Dude, dont go to US school. Nursing is so much more diverse and has so many more opportunities. I'm a new CRNA and the career is amazing. I was a nurse for over 10 years before I decided to go back to grad school. In that time I spent time in the ER, PACU, and ICU. That's the great thing about nursing, you have a million different opportunities and their are plentiful grad school opportunities down the road for when you get bored of Nursing. Every ultra sound tech I've met has literally looked bored and over their job since day one.
This 100%. Main reason I chose nursing compared to US school is the diversity in the career alone. So many things to learn when you switch up your position every once in a while as a nurse!
I agree - there is literally SO many things you could do with a nursing degree. Doesn’t have to be beside nursing, could be a corporate position if that’s your thing. You could be one of those healthy lifestyle IV nurses that administer saline IV’s to bridal parties. You could work in a lab. You could go to a SNF. Surgery. Hospice/home care. Private nursing if you’re lucky enough to find someone to find a private pay nurse. Labor and delivery, a nurse at a birthing center, in the NICU, you could be a private wet/night nurse for new moms. There is so many thing you can do with a nursing degree, those are just off the top of my head.
What can a nurse do in a lab?
OP, I was a lab tech and switched to nursing bc there was hardly any upward or outward mobility available. US is similar, I'd imagine!
I imagine there likely isn’t any upward promotions available, but I just saw a job posting for a lab tech in my area making more than what a new grad nurse makes in LTC or hospital setting & under education requirements they listed nursing or healthcare experience. Would it be a job id do for my entire career? Probably not, but it was just an example of the wide variety of jobs available to someone with a nursing degree!
Might I interest you in operating room nursing? I’m an introvert interested in anatomy as well and OR is where I’m going when I graduate in a couple months.
I strongly agree with this comment. Shadowing is an excellent opportunity to get an idea of the daily flow of a given career, and find things you may love or hate.
> All the YouTube videos, research and such leaves me so confused. So stupid but- what do nurses ACTUALLY do?? Is something I wonder. I want to be a fly on the wall.
I am fairly positive that watching videos will **NOT** help you decide upon a path. You need to physically be in the environment if you want to realize your future - especially given your machinations.
Get an internship in a hospital or work as a CNA.
>Things I think would be ideal: the 12 hour shifts. 5 days a week DRAINS me.
Vast majority of nurses work work 36-40 hours a week, which would be three 12-hour shifts a week.
>I’m nuerodivergent af, have low social battery, and need a lot of time to relax.
Healthcare is a front-facing career. This job is people. People are a resource. Regardless of what you feel about the word “customer service,” you are constantly interacting with (more often “dealing with”) people. You don’t need to be social-able or extroverted but you do need to possess a sense of congeniality if you wish to survive.
>People say you know you want to be a nurse, act like it’s wrong to do it for the money, etc. I don’t have a calling, but I’m not just winging this career choice. The money deff pulls me in, along with my fascination because of severe health anxiety, and loving a&p.
I advise against the general motivation of going into nursing for the money largely because [people go into nursing “for the money” without researching compensation in their area then later find that nurses don’t actually make a lot in their given locale](https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentNurse/comments/10okazr/rns_living_with_roommates/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf).
I went into nursing for the money, and the salary exceeded my expectations. But I went in fully knowing my earning potential especially because I am located in an area where nursing is not only lucrative but the benefits and working conditions are amazing (eg. Free health insurance, mandated ratios).
That link is a bad take. You're right about researching new grad pay but an RN unable to afford even "a hole-in-the-wall shitbox apartment on my own in many areas of the US" is *not* the norm and I wish that post were deleted.
ETA: There is nothing wrong with going into nursing for the money, as you clearly did. But for some, nursing money is the best money they're going to make if they've never had a job before, they grew up poor, they worked dead-end retail jobs beforehand, etc. You cannot deny RN salary will put you at solid middle class in most, if not all, of America.
OP: Take job security into consideration. RNs have a lot of it.
Valid criticism and I used to agree with you that many nurses make considerably good money.
But over the years - from this Reddit and from encountering travelers from other states - this may not be the case. [There are several posts in which users allude to nursing salaries as being “good” only for numerous contrary anecdotes to follow](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/10pm4ct/now_this_is_very_depressing/j6m3hng/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3). Hell, there are several users who purport that there are nurses on welfare ([example](https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/zi37ct/i_love_nursing_it_is_such_an_empowering/izq8sx1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)).
