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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by sdjeff on August 17, 2004, at 23:48:20
Hi, all.
Sory I haven't posted in a while. I come to babble nearly every day but I never seem to have anything to say. I've been pretty emotionally
(and physically) drained lately and not in a good position to be a support. However I would like to send some love out to all those who could use it.Anyway, back to the point of my post. I'm tired of low skill low paying jobs. Unless I do something my future looks pretty bleak. I've been doing some research and I think a nursing degree with a specialty in either Psychiatry or Occupational Health would be a good way to go.
I'm applying for SSDI and college would be a way to fill up the oodles of time I will have. after that, if things get better, I will have a good career rather than a crappy mcjob. I'm 26 and have had my fill of crappy jobs.
So if anyone has some perspective on nursing, any caveats I need to know, I would love some input. Also, is anyone here a nurse?
TIA
Posted by Shadowplayers721 on August 18, 2004, at 1:44:37
In reply to Thinking of becoming a nurse, input?, posted by sdjeff on August 17, 2004, at 23:48:20
I am one, but I wish that I chose something else. When you get out of nursing school, perferably 4 year now, they want you to work the floors for experience. Now, most hospitals work 12 hour shifts in my part of the world. Where I worked, they trained you on all shifts. So, I worked a few weeks on each shift day/evening and evening/night. This was to learn the routine. The pay is good, but you do earn it. Now, you may say 12 hours no sweat, for me it was hard. I went in at least an half hour early to review all the patients charts and get my fast reports from the nurse reporting off duty.
I put on my cell phone, so that docs, patients, and patients families could call all during my shift. Bathroom breaks were rare. I ate when I got the chance. People would get sick throwing up, someone was having an MI, someone was coming out of restraints, someone's family member wasn't happy with a menu choice, someone needed a pain pill, etc. I would run up those floors up and down back and forth. I would check my telemetry strips every 2 hours, take vital signs every four and give meds almost every hour some nights. It seemed like someone's IV poll was always beaping.
I tended to dread patients that had a nurse or a doc as a family member. Nothing was good enough. I had one complain about the curtains not being clean and the floor looked soiled. Of course, that meant extra time calling house keeping. In the mean time, a drug addict down the hall was cursing me out for not coming in right on the dot for his meds. All the while, my phone is ringing on my hip, I answer it and a doc is on line for the patient in room 265 rattling off orders and I have no paper in hand. Then another call, 266 is in A-fib and 267 is out of restraints again. It seemed impossible. Everyone didn't want to wait. But, I did my best. Some docs were very intimitating and no other doc or nurse could ever challenge their authority. I saw a many of nurses cry and sleep on the job. Patients constantly threaten to sue you, the doc, or the hospital for the simpliest of things - like not bringing a bringing a food tray right at 11:30 a.m.
If I got out after working 12 hours, that was a good night. Everything went well. No one died and no med changes. But, most of the time, I actually put in close to 13-14 hours. I go home and fall down from exhaustion. I would sleep and then wake to the sound of the alarm and do it again. Usually, I would work two 12 hour shifts back to back and then a few days later another 12. I had to rotate weekends. Actually, they went smoother, because docs tend to discharge a lot on Fridays.
Nursing is not what I thought it was. I thought that I would have time to talk, teach, and feel like I really made a difference. I felt like I was off to the races when I punched in. Now, I worked on a post Cardiac Cornary Unit. I felt like nursing school was a joke. They didn't prepare me for this at all. The showed me the basics and cramed me full of stuff that I couldn't even remember it all. I felt so scared out there with screaming patients, family member and seriously critically ill patients. I felt like everyone on my unit was a person standing on a banana peel. Some patients just don't like you because of the way you look. They may even flirt with you or grab your butt. It's a anything goes type of thing. Some people love it and love the rush of that atomosphere. Not I. I love helping people, but I hated being the target of so much abuse. Mean old men would throw things at me. Alzhemizers patients tried to punch me many times.
I say it's a career for some. There are many different departments - OB, ER, telemetry, Med-Surg, Psych, etc. If you choose it, good luck to you and I wish you well.
Personally, I hope to not have to go back to it.
Posted by pegasus on August 18, 2004, at 14:15:33
In reply to Thinking of becoming a nurse, input?, posted by sdjeff on August 17, 2004, at 23:48:20
Hi Jeff,
I'm not a nurse, nor do I know much about nursing. But I think it's an excellent idea to do some school while you have time. It could only be helpful in the future. And I admire your attitude for considering school a good choice for you now.
