Is nursing a good career field to get into? Should I sacrifice my mental health, free time...

>interest in the medical field
I'm sure nurses are just a customer service job with medical knowledge.
My impression of nurses are that
>Too Stupid / Failed to be actual doctor
>a secured job that unless you causes patients to die, you can pretty much find a job in any area of any country
>tired as fuck job that have unreasonable working hours/shifts
>Have to deal with people that thinks "I paid, so i deserve good service, you peasant nurses!"

I can really only give you the perspective of a third year, Canadian student, not a full-fledged nurse, but I assume it's pretty similar to the US.

At the end of the day, in terms of nursing schools, every single school that is (accredited) by your province/state's 'College of Nurses' is fine. Your goal is to write the NCLEX-RN exam (nurse certification exam) and pass. So, the best place to do it is the cheapest (in state school vs ivy league)

Despite all this, every school is different interms of the courses they offer.

Every nursing school will teach you anatomy, microbiology, and put you in un-paid co-ops called clinicals or placements.

The only difference, is the electives. Some nursing schools will feed you semesters of liberal studies, and some nursing schools expect you to take 1 year of physics, 2 years of biology, 1 year of organic chem, and 1 year of math (linear algebra and calculus). You should look into curriculums, and see what people say about that specific school.

Anatomy is all about memorization, however, it really helps if you actually understand the material. You will have to understand nursing. Grasp the concept of it. I can't tell you whether or not you'll succeed, because I don't know you that well and I don't know your strengths. However, the majority of people who go into nursing school are chicks who love to get dick and party every weekend, so as long as you have an interest in it and motivation, you'll do fine.

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(2/2) bc I guess Jow Forums has a text limit
I would recommend buying a used anatomy textbook, not the most recent edition, but a previous edition, or torrenting one. This appears to be the publisher's most recent one for my school, but I'm sure you can find like edition #4 or something on Craigslist or just torrent it. Don't buy recent editions until you get in. But just pre-read, so you're not completely fucked.

amazon.com/Human-Anatomy-Physiology-Marieb-Standalone/dp/0321927044/ref=lp_491704_1_3/131-0471152-5334061?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523325354&sr=1-3

AS for the army, I can't really give any opinion on that since you're American, in Canada, you do your schooling first, and then sell your soul to the military for twice the amount of years you went to school for, and start off as an O-3.

Nursing is great because you can just be a paramedic if you get bored, but paramedics can't be nurses

New grad nurse here. Go into it if you have a calling or passion for it, if you go in it for the money you will fail or make everyone around you hate you. Takes 3-5 years (prerequisites + graduation + work). Tt's a field with a lot of potential for growth, movement, etc.

You usually only work 3 x 12 hour shifts, make a middle class income (in most states), and can easily make double the average wage (of your geographic location) after 3-5 years. At first it will be both physically and mentally hard but after a while the only thing that will to you are either intense patient workloads (demanding patients or family members) or volatile staff dynamics (incompetent or egotistical doctors and/or nurses.)

Nurses run the hospital. Nurses correct doctors all the time on the prescriptions they give. Nurses aren't stupid though. You make it sound like job stability is a bad thing? Nurses can work 34-44 hours a week, while doctors do 80-120.

A few nurses will actually apply to medical school after working for a few years, and fly through medical school because of prior knowledge.

I will not lie though, nurses who get masters are people who did not get into medical school. MscN or "Nurse Practitioners" allow nurses to do anything a psychiatrist, a family doctor, or a pediatrician, except for cheaper.

Nurses who get their MSCN - CRNA are basically anesthesiologist's assistants, making 160-210k a year, and the nursing unions are pushing to let CRNA's work without the need of an anesthesiologist babysitting them.

Nursing unions are pushing the government into giving them more powers. It's a great time to be a nurse.

Thanks a ton for the info, user. Definitely going to check out the textbook and try to get a head start on understanding how the human body functions and some basic anatomy.

In case anyone is interested in commissioning into the U.S military via a speciality (nursing, physician, etc), this can either be done via programs such as ROTC (simple Google search will help you research options your school offers) or you can get into desired field, gain experience working, and then commission via a specific officer recruiter. Rank you will go in as will vary based on your experience and state of world affairs/ how badly military needs you.

