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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]come on nurse poster---stop making nursing seem like rocket science.  It's anything but.

I went to nursing school after getting a biology undergrad degree and was BORED OUT OF MY MIND with nursing.  Following doctor's orders day in and day out and not making ANY of my own decisions outside of maybe tritrating medication drips was mind numbing.  Sure, I liked the patient education part of things (and would sit with patients and their families for hours) and I agree I was the "eyes and the ears" of the physician and saved many a young physician's ass but ultimately you could have trained a robot to do my job.  I lasted 4 years as an inpatient nurse--and yes, I was at Hopkins--in the MICU, CCU and the ER.  
The most frustrating part of nursing to me was that I received about 1/10th of the education of the physicians I worked with.  I had a really desire to understand what was happening and all I had been given in nursing school was a very superficial understanding.  I LONGED to take a medical school level class.  My husband is a physician and his understanding of the human body was (and is) light years above mine.  I took a graduate level nursing anatomy class as Hopkins and it was more of the same.  Crappy survey without any real depth.

After about 8 years total in nursing I left, got a law degree and now actually feel challenged at work.  It's not for everyone but I love the opportunity to think and write and use my brain.[/quote]

NP here and happily a RN:  I'm glad you are happy.  There is no reason you couldn't have gone on to pursue specialized work in your field and study harder in nursing, but I would agree that people with your mindset aren't able to deal well at the bedside.  We had a bunch of "career change" lawyers on the floor about 5 or so years ago and they were hopeless---completely inadequate with patients, unable to manage a normal patient load without meltdowns, and lost their shit on a regular basis.

Nursing isn't rocket science but neither is law:  you just wear fancier clothes when you are a lawyer and I'm willing to bet that you work a hell of a lot more hours too.  You have clerks and assistants that do all the real work and you just sign off on it.  Some of us actually like real work that makes an actual difference in people's lives.  And not making decisions?  You needed a better union, is all I can say.   We have real autonomy and exercise it.[/quote]

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