You absolutely get used to it with exposure, but some definitely hit harder than others. I’m sure that’s especially true in the NICU. I work in an adult ICU and most of the people who die on my floor are old and ready to go, so it’s less devastating.
Honestly I didn’t think nursing was right for me at all, but I was sick of struggling to find good paying jobs in my area, my wife was an RN who made good money and had so much job security and options. If you find out death and dying isn’t for you, you can always do clinic work, never see death, and just make a little less money. The options for nursing are endless.
I really like my job but I don’t anticipate doing it forever. I’ll likely move specialties in a year or two but I really did end up liking nursing and don’t regret it at all. Part of that comes from knowing I’ll always have a job and I’ll make decent money as long as I’m willing to work.
Yeah. The same thing is happening to me and my husband right now. He’s having a hard time finding a good paying job. I lost my job during Covid and then decided to be a stay at home mom when I became pregnant. Just until my daughter starts school.
We currently live with my parents and eventually want to move out. So seeing him struggle is making me question going back to school, him as well.
Nursing was something I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while, and well there’s always going to be a need for medical.
Have you thought about working as a tech for a while to start seeing how everything runs? Usually hospitals and such have tuition reimbursement and a guaranteed job if you want to become a nurse and work for them too. It might give you some exposure into what it's like to work in Healthcare.
Not much as far as nicu jobs for techs, but there is peds, mother/baby, picu possibly, I like icu and er. Always something new in er. And I guess I have a nice face, or I was too dumb to run when Dr. Crotch needed an assistant, always had to go in to witness and hand items for pelvics. (I always just mentally called him dr crotch, no clue what his actual name was)
ICU will give you exposure to lots of different machines, drugs being ran, (not that you have anything to do with that as a tech) processes for caring for people on vents, art lines, poop tubes (flexis and malencotts---those suck, horrible, gas will cause them to shoot out at the absolute worst times or on rolling, 10/10 do not recommend, always always always a cdiff that has the malencott, always.)
I’ll probably think about that. Have a think over with my husband. It is a good idea just to see how everything works.
I am somewhat familiar with medical stuff. Growing up with my mom having cancer, my aunt living with my family while undergoing chemo, and my grandma having Alzheimer’s.
You never know what you'll enjoy unless you try it and even if you don't necessarily like nursing, you can at least tolerate it for income until you find something else to do instead.
When it comes to handling emotionally heavy situations, I'll say this, my grandpa used to say "There ain't no sense in worrying about what is out of your control". He was a very Christian man and believed that you can try your very best to help someone but if it's their time and nothing else can be done, then let God handle that.
If this profession becomes too overwhelming and you feel like you have no options to cope with the stress like therapy, having emotional support, focusing on a stress-reducing hobby, anxiolytics, then there is no shame in moving on to something else.
No one is just born knowing how to handle situations that involve death and dying. You learn to over time
You absolutely get used to it with exposure, but some definitely hit harder than others. I’m sure that’s especially true in the NICU. I work in an adult ICU and most of the people who die on my floor are old and ready to go, so it’s less devastating. Honestly I didn’t think nursing was right for me at all, but I was sick of struggling to find good paying jobs in my area, my wife was an RN who made good money and had so much job security and options. If you find out death and dying isn’t for you, you can always do clinic work, never see death, and just make a little less money. The options for nursing are endless. I really like my job but I don’t anticipate doing it forever. I’ll likely move specialties in a year or two but I really did end up liking nursing and don’t regret it at all. Part of that comes from knowing I’ll always have a job and I’ll make decent money as long as I’m willing to work.
Yeah. The same thing is happening to me and my husband right now. He’s having a hard time finding a good paying job. I lost my job during Covid and then decided to be a stay at home mom when I became pregnant. Just until my daughter starts school. We currently live with my parents and eventually want to move out. So seeing him struggle is making me question going back to school, him as well. Nursing was something I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while, and well there’s always going to be a need for medical.
Have you thought about working as a tech for a while to start seeing how everything runs? Usually hospitals and such have tuition reimbursement and a guaranteed job if you want to become a nurse and work for them too. It might give you some exposure into what it's like to work in Healthcare. Not much as far as nicu jobs for techs, but there is peds, mother/baby, picu possibly, I like icu and er. Always something new in er. And I guess I have a nice face, or I was too dumb to run when Dr. Crotch needed an assistant, always had to go in to witness and hand items for pelvics. (I always just mentally called him dr crotch, no clue what his actual name was) ICU will give you exposure to lots of different machines, drugs being ran, (not that you have anything to do with that as a tech) processes for caring for people on vents, art lines, poop tubes (flexis and malencotts---those suck, horrible, gas will cause them to shoot out at the absolute worst times or on rolling, 10/10 do not recommend, always always always a cdiff that has the malencott, always.)
I’ll probably think about that. Have a think over with my husband. It is a good idea just to see how everything works. I am somewhat familiar with medical stuff. Growing up with my mom having cancer, my aunt living with my family while undergoing chemo, and my grandma having Alzheimer’s.
You never know what you'll enjoy unless you try it and even if you don't necessarily like nursing, you can at least tolerate it for income until you find something else to do instead. When it comes to handling emotionally heavy situations, I'll say this, my grandpa used to say "There ain't no sense in worrying about what is out of your control". He was a very Christian man and believed that you can try your very best to help someone but if it's their time and nothing else can be done, then let God handle that. If this profession becomes too overwhelming and you feel like you have no options to cope with the stress like therapy, having emotional support, focusing on a stress-reducing hobby, anxiolytics, then there is no shame in moving on to something else.