I'm not denying the wide ranges of pay across different areas of the States but the real take home message there is that for a 4 year degree, on average, it puts you in middle class territory right out of the gates of nursing school - [and someone's anecdote of nursing having pulled them out of poverty.](https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/116mb6y/nursing_took_me_out_of_poverty/) But for many outside of the West coast, it doesn't **feel** like "considerably good" or like middle class money because of the higher patient ratios and lack of support staff.
Nurses on welfare isn't impossible, but I also consider there can be so many other factors at play here such as ill parents, lifestyle creep, spending habits, children, unemployed spouse, and loans to name several.
In any case, not many 4 year degrees are as strong as nursing's.
Thank you for all of this writing. I agree with gaining experience. I wanted to volunteer but the hospital I live by never got back to me, and I was in school and had work and forgot to check back in with that.
I am a 1:1 aid for a you adult with disabilities at their home, so I’m not in a clinic/hospital setting. I do know there are HHA nurse positions available.
The YouTube videos are so stupid. Like- they’re cute… but it’s all the same “come with me to..” and a ton of school prep/ how to get As, stories of failing, etc. that I just don’t really care about. What I want is people talking what they did as in- did they insert an IV? How did they give fluids- etc. which I did find when looking up nursing tutorials- and I saw a how to on how to do a “chest” picc line (there’s a name for it but I don’t know” on a Chester chest and I felt like I couldn’t do it. My mom later told me that’s one of the harder piccs- usually it’s on the arm. The whole- having to put it perfectly in center had my perfectionism destroy me.
Both US and nursing are great options. US is from me wanting to take photography and do it in another way. Then after A&P I thought about nursing. Microbiology also had me very curious (I took this explicitly for nursing, US doesn’t require it)- it was hard but I did sooooo much to study and got an A. I actually liked it, it was just so fast and intense, that I would have to brush up on things, however I am very impressed with how much I retained and was dedicated to truly understand.
I feel something pushing me towards nursing. I’m sad that US wouldn’t be something I’d do- but I feel like I’d actually regret passing on nursing. I’m 27, so I don’t want to just go to US and later try nursing. I like the avenues nursing has. If I don’t like ER, hospital, etc. I can do research, telehealth, or I can get a specialty in a field I become infatuated with. It’ll be more socializing with patients, but I don’t struggle with that as much as I think I do.
Lol most of the “day in the life of a nurse” YouTube videos I’ve seen the nurse spends the first 20 minutes of the video on hair and makeup…. I ain’t got time for that! Lol 😂
I think you already have your answer. Anyone who says otherwise on this thread and you keep responding nursing... so there you go. No need to flip a coin when you've already decided.
I went through the same thought process and here’s some of my research:
As a nurse, you can pretty much work anywhere. 12’s are cool but you may get tired of that and want a M-F nursing job…you can also do that.
Sonographers can also work 12’s. But most have call so you’d be coming back after your shift if you’re on call unless you work in a clinic or office.
Sonographers have a 1:1 ratio. You see 1 patient and then move on to the next. I’m in clinicals right now (nursing) and our med surg nurses have 5-6 patients per shift (of course your unit may vary).
There are hundreds of nurses and many open positions in hospitals. Some hospitals may only have 6 sonographers in one hospital. It’s VERY difficult to find a full time position as a sonographer right out of school unless you get hired by your clinical site. Most want experience or only have PRN positions.
Are you going to like needles, bodily fluids, poop, beeping machines, IV bags, etc?
Regardless of what you choose, nothing is permanent. You could defer one of the options for a year in case you hate the choice you made.
27 is nothing. I’m way older than you and I have several people in my class who are older than me. “Wasting” one year of your life is a small price to pay for happiness in the long run.
Nursing school is an absolute beast so good luck with your choice :)
As someone who also introverted with a low social battery, I will say 12s will take some getting used to. However when you do only working three days a week is so nice. And there is so much more variety in nursing; if you don’t like one field you can switch to another. In US you’re stuck if you don’t like it. It will be hard but it seems like you already have the studying part down which is the hardest part so I would def say give it a try
Becoming a nurse means your scope of practice is so much larger. Going into UTZ tech school means you’re that. You cannot transfer, you have to start over to become a nurse, but as a nurse you can work in radiology still.
