Nursedopers - A moment of your time, please?

Hi.

So, I’m coming into my mid-20s and don’t know what to do with my life. The one certainty that I have is that if I want to get anywhere beyond flitting from office-job to office-job and actually have a career, I’ll need some skills. Some study.

I’d like work that will be applicable no matter where I am. Hubby’s from England, there’s a chance we may end up there one day. And I’d like work that’s meaningful. I get a bit isolated in the office work I tend to do, I’d like to be around people more.

Perhaps I would like being a nurse. It matches the above criteria. And nurses are in demand all over Australia at the moment, so I’d not be out of work once I’m qualified.

But beyond the obvious (looking after sick people) I don’t know much about nursing. So I’d like to hear what you Nursedopers have to say about your chosen profession.

I want to know the good and the bad. I want to know (if you’re happy to share) what got you in to nursing and what keeps you there. If you’re specialised, I’d like to know what made you choose your specialisation. I’m not that interested in hearing about what you earn, because that’s particular to my location so not applicable to most of you in the states/uk.

If you’re retired or moved on, I’d also like to hear why you left. Again, only if you’re happy to share. I want to have as much information as I can, so I will have an idea if this is really something I want to do.

Thank you.

mrAru’s mom changed from being a librarian to being a nurse back in the mid 60s, and as she describes it [and she says that it has changed a fair amount but lets stick to current…]

In California [where she is, Fresno] LVN/LPN starts at $45K year minimum. RN is $70/80K year minimum. They are seriously short of nurses, so as you get experience you can get serious money after about 5 years - as an RN without a subspecialty you can be making $100K. The nurse to patient ratio is established by law so they are always looking for any form of graduated nurse. You can still get a lot of overtime and extra shifts, but the strange rotations are not as prevalent as in other states where the laws dont prescribe as much of the work conditions. She has done the legal max of 13 days straight before, or worked nothing but 5 day weeks with no OT.

I am sure that more nurses will chime in, but if you have specific questions, I can try to pass them along=)

The good:

You get to help people and see the immediate results of your work.
They pay you for doing something you truly love. The fools.
You meet and interact with wonderful people all the time.
No matter where you go, you will always be able to find work.
There is no such thing as “boredom” in nursing.

The bad:

12 hour shifts that turn into 14 hour shifts.
Nursing is 24/7/365. Nights, holidays, weekends.
Surgeons. 'Nuff said.
Incidence of drug addiction and alcoholism. The numbers aren’t pretty.
That’s the quick list.

Fixed title.

Thanks for the information you’ve given so far, **aruvqan ** and Maureen.

I’m still tossing up all possibilites in my mind & hope some other nurses’ll be along soonish. Not allowed to bump any more after this.

I’m not a nurse, but I found this thread from a couple of months back very educational about some of the downsides of the field.

Just saw this thread and I’m in your home town so I can give you some local knowledge.

First and foremost though, I’d say, “DON’T DO IT!”. Nursing itself is OK as a job however there are plenty of other health sector jobs that pay better, have better career opportunities and better status with less responsibility and sometimes less education. For example, I have a degree, three post-graduate certificates and am required, as a condition of my registration with the Nurses’ Board, to demonstrate ongoing education in my chosen field. I work in management in the aged care sector with responsibility for 120 residents and their families. As well, I have responsibility for staffing issues and a portion of the multi-million dollar budget. By contrast, my cousin just completed an IT course at TAFE and got a job looking after an aged care provider’s website - and he gets paid almost as much as I do </gripe>. Yeah, so while it’ a gripe, it’s also a valid point - almost every damn profession out there is more valued than nursing. There’s also the hours to consider. While you’re young and child-free, working shift work doesn’t seem a huge imposition but when those things change, trust me, you’ll want it to be different. If you really want to be in a helping profession, why not study for something like podiatry or occupational therapy?

If I still can’t put you off, why not get a job as a personal carer to see if nursing really is your cup of tea? Some nursing homes (you could pm me if you want the names of some non-nightmare nursing homes in your area) will take you on without experience but most will ask for TAFE Cert 3 in Community Services. However, there is such a demand for carers that there are several organisations offering fast track traineeships (we usually deal with Maxima but there are others about). Just be aware that personal carers’ pay is only about $16 -18/hour and while you are doing a traineeship you may be working for as little as $6/hour. Or you could apply for an Enrolled Nurse course (1 year ft equiv as opposed to 3 years for Registered Nurse). Unlike the old days, I believe that now some, if not all, of these courses give you credit towards the three year university Registered Nurse degree course but you would need to check.

If you want to go for the RN course I would highly recommend the Adelaide University course. “One of the most important strengths of this innovative program is the substantial amount of time dedicated to learning in practice. This clinical time is significantly increased from traditional Australian undergraduate nursing programs.” The university has teamed up with the RAH to provide extra clinical placement time and I’ve heard only good reports about this from students. Because of this though, it’s very popular and as they only take a small number of students each year, getting in could be tricky - but certainly worth the effort. Otherwise, Flinders University is considered marginally better that University of SA though probably Uni SA (City East Campus) would be easier for you geographically.

Well, I’ve told you some of the bad. Most of the rest of the bad is linked to in the above thread. There’s also the special hell that is a late/early (finish at 11pm, start again at 7am), working for eight days straight, night duty. There are unpleasant patients and unpleasant tasks - seriously, you will have to clean up buttocks and beds full of faeces, not to mention sputum mugs and trying not to vomit while holding the bowl for some-one who is. The good? Sometimes, you get to make people happy just by doing your job well. It’s nice that people can trust you when they are at their lowest. It’s challenging and interesting and people will amaze you on a daily basis. There’s always something to learn. If you pick your job right, you can have autonomy and with the rise of the Nurse Practitioner role, you may even get a Medicare provider number too.

