For nurses who are working for more than 1 year, do you regret being a nurse?

12 years in and I don't regret nursing. I regret not getting my bachelor's degree sooner and being complacent. There are too many avenues opened to nurses that I didn't feel I could do for whatever reason. I now feel like I have the education, skills, and temperament to achieve anything.

Nursing is a profession that challenge us at all levels. It takes more from us than any other job. I takes time preparing ourselves to have a license and it takes time to become a nurse. The first few years are always the more challenging ones. New things take time. The first year is just a shock experience. There after your world of opportunities will broaden, it is always easier to give up the unknown than the comfortable staff. You will grow and forget about those bad days. It is like everything in life, the more you do it the better/easier it will get.

I have learned to love it, but you have to find the right type of nursing! I've had many friends go directly into the hospitals and HATE it (and almost quit nursing) because our professors convinced them that hospital nursing is the only way to become a "good and skilled nurse." I started out with school nursing and loved it - then I moved on to home health. It presents different challenges, but it's bolstered my G/T/V skills that would have taken me months (if not years) longer in the hospital setting. I recommend you move around and find what's right, even if it's not admired by the rest of the medical community.