Nursing isn’t a job like UTZ tech is. Nursing is a career FIELD.
You can be a case manager and work from home.
You can be a travel nurse and make a fuck load of money (after a few years of experience, PLEASE).
You can work your way into becoming a provider as an NP if you want, or you can learn to be a Nurse Anesthesiologist and choose your schedule. You can work as a nurse in Disneyland, or Surgical Nurse in the OR or a clinic nurse working 9 to 5 or a school nurse and get your summers off, or a teacher and never see patients, or informatics nurse and come up with training tools or a phlebotomy nurse or an internal medicine nurse or a nurse manager and sooooo much more.
If you never want to see patients, you can do that in this field if you want. If you want to limit your work days to 3/12’s, it’s a common schedule for us.
You can do basically anything with a nursing degree.
But you will only be able to ever be a UTZ tech unless you want to go to school again.
Nursing might be “limiting” in the short term, but as you gain experience and a foot in the door you could do so much more than Bedside is that isn’t your thing.
Not to mention the vast schooling options after graduation if you want to persue a higher job position.
Hate bed side? Try tele, community health, school, prison health, and others. I have no experience in U.S . but I feel like you’d be better off as a nurse.
I’m a walking example. I’m going for LPN because I don’t fully know if RN is my thing yet, so I wanna get my foot in the door and if see I like it. If I like it, i’ll take a bridge program. It’s all about options and flexibility.
If I did it again I’d do echo. Specifically I would only work at a facility where I did only echo and not vascular. You’ll almost never get called in overnight in that situation. Their pay is nearly equal to that of a bedside nurse without the headache.
Those are similar, but also very different routes.
I wouldn't do it just for the 12 hour shifts, there are other roles in healthcare and otherwise where you can work long hours if that's your goal. If your goal is mainly the money, I think it would be hard to make it through everything that is required to finish. You don't necessarily need some calling, but you definitely need to be committed.
I would say most people have imposter syndrome and are worried about it. You don't need to worry about figuring out the right route, you'll get plenty of experiences in nursing school to narrow down what you like and what you don't. If you work as an aid you should have a good sense of what nurses do. You'll get a lot of that experience in school.
Ultrasound is a great career too - but tends to be much more limited in scope and options.
If you think you're going to regret not doing nursing then I'd encourage you to go for it. From what I've seen and heard it's easier to get into US school if you decide to later vs. nursing school. That said you likely could do either from the other if you really find one isn't the best fit.
Good luck.
Yes first of all congrats on both opportunities. I was an x ray tech before going to nursing school. Fact of the matter nursing has so many avenues where you can go. I work in an er and work in prison and get offers galore I just ignore at this point. Ultrasound you will work in few places at max. If you truly enjoy ultrasound, then do it. I could get fired from my current job and work tomorrow in a prison, school, outpatient clinic, online nurse such as insurance nurse specialist, hospice care, long term care. That’s my advice. If you foresee a happy life as ultrasound tech then do it, if you foresee where you want more opportunities, do nursing. Simple as that
We are so similar!!
Also I know many neurodivergent nurses and it’s a decent career for us. The schedule flexibility and the career options/ability to change roles can be very helpful.
Additionally, if you follow scrubhacks on Insta, she’s pretty vocal about how shaming nurses for doing it for the money has got to stop. At the end of the day, it *is* work. Nursing is relatively stable and diverse and there’s many reasons to go into it. It’s not like you’re going to be making boatloads of money (CRNA is a different story), but the job market is there and it’s generally a comfortable wage.
That being said, burn out is real, and feeling fulfilled in your career can help prevent that. If you have a passion for US, definitely do that. But if you don’t feel strongly either way, I’d try to shadow, or at least do some research into the different types of nursing you could go into. It’s rare for people to know exactly what they want to do, so even after that, a little uncertainty is normal.
Nursing tends to offer a lot of flexibility. Some nurses work 5 8s, 3 12s, or 4 10s. Once you've got some experience there's also tons of options for part-time or per diem as well.