As I said, I’m in gerontics. I chose it because autonomy is important to me and it’s one of very few specialisations in nursing where you can have that. However, I think things will change very quickly now that Nurse Practitioner is in like Flynn. I’m considering doing the course myself (days too late for this year’s intake, dammit) which would make me only the second Gerontic NP in the state. It’s good to be in a field where I can carve the path, so to speak. Also, even though I’m not a qualified Psychiatric Nurse, I’m quite interested in that field and gerontics gives me lots of exposure to that. It’s a quirk of my personality that I like getting into other people’s realities, if only for a moment, because Lord knows, often their reality is better than mine.

You could glance at the employment section of The Advertiser today though. There’s an agency advertising their rates. While the permanent starting wage for a first year RN might only be $23/hour it would be quite feasible for you to graduate and work for an agency for the rates advertised.

[/QUOTE]

Otherwise, you have an IT background - why don’t you stick where you are and apply to one of the IT sections? Mr Bathsheba entered at APSO4 level with minimal IT skills.

Thanks for your response bathsheba. This is the sort of information I’ve been after.

I’ll be honest, nothing’s 100% decided. Unfortunately I’m not that person who can point to any particular field and go “I’ve always dreamed of working there”. So it’s been useful to get an honest perspective of what it’s like being a nurse and dealing with the situation - especially in Adelaide.

I’ve always been aware of the “icky” sides of nursing. Being in hospital with a husband suffering an intense GI bleed & seeing what nurses do during the days that I was there was a real eye opener. Some days I think I could deal with it, some days I’m not so sure.

Part of the reason I was looking at nursing is because I need to be able to study externally. I can’t afford to just drop everything & go to Uni, not with my husband currently out of work, and nursing was one of the few courses available through open.edu.au that actually caught my interest. But I’ve heard a lot from various sources saying that the UniSA degree via Open Uni isn’t that great, so that’s also given me pause for thought.

I’m feeling a lot in my gut that I do want to go into healthcare in some fashion. I’m tempted by pharmacy, as well as medical laboratory work. But both of those require full-time internal study, which I’m really not in a position to go for right now. I was hoping that with nursing I could study externally, get a job as a nurse and then after a few years and things had settled down, I could then move on into one of the other fields I was looking at and use my prior learning as experience as well.

The other reason I was looking at nursing is the amount of jobs that are available for it in so many areas. If we want to go interstate or even back to the UK with hubby, then at least with those sorts of qualification, work wouldn’t be too hard to find & I could even line it up whilst I was still in Adelaide if necessary.

Unfortunately I’ve had a lot of difficulty getting into the PS. I’m non-ongoing with the ATO, but I only got in because they were accepting anyone who applied for this job. I’ve applied for PS jobs both before and since I’ve started here & haven’t even gotten to the interview stage for any of them.

You have given me a lot to think about though. Thanks for that.

My 2 cents, from the US:
I think you gotta really want to take care of people - that’s the only thing that’ll get you through the sucky parts. You say you have a “gut feeling” that health care is for you - I would second the poster that suggested you work as an aide in a nursing home, even for only 6 months. It’ll give you a real feel for the deepest part of the job. If you can not only handle that, but enjoy it, or get satisfaction from it, then I would say you’d be safe pursuing nursing. It’d be a shame if you did all the schooling then decided you didn’t like it - geez, we see folks like that all the time and they’re not pleasant to work with.
I have always loved nursing. I knew from a very early age that I wanted to do something in the medical field and this has proved very rewarding. I don’t have kids so the hours/weekends have never been a problem for me. I have never had to even think about being without a job. I’m paid pretty well and the benefits are reasonable. I work with great people. I’ve met some amazing people, patients and coworkers. I was an ER nurse for over 20 years and could entertain anyone with incredible stories. There’s a huge variety of jobs out there if I ever got bored with what I’m currently doing.
I do wipe plenty of butts and occasionally get barfed on, put up with astoundingly rotten people (patients, families, doctors, managers); it can be very stressful caring for too many very sick people at once and be expected to perform perfectly. I dunno. At the end of the day, I’m very happy to be home but I think about it and feel I’ve done something positive in this world. That’s a big plus.

Good luck.
Bibby

When I was 18 I joined the Air Force. In basic training, we were given an extensive aptitude test, then we were given a form to fill in our top three job choices. The forms were already filled in when we recieved them, all we were allowed to do was sign them. My top choice was medical. So, I became a medical corpsman.

When I got out of the service I was pregnant, so went home to be a mom for 2 years. I went to work as a nurse’s aid at KU. The nurses I worked with kept on me to go to school, so I did.

When I look back, it seems like I slid down a big slide into my life.

Over the years I worked with some movers and shakers in the business. I worked at the cutting edge in several areas. At the time, it didn’t seem like much, but it was exciting, nonetheless.

My final incarnation was pediatric critical care. I did that for 10 years

We are warned to keep a distance from patients and family to avoid being torn apart. Even so, every now and then, someone sneaks through.
Towards the end I met a little girl that seemed to be a long lost sister. She broke my heart.
After Alice, I saw the pain my patients had to endure at my hand to get well (or not).
Once seen, I couldn’t unsee it. I quit and never looked back. I retired at age 55.

I was 27 when I started nursing school. I had a 2 year old and a husband not much older, emotionally to take care of and a part time job. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA and got the highest State Board scores in the state for that year.

So, if you are strong, and curious go for it.