Why do so many girls choosing Nursing as a career?

[Kaiten]

If I can ask, why are you out?

 

I just recently got out because I want more control over my life. I didn't like the idea of always having someone to report to for even insignificant things.

 

I am currently working on starting my own business, and I suspect that there are many business builders* who are stifling their potential and gifts by being soldiers - as well as nurses.

 

What I have been trying to get to this whole damn thread is that just because a profession is noble (or at the very least viewed as such) does not mean that if you do it then it's worth your time.

 

I think these young people should be told to explore many different options. You people who disagreed with me...You can't all possibly think that there are this many people who feel called to nursing do you?

 

Imagine if everyone wanted to be a school teacher - for just kindergarten. There would be so many areas in society - areas we need - that would be neglected. And we, as humans, would be worse off for it. For one thing, we need people like professors who are trained to challenge more advanced minds.

 

I don't think people dislike that I am talking about nursing so much as they dislike the fact that someone is saying something that most likely no one around them has the balls to say. And that is:

 

We don't need that many damn nurses or even doctors.

 

Do I even need to bring up medical malpractice?

 

And by the way, Elswyth, since I am working on starting a business, it's very possible that I may be an employer.

 

 

*notice I didn't explicitly say "entrepreneurs" just then. So don't be a f#ckhead and say that I implied everyone should be an entrepreneur. I didn't.

[preraph]

Nursing pays way better than most professions for women and jobs are mostly available. Practically speaking it's a solid choice. Most women end up in retail or in admin making not enough money to live on. You genuinely have a bug up about something, and I have a feeling it's not really about nursing.

[Els]

And by the way, Elswyth, since I am working on starting a business, it's very possible that I may be an employer.

 

 

I'm all for entrepreneurs, and it is an interest of my own, but it seems slightly premature to talk about being an employer when you have not even launched your business yet and have no capital. Sure it is 'possible', but it is also 'possible' that these girls you are dissing may turn out to be employers in the future themselves. So the point is moot.

 

Frankly I don't see why you see the need to judge those girls for their life decisions and career choices, when it isn't impacting anyone except themselves. Sure, judge nurses who perform poorly, by all means, as they are harming their patients. But some people are perfectly capable of doing a good job even when they choose it for the reasons that you mention ("I want to help people", especially, I don't see how anyone could find fault with). AND some people who go into nursing with a 'passion!' perform poorly when the reality doesn't match up to their idealism. This also applies to all other professions.

 

There would be so many areas in society - areas we need - that would be neglected. And we, as humans, would be worse off for it. For one thing, we need people like professors who are trained to challenge more advanced minds.

I don't know about where you live, but everywhere I have lived, there is a MUCH greater shortage of nurses than professors. If a large number of people started ditching nursing, healthcare would break down, with severe repercussions.

 

I've never been a nurse and do not ever plan to, but I can appreciate the role that they play. You seem to somehow believe that the profession is unnecessary?

Edited June 27, 2014 by Elswyth

[Lipitor11]

Well, nurses get paid well and that field is high in demand. Although, its not for everybody.

[Harradin]

My friend is a student nurse, she saved my life when I had a unexplained seizure in front of her a couple of months ago, considering all I ever did was tease her all the time I was quite grateful!

 

I spent a couple of weeks in hospital after I had that seizure, and seeing what the nurses had to put up with on a regular basis, they are definitely underrated. I used to think that nursing was a soft option, not anymore

[sweetjasmine]

For one thing, we need people like professors who are trained to challenge more advanced minds.

 

We may need them, but as it stands, becoming a professor is often a fool's errand. I was on that path and quit when I saw how difficult it would have been to find a real job. What's the point in suffering nobly as an adjunct on food stamps when there are other options?

 

We don't need that many damn nurses or even doctors.

 

We do. And we would need more if healthcare were actually accessible for everyone. Ugly things happen when you don't have enough medical staff.

[Kaiten]

Allll right. We need nurses. Who am I to judge. I'm so judgemental. I'm just insecure about everyone being a nurse and I don't get to be one. Nursing is one of the best career choices available right now.

 

Is everyone happy?

 

Not doing this anymore. You ignore the points I make, and infer about things by stretching what I say, looking for "implications".

[Els]

Allll right. We need nurses. Who am I to judge. I'm so judgemental. I'm just insecure about everyone being a nurse and I don't get to be one. Nursing is one of the best career choices available right now.

 

Is everyone happy?

 

Not doing this anymore. You ignore the points I make, and infer about things by stretching what I say, looking for "implications".