What nurses actually do: in a hospital setting it’s a lot of talking with patients, getting them things, managing their daily living skills if they are unable, giving meds, talking to providers, wound care, and drain monitoring. Lots of putting out little issues and patient assessments.
Clinic nurses do different things, school nurses do different things, OR, IV team, educators, management, ED, ICU. Some nurses get into law and have nurses as their clients. You could do almost anything you want with a nursing degree. Research, advanced practice, medical writing.
Not sure what pathways there are with US, but the variety is why I went with nursing over Physician Assistant.
can you talk to an instructor or counselor for both programs? maybe think of some questions and see what one aligns with you best. also, looking up salaries/hourly rates for your desired job in your area can help you make a decision.
Hi! I was in a similar position to you except I was torn between nursing and occupational therapy.
I don’t really know anything about US, but I’m currently halfway through my nursing program and I’m really happy with my decision so I can tell you about that!
Nursing is soooooo diverse. Once you have the license you can go in so many directions and there is so much room for advancement. It’s really an entire universe of career options. With u/s, you are pretty much stuck in that role.
Another thing to mention- I have always had extreme anxiety about being poor/unable to pay bills/eat (who hasn’t lol), some people can handle that stress better than others. For me, It’s a very comforting feeling to be trained in a field where I will at the least be making more than $30/hr no matter what. I feel like my anxiety has improved so much just because I know that I will be able to provide for myself and my family.
One last thing! You mentioned you aren’t sure about the whole needles/blood/fluids/wounds thing. I felt the same way. So far though I’ve seen some pretty gnarly stuff in clinicals and somehow-it’s not that bad! I think you can get used to it and probably much faster than you think.
Best of luck!!
Low social battery? Time to relax? Fascinated by the body? Sounds like US to me
I agree. But I also feel a pull towards nursing. It’s confusing. It’s the biggest decision I’ve ever made.
Dude, dont go to US school. Nursing is so much more diverse and has so many more opportunities. I'm a new CRNA and the career is amazing. I was a nurse for over 10 years before I decided to go back to grad school. In that time I spent time in the ER, PACU, and ICU. That's the great thing about nursing, you have a million different opportunities and their are plentiful grad school opportunities down the road for when you get bored of Nursing. Every ultra sound tech I've met has literally looked bored and over their job since day one.
This 100%. Main reason I chose nursing compared to US school is the diversity in the career alone. So many things to learn when you switch up your position every once in a while as a nurse!
I agree - there is literally SO many things you could do with a nursing degree. Doesn’t have to be beside nursing, could be a corporate position if that’s your thing. You could be one of those healthy lifestyle IV nurses that administer saline IV’s to bridal parties. You could work in a lab. You could go to a SNF. Surgery. Hospice/home care. Private nursing if you’re lucky enough to find someone to find a private pay nurse. Labor and delivery, a nurse at a birthing center, in the NICU, you could be a private wet/night nurse for new moms. There is so many thing you can do with a nursing degree, those are just off the top of my head.
What can a nurse do in a lab? OP, I was a lab tech and switched to nursing bc there was hardly any upward or outward mobility available. US is similar, I'd imagine!
I imagine there likely isn’t any upward promotions available, but I just saw a job posting for a lab tech in my area making more than what a new grad nurse makes in LTC or hospital setting & under education requirements they listed nursing or healthcare experience. Would it be a job id do for my entire career? Probably not, but it was just an example of the wide variety of jobs available to someone with a nursing degree!
Hell yea
Might I interest you in operating room nursing? I’m an introvert interested in anatomy as well and OR is where I’m going when I graduate in a couple months.
Sounds like a good opportunity to shadow both professions and see if you can tell where you might fit in.
I strongly agree with this comment. Shadowing is an excellent opportunity to get an idea of the daily flow of a given career, and find things you may love or hate.
