Hate nursing/don't know what to do with life!!

I am a nursing student in my first year at uni and don't enjoy it one bit. I just know deep down I don't want to be a nurse. I am not going to be proud/happy/looking forward to career when I graduate at all. Been on a general surgery ward - worst experience of my life do NOT want to do this for the rest of my career. Now on community placement and literally all I do is sit down while people fill in paper work and maybe watch a few babies getting vaccinated. Have been in tears over how much I hate it. I don't mind the theory of it, it's ok and I have made such good friends at uni. It's the practicals I literally can't stand them I feel like I get manic depression when I am on placement or something! Thought I wanted to be a midwife - now not so sure.

Very different to nursing - but I am now set on getting a job in the music industry. Even being a roadie and working myself up - so much fun, no?! I am obsessed with music, parents always telling me to get a job in the industry and now I think so too. I honestly could listen to music 24/7 if I could I would and I just feel like imagine getting to the top of that career ladder - the amount of opportunities there! I would love to work in the studio with artists.
Or... do I get a job which gives me a to do list, I work through the jobs with ease and leave at 5pm? Kapeesh life would be sweet!

Please help I don't know what to do with my life at the moment! I really can't stand nursing and don't want to graduate with a degree I have absolutely zero interest in pursuing as a career. I am getting upset thinking about it!
Sorry for the rant :rolleyes:

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Reply 1

Ironmike

I know very little about the nursing degree, but qualified as a physio last year. I think a lot of HCP's have a tough time as students on placement. I remember a respiratory placement I was on with a student nurse and she was always ranting about how all she got to do were the crap jobs that the seniors didn't want to do. Physio was similar. Some placements it just seemed like they were giving me things to keep me out of the way. I had placements where I wanted to scream and shout. I never thought about quitting, but I certainly had some tough times. Now I'm qualified and I am just left to get on with things by and large, life is much better. You're not always having to prove yourself to seniors to get marks, or do the crap jobs that nobody else wants to.

If you really have decided you don't want to be a nurse, do you think you can just suck it up for another two years? Ultimately, you will have a degree which will open up doors that would otherwise be closed. People in my cohort who graduated with physio degrees have gone into areas completely unrelated to physio.

I should imagine becoming what you want to be would involve a lot of unhappy times too in order to work your way up? My girlfriend worked as a runner at the BBC for a few years before finally climbing the career ladder a bit and is now a producer. However, she tells me about days where she would be everyone's bitch for 16 hours solid. If someone said jump she had to say how high and the pay was absolutely rubbish. She'd be running to the shops to buy 100 eggs and then going to some C list celebs room to ensure that they had enough sparkling water, and then rushing off to fill a lawnmower with petrol etc etc. Yes she got where she wanted to be in the end, but it didn't just happen.

Working in a studio with artists. That sounds like a long long ladder to climb if you're talking about beyonce and that sort of A list artist. If you quit nursing, can you get onto a music production degree with the grades you have?

Reply 2

crazyunicorn133

I'm a nursing student in my first year and i'm going through pretty much the same thing as you are.
I'm struggling so much and i'm literally unable to keep up with the workload as well as placements due to ill health coz of a disability. I'm getting 0% support from my uni on placement and I feel like the staff just don't want me there.
I'm thinking I may have chosen the wrong path too, i'm heading to see my personal academic advisor tomorrow to discuss options. Is that something you could do too?

Reply 3

Looke

Sorry to hear like you're having such a terrible time on placement one of the greatest/worst things about being a student nurse is that you'll experience a variety of placements, and it sounds like you've had some pretty bad experiences. All I can suggest is that you contact your university explaining what's happened, and talk to your mentor on your placement, by nature community isn't that interesting, but talk with your mentor and they might be able to sort stuff out for you. During my first year I had some doubts about whether nursing was for me or not, but after a really good time on placement I found a new passion for it. If you really feel that it isn't working out for you then I'd suggest you drop off the course, the last thing to do, as you've said yourself is to graduate with a degree you won't use! I really suggest you talk with your university and mentor first though, there are always ways to fix things!

