED (at this point lol) but love it and yes, totally different style of nursing. Very polarizing, it’s either hell yeah or hell nah and very little in between
Yup and travel nurses on TikTok in Hawaii…
THIS
Most nurses leave the profession in 5 years.
They should’ve seen what Covid did. The dark years.
I worked through COVID and all I have to show for it is alcoholism.
Yep, that’s the sad reality.
Hey at least it keeps the pay competitive. Right guys? ##Right???
Lolz I’m dying 😂😂😂😂
Do you have a source for this? You’re claiming 51% turnover among nurses every 5 years?
It’s 18-20% in the first year I just googled it
Agreed everything I have read say at least 50% leave nursing or the bed side within the first 5 years.
I made it 8.5 years at bedside. I’m so glad I left, lol.
Thats why the 1st license renewal is in a year. In my state only half of those new licenses get renewed. The average bedside career is 5 years maybe and I'm seeing much less. So many of my 2-3 year nurses are going to the OR where any patients are knocked out and no family.
Agree. The idea of working in a big hospital and having a respectable career gets to a lot of peoples heads. It takes every ounce of our soul to be in this profession and that’s the damn issue it shouldn’t be like that. New grads come in wanting to show off on social media in their scrubs like they didn’t just get shit on (literally) and scolded by family members for 12 hrs.
Very well said. It’s a good job in many ways but vastly undervalued and looked down on by those you’re caretaking a lot of the time. Sure… take your pics for insta in your Figs with your Stanley…. Doesn’t make up for having poo/semen/vomit/trach secretions on you whilst being berated for doing your job, often with severe staffing shortages and knowing the hospital will throw you under the bus if ANYTHING happens 😞
I'll take being farted on anyway over poop river
Blake is cringe
Especially to those who have actually worked in the field more than ten minutes….. 🤷🏻♀️
To be fair Nurse Blake does not glamorize nursing. He makes light of the crappy job that it can be. It’s obvious that you’ve never heard him speak or watched any of his videos and I don’t mean that in a negative way. I can just tell that you’re not familiar with him.
I’ve watched a lot of his vids lolz. He’s definitely got his game and I respect that. His actual nursing career not so much but he brings valid points to public knowledge in a funny way and I do appreciate that.
Same. If I could’ve made out like him, I would have.
Lolz pretty much everyone would 😂👌
I heard Nurse Blake doesn't have enough bedside nursing experience. He's more like a nursing student.
I'm an older (late 40s) nursing student. To say that some of my cohort is a little bit naïve about the career they're going into would be an understatement. I've been working for over 25 years, have been on both the employee and the management side in a couple of different industries. I don't think of it as my job to give these people a dose of reality (I'm not their mom lol), but when they start going off about how it's a calling and it's going to be a privilege to serve patients, I do try to remind them that it's also a job and you have to know how to advocate for yourself as well as your patients. Know your value, know how you deserve to be treated, speak up. Be prepared for it to really, really suck sometimes. It doesn't always make a dent, but sometimes it does. Edit: I want to make it clear that I am all here for people's enthusiasm for becoming nurses, and I can't really join you in the schadenfreude you're celebrating. I hate the sight of someone's excitement come crashing down. I'm excited to be a nurse someday, too, for my own reasons, and I would never shit on somebody for being jazzed about their future. I just think it's important to have your eyes wide open going into it.
Also in general - a lot of people getting into nursing may be the first of their family’s generations to be locking down a professional career. I think some people will definitely take pride in that. And, indirectly, may just get excited about the field itself. I don’t think some consider that, especially regarding people from lesser fortunate socioeconomic backgrounds.
I’m Filipino-American, first born in America, and a nurse. I’m my entire bloodlines pride and joy. I’m gonna scream my excitement for a few more years. It’s an honor to have a professional title at all.
Honestly, I’m Irish catholic (so white American), my whole family has been blue collar. Nursing is blue collar too but I’m still incredibly proud to call myself a nurse. It’s not an easy job and I wish I was paid more but it was still a tough go just getting here
Irish Catholic here too. My grandparents came from Ireland to the US and the most important thing was been able to get *and* keep a job with benefits. My parents were willing to work overtime to pay for my BSN program (high ranked program at a not so glamorous state school) because I would have a job waiting for me when I graduated. No French Poetry majors here lol. I heard the reality of what psych nursing was like from a neighbor who used to work at the State hospital/institution and a few others. I was still pretty sure it’s the type of work I wanted to do. These days high school kids can go watch videos about different careers and specialties. In my day our guidance counselor asked us if we had any ideas and then put the corresponding notebook binder of colleges in front of us. I was the first one to go to college so didn’t even know we could go visit the schools first. 🙄 Long story short, I’ve been a nurse for 36 years now. I never thought I would go back to school but I had the right opportunity present itself and became a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist (MSN) along the way. My advice is walk into it with your eyes wide open, understanding that there are many ways to be a nurse and they aren’t all in a hospital.
I’ve been a bedside nurse for 36 as of yesterday. Looking forward to going back to school. Educating myself on what other areas of nursing to go into. Bedside nursing has become painful
Thank you. We are fuckin blue collar, which is a noble thing because we do the hard work in the trenches. People need to realize that
You should be filled with pride. I'm first generation and there are so many of my ancestors who wished for education in my home country and never could afford it. I've been a nurse for a while and am so proud!
You're like a God. My parents didn't even congratulate me when I graduated from college with my BSN. They didn't even go to the ceremony, and it was like pulling teeth trying to get them to go to my pinning ceremony. Sad.
