Any nurses here?

Thoughts_Arrive

I am thinking of trying nursing as a career.
I am freaked out by needles and dead bodies however, I'd need to overcome these fears.
Plus I am not working nightshifts would be good for my mental health.
Anyone here a nurse? How do you find it?

RKCNDY

ErnieVedder is a nurse

FoxyRedLa

I used to be in healthcare. I worked as a CNA - was in my clinicals when I dropped and persued my current career.

My experience would be your happiness might depend on where you work....home care, nursing home, or hospital. You have the same shitty coworkers no matter. If you can/want traveling nurse is awesome and pays the best.

You will deal with all kinds of walks of life.

oceaninmyeyes

I am, and have been forever. I have worked OB, oncology, home care and urgent care. I am currently working as a tutor for nursing students at a community college. I would consider working as a CNA. Let's you get a good look at some of the work nurses do, and definitely puts you ahead of nursing students who don't have those experiences. Feel free to send me a pm if you like. And best of luck!

Thoughts_Arrive

Thanks for the replies.
I had to Google CNA as we use different terms here in Australia.
I think CNA would be equivalent to an Enrolled Nurse (EN) and requires a diploma.
A RN (Registered Nurse) requires a degree.

Hobbes

I am not a nurse, but have spent far too much time in hospital rooms. Not as a patient, but as a loved one. Nurses are incredible people and have all of my respect. Good luck to you, OP. It is a noble profession. Thank you to all the nurses out there.

brianlux

I don't think anybody has a natural affinity for needles and dead bodies, Thoughts. I think it's something you just get used to with repeated exposure. I used to hate needles until I started getting allergy shots and after a while it became no big deal any more. We went to a nursing home one time because a friend who was overseas heard her mother had died. The friend wanted us to go for her to see her mom. I was really freaked out but once we got there and I saw her I was how peaceful she looked it didn't bother me at all other than being sad.

My brother-in-law was a nurse for many years. He's gone now, but he loved his work and stayed at it a long time.

Nursing is one of the few very important jobs that exist along with counseling, farming, teaching, motherhood and a few others. There's a great quote about that somewhere in one of my books but I can't find it.

Annafalk

It really is a job where you will feel appreciated but it's also sometimes hard and stressful.
A good thing is that it's very wide with so many different areas of health care you can work with.
I now work with dialysis and it's ok. I really wish you good luck, we need more men working as nurses, it's great that you are interested!

Thoughts_Arrive

Thank you all for your replies.
Yeah there is an unfair stereotype that a male nurse is gay.
I was thinking working in mental health as a nurse in mental health facilities.
I am just not sure how I will cope working rotating shifts as working nightshift is bad for you I read, plus it is not ideal if you have a metal illness like I do.
I can't see any other options that interest me, I certainly don't want to go back to an office job and I tried and failed at other jobs. Being unemployed sucks, I would feel better about myself going back to university for 3 years to become a nurse, even if getting motivated to get back into full time study is a challenge. It might be too late for me to enrol now for first semester 2016, but I don't want to rush into anything yet.

oceaninmyeyes

Thoughts_Arrive said:

Thanks for the replies.
I had to Google CNA as we use different terms here in Australia.
I think CNA would be equivalent to an Enrolled Nurse (EN) and requires a diploma.
A RN (Registered Nurse) requires a degree.

A CNA is a certified nursing assistant in the US. I had a few weeks of training at a big hospital, and they assigned me to a neurology floor, when I was 17. My job duties included taking vital signs: blood pressure, pulse, respirations, and temperature, moving patients, helping patients to bathe, changing bedsheets, delivering and picking up food trays, recording fluid intake and emptying tubes. Some hospitals and care homes here still offer this training and will reimburse you for the class if you work for them. You would work along side a nurse as part of the medical team and really be able to see if it is for you.

I believe an enrolled nurse in Aust., is similar to an LPN (licensed practical nurse) here. LPN's can pass and administer medications, and do treatments like wound care, amongst other things. At the school where I work, nurse aide training takes 4 - 10 weeks depending on how often you wish to attend class, and requires 3 full clinical days. After 1 year in full-time nursing school, you can take the LPN board exam. RN is two full-time years. Nurses are encouraged to continue to a 4 year school and complete their degree, but currently it is not required. I did my two years of prerequisites first, while working as a nurse assistant, so that when I got to the nursing program, taking vital signs was a piece of cake, while my fellow students were stressed about taking a blood pressure. I see this in my students as well. Those who are currently employed in the field don't stress over basic care techniques and the one student, who doesn't have a green card to work in this country, does, simply because she doesn't have the hours of practice that the others do.

In my nursing class there were 5 male students. I have one that I am working with right now, although there are quite a few in the program. I have a nurse co-worker whose husband is a nurse anesthetist, and their son is a nurse as well. I have another male nurse friend who did work in mental health care and really liked working with teenagers.

Check out http://allnurses.com/nursing-student/ and http://nursingcrib.com/news-blog/five-5-positive-aspects-of-a-nursing-career/

2-feign-reluctance

Wouldn't be worried so much about the needles, it's the coursework you should consider. I work at a college and we have a 4 year nursing program. By far the most people coming through our counseling center are the nursing students. The course work, exams, etc., are brutal. Talk with an academic advisor at the school you're thinking of and make sure you get a thorough understanding of the academic rigor ahead...

oceaninmyeyes

2-feign-reluctance said:

Wouldn't be worried so much about the needles, it's the coursework you should consider. I work at a college and we have a 4 year nursing program. By far the most people coming through our counseling center are the nursing students. The course work, exams, etc., are brutal. Talk with an academic advisor at the school you're thinking of and make sure you get a thorough understanding of the academic rigor ahead...

Agreed. That is why I am tutoring first year students.

oceaninmyeyes

Annafalk said:

It really is a job where you will feel appreciated but it's also sometimes hard and stressful.
A good thing is that it's very wide with so many different areas of health care you can work with.
I now work with dialysis and it's ok. I really wish you good luck, we need more men working as nurses, it's great that you are interested!

Annafalk, you are a nurse? I should have known.

Annafalk

oceaninmyeyes said:

Annafalk said:

It really is a job where you will feel appreciated but it's also sometimes hard and stressful.
A good thing is that it's very wide with so many different areas of health care you can work with.
I now work with dialysis and it's ok. I really wish you good luck, we need more men working as nurses, it's great that you are interested!

Annafalk, you are a nurse? I should have known.

Thanks, I didn't know about you being a nurse either, cool
I really feel that all the patients I've met has given me something all the meetings has affected me in some way.

ldent42

I would also suggest looking into stuff like speech pathology and physical or occupational therapy (in Aus I think I'd called physio) since you're in the similar vein of helping people, in a medical field, but without as much of the bodily fluids and overnight hours you're worried about.

oceaninmyeyes

Annafalk said:

oceaninmyeyes said:

Annafalk said:

It really is a job where you will feel appreciated but it's also sometimes hard and stressful.
A good thing is that it's very wide with so many different areas of health care you can work with.
I now work with dialysis and it's ok. I really wish you good luck, we need more men working as nurses, it's great that you are interested!

Annafalk, you are a nurse? I should have known.

Thanks, I didn't know about you being a nurse either, cool
I really feel that all the patients I've met has given me something all the meetings has affected me in some way.

Definitely

FoxyRedLa

Ahh yes I forgot. Healthcare is a 24/7 job. Weekends and holidays.

Thoughts_Arrive

Thank you for your replies :-)