 

If you want to start a debate, you have to be prepared to debate. If all you want to do is react emotionally towards people who are responding to your points with points of their own (that YOU ignored, by the way)... why even start one?

[Emilia]

From a British point of view (I'm not a Brit but I live in the UK) I thought some women chose nursing for the same reason as some men picked the military: they come from a lower socio economic background where they can't afford to spend many years in college. You aren't exactly going to get this answer when you ask though, are you?

[Kaiten]

No. You are ignoring what I am saying. I keep saying over and over that my problem is not with nursing. It's with people who choose a "safe" career just for the benefits of having said career. It can be nursing, teaching, the military, law enforcement, or being a lawyer.

 

So again, in case you skipped the above paragraph

 

I do not have a problem with nursing itself. I do not have a problem with the career field nursing.

 

I'm going to make it difficult for even you to ignore, Elswyth.

 

List of things I DO NOT have a problem with

 

1) Nursing

2) Women with ambition

3) A girl with goals

4) my own self-esteem

 

-- end of list --

 

And now,

 

List of things I DO have a problem with

1) People who don't explore all of their options - or at least many

2) People who stifle their real ambitions to choose a safe career - seems more like cowardice to me

3) People who accept whatever they are told at face value and don't challenge anything

--end of list--

 

Now, another thing that bothers me is how people always talk about nursing as if it is this holy grail of jobs that once you get, you can't be let go from or fired.

 

You can be fired from ANY job. Forgive me, but I just don't believe that nursing is the end-all-be-all of jobs. Jobs all have one thing in common, and that is that you can be fired from them. You can fail as a nurse. It's not some safeguard from failure, that if you just stick out your med school and do well for those years, you will be 100% guaranteed a job and never have to worry about losing it.

[Kaiten]

As I said before, no one would defend the career of a McDonald's shift manager the same way they defend nursing. When I ask why that is, and someone responds with "Maybe the reason you attack nursing is because you're just unsatisfied with yourself"

Then I'm not going to entertain it.

[preraph]

^ That's because McDonald's pays about a fourth of what nurses make and you never see anyone older than a teenager there.

 

Everyone's choice is up to them. I pursued my dream an did not choose a safe career, but I made sure I got out and did the dream, which was music business, and didn't just sit around mad at other people who were succeeding in their choices. If I had chosen nursing, I'd still be working in my profession today, whereas the record biz is for younger people. But I have no regrets and now work at my backup, which is mostly a lot of legal typing. Neither of them paid as well as nursing.

[reardon]

List of things I DO have a problem with

 

1) People who don't explore all of their options - or at least many

2) People who stifle their real ambitions to choose a safe career - seems more like cowardice to me

3) People who accept whatever they are told at face value and don't challenge anything

 

Why do you bother yourself to those people? They have their own reason and I believe whatever reason they have it is fair reason to them. Each of us have distinct personality.

[iiiii]

I'm in the medical profession (not with people though!) and our veterinary nurses are great. We simply could not run the practice without them.

 

Nursing is not a soft option - nurses do not get enough credit for the work they do, which is often exhausting, backbreaking, and disgusting.

 

Sure, some vet nurse students get into it for silly reasons, but vet nurses who don't enjoy their work don't tend to stick around. There are many better paying jobs out there that don't involve cleaning up vomit.

 

People who think that nursing is a "safe" job, or a soft option, need to spend a 12 hour shift working in an (animal or human) ER. Round here they would see nurses performing technical procedures like blood draws and IV catheter placements - see nurses comforting suffering animals and hysterical clients - see them on their knees cleaning up blood, urine, pus and diarrhoea - and hear them getting abused by people because they can't fix every animal immediately and for free - and keeping a calm and cheerful attitude the entire time.

 

Spend some time with nurses, and you'll realise how demanding it is to be a good nurse.

Edited July 1, 2014 by iiiii

[sweetjasmine]

Sure, some vet nurse students get into it for silly reasons, but vet nurses who don't enjoy their work don't tend to stick around. There are many better paying jobs out there that don't involve cleaning up vomit.

 

Vomit's easy. I think anyone considering the field needs to spend a night shift with a large dog (preferably extremely hairy) that has HGE.

 

I'm sure this is colored by working in a chronically understaffed place, but in my opinion, sometimes you really don't give a f-ck if the person you're working with is unfulfilled and not in it for the right reasons because you need a body to get this simple task done right now, and if someone has two hands and a brain, they need to get on it. Competence counts, and if someone can hang in there and do their job competently, oh well if they got in it for reasons other than "I love my patients and my job and it's super great and wonderful." Because god knows even those who start off that way don't usually hang on to those feelings long term.

