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“Oh Crystal Ball of Nursing Knowledge, tell me what a future in nursing holds if I decide to stick it out in this school, endure clinicals, study for rigorous tests and basically put my rear end into hock with the government! Oh tell me truly, will I be rich—and famous!—if I stay in school and promise to be a good girl or boy?”
If only it were that easy. If only you could look into a crystal ball/see a tarot card reader/flip to the Nursing Job Forecast Station/read tea leaves and find out exactly what you have in store when you graduate from nursing school. No one knows for sure what the future holds in nursing. Sure, just about anyone will tell you that nursing is a stable job. I mean, where there is injury, hurt and disease, nurses will have a job. However, it isn’t always as cut and dried as that. Nursing is surprisingly recession-resistant, but it isn’t exactly recession-proof. Some new grads may find things a little more difficult than they anticipated.
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I was a nurse in the 80′s and 90′s. It was a hard thankless job at times, but I loved working with patients. Loved seeing people get well. Wanted nothing but to do a good job. Nursing in those days was undermined by beliefs that nurses are their own worse enemies. We go after each other over piety issues. We drag all of our drama from home to work. I did not subscribe to that way of thinking. Sorry to say it was the people in the profession that finally drove me out. I went from hosp. to home health. Same issues different setting. I pray things will change for the coming generations who choose NSG as a profession. There is enough stress in that job. Time that nurses lookout for each other. Good luck to all.
LPN
Licensed Practical Nurse
I have been an LPN for more than 20 years, have been unemployed for 8 months. Other than ped. in home care, NO ONE is hiring. My advice to LPN students: if you can afford it, go get your BSN! I regret not pursuing a BSN, but didn’t have the money to do so and still don’t!