My advice is to study something that you really love, even if you don't see exactly what path it will lead you down or the ultimate career that you'll have. Maybe what you love is nursing, maybe it's something else. I did a lot of schooling for my current career (all the way to Ph.D), and none of it was what I loved. So now I'm changing my career. It's a lot harder than if I had followed my heart from the beginning.
pegasus
Posted by jay on August 18, 2004, at 21:45:51
In reply to Thinking of becoming a nurse, input?, posted by sdjeff on August 17, 2004, at 23:48:20
Hi Jeff:
Glad to see you back. I am in the same situation...I don't post a lot...but come here all the time. I wish I could give more.
Anyhow, you should really look over career wise what you want to do. Maybe talk with a career counseller, and tell them of your past. A *majorly* stressfull job is just going to grind you down, so you gotta find a job with a nice medium between stress and satisfaction. Honestly....a *very good* pay cheque can be part of that motivation...but not *all* of it.
I'd strongly suggest you look into the fields of Occupational and Physio Therapy, as they seem to be less stress, with a good prestige and a fairly good income. I am working my way through my choosen field of social work, and it's taxing at times, but if you find the right 'area' of the field, you can make a good living out of it. A BSW is a pretty hot degree to have.
Anyhow...just make sure you do some research before you make your final choice. Keep in mind you have some vulnerabilities and a life-long disability, but that doesn't mean *all* good jobs are off the table.
Let us know how you make out...
Best as always,
Jay
Posted by sdjeff on August 18, 2004, at 23:34:38
In reply to Re: Thinking of becoming a nurse, input? » sdjeff, posted by jay on August 18, 2004, at 21:45:51
Thanks everyone for your input. Gave me a lot to think about. I am leaning more towards the occupational/physio stuff because it seems to be less stressful. I know for instance that a trauma or ER ward would just kill me. Way too much stress. I've been in enough of them as a patient. I could only imagine what the staff goes through.
I got to see how a rehabilitaion ward works when my grandmother went through a bout of pneumonia. nursing in that sort of field seems pretty interesting. It's also a regular 9-5 type of thing, at least in the hospital my grandma was at. I think that this kind of nursing would involve more anatomy, which is something I'm weak on.
as far as psych, I feel that I have more empathy to offer than a "normal" person. However that enviroment has its own stresses that I'm not sure I could deal with.
Well, I've got 2 or 3 years to think about it.
Thanks again,
-Jeff
Posted by Miss Honeychurch on August 19, 2004, at 9:28:33
In reply to Re: Thinking of becoming a nurse, input?, posted by sdjeff on August 18, 2004, at 23:34:38
Jeff,
You say you would have more empathy to offer patients than the normal person. While this is likely true, don't underestimate the toll this constant empathy can take on you. Too much empathy is not a good thing for you! As my T would say, emapthy is way overrated.
Have you looked into physical therapy? I think that would be very fulfilling and probably not as stressful as nursing.
Posted by lepus on August 22, 2004, at 0:36:45
In reply to Re: Thinking of becoming a nurse, input?, posted by Shadowplayers721 on August 18, 2004, at 1:44:37
I have been thinking of taking the same career path sdjeff. I am in the same situation as you as in getting SSDI and trying to find something to get an education in so when I do return to work it is not at some menial job I hate. However, what has been said about nursing here has scared me off a bit. Okay, it has scared me off a lot. I just thought that I am fairly good at the sciences and that a two year degree in nursing might be something I would be able to do. But the stress described is not something I would be able to endure.
I wonder about getting the degree anyway and then just working as a claims reviewer for some medical billing company. I know someone who did that after not being able to practice nursing anymore after she err..."sampled" the medications she was to give to the patients and ended up addicted.
It is just so hard to know what you can do with this disabilty. I know a lot of stress is not something I can handle but at some time I have to be able to support myself better.
It is so scary.
Does anyone have any ideas on what jobs are good for people with mood disorders? I have been thinking about maybe library science as well. I just don't know and get very depressed about it.
Posted by Ilene on August 22, 2004, at 0:48:39
In reply to Thinking of becoming a nurse, input?, posted by sdjeff on August 17, 2004, at 23:48:20
Hi Jeff, it's great to see you back!
This is the end of the thread.
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