OT: Tell me about being a nurse

[badblackpug]

I agree. I wish I would have shadowed someone as well before I made the choice to go back to school to be an RN. I don't hate my job but I don't love it either, but I'm thankful I have a job as well.

...not to be argumentative, but wouldn't you have known that it wasn't for you while doing clinical hours during school? Truthfully, that 1st semester is when we lost the most students. When the people that had the TV, glamorized version of nursing in their heads realized that it was something much, much different.

Honestly, it is hard work. You will seldom be recognized or thanked for the hard work you do. Most of the recognition and thanks will go to the docs, no matter how crucial your role in the patient care was. You must be able to sustain yourself with knowing that you are doing a good job. I think the salary depends upon the area of the country in which you live. OP, here, in the northeast, the salaries are good. Depending on the size/level hospital in which you work, overtime may be available. I work in a huge level 1, university-based hospital. I could work 7 days a week. (if I went crazy! )
I, honestly, love what I do. Which is a lot of the reason I keep working. Remember, nursing is diverse, if you don't like a certain area, or if you develop burn out, there is always the opportunity to move to another area. A lot of areas are not even direct patient care. There are also lots of areas (like home care) where you can make your own "schedule." I know a nurse who drops her kids off at school in the morning and does as many home care cases as she wants or can fit into her day while her kids are at school.

 

[Family Loves Disney]

I have to tell you that I was an LPN for 10 yrs. Only practiced for 5 of those years and was a SAHM the other 5. Decided to go back to school when crap hit the fan after Sept 11th. DH works for Delta Airlines and his job is always up in the air, I decided that an LPN salary would not support my family. Earned my ADN last year and now I am charge nurse on an orthopedics/postop/med-surg floor on the weekends 7pm-7am. I absolutely LOVE it! The only thing I hate are the DEMANDING FAMILY MEMBERS!!! I had a family demand that we stop what we were doing (at the time we were intubating a patient in respiratory distress) and come give his family member a breathing treatment! Hospitals are trying to give more patients with higher acuity numbers to one nurse and it is unsafe. This probably has to do with the shortage of nurses. Nurses are having to be maid, waitress, and customer service rep for pts and their family members and at times that is ok, but then there are times when it is absolutely infuriating! Another thing, I heard a new graduate state "I don't wipe butt! That is not what I went to school for!" That would be a big fat NO! Nurses do wipe butts! My philosophy is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" which means do you want to sit in your own feces or urine for hours? If the answer is no, then wipe that butt. Sorry to babble.

In other words, go straight to the RN, skip the LPN route if you can. LPNs pretty much do the same thing RNs do minus a few stuff and get paid nothing! Not to mention they don't get the credit they deserve. There are great LPNs out there, but generally LPNs do not get respect. HTH

 

[MissNurse]

Well, I've been an RN for almost 9 years. I've loved some of it, hated some of it. I've worked in a small hospital, nursing home, Arkansas Childrens Hospital (my fave!), and now I am a school nurse. I am a firm believer that nursing is a calling, not something you can make yourself love. For the record, stay away from school nursing. Too much liability, too little pay. Other than that, find your niche and get after it!

 

[Mommy2JulietJocelyn]

I have been a RN for 10 yrs now - I live & work in South Jersey - I can't say I love my job everyday but I do for the most part. I am much happier now that I moved from the main ER to the peds ER. I was in the main ER for 8 1/2 yrs. The politics stink. I did love the ER - but I got tired of the people complaining about wait times and how long tests take and about not wanting what the dr wants to order (This is not McDonalds - you do not get to pick your treatment. You can refuse but that is on you. If the Dr wants blood work because you are having cruching chest pain and you want to refuse, so be it.) I like working on the peds side of the ER now because of my kids I think. I can relate to them. I can keep them smiling, I can calm them down. At the end of my day that is what matters most to me while fixing whatever ails them or getting them to where they need to be.

The pay is ok - you will want more than what you are paid once you start working though. You do not get paid more for having a BSN in Jersey though (at least you don't in the hospitals around me). the schedule is flexible, - plus, the hours are long. The schooling is one of the hardest there is but it is worth it - If this is what you want.