 

Anyway, to address more of what the OP is saying, yeah, in a perfect world everyone would explore every option and figure out what their heart truly desires and do only that and get paid a living wage for doing their fulfilling dream job, but that's a complete fantasy for the majority of working people even in first world countries. I can't possibly fault an 18 year old for trying to go into a "safe" job they're not too passionate about because there really aren't very many options for lots of people. You never know what someone's circumstances really are like, and it's obnoxious to judge someone for not having the privilege of trying out this or that and following their dream of being a curator at the Guggenheim.

[Lernaean_Hydra]

 

And now,

 

List of things I DO have a problem with

1) People who don't explore all of their options - or at least many

2) People who stifle their real ambitions to choose a safe career - seems more like cowardice to me

3) People who accept whatever they are told at face value and don't challenge anything

 

You must be either very sheltered or very fortunate to believe that everyone has the luxury of exploring all their options before choosing a career path.

 

You really seem to be unreasonably agitated by people choosing "safe" careers or going into fields for reasons beyond genuine passion which I find baffling. People have bills to pay and a need to put food on their tables. Wading through life like some hippie trying to find yourself is not going to cut it unless you have a ton of ready cash to support you lifestyle in the meantime.

 

I'm not going to sit here and try to analyze your emotional state because I don't know you and that's really none of my business anyway, but I will say your harping on this subject is a rather fruitless venture. People will do what they like for whatever reasons they like. At the end of the day, you're going to be hard pressed to find many who feel that choosing a field based on perceived lifetime earnings and job security is a negative thing or something to be angry over. Nobody wants to see more people on welfare because of failed ventures and whimsical thinking.

[Rainbowx]

Does me studying to become a veterinary nurse because I love animals beyond measure count as nursing

[Els]

Now, another thing that bothers me is how people always talk about nursing as if it is this holy grail of jobs that once you get, you can't be let go from or fired.

 

You can be fired from ANY job. Forgive me, but I just don't believe that nursing is the end-all-be-all of jobs. Jobs all have one thing in common, and that is that you can be fired from them. You can fail as a nurse. It's not some safeguard from failure, that if you just stick out your med school and do well for those years, you will be 100% guaranteed a job and never have to worry about losing it.

 

Going to respond to this first - yes, you can be fired from any job, and of course there are never 100% guarantees in life. But assuming you do your job reasonably well, there are some fields in which your chance of employment (and keeping your employment) is higher than others. A nurse does have more job security in many countries than an artist or the founder of a startup, or a musician. Now, whether or not 'job security' is a valid reason for choosing a job, we can agree to disagree on, but it's pretty silly to deny that differences do exist.

 

List of things I DO NOT have a problem with

 

1) Nursing

 

This was not what you said in previous posts:

 

What I have been trying to get to this whole damn thread is that just because a profession is noble (or at the very least viewed as such) does not mean that if you do it then it's worth your time.

__

 

We don't need that many damn nurses or even doctors.

 

I know it seems insecure of me. But I don't think "job security" is the most worthwhile pursuit in life. And even if it were why not choose technology? It seems to me (and many other professionals) that technology will eventually be the way to go.

So ARE you specifically bitching about nursing and related health careers, or are you not?

 

As as for this:

 

List of things I DO have a problem with

1) People who don't explore all of their options - or at least many

2) People who stifle their real ambitions to choose a safe career - seems more like cowardice to me

3) People who accept whatever they are told at face value and don't challenge anything

Does not match what you said here:

 

I've heard it dozens of times now.

 

"I love that I will get to help people."

 

When I ask these girls if nursing is their passion they reply - invariably - with a resounding "yes".

 

I've got enough life experience to where I know that if something is your passion, you tend to talk about it a lot. I never hear these girls talking about nursing other than when someone asks them what their major is.

 

It sounds incredibly presumptuous to assume that just because these girls don't talk about nursing all that much with you, their REAL ambitions must lie elsewhere and they must be lying when they said they had a passion for it. Which also disqualifies everything they have said about wanting to help people.

 

You're now backpedaling into a position of "Well I only have a problem with people who just work for the job security" - but your OP says differently. Your points are all over the place. You also clearly, from the posts I quoted, seem to think that 'we don't need that many nurses/doctors' and 'why don't they just go into technology?'. I'll tell you why - because if they genuinely wanted to be a nurse but went into tech just because people like you say they should, they would be doing the very thing that you are complaining about!