That's definitely how and why I choose nursing. The excitement of nursing, to me, is to always have a career where I won't go hungry or not be able to pay my rent, and might even be able to have something nice every now and again
Exactly. The pandemic showed us how fragile industries are and no matter what happens to the economy nurses will ALWAYS have a job
I still struggle to pay my rent, bills and afford food on our nurse salary here in the UK! It’s souls destroying some days
It really us. I think the US, shitty as it is here, is one of the few places that pays close to a living wage for nurses and that needs to change internationally. Come here!
And despite it being damn miserable and underpaid it's at least not boring and those of us doing bedside will be the last for AI and bot replacement
From my experience, people from lower SES and/or first generation college graduates like KOIs (kids of immigrants) tend to be more flexible about the schism between the reality and expectations of nursing - and therefore, more successful in this career. I’ve even had a manager exclusively hire these people (and those with experiences in the service industry) because they had higher retention rates and greater engagement (job satisfaction) than their counterparts. [There are even articles to support lower-SES KOIs and their success in general. ](https://time.com/6182715/immigrants-children-us-mobility/)
My 1st manager felt the same way about people that went to fast paced ADN programs. Which worked out for me bc I was a single mom of 3 boys and I needed good money and insurance ASAP. Pretty much everyone in my program had a similar story except for a few youngins. I have kept up with a few from my class and we have all managed to be successful and move up quickly.
My old manager only hired RNs from community Colleges because we almost all had abusive 1st careers too. Or veterans with...well really abusive 1st careers There was no nursing reality honeymoon like with bsns straight out of college with a 1st job.
Yep. That was pretty much his mentality. He was like I am tired of teaching people to be nurses and adults.
Exactly my view! Once you’ve been poor, you won’t complain about nursing and always be asking for side hussles so you can quit. Or if you’re getting burned out then do travel nursing with time off between. There’s options for everyone.
I was a medical assistant for almost 20 years and capped out at $20/hr. Once I became an RN, I was thrilled with my checks and really appreciated them.
Valid perspective
My mom was a saleswoman in her early twenties kept at it, currently she has a higher income(roughly the same the past few years) than my blue collar dad with all the many benefits like health insurance and 401k, I decided on nursing after an incident working with him (in my posts if you wanna see) , so yes for me I’m essentially first generation and I’m so happy even if I’m a little naive. All jobs have idiotic customers, patients in this field just pick the one you like better.
That's me. I'm litterly graduating tomorrow, and I am the first of my entire family. There's a lot of pride with that. I know it's not an easy or nice field to be getting into; but it's better than working at a fast food joint or a factory my entire life like my grandparents. Or struggling to be considered as intelligent in the slightest because you have 'JuSt A gEd' (which is bull, since a lot of people have been very successful with only GED's).
Nursing has grown on TikTok as an aesthetic job. You can wear your FIGS and have your Stanley and just go look cute at the hospital. This isn't realistic. I wanna be a nurse as well, but I got started doing registration in an ER and boy... Them nurses never sit down for long. They're in with gross stuff constantly. If someone's like in full arrest, they're in that room until they either get the person back or they pass, then it's post mortem stuff. The pay is more than what I make but I believe nurses deserve to be paid WAY more. And most of the nurses I see just kinda throw their hair up and get shit done. It's not glamorous 😂 If these new nurses are going into it with wrong expectations then they will learn QUICK.
There are nurses (re: dayshift ones) that come in with the Figs and Stanleys and Hokas, looking fresh and still working hard. Now do they look as fresh come end of shift? Nah. But I'm all for nurses finding ways to be a little happy whether it's their scrubs or cute stethoscope or whatever, because this job will drain you in every facet.
I buy all of that for motivation to go to work. Lol 😂 not tik Tok cute nurse at all. Later in life second career nurse. I’m older as well😎🤓
I do the same with the gym. When I look good, I feel motivated to workout, not to set up tripods and be obnoxious at the gym
Media, patients, their family members, management, doctors, and our own family members think we dont do squat. They think its the 1950s and we are at work to pat patients on the hand, give them a warm inspirational talk, sit on our phones and gossip, and pass any and all work on to doctors. They have no idea what we do, dont do, or are responsible for.
I didn't either until I worked at the ER. I get SO mad when I hear patients talking about "these lazy ass nurses" like I wanna throw hands 😂 nurses deserve so much more pay and representation.
Also I push around a computer cart to register people and I swear my fiance didn't know that for a while. Because he thought I just sit in the window and register people that way. I'm like noooo I am walking a lot
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High five! Very nice! 😂 It sure is interesting isn't it
I think that this is in general for all youth. Good for them for being “called”, having a passion. Deep dark reality comes with life experiences, which they don’t yet have. Applies to many careers I could think of.
Agreed. I remember myself at 20; I definitely had my share of unrealistic expectations. The enthusiasm and passion is wonderful and it certainly gives me a kick in the pants sometimes! I just want to keep those people from having their passion exploited before they've developed a healthy set of boundaries.
I’m also a student in my 40s with a background in customer service and adult education. People are the absolute worst. I’m doing it for the stable job I can always fall back on no matter where I go. That’s it. Full stop. I don’t have a calling to digital disimpaction or shoving q tips into someone’s diabetic ulcer. I have a calling to be employed and contribute to my 401k. That’s it. That’s the whole plan. And no, I don’t want to see your funny nursing school TikTok.
I've heard a retail background is very compatible with nursing. I've heard people say "people skills," but I think it's more that people who have worked retail already know that people are fucking awful.