 

[RMulieri]

I have to tell you that I was an LPN for 10 yrs. Only practiced for 5 of those years and was a SAHM the other 5. Decided to go back to school when crap hit the fan after Sept 11th. DH works for Delta Airlines and his job is always up in the air, I decided that an LPN salary would not support my family. Earned my ADN last year and now I am charge nurse on an orthopedics/postop/med-surg floor on the weekends 7pm-7am. I absolutely LOVE it! The only thing I hate are the DEMANDING FAMILY MEMBERS!!! I had a family demand that we stop what we were doing (at the time we were intubating a patient in respiratory distress) and come give his family member a breathing treatment! Hospitals are trying to give more patients with higher acuity numbers to one nurse and it is unsafe. This probably has to do with the shortage of nurses. Nurses are having to be maid, waitress, and customer service rep for pts and their family members and at times that is ok, but then there are times when it is absolutely infuriating! Another thing, I heard a new graduate state "I don't wipe butt! That is not what I went to school for!" That would be a big fat NO! Nurses do wipe butts! My philosophy is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" which means do you want to sit in your own feces or urine for hours? If the answer is no, then wipe that butt. Sorry to babble.

In other words, go straight to the RN, skip the LPN route if you can. LPNs pretty much do the same thing RNs do minus a few stuff and get paid nothing! Not to mention they don't get the credit they deserve. There are great LPNs out there, but generally LPNs do not get respect. HTH

ITA The family members drive me NUTS! I had one follow me into another patients room to tell me their loved one needed lotion rubbed on their legs( this after i just spent 45 mins in that room and asked before I left if there was anything else they needed since I would be going to check on other people).I had one flip out on me because I was in Resuscitating a patient, and this families loved one" SO AND SO IS more important and needs you NOW, it is an emergency"..Why?....She needed the urine collection hat in the toilet emptied.That is the part of the job I hate.Families don't care and don't understand that you have 6 other someones that are equally important and possibly more ill, they don't understand that I haven't eaten in 10 hrs and haven't peed in almost 11 because I haven't had a spare second.They don't understand that I came in at 7am , it is now 930pm and I am still here trying to finish up so I can go home to my family too..All in all it is a challenge , and I love it.But it is a Calling ,and not everyone can do it

 

[XYSRUS]

I've been an RN for 19 yrs. It's just ok. I have to agree with PP, family these days are out of control. I now work 2 PRN jobs and love the flexibility but nurses still do not make nearly enough for the specialized care they give and liability they have on the job. I've seen my husband's salary triple to my measly increases and sometimes none. I do have the liberty of a flexible schedule but while you're working you have to be 100% all the time. I guess I might recommend nursing to someone but I would let them know the real story. 8 hours turns into 10 hours....12 hours turns into 14 hours etc...exponentially...that is NO joke. Good luck with your decision.

 

[kupperman]

...not to be argumentative, but wouldn't you have known that it wasn't for you while doing clinical hours during school? Truthfully, that 1st semester is when we lost the most students. When the people that had the TV, glamorized version of nursing in their heads realized that it was something much, much different.

Honestly, it is hard work. You will seldom be recognized or thanked for the hard work you do. Most of the recognition and thanks will go to the docs, no matter how crucial your role in the patient care was. You must be able to sustain yourself with knowing that you are doing a good job. I think the salary depends upon the area of the country in which you live. OP, here, in the northeast, the salaries are good. Depending on the size/level hospital in which you work, overtime may be available. I work in a huge level 1, university-based hospital. I could work 7 days a week. (if I went crazy! )
I, honestly, love what I do. Which is a lot of the reason I keep working. Remember, nursing is diverse, if you don't like a certain area, or if you develop burn out, there is always the opportunity to move to another area. A lot of areas are not even direct patient care. There are also lots of areas (like home care) where you can make your own "schedule." I know a nurse who drops her kids off at school in the morning and does as many home care cases as she wants or can fit into her day while her kids are at school.

In my opinion 3 hours of clinical is not reflective of a 12 hour shift. I did get a taste of what it was like during clinical but its just not the same in my opinion. Last semester of nursing school was when I shadowed a nurse doing a 12 hour shift and it was much different than the few hours of clinical in the beginning. I'm not trying to be argumentative either but this was my experience and how I feel.

 

[allyphoe]

Hospitals are trying to give more patients with higher acuity numbers to one nurse and it is unsafe.

Amen. My dad was on the trauma surgery recovery floor for 2 weeks, and the last 4-5 days he was well enough to be moved to rehab, but had to wait for a bed to open up. So he was the least-sick person there for a long while. And there were times when it took an hour for his nurse or tech to respond to a page, because they had up to 10 patients. The days when they only had 6 or 7 patients, he got a lot more nurse contact.

