So I’m in my first year of nursing and feel really conflicted about it. I want to be able to finish it because I know it has good career prospects. I want a degree that is worth the time and money and actually means something. My family is really pushing me toward it. But the thing is I have no passion for it. I think I like the idea of liking it more than I actually like it…if that makes sense.
I like the feel of being in the lab and using the equipment (we’ve been doing vital signs and I find those pretty interesting).
But next semester I’ll be starting my placement which brings up a conflict…I can’t do intimate body care. The idea of bathing someone disturbs me. I’m weird like that. Also I don’t like bodily fluids and I’m a squeamish person in general (could barely look at the dissection we were doing in anatomy lab, I have a phobia of seeing inner organs and it actually gave me nightmares). I can handle blood but vomit and waste gross me out.
So am I better off switching or is there a way to work around this?
I would start by making an appointment with a person in your college’s career advising office who understands health care careers. There are many other health care occupations other than nursing. Some of them involve running high tech tests, instead of caring for individual patients. You may find one that better fits you, which may be available at your current college or through transferring.
In my experience as a patient, nursing is all about patient care. The times I’ve been hospitalized (far too many for discussion here), the nurses have been the prime contact point. The surgeons did what they had to do, then left. And the nurses made sure I was comfortable, that I wasn’t in pain, that I was given the correct meds at the right time.
If this doesn’t sound like you, then consider speaking to an advisor who can point you to a field that better suits you.
After a person becomes a RN, they shouldn’t have to spend their time bathing patients. A RN"s time is too valuable for that. Nursing Assistants/Nursing Aides do the routine work. However, a RN still needs to be handle all kinds of disgusting situations.
Thanks everyone. I’ll see if I can get in an appointment to talk to someone.