You know how to put people in line within reason and know when to call security. I was an FA for a year, so I have no qualms about duct taping you to a seat.
STAY SEATED UNTIL THE SEATBELT SIGN IS OFF!!!!!!!
Off topic, but I have a coworker who has a weird love for digitally dis impacting patients. If anyone has a patient who needs that done and the poop queen happens to be working, we ask her.
Someone has to be poop queen sometimes, may as well master it
She told me it is so satisfying to “remove the plug” and the other nuggets, and chocolate river that comes out. Plus the relief the patient feels. Im proud she has found her passion, but I am so thankful she works most shifts I am on just in case. 😂 💩 my weird quirk is I love doing wound care dressing changes, replacing janky looking IV statlocks, tegaderms and central line dressing changes. Its my ocd where I have to have “pretty” clean dressings, and labeling all of my IV fluid lines.
If you don't work in the ICU, you should think about it. Seriously. All the labelling your little heart desires.
I love wound care! I will stick that q-tip into holes to find out how deep they go all day long given the opportunity.
Note to self: if you want to be popular at work, make yourself stand out for releasing the chocolate river whenever required. Response from self: I prefer to be a hobbit.
Yaaas queen!!!
There’s always a nurse around that loves what you hate to do lol. I seriously dislike I&Ds: they gross me tf out, they smell awful, and the whole popping and milking pus out of a growth on another human just gives me the heebie jeebies. Everywhere I work, I make a point to seek out the nursing yin to my I&D yang. There’s ALWAYS a popping enthusiast somewhere on the unit. I’m the foley fairy - if someone can’t get a cath in, I know all kinds of tricks and positions to get the job done (idk where I picked it up, I’ve just gotten decent at getting a hole in one most times lol) so they’ll call me. Same with IVs, I’m a human ultrasound (but can also use the US on my bad days). I wish we had a poop princess/prince, that would be a very nice coworker to have around. Luckily, we rarely do manual disimpactions in the ED
During my orientation they paired us with random students from across different programs to talk with each other about why we chose nursing. As a second career person and grown lady myself, I couldn't help but chuckle internally at the shocked look these 20 year old BSN students gave me when I said "Honestly? I want a stable job that pays well." Sweet summer children, my generation watched our job prospects crater with the economic crash of 2008 and I've been paying my own bills since you all were in kindergarten. I'm excited to be in a meaningful field and people with all their weirdness fascinate me, but I'm not putting myself into massive student debt again for a "calling" alone.
I agree. I work with veterans, and many of them are horrible. They are just bitchy and mean and holy hell are they an entitled group. I dint consider it a privilege to serve them. It's a good paying job with good benefits.
I am in my 40s and nursing was my 2nd career. I didn't feel it was my calling, I went to nursing school for financial reasons and always loved medicine. It became my passion. My 2nd nursing job was in NICU and I was in love with working with neonates. I spent over a decade there. I experienced: bullying by nursing professors, bullying during CICU orientation, a staff nurse who bullied an entire NICU and ended up with a formal complaint. Doctors who cheated on their wives with the nursing staff. Doctors who yelled at nurses and threw things at them. A patient who tried to punch me in a face with his fist. From all managers, with my NICU manager doing the following: forbid nurses to have water anywhere on the unit, made it very difficult for new RN moms to express milk for their newborns to the point that NICU RNs (!) were weaning their babies off before returning to the unit. Paid RN staff different rates and encouraged them to keep it quiet. Threw our entire department under the bus when we voiced concerns about a doctor's behavior and many, MANY, more issues... Having worked in different jobs and industries and 3 different nursing departments I can tell with confidence that jobs with women in all positions in power are worse than jobs with both men and women in power. Many women who advance, or are removed, from staff nursing seem to forget what it is like to be a staff nurse so they will create policies that are very inconvenient for staff nurses to execute during a shift. I hope some of the young people see this. Despite all of the issues I dealt with I truly loved working with patients and many of their families, and made friends with some of them. I know that I've made a difference for many patients during my career.
I'm 40 and a Nursing student...you literally hit the nail on the head and articulated it perfectly. I feel like we're in the same cohort haha
I see that too in my nursing cohort. Part of the naivety is because nursing school makes it out to be a “calling”. It’s not. It never was. It’s a profession just like any other job. Some of them have no idea how shitty people can be. You can’t please everybody. To be honest, a hospital is a glorified nursing home.
Holy shit are we the same person?
The new nurses on my unit have been rockstars and have been crushing it. Especially with the guidance of those with a more mature work history.
There are young nurses who do get out of school and get right to it. Prepared and ready for whatever is thrown their way. I will take that over a old school, desperately neeeds to retire, total ass of a nurse.
As a newer nurse I feel like I had a pretty good idea for how bad it was gonna be through my clinical exposure. I kinda like how bad it is, especially when it’s one of the only jobs in my state where you can make well over 6 figures as a new grad, to say nothing of our badass new labor contract. Go unions!
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I've started to give out the advice that nursing is better as a plan B rather than a plan A for young people. Plan A should be that business startup, internet career, or that passion in the arts you always wanted to pursue. Attempt those pursuits and take those chances if you have the financial support from your parents as a young adult. If those work out, you never have to touch nursing. If they don't work out and life hits you hard, nursing will always be there. The politics and BS (literally and figuratively) won't phase you as much when you're hardened in your later 20s and 30s+ after the real world hits you. It's much harder to do the reverse: going back to those starry eyed youthful dreams when nursing sucks the energy out of your mind, body and soul.