We were fortunate in that we had one or two family members who could be with him for a good chunk of the daytimes. There are tons of things that make life easier that take a body, but not skill. So we could be a second person for stuff that needed extra hands, which meant we didn't need to wait for two techs to be free at once, and could fetch clean bedding, fetch drinks, change sweaty stuff, give extra sponge baths, help with bedpans, etc. If you've got no family to do that sort of thing, I can see the patient asking for it, but if there's family there, it doesn't take a nurse to put lotion on.

 

[smkiya]

I've been an RN for 19 yrs. It's just ok. I have to agree with PP, family these days are out of control. I now work 2 PRN jobs and love the flexibility but nurses still do not make nearly enough for the specialized care they give and liability they have on the job. I've seen my husband's salary triple to my measly increases and sometimes none. I do have the liberty of a flexible schedule but while you're working you have to be 100% all the time. I guess I might recommend nursing to someone but I would let them know the real story. 8 hours turns into 10 hours....12 hours turns into 14 hours etc...exponentially...that is NO joke. Good luck with your decision.

Patients too are becoming very demanding. Hitting the call bell every 5 minutes, to help them do things they are very capable of doing themselves (move my table, pour me a drink, take my tray, pull up my covers, put on my socks, tie my gown) and then you ask if they need anything else before tending to the REALLY sick patients, they say no. So you leave, and 5 minutes later the bell (my family member wants a drink, call the doctor I'm ready to see him, scratch my back), all this after they berate you for taking too long to get there. Well, just be lucky every patient isn't like you, or you'd never see me, hopefully you don't have chest pain while I'm ruffling someones pillow. Unfortunately hospitals are encouraging this type of behavior, and I expect that it will get worse!

Hope I didn't scare you. Remember too, that your license is always on the line too. So when your demanding "walkie talkie" patient tries to take advantage of you, and they will, remember that even though you'll get an earful from mgmt and pt relations for not tending to their every need, you could lose your license for not tending to that pt who had a stroke 3 hours ago, but you didn't know cause you were rubbing someones feet. Something to consider... it's not like TV.

Almost forgot, the most common call bell request (i know the nurses here will get a good giggle on this one): "Don't forget, my pain med is due in 32.5 minutes." and they'll ring every minute on the minute until you give it to them. If you're 1 minute late they'll search each room until they find you. Give you the dirty harry stare, follow you to the pyxis, and when you finally give it to them, they expect to see you in 3 hours 59 minutes sharp, for their prn med. So plan ahead, hope nobody codes when it's due again or there could be trouble.

 

[RMulieri]

Patients too are becoming very demanding. Hitting the call bell every 5 minutes, to help them do things they are very capable of doing themselves (move my table, pour me a drink, take my tray, pull up my covers, put on my socks, tie my gown) and then you ask if they need anything else before tending to the REALLY sick patients, they say no. So you leave, and 5 minutes later the bell (my family member wants a drink, call the doctor I'm ready to see him, scratch my back), all this after they berate you for taking too long to get there. Well, just be lucky every patient isn't like you, or you'd never see me, hopefully you don't have chest pain while I'm ruffling someones pillow. Unfortunately hospitals are encouraging this type of behavior, and I expect that it will get worse!

Hope I didn't scare you. Remember too, that your license is always on the line too. So when your demanding "walkie talkie" patient tries to take advantage of you, and they will, remember that even though you'll get an earful from mgmt and pt relations for not tending to their every need, you could lose your license for not tending to that pt who had a stroke 3 hours ago, but you didn't know cause you were rubbing someones feet. Something to consider... it's not like TV.

I must be a bad nurse, because for the people that are fully capable of doing certain things ring for me to do them..Like" pull my blanket up" after I just watched them get up and walk outside for a smoke... I refuse.Not rudely, but politely .Like " I know you are in the hospital and not feeling well, but we need to get you back to doing these things for yourself, since I am not going to be going home with you"...and yes, I have had patients tell me " it is YOUR job to do everything I say" , and the hospital backs them.I have had patients threaten me, spit on me , and cuss me out and the hospital backs them and says that " as a nurse you know our families and patients are under tremendous stress.Blah blah blah"...which is why in my original post I said I am getting burnt out...12 years of this and each year gets more intense.