Don't buy this specific textbook. Like I said, every school uses a certain textbook, and by the time you get in, if you buy this textbook, there may be a 12th edition.

This is just a textbook I recommend, it goes really in depth. I would just buy 6th+ edition from ebay for like $20. I'm pretty sure Amazon sells edition #8 for like $30.

If you have no anatomy experience what so ever, I would start by watching some crashcourse biology

Thanks for the info. I think I'm really going to make the jump.

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Nah. You make money off of being a nurse but it’s really mundane. If you want to go into the medical field but still want to have a life become a general practioner. Or a pediatrician.

Nurses can work in emergency rooms and operating rooms.

You're saying that a trauma nurse is more boring than a doctor who sees sick kids for 8 hours a day?

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Got it, user. I understand this field is constantly changing/ getting updated, so I'll be sure to do my research when buying a textbook.

This field isn't really changing though. The only difference between edition 11 and 12 is, maybe the author added a more detailed picture, and added a textbook. Textbook companies update editions because they don't make money when people buy used books.

Nursing textbooks are a scam. As long as they're within the last 5-7 years, the textbook is fine.

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This sorta. I’m a nurse currently going for higher education. The only reason I didn’t go to medical school was I simply couldn’t afford it and didn’t want to take massive loans. It seems to be the same case for a few of my younger colleagues. As for the knowledge extent I’d for sure say a doctor will know more out of school than a new nurse but a nurse with a few years under their belt will usually be as educated on procedures/medications just from outright experience (Surgeons being the exception). It all really does come down to the motivation to learn and experience. I know some doctors that honestly seem pretty uneducated compared to some of their nursing staff but it just varies person to person.

Is it a specific type of nurse that has no free time or something? My neighbor is a nurse and seems to only work a few long days a week and must get a bunch of days off or something because she is constantly traveling. Like.. trip out of country every 3rd weekend or something. And I always heard nurses get a lot of time off elsewhere on the internet.

tell me more about Harvard Nursing School

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Nah. I worked in an ER for ten years as a receptionist. Nursing is extremely stressful. You deal with shitty people all day and work with stressed coworkers 24/7.

If you're determined to go into the health field pick Dental Hygiene instead.

Nurses still only work the standard hours everyone else does. It’s just some rare intstututions have not enough staff so they overwork them. Ususally they’ll work 3-4 12 hour shifts a week. But most nurses I know have two jobs sometimes 3 if they work 8 hour shifts one place and 8 at another. They’re just workaholics and I think it just come with the territory. If you like patient care and want to see patients get better you’ll spend more time there. Legally I think the limit (US wise) is now 80hours per week and used to be 100. The idea probably simply comes from the legal issue of hospitals. During a state of emergency staff can’t leave (Severe weather) due to a lot of patients coming in. And then if someone calls out on short notice they can’t just not take care of those patients so sometimes nurses will stay hours over until someone else can make it in. I’ve heard mention of a nurse that had 126 hours overtime in one paycheck (biweekly) though that was that nurses choice to work that much and most places wouldn’t let that happen since he was probably paid over $6000 for that paycheck

Where I work at it's tough as shit, no one wants to stay/work. Because of this, the hospital is happy to give people over time so they will pay nurses as much as doctors after the 3rd shit - some people are doing 5-6 12 hour shifts,

What are the other options reasonably available to you?

Totally need more nurses all over. Good career choice but not the stress and debt of doctors. ER, ICU, oncology, radiology/ imaging, peds, psych (that is tough) - and many other sub specialities. It is a good choice with fair pay (great pay if you do float/ fill in).

>Is nursing a good career field to get into? Should I sacrifice my mental health, free time, and overall happiness to put 100% of my focus towards school?
Can you handle the smell and texture of fecal matter? How about vomit or intestinal fluids? Think of the worst smell and texture you've ever experienced, and consider if that's something you want to be a part of your day from time to time.

Nurses do the dirty work. Bedpans, shaving, cleaning up, etc. It's not all day every day mind you. But it's a big part.

My problem with being a nurse would be that you have to be around sick people all the time and it sucks

I would agree to this but keep in mind people do just stop being bothered by some stiff. I was grossed out by urine and especially poop when I started nursing now I clean up colostomy bags without care

>tfw no qt black nurse gf to have your mutt babies
Why live