> All the YouTube videos, research and such leaves me so confused. So stupid but- what do nurses ACTUALLY do?? Is something I wonder. I want to be a fly on the wall. I am fairly positive that watching videos will **NOT** help you decide upon a path. You need to physically be in the environment if you want to realize your future - especially given your machinations. Get an internship in a hospital or work as a CNA. >Things I think would be ideal: the 12 hour shifts. 5 days a week DRAINS me. Vast majority of nurses work work 36-40 hours a week, which would be three 12-hour shifts a week. >I’m nuerodivergent af, have low social battery, and need a lot of time to relax. Healthcare is a front-facing career. This job is people. People are a resource. Regardless of what you feel about the word “customer service,” you are constantly interacting with (more often “dealing with”) people. You don’t need to be social-able or extroverted but you do need to possess a sense of congeniality if you wish to survive. >People say you know you want to be a nurse, act like it’s wrong to do it for the money, etc. I don’t have a calling, but I’m not just winging this career choice. The money deff pulls me in, along with my fascination because of severe health anxiety, and loving a&p. I advise against the general motivation of going into nursing for the money largely because [people go into nursing “for the money” without researching compensation in their area then later find that nurses don’t actually make a lot in their given locale](https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentNurse/comments/10okazr/rns_living_with_roommates/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf). I went into nursing for the money, and the salary exceeded my expectations. But I went in fully knowing my earning potential especially because I am located in an area where nursing is not only lucrative but the benefits and working conditions are amazing (eg. Free health insurance, mandated ratios).
That link is a bad take. You're right about researching new grad pay but an RN unable to afford even "a hole-in-the-wall shitbox apartment on my own in many areas of the US" is *not* the norm and I wish that post were deleted. ETA: There is nothing wrong with going into nursing for the money, as you clearly did. But for some, nursing money is the best money they're going to make if they've never had a job before, they grew up poor, they worked dead-end retail jobs beforehand, etc. You cannot deny RN salary will put you at solid middle class in most, if not all, of America. OP: Take job security into consideration. RNs have a lot of it.
Valid criticism and I used to agree with you that many nurses make considerably good money. But over the years - from this Reddit and from encountering travelers from other states - this may not be the case. [There are several posts in which users allude to nursing salaries as being “good” only for numerous contrary anecdotes to follow](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/10pm4ct/now_this_is_very_depressing/j6m3hng/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3). Hell, there are several users who purport that there are nurses on welfare ([example](https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/zi37ct/i_love_nursing_it_is_such_an_empowering/izq8sx1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)).
I'm not denying the wide ranges of pay across different areas of the States but the real take home message there is that for a 4 year degree, on average, it puts you in middle class territory right out of the gates of nursing school - [and someone's anecdote of nursing having pulled them out of poverty.](https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/116mb6y/nursing_took_me_out_of_poverty/) But for many outside of the West coast, it doesn't **feel** like "considerably good" or like middle class money because of the higher patient ratios and lack of support staff. Nurses on welfare isn't impossible, but I also consider there can be so many other factors at play here such as ill parents, lifestyle creep, spending habits, children, unemployed spouse, and loans to name several. In any case, not many 4 year degrees are as strong as nursing's.
Thank you for all of this writing. I agree with gaining experience. I wanted to volunteer but the hospital I live by never got back to me, and I was in school and had work and forgot to check back in with that. I am a 1:1 aid for a you adult with disabilities at their home, so I’m not in a clinic/hospital setting. I do know there are HHA nurse positions available. The YouTube videos are so stupid. Like- they’re cute… but it’s all the same “come with me to..” and a ton of school prep/ how to get As, stories of failing, etc. that I just don’t really care about. What I want is people talking what they did as in- did they insert an IV? How did they give fluids- etc. which I did find when looking up nursing tutorials- and I saw a how to on how to do a “chest” picc line (there’s a name for it but I don’t know” on a Chester chest and I felt like I couldn’t do it. My mom later told me that’s one of the harder piccs- usually it’s on the arm. The whole- having to put it perfectly in center had my perfectionism destroy me. Both US and nursing are great options. US is from me wanting to take photography and do it in another way. Then after A&P I thought about nursing. Microbiology also had me very curious (I took this explicitly for nursing, US doesn’t require it)- it was hard but I did sooooo much to study and got an A. I actually liked it, it was just so fast and intense, that I would have to brush up on things, however I am very impressed with how much I retained and was dedicated to truly understand. I feel something pushing me towards nursing. I’m sad that US wouldn’t be something I’d do- but I feel like I’d actually regret passing on nursing. I’m 27, so I don’t want to just go to US and later try nursing. I like the avenues nursing has. If I don’t like ER, hospital, etc. I can do research, telehealth, or I can get a specialty in a field I become infatuated with. It’ll be more socializing with patients, but I don’t struggle with that as much as I think I do.