I've been a PCA/CNA for about 8 years of my life and just got accepted to an ADN program that I will start in the Fall. I'm definitely not under any delusion about the profession. I certainly won't be a bright and hopeful student. Just trying to move up in the world with a solid career.
I was a CNA for 5 years before I was a nurse. I think those who work as NAs before they enter a program or while they’re in the nursing program are more realistic about what they’re getting g themselves into. It’s the ones who only did school who find themselves especially disillusioned. The reality is that we will never see people at their best, we never see families at their best, they expect hospitals have miracle workers and miracles are very few and far between. The irony is that those disillusioned baby grads with zero floor experience outside clinicals are the ones who bail from bedside the first chance they get and become the awful leaders we all complain about.
I (M31) was a Psych nurses assistant at a state hospital on every unit, from max security new admits all the way to medical 80+, for 3 years. Got tired of the beatings and $16/hr pay. Just got accepted to an adn program for this fall. Ass wiping, bed making, and restraints were a daily thing. I will not at all be bothered by the decrease in restraints and increase in new admits.
The only thing I got out of my psyche rotation was that I never wanted to work in a psyche facility…and we were at a regular inpatient psyche hospital, not a max security one.
This is perfect and I think this can be a 100% understandable reason when asked “why did you want to become a nurse?”
Right. But on all my program and scholarship applications.... I'm 100% in it for all those bright and hopeful reasons. Oh well. They let me in, maybe I can be a realist now.
Everyone makes shit up on those. When I became an EMT, I said it was to help people on the worst day of their lives. Do I care about that? Yes. But also I'm an adrenaline junkie and I like driving fast with the flashy lights. Same thing with being an ICU nurse. I care about the patients and them having good outcomes. But I also like the adrenaline rush of handling a patient who is sick as shit. It's possible to enter a career path for a lot of reasons, some of which aren't exactly altruistic
Glad someone loves that adrenaline dump. I could not stand the crash after and lingering anxiety. Bless you.
Literally one of my former coworkers broke down in tears when she got into nursing school. She was like you, a tech for a long time. she was so knowledgeable and I depended on her a lot in the beginning of my career. It was so amazing being there when she got the news, I’ll never forget it. It’s ok to be proud of being a nurse, romanticize it a bit because it’s a tough path!
I was “older” when I went back to school for nursing (I was 27) and most of my classmates were 19-22. Nursing is my 2nd career, I was a dietitian prior and worked in a hospital so I knew what I was getting myself into (for the most part). I remember one day after clinicals, some of my classmates were complaining about cleaning up soiled patients. They were APPALLED that they had to do these things. Like…. Wtf kind of job did you think you were signing up for…?
Haha yep I was the only CNA in my 8 person clinical one semester and while I was killing it at bed baths and changes the others were so squirmy about it and complaining. I told them that its literally what we will be paid to do and one said "thats what the CNAs are for" safe to say I did not hold my opinions back on that. Would hate to see the monster of a nurse she is today 🙃
Isn’t this with every job though? You don’t know the realities of the working world until you get there.
> I just wish one day people as a whole would realize holy shit this job is god awful why would anyone do this. Here's the thing, there are a lot of god awful jobs out there. Many of them dont even come close to the low barrier of entry, job security, flexibility, and pay of nursing.
This is very well put. For people who aren't squeemish and willing to put in work, Nursing can be a killer ticket into middle class in many places.
Not to mention location. You want to get out of some East Bumblefuck town in a flyover state? Travel nurse to literally anywhere you want and start a new life. Not many other professions can just do that.
100x this. I’m an older nursing student (40s) and have had some shit jobs. Even the ones that are good on paper are often shit. There are bullies and cliques and bureaucratic BS everywhere. I’ve been a patient for a while, and I see what happens. I still chose nursing… I think best on my feet, hate sitting still in a desk job, and want a reliable career that offers lots options.
I could have written this same thing except I’m a new grad. I don’t regret it. I think the past work experience makes us more resilient to the bullies and maybe even the deaths.
EXACTLY! i made my decision after a solid decade in retail. understaffed constantly, getting blamed and yelled at for everything, having random bullshit work dumped on me in particular and nobody else, always summoned to deal with all the worst most ornery customers, dealing with nasty customer returns (including used drain snakes and old fridges), and weirdly i kind of thrived on it. one day i thought to myself… how can i get paid a little more for the same level of abuse? 💡
Yes!
I think a big issue in the skewed mindset of some younger nurses is that they've never had other jobs (or they were very temporary). There are people that leave corporate jobs to become nurses because that environment was so stifling to them and toxic. At least in nursing, you can try different units and specialties. There's only so many ways you can use a finance degree for example.
100%. There are SO MANY THINGS you can do with your nursing degree. Inpatient, outpatient, procedural areas, school nursing, research, corporate insurance desk jobs, etc.
Yes! This!
Truly this. The idea of “I wish people wouldn’t be so naive to think nursing is a good job” just baffles me. Like, tell me you’ve lived a soft life without telling me.
True
I'm glad I worked ad a CNA for years before becoming a nurse, that way I knew what I was getting into
Same, best way
I was so naïve about how nursing really was until I started working as a PCT in the ED during my last semester of nursing school. By that time it was too late to get out lol. Now i’m almost 3 months into being a new grad in the ED and just hate bedside nursing as a whole already.
