Why You Shouldn’t Become A Nurse - What To Ask Yourself Before You Commit

Are you considering becoming a Nurse? In this video, Practice Nurse, Debbie, poses the questions you should ask yourself before embarking on this rewarding and challenging role.

Hello, my name is Debbie and I'm a Practice Nurse in London.

Today I'm going to be discussing reasons why you shouldn't become a Nurse.

Nursing Is Rewarding

Now, Nursing is amazing, I love it and I think it's probably one of the most rewarding jobs to do.

However, just like anything in life there are always pros and cons.

Now, just as a disclaimer, this is not a do-not go into Nursing video but more to show the realities of what the role entails and how when well informed you can choose this amazing career.

Are You Ever Off-Duty?

Number one, is the fact that everyone is a patient.

What does that mean?

For me, how I see it is that I never switch off.

When I'm with friends and family I'm always having to be alert, my surroundings.

I have this constant, you know, need to make sure everybody's okay.

I'm always, you know, running a joke with my friends to be careful because if anything happens, you know, you've gotta be, just be careful.

The fact that you can be out and about and anything can happen, an accident. And I have a duty of care, meaning I have a duty to respond when there is a situation.

And truth be told, this can cause sometimes anxiety.

You know, I'm always in a state of, I've got to be alert, I've got to know my 80 assessments. I've got to remember how to do my first aid.

I've got to always be alert whether I'm in my clinical setting, like I am now or whether I'm out with friends or just doing anything, shopping.

I'm always, you know, on alert.

Is Pay Important To You?

Number two, which is probably the most obvious and the most spoken about is pay.

If you're going into Nursing for the money, I would reconsider.

Now, don't get me wrong, there is a lot of money to be made in Nursing.

That is, through locum shifts, working agencies, progressing as high as you. 

Generally starting off, unlike other jobs, whereby you can start off at decent pay with Nursing it's something where you have to progress and progress until you get the pay that you will desire and you have to work, and work hard enough to receive that.

I think agency is a great way to increase your income.

If you want to stay within the NHS then there is quite a cap in pay and considering how much work and how much responsibility and the stakes are present, the pay is not, you know, what we as Nurses would expect.

So if you're going into Nursing for the pay, reconsider.

Happy Being A Cog In The Wheel?

Number three, if you are a power hungry person then I would say, reconsider Nursing.

Nursing is a job where we work as a team, we work under instructions a lot of the time from Doctors and we rarely get the respect that we need both from patients and sometimes, dare I say it, from other clinicians.

If you are demanding respect and you're someone that, you know, you're ego hungry then Nursing will be very difficult for you because many a times the odd jobs that no one else wants to do.

Nurses are required to do those things.

And so if you are someone who can't be humble or put aside the desire to always be on top then I would say reconsider Nursing.

The Emotional Toll

Number four, I would say the emotional drainage of the job.

People's health is probably the biggest thing to them and when that goes wrong, money, cars, nothing else matters but their health and it takes a lot out of them.

It takes a lot out of us, you know, and myself included whether I'm a Nurse or I'm a patient, I still have my own health, both mental and physical.

And I think when a patient is with you and they're going through so much, and they're off loading, they're telling you all the highs and lows of their life, it can be emotionally draining.

I think there are some people who are empaths so they really, you know, they really take on the burden of what other people are feeling.

This can be quite draining especially when you don't know how to switch off your work life, from your day to day life outside of work.

This can be very draining where you're carrying the burdens of other people.

So if you feel like you're somebody like that and you are unable to, you can't help it, it might be something to reconsider, and yeah, think about whether nursing is really the job for you.

The Responsibility In The Role

And lastly, number five, I would say the very high stakes of the role.

There is very little room for mistakes, one wrong thing and your name will be on the NMC Board.

The stakes are very high considering how much is being paid, considering the training that's sometimes offered, the staffing that's available, the amount of pressure that the role entails, you know?

Sometimes you hear occasions of one Nurse having to look after X, Y, Z amount of patients because of staffing shortage.

The high stakes are so much and can be quite stressful, anxiety inducing and things like that.

So if you feel like you are unable to be resilient, be courageous, be able to delegate or speak out for yourself then it's something that you would really have to work on because in the Nursing field it's very important to be able to do these things.

Sometimes unfortunately, without complaining because they just want you to get the job done. 

It's always important to make sure you're working safely, making sure that if you are uncomfortable with anything because of how high the stakes are, if you don't understand the medication, you don't know that medication, then don't give it.

If you feel like you're out of your depth and the staffing is not correct and you feel like you can make a mistake, then, you know, voice it out.

So those are my five reasons.

How To Survive As A Nurse

I think it's important to remember that, it doesn't matter what personality trait or characteristics that you have, just like in every role and everything in life you can always learn to be more resilient.

You can always learn to delegate so that the task isn't as hard. You can always learn different parts of Nursing as you go along, as opposed to thinking, you know what? I can't do this. I don't think I'm gonna be able to do that and then just throwing in the towel completely.

And that's the beauty of Nursing that, you know, you might think you're not really a people person and then you find that you're really enjoying looking after patients and you're really enjoying being there in people's most vulnerable moments.

There's always room for learning so don't see it as a, do you know what I think, I don't think I'm gonna be able to tolerate all of that so therefore I can't do it.

There's always room for learning in Nursing.

So I hope this helps someone and see you in the next video.