 

As for job security and healthcare issues. We DO need that many doctors and nurses; if you have ever been hospitalized or worked in a hospital you would probably realize that we need MORE. Health professionals are slightly understaffed in most developed countries, and severely understaffed in developing countries, where people die every day from treatable diseases. As for job security, as someone said earlier in the thread, you seem to never have been in a position where you would realize how important that is. Lucky for you. Others are not so fortunate.

 

I agree with you on some things - that people should ideally be able to explore their options as far as possible, and do what they really believe in doing, not just what they're told to do. However, realistically this is not a viable option for everyone, and you must be very sheltered if you believe that it is. It also irks me that you somehow cannot accept that some people genuinely believe they should be nurses or that we need nurses, and that it's okay for people to choose careers for different reasons from yourself.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Elswyth

[Emilia]

No. You are ignoring what I am saying. I keep saying over and over that my problem is not with nursing. It's with people who choose a "safe" career just for the benefits of having said career. It can be nursing, teaching, the military, law enforcement, or being a lawyer.

 

So again, in case you skipped the above paragraph

 

I do not have a problem with nursing itself. I do not have a problem with the career field nursing..

You have ignored my previous post.

 

The reason why many women and men choose careers such as nursing or the military is that they don't have the option of going through an expensive education. They will never be lawyers. Not because they are stupid or don't have the imagination or the ambition but because they don't want to get into debt.

 

I can only speak for working classes in the UK but I'm assuming it's not that different in the US: people who have never really owned anything are scared of debt. So even if you don't have to pay back your university education costs until you start earning relatively decent, people are scared of having that debt in the first place. They didn't grow up in a mortgaged housing, they grew up somewhere very cheap or in social housing.

 

So they tend to pick careers that are academically not demanding. For women that's nursing for example. They will never 'explore' options that would require many years in college or 'wife' degrees (like English Language and Literature).

 

This is the reason.

1) People who don't explore all of their options - or at least many

2) People who stifle their real ambitions to choose a safe career - seems more like cowardice to me

3) People who accept whatever they are told at face value and don't challenge anything

Yes it's fear. No nursing does not guarantee a job for life but it's an easily attainable career and a lot of people who are the first in the family to get educated tend to make a safe-ish choice. I also very much doubt they were brought up by their parents to explore options, especially the women. You can bet that many would have been actively discouraged from a more academic career.

[Els]

 

The reason why many women and men choose careers such as nursing or the military is that they don't have the option of going through an expensive education.

___

 

So they tend to pick careers that are academically not demanding. For women that's nursing for example.

___

 

Yes it's fear. No nursing does not guarantee a job for life but it's an easily attainable career and a lot of people who are the first in the family to get educated tend to make a safe-ish choice. I also very much doubt they were brought up by their parents to explore options, especially the women. You can bet that many would have been actively discouraged from a more academic career.

 

Odd. Registered nurses here must have a nursing degree that spans 3 years, which is the same as most other degrees (e.g. law, engineering, etc). Seems like the UK is similar - Nursing in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . This is a much higher academic requirement than joining the military, no?

 

I suppose it might still be a 'less expensive' degree since AFAIK nursing scholarships/bursaries are usually more plentiful than those in many other fields, due to the higher need for nurses.

[Emilia]

Odd. Registered nurses here must have a nursing degree that spans 3 years, which is the same as most other degrees (e.g. law, engineering, etc). Seems like the UK is similar - Nursing in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . This is a much higher academic requirement than joining the military, no?

 

I suppose it might still be a 'less expensive' degree since AFAIK nursing scholarships/bursaries are usually more plentiful than those in many other fields, due to the higher need for nurses.

You can't be a lawyer after a 3-year degree, you have to do your Masters at least. Same for Architects and pretty much any profession. They are also more expensive degrees usually.

 

Nurses and Computer Science guys often only do the 3 years and they have a degree that actually leads to a job because it's vocational. Which is nursing is a path for working class women. Military and computer science are for men though computer science is more comparable to nursing from this point of view.

 

In the UK you don't start paying back your grant until you earn a certain amount so the scholarship thing is not so relevant.

 

Also there hasn't always been the 3 year-degree requirement and there are talks about stopping it again because it is viewed that practical experience for nursing is much more relevant than an academic degree. Which is where it becomes comparable to the military for men.

[Els]

You can't be a lawyer after a 3-year degree, you have to do your Masters at least. Same for Architects and pretty much any profession.

 

Hrm, lawyers here only need a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) academically-speaking - which isn't a Masters but is 4 years instead of 3, my mistake. AFAIK architecture and medicine are part of the very few academically 'long' ones, with some like law and pharmacy taking just 1 year more - even engineering is doable in 3 years nowadays. The vast majority of degrees, taken by the majority of people, take 3 years.