Reply 4

SummerBunny

I have not had any experience to be honest as university student nurse. But, from what I have experience myself and my friends, perhaps you could see to change the course??
Don't give up on it completely! Perhaps, it's not nursing that you feel comfartable in, but there could be another similiar career within the health profession - like physio or occuptional therapist?
A friend of mine started with psychology, she enjoyed the bits of it, like working with people and seeing how they think and how to help them but not much else. She found speech therapist now and totally loves it! It's the best of both worlds for her, because she can use her medical knowledge and her psychology know how.

Or perhaps, its the particulary branch of nursing you do not like? Have you tried them all? Don't worry though! Be honest but not to hard on yourself. Just take some time for yourself and consider all angles. I'm sure you'll find what really makes you happy and works for you. :smile:

Reply 5

eihpos28

Thanks for your advice guys. I feel a little better about it, and have decided not to quit.. at least for now! The community placement I'm on just now is a little better than on the ward (although I go back there in a couple weeks time... dreading it haha!), but I still am very unsure whether or not nursing is for me. Knowing me, I reckon I will do this degree - maybe with difficulty at times and wanting to give up on several occasions - and who knows if I will use it.. I really don't know I just don't think it's really for me at this time. But I guess I have to just stick it out and see where life takes me!

Reply 6

Gnome :)

Maybe just stick it out; the great thing about nursing is there are so many directions you can take it in. In a hospital, in the community etc but you could also go into health promotion, research, management, teaching.. Don't feel like you have to be a staff nurse on the ward, because once you've qualified you can use your knowledge and experience to guide you with what you want to do :smile:

Reply 7

Thatmuslimahxo

Hey how's Nursing going for you now???

Reply 8

mhnursing2014

Hey
Why don't you think about changing your branch to something you are more likely to enjoy?

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Reply 9

eihpos28

It's definitely got a lot lot better recently. I am nejoying it more the more I learn and am pretty sure I stick with it. Whether or not this will be my final career choice I don't know, I still have the temptation to go back to uni after I graduate and do a music production course or something like that, but for now I am sticking to nursing :smile:

Reply 10

HugsAndKisses_xo

Hey, just out of curiosity, how did it get better for you? What changed?

Reply 11

eihpos28

I think as I learned more skills and became more confident in my practice I started to enjoy it more. Don't get me wrong, I don't love it but it's definitely better than it was - I feel more valued by staff I work with etc.

Reply 12

jessicahelenread

Hi!
I'm currently a first year nursing student and having the same problem that you had :frown:

I really don't want to be a nurse but I don't know what else I can do with a nursing degree? Do you have any ideas? It's nice to know that you're liking it a bit better now. Hope I start to! :smile:

Reply 13

xx-Samantha-xx

I'll be brutally honest, i've had days throughout my training and currently in my first post at the moment where i've just wanted to pack it all in because of either the politics of the profession or how they expect you to magically be able to do everything when your NQ and barely give you a second to get settled in but then you have days where everything goes well and the patients are really appreciative of the care you have been able to give them and when the higher ups notice how hard you are working and actually say well done and you did well. So all is not lost, i am still not sure if i will stay in the profession so you are not on your own. If anyone wants some advice or just to rant or share stories of being a student as i had some right horrid placements then feel free to drop me a message/PM :smile:

Reply 14

keano2014

Original post by eihpos28

It's an excellent, flexible, part time job for uni round 2 :smile:

Reply 15

eihpos28

Hi ): Don't stress yourself over it (I know it's hard not to). I am coming to the end of my second year now and I can 100% honestly say it get so much better. As you learn more you become more confident in delivering patient care and you begin to enjoy it more. Getting nice patients makes a huge difference and when you get nice feedback from them you start to think ' heyyy I can actually do this!'. My advice would be to stick it out for first year, and even by the time I finished first year I still hated it. I would say it wasn't until halfway through second year (maybe a wee bit earlier) I am beginning to think I might want to be a nurse so it does take a while! Even now, I still have a day where I think I'm not 100% happy so why not just give it up but for now, I'm ok with it and will do the degree. Definitely though, I think you should stick with it :smile:

.
What you can do with your degree - anything!!! Travelling is my big thing I hope to move to London soon after I graduate and who knows maybe even eventually Australia or something! This is a professinal degree (I know uni always go on about it) but it's true, once you've got this you've got a career for life. You don't need to stay in the same ward all your life! You can go anywhere, any kind of nursing there is so much spectrum!
Anyway I hope everything works out for you and I'm sure you will get the hang of it soon! I think nursing is such a hard degree to be a student - long placement hours, dealing with harsh reality etc. so I think nursing needs to stick together! It can be very lonely sometimes when you need a vent. But don't worry about it you got into this course for a reason :smile:

If you ever need anythng let me know!