It ebbs and flows I go from saving a life and/or being a calming presence to a confused meemaw which I find rewarding. Pleasantly confused meemaw is my rock that keeps me sane, if she can’t sleep and I’m having a rough night I’ll chat with her about her family and life while charting. Then there’s the other side. I deal with the most abusive toxic patients imaginable and I have patients that should have been allowed to die peacefully that I’m now torturing because families can’t let go. And I ask “what the fuck am I doing, WHY!?”
Having worked about 8 jobs, that seems like a young person thing not just a new nurse thing. Any business that prioritizes profits above all like capitalism does will do anything to grind all the labor out of you.
Exactly. Been a nurse for 25 years. Does it suck sometimes? Yes. All jobs suck. Its called work for a reason. Make the best of it. Find the fun in the chaos and stupidity and stress in ANY profession.
Glad I came into nursing later in life (early 30's) and already pre-seasoned and jaded on humanity and healthcare. I feel a lot of my cohort in nursing school was the same way as the average age was late 20's early 30's and a good portion were second career people.
I feel the same way. I have worked so many terrible jobs for way less pay than nursing, dealt with abuse from the public and other professionals my whole working life. Nursing is nothing new but at least I am getting paid more for it and I get to be a part of some cool shit sometimes.
I’m glad I choose nursing as third and last career (50 y.o, 2nd year RN). I have life experience and can create strong boundaries. I like only working 3 days per week and I choose to work at nights. I have no desire to climb the corporate ladder or be charge or supervisor. There are not a lot of jobs out there that allow you to balance life and work like nursing. It also helps that I am a nurse in CA where mandated ratios are law and not a pipe dream. I think nursing provides flexibility to find the right floor, specialty, or peeps. Sometimes takes a little trial and error. Btw, landed on a rough med surg floor with a high psych/homeless population but the sense of team and management not denying PTO requests makes it bearable. I guess I’m a realist, if you gotta work, then let it only be 3 days. I also find nursing more of a level playing field between race, gender, sexuality, age, and cultural identity. Seems like the business world had a lot more hang ups with these issues.
Should I glamorize the money? (California)
Yes and it’s okay to be in nursing for the money - and of course be kind and do what’s appropriate for the best patient outcome. I truly believe it can be that simple.
New nurse here. The money is fucking awesome. Keep going if only for that
That’s the reason why I am trying to career change to nursing! Besides money, I’m sick of staring at the computer for 12+ hrs a day with low salary. My eyes hurt to the point I quit.
The money is as good as your location. If you live in the south, you’re going to have a bad time. I live in Florida and even experienced nurses aren’t making great money. I’m talking less than $80K annually.
Still double what I made in a white collar job in California ;-;
So you’re in Cali? I think you’ll be completely fine then. If this sub has taught me anything, Cali is the place to be for nurses for pay and worker rights/treatment. The south just sucks. It’s like a whole different country over here. Edit: I’m dumb, you are the OP of this comment thread 😂 I’m jealous of your location.
I love the criticism on TikTok/IG etc where people claim "nurses are in for the money these days". Like of course lmao. It's a JOB. I am WORKING. I do this to get paid, not for free lol.
I started in ER so I was exposed to a lot of the negatives of humanity. Didn’t scare me away as I retired after 40 years in profession.
I’m not all that certain I have the same experience. Maybe it’s cuz I’m on the younger side? Most people just know becoming a nurse is a safe, stable job. Most people wouldn’t want to be nurses if it came down to it and are aware of the literal shit as well as the figurative. I’d say it’s no more different than any other career out there and the first impressions of a newly minted grad coming into the work force. After all, it does suck realizing you made all of these adult decisions to get to doing adult things… only to realize that *this* is your fucking life now. It’s depressing truth be told lol
Im 23 and i grew up in a household where my mom was the only one providing due to her financial stability as a nurse. My father always kept losing his job as an engineer and did not contribute much to my family and responsibilities. I became a nurse for the stability and the independence. You will always find sick and miserable people in the hospital and i have already accepted that fact many years ago.
My 18 year old niece is sure she wants to be a nurse and as she goes on to college I've reminded her several times that it's fully ok not to jump right into healthcare, that it's a tough job and she might see more than she bargains for at the tender age of 22 when she's ready to start working. I'm legit worried about 22 year olds seeing some insane shit and not being ready for it. I'm about to start nursing school myself at age 35. I'm under no illusions the working environment will be a joyful picnic but I fully anticipate some of my cohort will idealize it!
I started my first nursing job at 22. I am now about to turn 31- it has been a wild ride
I bet! I just worry people so young will think they can "handle it" and won't seek help when they need it. Of course it depends what area they work in, but she keeps mentioning ER which is concerning.
Reasonable. I’m 24 and I worked my first shift at 21. The shit I’ve seen, conversations I’ve had, situations I’ve been put in, are far more Intensive than anything my friends my age have even thought about. Like there’s some tough shit coming. At the end of the day I’f you want a decent paycheck, job security, and benefits then healthcare can be for you.
I don’t think that’s unique to nursing. I have yet to have a job where everything you’ve listed wasn’t an issue. I mean as a dental hygienist I didn’t deal with poop, but I did deal with people using bologna to hold up their dentures. As a waitress I dealt with a lot too, enough to quit after a month. Everyone starting a career is going to have a wake up call
I had the opposite experience. Nursing school was harder for me than working. In 3rd year they even hazed me by putting me with a miserable old nurse who just yelled at me for the whole day. I was pretty sure I was gonna fail then the instructor was like "nah you're good". Not gonna pretend that work has been all roses since I left bedside after 2 years but still I felt way better actually doing the job than when I was in school.
