Any nurses out there?

[Willow25]

Hello

I am currently working in social work in Australia. I am an american living here with my Aussie husband and two kids. I am working fulltime and find that I am no longer coping with the emotional tole this job takes on me. I work in a therapuetic program which sees the worst of abuse cases with very small children. Anyway I never thought that I could work in the nursing field as the thought of others bodily fluids was disgusting to me. However in my college years I spent a summer working at an assisted living center primarily assisting the residents using the toilet and showering. It really did not bother me at all and I enjoyed helping the vulnerable residents in their daily living.

What do you like about nursing? What are the opportunities for nurses in the USA and more specifically Oregon? We want to move back in about five years.

 

[Judy from Boise]

They will always need nurses......are you thinking of waiting to work on a degree in Oregon, or earn one in Australia?
The other thing to consider is a change in focus in social work, can you look into a insurance case management position , or hospital DC planner, or something that would give you a break ?

 

[minkydog]

I have been a nurse for 32+ years. Most of the time I love it. Sometimes I don't. Most nurses get over the ickiness of blood and body fluids pretty quickly and there are precautions in place in every hospital to prevent the spread of germs. I have never caught anything from a patient.

The great thing about nursing is that it is extremely flexible. About 56% of working nurses are employed in hospitals. The rest work in long term care facilities, hospice, clinics, public health, home health care, dialysis, outpatient surgery, schools, and businesses. I have worked in many different settings and many different specialties, most under the umbrella of pediatrics. I left hospital nursing about 3 years ago because I felt that I could no longer be on my feet for long hours. I'm 53 and sometimes I feel like my head will explode with all the nursing knowledge stuffed in it. So now I work in an elementary school and most of my nursing is cerebral. I love it. I get paid for what I know!