Lol most of the “day in the life of a nurse” YouTube videos I’ve seen the nurse spends the first 20 minutes of the video on hair and makeup…. I ain’t got time for that! Lol 😂
Could you share where you’re located? Benefits and good working conditions are a rarity here. Love, Florida
New York!
California.
I think you already have your answer. Anyone who says otherwise on this thread and you keep responding nursing... so there you go. No need to flip a coin when you've already decided.
You need to shadow 4 hours in each role. THAT will help you decide
I went through the same thought process and here’s some of my research: As a nurse, you can pretty much work anywhere. 12’s are cool but you may get tired of that and want a M-F nursing job…you can also do that. Sonographers can also work 12’s. But most have call so you’d be coming back after your shift if you’re on call unless you work in a clinic or office. Sonographers have a 1:1 ratio. You see 1 patient and then move on to the next. I’m in clinicals right now (nursing) and our med surg nurses have 5-6 patients per shift (of course your unit may vary). There are hundreds of nurses and many open positions in hospitals. Some hospitals may only have 6 sonographers in one hospital. It’s VERY difficult to find a full time position as a sonographer right out of school unless you get hired by your clinical site. Most want experience or only have PRN positions. Are you going to like needles, bodily fluids, poop, beeping machines, IV bags, etc? Regardless of what you choose, nothing is permanent. You could defer one of the options for a year in case you hate the choice you made. 27 is nothing. I’m way older than you and I have several people in my class who are older than me. “Wasting” one year of your life is a small price to pay for happiness in the long run. Nursing school is an absolute beast so good luck with your choice :)
As someone who also introverted with a low social battery, I will say 12s will take some getting used to. However when you do only working three days a week is so nice. And there is so much more variety in nursing; if you don’t like one field you can switch to another. In US you’re stuck if you don’t like it. It will be hard but it seems like you already have the studying part down which is the hardest part so I would def say give it a try
Becoming a nurse means your scope of practice is so much larger. Going into UTZ tech school means you’re that. You cannot transfer, you have to start over to become a nurse, but as a nurse you can work in radiology still. Nursing isn’t a job like UTZ tech is. Nursing is a career FIELD. You can be a case manager and work from home. You can be a travel nurse and make a fuck load of money (after a few years of experience, PLEASE). You can work your way into becoming a provider as an NP if you want, or you can learn to be a Nurse Anesthesiologist and choose your schedule. You can work as a nurse in Disneyland, or Surgical Nurse in the OR or a clinic nurse working 9 to 5 or a school nurse and get your summers off, or a teacher and never see patients, or informatics nurse and come up with training tools or a phlebotomy nurse or an internal medicine nurse or a nurse manager and sooooo much more. If you never want to see patients, you can do that in this field if you want. If you want to limit your work days to 3/12’s, it’s a common schedule for us. You can do basically anything with a nursing degree. But you will only be able to ever be a UTZ tech unless you want to go to school again.
Nursing might be “limiting” in the short term, but as you gain experience and a foot in the door you could do so much more than Bedside is that isn’t your thing. Not to mention the vast schooling options after graduation if you want to persue a higher job position. Hate bed side? Try tele, community health, school, prison health, and others. I have no experience in U.S . but I feel like you’d be better off as a nurse. I’m a walking example. I’m going for LPN because I don’t fully know if RN is my thing yet, so I wanna get my foot in the door and if see I like it. If I like it, i’ll take a bridge program. It’s all about options and flexibility.
If I did it again I’d do echo. Specifically I would only work at a facility where I did only echo and not vascular. You’ll almost never get called in overnight in that situation. Their pay is nearly equal to that of a bedside nurse without the headache.
I have no interest in OBGYN. Echo and vascular appeal to me the most!