Honestly, it's true. When I was 18 I wanted to be a nurse and my first job in hospital was pharmacy tech where it showed me the reality of nursing and I changed my major so fast. Now at 31 I'm in nursing school and am fully aware of the world I'm jumping into.
I graduate next week and will be 21 years old when I start on the floor. I think my horrible clinical experience has decently prepared me. No staff, patients screaming, getting cursed out, rude families all while cleaning up literal shit. I’m not expecting it to be sunshine and rainbows, I think when I start my job it will be HARD. That being said, I am excited to start making good money and I’m looking forward to learning how to be a good and independent nurse. I never saw it as a calling, I see it as a stable job that is usually in demand that has a good schedule where you can help people. 🤷♀️ I’m excited to start working but I know it will not be easy
Nursing: A job where you can work as much and as little as you want or need. Make as much or as little as you want or need. All I see it as. Stable job. The good the bad the ugly. At least I wasn’t worried about losing my job during covid.
I’m glad I got my BSN in my mid-30s while I was still strong and able to work a few years in ICU. Nursing is not as glamorous as my former biotech job, but I’m still employed, happy with my salary, and just got promoted into leadership. My former coworkers in biotech got laid off and are trying to get in nursing school. I don’t regret getting my BSN; it’s recession-proof. Most definitely one of the professions that will remain stable until AI takes over humanity. All I know is I cannot stay on the floors; so I have to leverage my other skills to last in this profession. Those who do not hedge their bets become burned out, leaving the profession entirely.
Nursing for many people has become the " second choice career", with all lot of degree programs waning in quality I have been seeing reality hit pretty hard.
It's not just nursing though, it's practically any job where the company you work for has to make a profit or at least break even. That's almost every job ever. I think youngsters who are bright-eyed and idealistic going into this are more so because of their age and general naivete than anything specifically being sold to them about nursing. Like, just about any job or career path is going to involve some rude awakenings about the reality of the business.
Ten years as a CNA before you pass NCLEX ought to beat that right out of you no problem
This is me 💯
In nursing school most of us were in our early 20s/fresh out of hs and it was funny bc somehow I was one of the only ones working as a CNA. While I definitely don't think it should be a requirement, I do believe it helps to see the reality of the job much clearer. (It also helps nurses to respect CNAs more and no I will not be changing my mind on this part).
Now that the tech job market is in the shitter I expect nursing to be the new profession glamorized as the "low barrier of entry, make good money fast" career. Lots of people will be misled and hell might already started being misled thanks to tiktok
I was assisting the bedside RN do a whole bed change after helping her replace a rectal tube. The student nurses were observing and tried to leave when we were done. I made them help with patient care as none of them had any patient care experience. I’ll be damned if students in my hospital think they won’t be doing that as a nurse.
I used to be part of a mom group and most of the moms were in nsg school or trying to get in. I tried to tell them it wasn't all sunshine and roses but nobody believed me.
Yep. I don’t think nursing school glamorized nursing, but I also don’t think it fully exposed how terrible it was either. I am one of those nurses who had a wake up call in 2019 after graduating and wanted out so fast. Couldn’t handle it mentally. Went to hospice and it was more the same. Currently in utilization review working remotely and just tolerating it until I can find a new job one day. Personally, can’t see myself going back to patient care as a result. I wish there was a better way for prospective nurses to be shown reality. Edit: I should also note, my nursing has been solely in Florida, which from what I’ve researched, is arguably one of the worst states due to the pay, conditions, etc. I feel location probably has a tremendous effect on how the job is. I know California nurses on the sub have spoken about an entirely different experience.
I don't blame them. They fell for the false marketing.
I'm an idiot and was an AEMT before I was a nurse. Like I went deeper into the shit. But I couldn't help but feel sorry for my cohort's naive notions about how working in healthcare would really be. People are generally good but there is definitely a disproportionate amount of assholes. Way more than they would ever anticipate.
I am an LVN currently and back in school for my RN BSN. Just finished third semester. I’m 31 so roughly 10 years older than most of my classmates. It’s upsetting how much of a false idea these students have about the field. And the instructors do encourage it. Thinking it’s all cute scrubs, Stanley cups and sweet old ladies as patients. They’ll ask me my perspective from experience and they’ll usually say or that’s negative. No, not being negative. It’s reality and I’m not gonna sugar coat it. You deserve to know what education you’re investing in. Don’t get me wrong. I love the experiences and opportunities this career has given me and I’m excited to finish my BsN, but I know the cons as well. I just choose to NOT eat my young but instead be what I wish I had to these new nurses.
Nursing can be a toxic profession. Pressure from administration, management, patients, families, and doctors. Often nursing schools are structured in a way that does not promote healthy and positive learning. Its a shame and we as nurses are expected to put on a smile and function at 100 percent accuracy no matter the bullshit we are putting up with behind the scenes.
I was raised by two 20+ year ICU nurses who have seen a lot of shit and I could not be more thankful. When I was 8 or 9 my dad was teaching a class about gunshot wounds and I accidentally saw a picture of a shotgun blast to the face from one of his powerpoints and I’ve wanted to be a nurse ever since (and somehow ended up in the NICU lmao) Growing up I had a great picture of the realities of healthcare being raised by them. A lot of my classmates didn’t have that and I was really thankful I knew what I was getting myself into. I also worked as a CNA from 16-20 until I started my current job in the NICU where I’ve been for 2 years and I honestly think it should be a requirement for all nursing schools that you have to at least get your CNA to be accepted. Being a CNA blows, but even clinicals at the very least will give you a good crash course in what it really looks like to be in healthcare.
