In your experience so far, is being a nurse worth it? (Considering the pay, stress, odd hours, etc.)
I practiced for 21 years, 18 of those years in pediatrics, and 3 years in adult psychiatric nursing. My positions definitely included stress, the kind that went along with the territory, and a great deal of stress during the latter half of my career due to unique staffing issues.
I say all of this, to then say, absolutely yes, being a nurse is definitely worth it!!
I guess it depends on your heart. I've done this for 39 years, and yes it is worth it!
Absolutely worth it. You can make it a career, get benefits, and change to a different type of nursing - hospital, community or insurance agency. I love community nursing and am a nurse case manager that also attends a lot of population health meetings. I work in the behavioral health field and love it. My first career was as a dental hygienist and I still practice part-time. I became an RN because I could find work full-time and have more of a career type job. I love people and community style of nursing work.
Not for me. It was between graphic artist and RN. I chose RN because I knew it would be steady income. Next life I will choose graphic artist:)
I loved being a critical care nurse. It provided me a good life. It was stressful and I worked 12 hr shifts, but I think it was worth it. I’ve been a nurse since 1984.
Being a nurse you have the ability to make a positive interaction with patients, use your skills to develop ways to help patients regain their health, you learn something new every day. And just the recognition from the patients and their families is more motivating than any pay rate you will receive. This is after 45 years of experience. You will always receive payback in a smile and a hug!!!
I have never once regretted my decision to become a nurse.
Nursing is my third career. I love it. As with any job, it’s what you make of it. You can strive to be better than you were the day before or you can be a slug that just breathes and collects a paycheck. Depends on you.
If we could answer this anonymously, I would state my honest opinion. But since we can't, it's a no go
There are pros and cons to everything - there are people who leave nursing to go into teaching or something else, and there are people who were doing something else then go into nursing (one of the charge nurses where I work used to be in supply chain management). There is stress in every job, it's just a different sort of stress. The big advantage in nursing is that you can do many different things and work in nursing until you don't know which way is up. It's also a great feeling to know you made a difference in someone's life, whether at the bedside or behind the scenes or even just giving allergy shots.
Being a nurse can be very stressful but if you are in it for the right reasons, because it is a calling, then you will find joy and reward despite the trials and tribulations and you can have a very fulfilling career.
No, it's not worth your mental and physical health with all the patient lifting and lack of support by your administrators. They keep overworking nurses and then say you still are not doing enough. It's hell. I would rather be on food stamps and broke than being a nurse and I have a BSN from a top university!
Yes. 100
I worked as a nurse for 19 years 15 in ER 5 in LDRP, I have now been an NP for 1 year… nursing was a great career for me and honestly I liked it better then NP, I do however regret going on to NP school, the pay and working conditions this far have been poor
