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Original poster

Nurses would you choose to nurse if you had your time again?

91 replies

Hairytangerine · 30/10/2018 20:54

Ward manager here, qualified 20 years. Really struggling. Feel role hardest it’s even been. People are really unwell. No rescources,

Just can’t see a way out, no side step that I can see.

Would I choose to nurse again? Probably not 😩

OP posts:
RoxytheRexy · 30/10/2018 21:07

Nope. Worked as an ITU nurse for 10 years.

1 toddler and a baby on the way. With childcare costs I’m stuck working opposite shifts to my DH for the next 5 years at least.

Then I’ll think about changing but trapped at the minute. Our department is currently 30 staff down. Staff regularly cry at how awful it is

FaithInfinity · 30/10/2018 21:16

I said to DH the other day that it’s somewhat ironic - I sort of wish I’d never I’d never done nursing, but if I hadn’t, I’d always have wished I’d done nursing. I think I’d have been happier as an OT. CBA to retrain and start again now though.

eyestightshut · 30/10/2018 21:18

I have been nursing for 22 years. Done a variety of roles, in different specialties and now a Clinical Nurse Specialist. It's my first great love. I live and breathe it, and if I am honest it comes before everyone and everything else in my life; husband and kids included. However seeing how things are going; the development of Nurse Associate roles, and the push towards making it more of either an administrative/managerial role or Mini Doctor means i would never recommend it - it's no longer nursing as I know it.

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agedknees · 30/10/2018 21:24

Absolutely not. Retired now after nearly 40 years nursing. Back knackered. Knees knackered ( no hoists in my early nursing years). Anyone remember the illegal Australian lift we where taught in nursing school?

Staffing levels/patient dependency at critical levels now. I really feel for those young nurses. So hopeful, not yet ground down by the job.

heiheithechicken · 30/10/2018 21:25

Nursing isn't what it used to be. It's all about people sitting in offices. I love my patients but the role itself now ... not so much. For the amount of work and heart and soul we put in. I think we get a raw deal.

thenightsky · 30/10/2018 21:28

I wasted a good few years nursing before I saw the light and found something else to do. If I had my time again I'd be an OT.

Anyone remember the illegal Australian lift we where taught in nursing school?

^^Yes... and knackered my back which bothers me still 40 years later.

Owletterocks · 30/10/2018 21:28

Nope been qualified for 17 years now and would definitely not want to do it again. It’s too hard, too stressful and awful for family life. Money is crap as well but too late for me to retrain as anything else, wouldn’t be able to afford it either.

DaffydownClock · 30/10/2018 21:29

No way.
Retired after 40 years and like agedknees my body's knackered with severe heart failure diagnosed just to finish me off ☹️
I wish I'd gone for Forensic a Science but my DPs refused to support me through university.

Ohyesiam · 30/10/2018 21:31

Yes, but I quit before kids with only myself to think no about .

I remember the outlawed Australian lift, who thought that was a good idea?

Stompythedinosaur · 30/10/2018 21:35

No I wouldn't.

Actually I enjoy my current job as a Specialist Nurse, but I wouldn't be a newly qualified nurse right now for anything!

Also some of the things I've experienced in the last 15 years on mental health wards have really changed me.

agedknees · 30/10/2018 21:36

Maybe all of us with knackered backs from the Aussie lift should sue.... Now there’s a thought.

kateclarke · 30/10/2018 21:37

I’ve been qualified for 8 years and work in intensive care.

It’s harder than it’s ever been, but I feel it is what I was put on this earth to do, and love it more than ever.

StealingYourWiFi · 30/10/2018 21:37

Probably not! I would've stuck to my original plan in IT - I quit halfway through A Levels as I didn't want to work in an office. My office is now the operating theatre and I love it but not the politics alongside it.

Original poster
Hairytangerine · 31/10/2018 02:14

I really feel for current students, I just don’t think I would pay to be a nurse and come out to a job earning 21-22k with no enhancements and a lot of stress!

OP posts:
Napssavelives · 31/10/2018 02:33

I wouldn’t. Qualified 8 years, I want out

Isadora2007 · 31/10/2018 03:25

I’m reading with interest here. I am considering a masters in mental health nursing next year. Am
I going to regret this??

Birdie69 · 31/10/2018 03:45

Isadora2007 depends on what you are going to do with your masters . Mental health nursing requires more than your degree is going to give you - are you up for the challenge ?

Jules856 · 31/10/2018 05:52

Do any of you plan on moving into the new physicians assistant role? My SIL is training to be one and I've been a bit Hmm about it as surely it will close off some of the career progression to nurses, such as clinical nurse specialists.

Weenurse · 31/10/2018 05:58

I love my job and it does come before family generally. But after 30 years I am falling apart and am glad I am in a specialist role.
I do not recommend it for family and life balance reasons.

ThursdaysChildHasFarToGo · 31/10/2018 06:08

After 12 years qualified I hung up my hat earlier this year and didn't renew my registration. After returning to a specialist nurse role with long on calls, unsociable hours and lots of stress after maternity leave it just wasn't worth it anymore. We knew we wanted to try for a second dc and I feel genuinely lucky that I can stay home with them. I won't miss birthdays or Christmas, or even weekends. I won't be checking emails from home trying to juggle part time working.
I'm proud of what I achieved in my career, dual trained, degree, specialist role and specialisation but I don't miss it one bit.
I would like to work again one day but not within nursing. I found it so undervalued, even on a relatively good salary and the politics wore me down completely. It's very sad really.

Harrykanesrightsock · 31/10/2018 06:31

I have read a thread similar to this before. It worries me that my DD has her sights set on a nursing career.

CPParenttoDD1234 · 31/10/2018 06:52

This is so sad to read

I’m a nurse of 14 years. I totally love the profession and after being made redundant 20months ago I vowed never to return to nursing. The truth is I have nothing else that give me the satisfaction of nursing. I LOVE it. I absolutely love being a nurse. I look forward to my days. I love helping families. I love making a difference. I love that every day is different.

Yes the money is rubbish. In fact I’m earning less that I did 10 years ago which is totally wrong. The constant government changes doesn’t help. We are stretched to breaking point. We are disrespected and a lot are miserable. But I love that I can make a difference. And it’s my passion.

I have a family and I’ve mossed birthdays and Christmas’ but I’ve given children and families love and great care and I would pick nursing again!

Original poster
Hairytangerine · 31/10/2018 06:59

I get so sad that I feel like this but I just don’t know how I can go on

OP posts:
Sipperskipper · 31/10/2018 07:13

I’m a Macmillan Palliative Care nurse specialist in an acute hospital. I don’t have half the pressure and stress that I did as a ward nurse. I’m lucky enough to spend as much time as I need with patients and families. The role is so interesting and varied - lots of teaching & education, research / audit as well as a lot of direct clinical work.

I’ve been back from maternity leave for 6 months, working part time, and it is working really well for us. I would really, really be struggling if I was still working mixed, exhausting shifts on a ward.

I was at breaking point as a ward nurse, and it has just got worse in recent years. I honestly think the ward manager / senior sister role is probably one of the hardest, most thankless nursing jobs.

WonkyDonk87 · 31/10/2018 07:16

Only qualified for 8 years, been with the trust for 12. Would actively encourage any children of mine against a career in nursing. Frustrated at poor decisions in senior management appointments, awful leadership on the wards and the move towards risk averse decision making even when it flies in the face of NICE guidelines/common sense. But, I'm stuck here now and have no idea what I'd do otherwise. Love the clinical work I do with patients, but my time with them is squashed further and further by having to do meaningless bean counting.

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