 

Nurses and Computer Science guys often only do the 3 years and they have a degree that actually leads to a job because it's vocational.

I agree with this. I also agree that it makes sense that more working-class folks would opt for such degrees, but I can't see why nursing would be any shorter or less academically-rigorous than most of the others.

 

Also there hasn't always been the 3 year-degree requirement and there are talks about stopping it again because it is viewed that practical experience for nursing is much more relevant than an academic degree. Which is where it becomes comparable to the military for men.

 

Yup, makes sense. But the girls the OP is talking about are going into nursing at this point of time, so the requirement stands at this time.

[Emilia]

Hrm, lawyers here only need a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) academically-speaking - which isn't a Masters but is 4 years instead of 3, my mistake. AFAIK architecture and medicine are part of the very few academically 'long' ones, with some like law and pharmacy taking just 1 year more - even engineering is doable in 3 years nowadays. The vast majority of degrees, taken by the majority of people, take 3 years.

 

I agree with this. I also agree that it makes sense that more working-class folks would opt for such degrees, but I can't see why nursing would be any shorter or less academically-rigorous than most of the others.

 

Yup, makes sense. But the girls the OP is talking about are going into nursing at this point of time, so the requirement stands at this time.

Well clearly the whole thing is pointless because you are discussing NZ, I'm talking about the UK (which I put in the cavaet) and the poster is in the US.

[Got it]

I just recently got out because I want more control over my life. I didn't like the idea of always having someone to report to for even insignificant things.

 

I am currently working on starting my own business, and I suspect that there are many business builders* who are stifling their potential and gifts by being soldiers - as well as nurses.

 

What I have been trying to get to this whole damn thread is that just because a profession is noble (or at the very least viewed as such) does not mean that if you do it then it's worth your time.

 

I think these young people should be told to explore many different options. You people who disagreed with me...You can't all possibly think that there are this many people who feel called to nursing do you?

 

Imagine if everyone wanted to be a school teacher - for just kindergarten. There would be so many areas in society - areas we need - that would be neglected. And we, as humans, would be worse off for it. For one thing, we need people like professors who are trained to challenge more advanced minds.

 

I don't think people dislike that I am talking about nursing so much as they dislike the fact that someone is saying something that most likely no one around them has the balls to say. And that is:

 

We don't need that many damn nurses or even doctors.

 

Do I even need to bring up medical malpractice?

 

And by the way, Elswyth, since I am working on starting a business, it's very possible that I may be an employer.

 

 

*notice I didn't explicitly say "entrepreneurs" just then. So don't be a f#ckhead and say that I implied everyone should be an entrepreneur. I didn't.

 

Not everyone has the wherewithal to go out on a limb like that and gamble on the uncertainty of what you are asking. I think it is great you are, and I have done the same, but not everyone is as daring. There are specific personality types that are more likely to do so than others. That is okay.

 

I was taught by my father, if you only do undergraduate school, major in what will make money, if you go to grad school major in what you like.

 

I was pre-law, English major, as I was planning to go to law school. Short story, things changed, I decided not to go after applying to law schools and bounced around jobs until I landed in the field that I LOVE. I have run my own business, have done lots of different things and now am very successful. But it was not something I thought I would be doing when I was 20 years old. Actually, I am far surpassing what I expected myself to be doing and now my expectations are purely focused at C suite. I like to control and have influence and build. So that is what I do.

 

I get what you are saying, my ex husband is in a very safe job that he has hated but there is security, great pay and benefits. I could never justify the two but he has finally reconciled them. That is up to and on him. We all walk different paths.

[sweetjasmine]

In the US, there are different "levels" of nursing, if you will. Licensed Practical Nurses usually have 2 year degrees (Associates of Science in Nursing), and Registered Nurses usually have 4 year degrees (Bachelors of Science in Nursing). You can also become an RN with just the ASN if you can pass the licensing exam, but I've heard that it's harder to advance without the BSN. Nurse Practitioners have Masters degrees and PhDs. Where I'm at, "nurse" refers mostly to the first two, and people usually call NPs by their full title.

 

From what I understand, LPNs have a more limited scope of practice than RNs and are usually under RN supervision. NPs are able to do most primary healthcare tasks, including write prescriptions and make diagnoses. As far as the degrees are concerned, the BSN is a very rigorous, challenging degree and is just as expensive as any other 4 year degree. The ASN can be done in a community college, so it tends to be much cheaper.