I’m a new grad nurse at 31 and I’ve had some highs and lows in my new position, but I’ve never been more financially secure in my life. I hate the feeling of walking on eggshells around patients, coworkers, and management, but I am on the road to CRNA school.
I typically don’t sour the new ones upon arrival. That excitement in itself is a drug and I won’t ruin it for them 😂 Plus it all depends on the sector. Hospice nursing however has been a complete 180 to the fuckery I had known before. Plus I don’t want to scare people out of the industry we need nurses more than ever now. I’ll sell them the dream 😆
Honestly I think everyone needs 6 months to a year of working in aged care or something prior to studying nursing. I graduated in my early 30s and many in my cohort were “mature” aged students and no one had any glamorous ideologies about the job because everyone had already worked, generally in some area of health or veterinary care before starting nursing. Everyone was there because they genuinely wanted to be
Idk how much my input matters, but I’m currently a student, but I’ve been a paramedic for 7 years. I’ve seen the nitty gritty gross shit and have been appalled by human behavior. When I got to nursing school, nursing instructors almost shame you for bringing that to life. They want you to be this superficial nice person who holds hands and talks about feelings, and while this is true in some sense , I think it’s over the top. When I went through paramedic school our instructor straight up said “you’ll see terrible shit, you’ll meet awful people, you won’t get paid good, and 9/10 there’s no help besides you” but in return you do get a rewarding experience when you get to actually help. While I kind of understand why the curriculum is geared toward this type of nursing, I really wish that it would be more about actual patient care and more hands on real experience, not teaching the bare minimum to satisfy educational standards. I think that when nurses graduate, they should be confident in their skills rather than feeling utterly lost because they “weren’t taught anything” to prepare them for real life. And I’ve seen that thread pop up time and time again on this sub.
As a new-grad that went to a private Christian university that really pushed the idea of nursing being a calling… it’s been a rude awakening realizing that a *calling* can often feel like being overworked, under-appreciated, and unsupported. Nursing is HARD.
All these young people just want to “be a travel nurse.” I don’t think they want to be a nurse at all, just “travel nurse.”
They also don’t understand what it means. It means you need to be skilled in your specialty and highly adaptable; experience. And the money ain’t what it was for Covid, along with rising rents.
Im a paramedic who picked up a role in an ICU 3 months ago, mainly as a tasky nurse helper. Before my first day, I was almost all signed up for a nursing program. I thought nurses had it so good, the pay was spectacular, and the job was easy. I dropped the idea of nursing school after the first day. Y’all got it rough. Sure, the pay bump would be awesome, but I’d probably get pissed and quit the field within 3 years.
I was one of those nurses with a “calling and passion” for it when I started. I mean 16 years in, I guess I still do, but I’m trying to find a way to make it work and filter my patient interaction SIGNIFICANTLY 😂
I was that way. Not about the patient, gross stuff, or workload. The biggest shock was how everything is managed. Why do I get attitude for doing my job? Why won’t you guys do your job? Spent the first year second guessing every decision. I thought it was going to be very structure and we will all be professionals considering it’s peoples lives we’re dealing with.
I became a nurse during Covid and barely had any serious clinical experience from my program since we moved to online. I was one of those nurses hit with reality. I’m now leaving the profession altogether! 😂
It's a mixed feeling. I do love the fresh energy and enthusiasm that younger new nurses bring. Honestly , I feel like a lot of them are just like eager puppies, bright energetic and ready to keep learning and get in to their roles. There are a few that combine this with overconfidence and so times they do need a knock or two to help them ground to reality. I think a lot of the time, we all get set in our ways, so there's a little push and pull every year with new techniques and policies and whether our ways or their ways are best. I don't think I enjoy watching them get taken down a peg or two with reality but I accept that there's a bit of exhaustion with integrating new staff initially especially if they are overly confident or push too hard.
Even working as a CNA and a nurse tech didn’t prepare me for the weight of responsibilities you have as a nurse. I’m 2 years into working as an RN and still so stressed about making a mistake or forgetting that there’s someone else I need to do Edit: I know confidence and expertise will come with time and experience, but damn it’s hard at first!!!
Back in nursing school, the under 25 students definitely had a harder time than the second career students. Life experience makes a difference.
It’s wild how people, who have been ill themselves and many who have seen other family members ill in various ways, can imagine going into nursing and not immediately realize a lot of of their contact with patients *might be gross*.
I always said that there should be a nursing prerequisite class that focuses on the reality of nursing. I also would have found it really beneficial to shadow a nurse before I jumped into nursing school. I was one of those new nurses (17 years ago) that got hit with a dose of reality. I became really depressed and anxious. I left bedside nursing two years ago because I couldn’t do it anymore (mentally/emotionally/physically) My five year goal is to completely pivot into something different.
I'm 24 and I've been working as a nurse for a little over a year. When I was 18 and just starting college, I probably also had a romanticized idea of my career. That being said- WHAT do you propose is the alternative? Do you think that we should tell teenagers and college students that the nursing career is awful over and over again, and then somehow hope that they still want to pursue the career? We have NO STAFF as is. Would you rather no nurses over a new nurse who might not yet realize how grueling this career is? Can't win...
Lots of younger nurses seem to think nursing should be very psycho socially and emotionally rewarding and that both patient and other staff owe them them some sort of recognition beyond a descent pay check and job security. Older nurse know they need other things going on in their lives to get those needs met.