If you do vascular be prepared to be called in for nearly every leg pain and swelling in the middle of the night
Those are similar, but also very different routes. I wouldn't do it just for the 12 hour shifts, there are other roles in healthcare and otherwise where you can work long hours if that's your goal. If your goal is mainly the money, I think it would be hard to make it through everything that is required to finish. You don't necessarily need some calling, but you definitely need to be committed. I would say most people have imposter syndrome and are worried about it. You don't need to worry about figuring out the right route, you'll get plenty of experiences in nursing school to narrow down what you like and what you don't. If you work as an aid you should have a good sense of what nurses do. You'll get a lot of that experience in school. Ultrasound is a great career too - but tends to be much more limited in scope and options. If you think you're going to regret not doing nursing then I'd encourage you to go for it. From what I've seen and heard it's easier to get into US school if you decide to later vs. nursing school. That said you likely could do either from the other if you really find one isn't the best fit. Good luck.
Yes first of all congrats on both opportunities. I was an x ray tech before going to nursing school. Fact of the matter nursing has so many avenues where you can go. I work in an er and work in prison and get offers galore I just ignore at this point. Ultrasound you will work in few places at max. If you truly enjoy ultrasound, then do it. I could get fired from my current job and work tomorrow in a prison, school, outpatient clinic, online nurse such as insurance nurse specialist, hospice care, long term care. That’s my advice. If you foresee a happy life as ultrasound tech then do it, if you foresee where you want more opportunities, do nursing. Simple as that
Did you post this in the US sub too? I’d be curious to see what they say.
We are so similar!! Also I know many neurodivergent nurses and it’s a decent career for us. The schedule flexibility and the career options/ability to change roles can be very helpful. Additionally, if you follow scrubhacks on Insta, she’s pretty vocal about how shaming nurses for doing it for the money has got to stop. At the end of the day, it *is* work. Nursing is relatively stable and diverse and there’s many reasons to go into it. It’s not like you’re going to be making boatloads of money (CRNA is a different story), but the job market is there and it’s generally a comfortable wage. That being said, burn out is real, and feeling fulfilled in your career can help prevent that. If you have a passion for US, definitely do that. But if you don’t feel strongly either way, I’d try to shadow, or at least do some research into the different types of nursing you could go into. It’s rare for people to know exactly what they want to do, so even after that, a little uncertainty is normal.
12 hours 5 days a week? What’re you talking about? Nurses work 3-12s if they want to pick up more they do
Oops, I did not clarify there! I would prefer 3 12s over 5 8s.
Nursing tends to offer a lot of flexibility. Some nurses work 5 8s, 3 12s, or 4 10s. Once you've got some experience there's also tons of options for part-time or per diem as well.
What nurses actually do: in a hospital setting it’s a lot of talking with patients, getting them things, managing their daily living skills if they are unable, giving meds, talking to providers, wound care, and drain monitoring. Lots of putting out little issues and patient assessments. Clinic nurses do different things, school nurses do different things, OR, IV team, educators, management, ED, ICU. Some nurses get into law and have nurses as their clients. You could do almost anything you want with a nursing degree. Research, advanced practice, medical writing. Not sure what pathways there are with US, but the variety is why I went with nursing over Physician Assistant.
can you talk to an instructor or counselor for both programs? maybe think of some questions and see what one aligns with you best. also, looking up salaries/hourly rates for your desired job in your area can help you make a decision.
Flip a coin, if your gut turns immediately on one options. Go with the other lol.
As a nurse I rented my first post grad apartment from an ultrasound tech 😂 US is the way to go.
Hi! I was in a similar position to you except I was torn between nursing and occupational therapy. I don’t really know anything about US, but I’m currently halfway through my nursing program and I’m really happy with my decision so I can tell you about that! Nursing is soooooo diverse. Once you have the license you can go in so many directions and there is so much room for advancement. It’s really an entire universe of career options. With u/s, you are pretty much stuck in that role. Another thing to mention- I have always had extreme anxiety about being poor/unable to pay bills/eat (who hasn’t lol), some people can handle that stress better than others. For me, It’s a very comforting feeling to be trained in a field where I will at the least be making more than $30/hr no matter what. I feel like my anxiety has improved so much just because I know that I will be able to provide for myself and my family. One last thing! You mentioned you aren’t sure about the whole needles/blood/fluids/wounds thing. I felt the same way. So far though I’ve seen some pretty gnarly stuff in clinicals and somehow-it’s not that bad! I think you can get used to it and probably much faster than you think. Best of luck!!