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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why would somebody choose a low paying profession like nursing?
You will always be a low income earner and it will take years to pay back your student loans. Unless you have family money and get a free ride from your parents, that is the worst choice

There are other options [/quote]

I am currently an NP with many years of bedside nursing starting in General Medicine, then ICU.

I cannot imagine a better job than being a nurse.

There is something sacred about a profession present at the first breath and the last breath, and through all sorts of challenges in the middle. A nurse is who will teach you how to take your medicines, clean you up when you need it, talk to your family members, cry with you or your family members and sit with someone who is dying. That is why someone goes into nursing. There is no profession like it.

For the entirety of my career, starting in the late 80s, nurses have always moved from Med-Surg to ICU to NP. Back then, there were nurses with minimal to no bedside experience becoming NPs. That was a problem then and continues to be a problem- but on a larger scale now- just due to sheer numbers.

As for the rest of the comments- I guess I am an “old school” NP, with a lot of experience. IMO- you have to be able to walk in a room and tell if someone is sick, immediately. That is a skill cultivated over time. Once you figure out they are sick, you need to figure out why. That takes a lot of time with patients and understanding of normals and abnormals, as mentioned.

As an NP, I know what I don’t know and am quick to ask for assistance and guidance. As a member of the team, caring for a population of patients, it is critical of PAs and NPs to have doctors available to consult. I am lucky, in my current position, to have that.

One thing I would like to mention, is that everyone needs guidance and training, including doctors. In the ICU, in my experience, the nurses are the ones that are going to be the first to notice a change in a critically ill patient. The nurse will tell the doctor. That nurse will anticipate what needs to be done and will be ready to implement what is ordered. It is not rare, that a nurse will guide the intern or resident in a management strategy. A nurse with several years of ICU experience has seen most of these scenarios, many many time. The new intern or resident? Not as much. It is a team, always. Do some doctors not respect nurses? Sure. There is nothing to do with that except continue to take the best care of patients that you can.

In my current role, I do so much that is similar to bedside nursing. Talking to patients about their life, their habits, their stressors, their medicines, their wellness. I am not a doctor, nor do I wish to be one. I truly believe I have the best job out there. I think NPs and PAs have a role to play in the care of patients, to the benefit of a population. I do agree that more time at the bedside is a benefit to all.[/quote]

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