 

[badblackpug]

In my opinion 3 hours of clinical is not reflective of a 12 hour shift. I did get a taste of what it was like during clinical but its just not the same in my opinion. Last semester of nursing school was when I shadowed a nurse doing a 12 hour shift and it was much different than the few hours of clinical in the beginning. I'm not trying to be argumentative either but this was my experience and how I feel.

I guess our school experiences were different. We did 8 hour clinical shifts starting the 1st semester, by the final semester we had a full patient load.

My favorite demanding patient story is: (I work in the ER) We had a patient in cardiac arrest. I ran out of the room to get something and a patient grabbed me to complain she had been waiting 1/2 an hour to see the doctor. She did this while standing in front of the room in which they were performing CPR. I tried to tell her nicely that the docs were involved in an emergency case. She then began yelling at me that she was an emergency, too and that she shouldn't have to wait 1/2 an hour to see a doctor. I pointed into the room and said "they are doing CPR, if they leave the room to see you, that patient will DIE, you will have to have a seat in your chair and wait." ...she was there for an ingrown toenail..........

 

[ebtbmom]

In my opinion 3 hours of clinical is not reflective of a 12 hour shift. I did get a taste of what it was like during clinical but its just not the same in my opinion. Last semester of nursing school was when I shadowed a nurse doing a 12 hour shift and it was much different than the few hours of clinical in the beginning. I'm not trying to be argumentative either but this was my experience and how I feel.

I did not feel that my clinical experience was very representative of "real world nursing" either. We would do about 6 hours, but just for a few patients and we had to check everything we did with the instructor or the real nurse.

It isn't the nursing activities that I learned about in clinical that I have become to dislike, it's the responsibility and expectations. Another poster mentioned not to be a school nurse, I think I started feeling this way even more when I became a school nurse. I have about 1350 kids between 2 schools that I'm assigned to. How can I possibly do everything right for all of these kids? I'm sure that sometimes stuff falls through the cracks. And parents are so slack these days! They think that the school nurse is the primary care provider. I actually had a parent bring in an asthma med. form today, but didn't bring the inhaler. When I asked her about the inhaler she told me she thought we would give that to him at school, are we a pharmacy now too? Now if I don't follow up and try and get this kids inhaler in and document all of my attempts and the kid has an asthma attack whose fault will it be? Mine, not the parents!

I think that healthcare is going in a wrong direction. Rather than enabling patients (or parents) we need to empower them and make them more responsible for their health and health care. These people should be told ONE time what they need to do, then it should be their responsibility. Nurses at hospitals should not be there to serve the patient or provide them with every whim (they're in the hospital not at WDW ). We should provide them with safe, competent health care and they should be glad for it! At the hospital where I work PRN we are supposed to ask patients "Are you completely satisfied" before leaving a room. What are we Burger King?

Sorry, my rant is over now.

 

[sskem96]

I have been an RN for 6 years, and I worked as an LPN for 7 years before that.

As an LPN, I made pretty good money working in a nursing home, and barely over minimum wage in a dr. office. I decided to go back to school and get my RN because the dr. I was working for was nearing retirement. I loved that job and the dr. was like a father to me, but I new it was time for me to move on in my career.

When I got my RN, I started out as a level 2 nursery nurse, and now I'm the charge nurse over L&D, nursery, and post partum. I work night shift, 9 hour shifts, 7 shifts per pay period. This past weekend was extremely busy (full moon!) and I ended up working 45 hours in 4 days, and only slept about 10 hours during that time. It can be very exhausting, but it's worth every minute. I prefer taking care of the sick babies more than anything else.

 

[Bethany2008]

I have been an RN for only a year now and thought I'd put in my 'new grad' two cents. I don't know how the accelerated programs work, but I went full time and found it very demanding. The life of a student nurse is WAY different than that of a working nurse. The transition is tough, but there IS light at the end of the tunnel, I promise! Some other things to consider would be where you would like to go to school and how much it will cost. I came out of school with 50K in loans, however, I went to a private school and only worked to cover food and shelter. My monthly payments are outrageous since our state bank will not let me consolidate because of the 'economy'.
And just a fair warning, apparently there is a nursing shortage somewhere, but I sure as heck didn't find it. I applied to about 15 larger hospitals as a 'Graduate Nurse' or 'New Graduate' (because you aren't recognize as a functionable RN right out of school, you are a 'Graduate Nurse') which stinks, but everyone is in the same boat in the beginning. Most LARGE hospitals I looked into only hire 5-10 new grads a year... which are usually their past interns. Which makes it hard to find a job...
I took a position in ND in a level 3 NICU that I feel BLESSED to have gotten, and LOVE, but I was trying to move out of state possibly to Colorado or New Mexico, and either never heard back or was told 'we'd love to have you... when you have a little experience, contact us again 6 months'. Very frustrating.. Many of my peers had the same problems..