Reply 16

gen88

Trust me I pretty much had manic depression when I did my pracs in uni as well- I've now been a nurse for 4 years. If I knew nursing would be like the dreaded pracs- there is no way in hell I would have continued. Remember nursing is SO many different specialties- I personally hate working wards and since uni, never have. I've done recovery and anaesthetics, theatres, cosmetic nursing and mental health A&E. You'll find an avenue, it's fine :smile:

Reply 17

kaeli :)

I'm in my third year of nursing and I qualify in 8 weeks. When I first started my nursing I was so passionate and excited about it, I loved to learn and although I did have a lot of terrible experiences on placements (which every single stundent has experienced) which made me want to just pack up all my **** a leave I would never let it bother me. I was so proud of myself for doing nursing and really loved everything about it but as time has gone by I've become more and more withdrawn from it and I really do resent it now. It's an incredibly tough, challenging and exhausting career and you really have to want to do it to enable yourself to learn. With studying nursing there really is no room for "I'm not sure if I want to do this" you either do or you don't. If i'd have realised that it would be this ****ty I would have left in first year and got a well paying office job to whcih i could wear nice business suits and have my weekends off but im too far in to pack it in now. And I'm absolutely not the only person, every third year feels the same.

Basically, all im saying is, if you feel this way now, imagine what youre going to feel like 3 years down the line, when you're up to your eyeballs in paperwork and doing the work of a staff nurse and getting paid absolutely nothing for it and getting no thanks in return. Nursing is a good and rewarding profession but not everyone is cut out for it and at times, even though i have 8 weeks to go, i still feel snowed under, i still have anxiety attacks about placement and become like incredibly depressed. So if you don't want to do it, don't sweetie, there are millions of other professions out there, it doesn't just end with nursning and not everything is about a degree from university. Schools push university upon kids far too much, making them think it is the be all and end all, it's absolutely not.

What you have to consider is what you are really passionate about? What would be your dream job? One that you would enjoy going to every day? I just think that if you really are unsure you have to seriously think about what your options are. My advice would be to continue with what you're doing just now but at the same time have a look for something else that you know you will enjoy and then if you so happen to find it, go for it! But don't just quit the course with no back up plan. Make sure you have something secure in place before you make any decisions.

Good luck with your decision.

Kaeli

Reply 18

blondediva33

Im a first yr student andin middle ofvawful placement where i made an official complaint.since the staff/mentor have been horrible.i spoke to uni.gone through all correcct channels and feel like getting no where and basically made feel like im ****.ive been so ill with it all and stressed.crying.headaches.insomnia..the lot.i am hoping to be moved but my pef is too friendly with mentor..im being spoken down to all time n not heard .all the so called support are too clicky and i feel on my own .im a mature student ..33 .mother..married not young n have experience in care many yrs also work as a hca ..i feel like packing it all in but i have worked so hard fr this.if i get moved my so called pef will still be same and i know the attitude will stay the same.she basically talked down to me and because i stood up for myself i was seen as "cocky n too forward"..i was nothing but professional n followed all correct procedures but its hard carry on when all ur uni support are over friendly n ur just "the student"..i hope no one has endure what i been through.im a strong willed person .if people like this r in this caring profession i am not sure i want to be part of it. Also if a younger student would been in this situation they may of left because of this.its not fair.

Reply 19

Jebraino

Im really struggling with my placement and whether or not this career is for me too. Im a second year, this is my third placement. Its my confidence I'm struggling with, wondering if i will EVER know what to do as an RN and not knowing what that "extra step up" to year 2 involves. I really enjoy doing some of the jobs when I'm helping out the HCAs for an afternoon but being able to be that "next step" I'm finding really difficult.
Its really nice to read all the comments and be able to see that hopefully as year 2 progresses it should get easier and i should find my place on the course soon.
The advice people are giving saying that its not only about being a ward nurse (which is all i seem to have done on placements!) is refreshing to hear, as this is not what i want to do at all. Having done all of these placements i think I've kinda missed the fact that I can do other things!