Did you hear that, folks? Your country NEEDS you! So go become a registered nurse, and quick!
Yeah.....right.
I am so incredibly sick of this sort of thing. Johnson & Johnson is running this huge campaign that makes nursing look like some kind of glorious, big bucks job.
I'm sure you've heard of it. The "nursing shortage." It's here, and it ain't leavin'! We need more nurses. We need more nursing schools. We need to import foreign nurses.
Does this all sound familiar? Well it's all lies, dammit. There is no true nursing shortage. There is, however a shortage of RN's willing to work under the horrid conditions that bedside nursing brings. Dangerous patient loads, mandatory overtime, and not enough support from management. We don't need more newbies on the floor, we need better work environments. We need to get the hundreds of thousands of RN's with inactive licenses back into the field that they left. How about better pay, more respect, and ONE (not 3) pathway to achieve RN licensure. Yep, I am only a student and I can already see where the major problems lie in this profession. Yet, I still press on.
It's taken me a damn long time to get into nursing school. It's my passion, and that's why I didn't give up a long time ago. The competition is fierce. The students are catty. And the professors....well....they'll eat you for breakfast. But I love every stinkin' minute of it. I love the fact that out of 600 applicants, I was one that they saw potential in. I love that I am interested in what I'm learning now. I am going to kick ass as a nurse.....yeah....I can just tell. There's some sort of fire inside me that fuels my passion for this profession. I don't know why........and I don't care.
That's why it bugs me to see students picking this major out of their ass. "Hmm...I want to make a decent wage and work 3 shifts per week. Yeah, sign me up for nursing." If you are reading this and you're one of those people who is going into the field for money, prestige, 3 shifts-a-week, etc......stop yourself now. Just STOP it. You won't get far. The coursework is too difficult and time consuming for the average student. People's lives are at stake. Hell, your sanity is at stake.
But, if you want to make a difference in people's lives, enjoy interaction with all walks of life, can deal with the politics of nursing, and don't mind bodily excretions, then by all means.......come along with me on this crazy adventure called nursing school.
1 comment:
You're gonna be a great nurse, I can tell! I just graduated in May with my BSN, I was a traditional student, 4 years of high school, right into 4 years of nursing school, never changed my major, etc, I was the youngest (at 21) to graduate in my class. Anyway, I can remember "mentoring" incoming freshman who were planning on applying to the nursing program and I would ask them "why do you want to be a nurse?" It seemed like a common answer was "it's easy." Right, come talk to me in 2 or 3 years when you're scheduled for 3 8-hour clinicals (after your morning full of classes), ha veat least 2 tests and all your clinical paper work to do in the next 5 days and tell me that it's "easy!" Enjoy the journey though, it's incredible and 100% worth it!
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