My last piece of advice is to get your CNA license and go work for a year there. You will know THERE if nursing is what you want to do. Also, I think it makes you a much stronger nurse.
Good Luck!

 

[RMulieri]

I have been an RN for only a year now and thought I'd put in my 'new grad' two cents. I don't know how the accelerated programs work, but I went full time and found it very demanding. The life of a student nurse is WAY different than that of a working nurse. The transition is tough, but there IS light at the end of the tunnel, I promise! Some other things to consider would be where you would like to go to school and how much it will cost. I came out of school with 50K in loans, however, I went to a private school and only worked to cover food and shelter. My monthly payments are outrageous since our state bank will not let me consolidate because of the 'economy'.
And just a fair warning, apparently there is a nursing shortage somewhere, but I sure as heck didn't find it. I applied to about 15 larger hospitals as a 'Graduate Nurse' or 'New Graduate' (because you aren't recognize as a functionable RN right out of school, you are a 'Graduate Nurse') which stinks, but everyone is in the same boat in the beginning. Most LARGE hospitals I looked into only hire 5-10 new grads a year... which are usually their past interns. Which makes it hard to find a job...
I took a position in ND in a level 3 NICU that I feel BLESSED to have gotten, and LOVE, but I was trying to move out of state possibly to Colorado or New Mexico, and either never heard back or was told 'we'd love to have you... when you have a little experience, contact us again 6 months'. Very frustrating.. Many of my peers had the same problems..

My last piece of advice is to get your CNA license and go work for a year there. You will know THERE if nursing is what you want to do. Also, I think it makes you a much stronger nurse.
Good Luck!

I wonder about the shortage too? Like I said before, I live in an area where there is a saturation of new nurses because of the sheer number of nursing programs in the area..yet, half of the GN's are not working as nurses.I saw one at Blockbuster( she can't find a job in nursing).The same if not more patients are coming thru the doors, and yet the hospitals have a freeze on hiring new nurses or replacing any that leave.Retirement aged nurses are NOT leaving right now, because thanks to the economy and the funds dropping, their retirement money has dwindled.So you have very sick, very demanding patients and families with very UNREALISTIC expectations coming in and not enough nurses.Not because there aren't any nurses, but because the hospital won't hire any.So more mistakes get made, more dissatisfied patient scores etc...it really has to stop.The hospitals here are no longer allowed to Divert if we are overflowed with patients, and we always are.So now we have cots with patients in the ED hallways and Flu season isn't in full swing yet!

 

[jackie101]

I say go for it. I have 4 children and just graduated with my associates last Dec. I do have my RN.

 

[badblackpug]

I did not feel that my clinical experience was very representative of "real world nursing" either. We would do about 6 hours, but just for a few patients and we had to check everything we did with the instructor or the real nurse.

It isn't the nursing activities that I learned about in clinical that I have become to dislike, it's the responsibility and expectations. Another poster mentioned not to be a school nurse, I think I started feeling this way even more when I became a school nurse. I have about 1350 kids between 2 schools that I'm assigned to. How can I possibly do everything right for all of these kids? I'm sure that sometimes stuff falls through the cracks. And parents are so slack these days! They think that the school nurse is the primary care provider. I actually had a parent bring in an asthma med. form today, but didn't bring the inhaler. When I asked her about the inhaler she told me she thought we would give that to him at school, are we a pharmacy now too? Now if I don't follow up and try and get this kids inhaler in and document all of my attempts and the kid has an asthma attack whose fault will it be? Mine, not the parents!

I think that healthcare is going in a wrong direction. Rather than enabling patients (or parents) we need to empower them and make them more responsible for their health and health care. These people should be told ONE time what they need to do, then it should be their responsibility. Nurses at hospitals should not be there to serve the patient or provide them with every whim (they're in the hospital not at WDW ). We should provide them with safe, competent health care and they should be glad for it! At the hospital where I work PRN we are supposed to ask patients "Are you completely satisfied" before leaving a room. What are we Burger King?

Sorry, my rant is over now.