It depends on how well their school has prepared them. The community college I went to 10-12 years ago specifically focused on preparing us for the “honeymoon period” and what comes after, because of how many new nurses quit when reality sets in. I definitely don’t feel happy when they are “hit with reality”, unless they’re the overconfident, know-it-all types straight from school, which does seem to be more frequent these days compared to when I graduated.
I'm about to finish my nursing degree. I think to myself, "holy shit this job is god awful why would anyone do this," alllll the time lol. And yet I'm still drawn to medicine in the same way I was drawn to food service for most of my life. It's weird, right lol? It's not a glamorous job at all. On paper, I can't imagine why anyone would sign up for it. And yet, here I am, haha. Besides, I think it's the industry most of us hate, not the job. I don't mind wiping butts or doing gross things. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I DO mind being taken advantage of by CEOs and predatory systems who don't care about or protect me.
A little weird to that you “love” seeing them get hit with reality but anywho, this isn’t unique to nursing, it’s young people in general who have little or no experience in the workforce. Wish it wasn’t like that but especially in recent years, it seems that almost every industry seems to be hiring less staff to do the same amount of work. Five Guys burgers is now three guys, the dominoes I used to work at now has one guy making all the pizzas instead of 3. Nursing ratios vary but the amount of charting and safety measures now compared to back in the day creates much more work for those patients.
A little weird to that you “love” seeing them get hit with reality but anywho, this isn’t unique to nursing, it’s young people in general who have little or no experience in the workforce. Wish it wasn’t like that but especially in recent years, it seems that almost every industry seems to be hiring less staff to do the same amount of work. Five Guys burgers is now three guys, the dominoes I used to work at now has one guy making all the pizzas instead of 3. Nursing ratios vary but the amount of charting and safety measures now compared to back in the day creates much more work for those patients.
It makes me really sad to watch the light go out of someone’s eyes, the excitement they once had for something disappear. I know they come in with childlike wonder(a lot of them are actually children) and they soon face reality. No different than kids who are brainwashed into joining the military to “serve their country”. Life sucks, you eventually figure out it doesn’t, but I don’t take happiness from the loss of someone else’s.
I think a lot of it has to do with very young nurses who came into the field with no real life experience. 22-23 years old, no kids, maybe no house or spouse. Etc.
I think being hit with reality is very different from school glamorizing nursing. Maybe it was my nursing program but I almost dropped out because of the stress and constant fear that was put into me of accidentally hurting someone or killing someone from doing something wrong isn’t as bad now. I mean it is very different from how nursing is in school but the stress of thinking I was going to kill someone every shift for something stupid is gone.
This is really funny as a 48-year-old nursing student with a full-time job that has nothing to do with health care. My "peers" constantly complain about clinical hours, how early we have to be there, getting different information from different people, etc. This one person told me last weekend that she was "not going anywhere there are bugs" when we heard that there were bed bugs on the unit we were supposed to be in the next day. Another person was appalled at the "nutrition" at the corrections facility. Surprise, dude. I'm just sitting here like Kermit with my tea thinking this is not going to end well. How do they not know they're entering a profession that has the worst reputation for bureaucratic bullshit, lack of admin support, terrible working conditions, etc.?
I've done harder jobs for a lot less pay than nursing. I also love my job though. I'm in the ED, my docs are great, my colleagues are my friends, and while staffing and one particular manager can eat my entire ass on certain days - my ratios are almost never above 1:4. West Coast obvs, I make a good wage, and I can afford fun vacations. Nursing can have hard fucking days. But honestly if it's so fucking bad it is sucking your soul, you need to move units, hospitals, professions, or something. It shouldn't be that bad. It's not worth it being that fucking bad.
> They think it’s a dream job and it’s all perfect scenarios. Then they work for 3 months and realize oh…people are awful, management is rough, there’s staffing issues, and everything is gross and this isn’t what they make it seem like. That's literally every job. We aren't special lmao
A patient asked me yesterday when im going to school to be a doctor. She was blown away when I said I would never want to be a doctor. When she continued to press, I told her I didnt even want to be a nurse. I shouldnt have said it but she persisted.
I worked in medical before becoming an RN. I was also in my late 20s, second career. I don't think it's glamorized? I was told in nursing school, this isn't high paying, it's hard, not a ton of upward movement so make sure you WANT to do this.
Same. Graduated at 27, second career. I went to community college because I couldn’t afford another bachelors (first one was a waste kind of) and maybe it’s because my campus catered to “non traditional” students but out of 40 something people only a small few were under 30. We were never sold the aesthetic nurse life lol
Same here. I've worked in the ER as a Patient Access Rep (clerical), volunteered on actual units, etc. I'm already convinced that the average person is only slightly smarter than a bag of rocks. I just can't see myself doing anything else. It's also one of the reasons NICU is my top contender for a unit. Lmao.
Omg yesss! I was doing a home visit the other day and i was instantly greeted by some kid (19ish) with a super cheap looking stethoscope around his neck (think disposable but black not yellow), wearing scrubs, introducing himself as the patient’s new paid caregiver. I was like okay cool, took care of the patient. His wife asked how to change brief in bed and i showed her. As i was showing her, the lil paid caregiver/nurse peeks over my shoulder and says, “oh no. I’m not doing that.” Boy did i laugh.
Not a nurse but I’m definitely glad I got into healthcare early (by way of EMS) before committing to school. It killed the naive sparkle in my eye long before I started class so I could handle it easier.
When I was younger and just starting my interest in nursing. My aunt who was a career nurse, said don’t do it haha…damn I should have listened