Nurses practicing and not... why did you want to be a nurse? What motivates you to keep being a nurse? If you have chosen to stop being a nurse why?
I was working in a hardware store when I realized that if I ever wanted to earn a decent living I would need to go to school. I thought about what I liked and didn't like about my various work experiences and realized I didn't want to be behind a desk. I also realized I liked helping people and that I wanted my job to make a difference to the world. Lastly, I wanted enough pay to easily support my family and plan for my future. I have been a nurse for 12 years and I love the work, but I don't always like the systems or facilities that I have to work with. It is easy to become overworked and I had to learn to speak up for my own needs or they would get overlooked or ignored. I don't let pay be my main motivator, but I won't work for someone who doesn't value me enough to pay appropriately for the workload I am doing. I also won't continue to work for a company where they work me so much that my home life suffers.
For me after 30 years it is still the rare opportunity to be privy to peoples most
vulnerable moments. It is a place that most people are not allowed and it requires trust.
I was initially directed toward nursing in high school after vocational testing we had in our State showed a stronger aptitude for nursing than teaching. I did a couple of years at Community Collee doing all the sciences and other requirements while on a waiting list for nursing school, which was 2 years of heck, but I made it through. Like lots of people, I started on the overnight shift, and I got married just before finding a job.
Well, I almost didn't stay but I was working with some ladies who were great mentors, and I knew I had no marketable skills to turn to for other work. Thanks to the next set of great mentors, I gained knowledge, skills, and confidence over the next couple of years. I was not a rock star, but I knew what I was doing and generally the patients liked me. Back then, many Ortho/Trauma people were with us for days to months, so it was different than it is now.
Well, over 10 years doing Rehab and Ortho/Trauma was terrible on the body, besides having immune deficiencies so I had to do a worker's rehab program and while there, was sent to check out a group that was doing education and networking monthly for Medical Case Management.
I went to a luncheon/lecture and learned a lot and ran into people I had known at the hospital, including my former Manager. I got involved as a participant in that group and also went to other lectures with a group I met there.
I was hired for my 1st Case Management job from an announcement at the Case Management group's luncheon by someone who was not a regular participant. I have been a part of the group since, and I have been on the Board of Directors for over 20 years, and I have been a Case Manager for over 30 years. I still love working with the patients/members, helping troubleshoot issues or just providing education. It is the ton of documentation (hours) that is discouraging.
My job history as a Case Manager - 2.5 years at that 1st job (many changes); 2.5 years at a national insurance carrier (2 mergers and buyout); a year doing a project with disabled Medicaid members locally; then 15 years with a regional insurance carrier, mostly with a local subsidiary; I went back to school for my BSN in 2009 - working from home and online classes at night, so I could get Supervisor positions; I was hired as the Supervisor by a former Manager at another regional insurance carrier that was very small - got huge with the ACA so I was madly hiring and training Case Managers for 2.75 years, then a year as a Case Manager with the Medicaid population through the new Community Care Organization (ACO in other places); then a 1 year as a Supervisor with another Medicaid program; then 6 months as a Supervisor at another insurance carrier that was gearing up locally, and 2.5 years as Case Manager, doing Transition of Care, Complex and Transplant Case Management until COVID. My position was eliminated that summer; 2 short temp positions and 2 surgeries; and finally (after 10 months of looking), a WFH Case Management position for a company developing a kidney health program. I am working my tail off until I figure out how to financially manage retirement.