I agree. The focus has turned so much toward making us a customer service industry that I think the focus on quality health care is getting lost. Administration seems so focused on the results of customer satisfaction surveys that the important things such as patient education goes right out the window. Team that with dwindling insurance coverage and the push to limit inpatient stays education is becoming non-existant. I could not, for the life of me, imagine being a school nurse. As it is, other parents and their demands and expectations of the school system p!ss me off, I can't imagine being on the receiving end of that!

 

[StephMK]

I can't help w/the nursing part of it but I did just go back at 39 w/3 kids & work PT. I had thought about nursing but my main focus has always been teaching & so I'm in a cert/MA program for elementary ed. I don't know how you liked school the first time around but I used to be a great student, then went downhill in HS & partied through college to a BA in Psych. I hated my previous business career and didn't want to spend another 20 yrs doing something that didn't mean anything to me.

School is so much fun!! I rediscovered how much fun it is to learn, even when taking 18 undergrad hours this fall. It is not easy juggling the kids, school and work from home for my previous employer as much or as little as I can manage.

My kids are 7, 9 & 15 so they are in the range to be somewhat independent. DH is fully supportive & has flexible work hours which is a huge factor how we make it work. He goes in early so he can be out to pick up the kids on the day that I have class until 6. There are days I'm up at 6:30 to drop off the kids to school, go to school myself, come home & work until 12 on homework or paid work. However, it's totally worth it to me and did I mention how much FUN school is. I'm already observing in a classroom & making lesson plans and love it. This is what I am supposed to be doing so most of it doesn't feel like work.

Financially, we took out student loans for just the tuition & we're making it covering bills at this point. After this semester, I should be able to work a few more paid hours to help ease things and our tax return will help.

I do a lot of work on the weekends but try to schedule fun family times every other week or so. My planner is my life at this point. I've gotten very good at multi-tasking & time mgmt. I will do homework while DD is at dance class, read my book if I get somewhere early, etc.

If you want to chat, I love talking to other returning students! I've met a few in school & it's been great having others that understand what you're going through.

 

[Camping Griswalds]

I have been a nurse for 17 years. I don't like it. It is not a career I would recommend for anyone. I feel it is a thankless job. You are underappreciated both finacially and emotionally. And no matter what, remember it is a business. What makes that statement terrible, it is the business of people. Not some number crunching idea for a new pencil. Insurance companies control everything. If the MD writes a med, and the insurance denies it, the patient won't get it. Are you prepared to know you are treating a sick person who the insurance companies are insisting get a less effective medicine? In my hospital, when the doctor writes an order, and it's wrong, it's up to the nurse to fix. Patient gets the wrong meal...up to the nurse to fix, someone vomits on the floor...up to the nurse to fix. There is no back up for the nurses. There is a terrible staffing shortage. Not that there aren't nurse needing jobs, just that with the economy and business cutbacks and "cost efficiency" they aren't hiring. Sicker patients, less staff, equals crazier situations. When I worked in the nursery there were times when I had 14 babies that I took care of myself. And just to let you know, this is a nationally accredited "Best /Top 100 Hospital" The money is decent, but not compared to the responsibilities I have. I also feel like a glorified secretary. There is so much paperwork, I don't have any quality time to spend educating the patients or their families. And PLEASE do not downplay the importance of family time. Sure its great if you can work weekends and your husband weekdays. It's nice that the kids don't have to go to strangers, but what about your relationship? If you work every weekend, what about the birthday parties and soccer games that you will miss? We have 3 kids and I miss more events than I make. And I have left my sick children at home to take care of other peoples sick children becasue it was my job to do so. That is a hard hard hard thing to do. How about Christmas morning??? No amount of money can compensate for missing those faces on Christmas morning. And let me tell you about all of the fun sicknesses you expose yourself to, that yes, you are exposing your children to as well. I have worked in long term care for 4 years. A hospital for 13 years. While in the hospital, I worked Med/Surg, Oncology, Maternal Child/Nursery and Pediatrics. I have left the hospital to work at a physicians office. I took a 50% paycut to do this. I wanted less stress, the same hours as 99% of the rest of the world, and mostly because the politics were ruining the profession I once loved. I am still a nurse because I am good at my job. I do care about the patients and am very responsible to my profession. But I do not enjoy it, and would strongly recommend many other careers as options before nursing.

 

[Kallista]

I don't know how the accelerated programs work, but I went full time and found it very demanding. T

My husband has a BA and an MS in psych. I have a JD.

My husband did an accelerated program to get his BSN. It was brutal. Much, much harder than anything I did in law school or he did in his graduate psych program.