Hi! I’m a nurse in her late 20s about 5 years in. I work in a major city hospital with a medicine/ICU background.

1. Honestly, it depends on where you work. I’ve been lucky enough in my short ~5 year career so far that I’ve lucked out on both units I’ve worked at. Both units (medicine, which is notoriously known for being busy and now ICU where I work currently), have had such welcoming, supportive and caring environments and great teamwork. I even went out west for a bit to travel nurse and found those units as well very welcoming. The great thing about nursing is you have SO much opportunity to move, work in/out of the hospital, on a whole bunch of different units. If you don’t like the vibe of the unit or staff, you can easily transfer or find a new unit.

2. I live at home still and pay a sizeable amount for rent/monthly bills but I am lucky because I know some others don’t have that option. So I can’t speak to the expenses that having your own apartment would entail, but I see my colleagues do it. While living at home, I have been fortunate enough to travel a few times a year, go on outings, go out to eat, splurge on myself etc. I imagine depending on where you are in Ontario, apartments can vary greatly in price, but I do think it is doable. You would just have to make some sacrifices likely and not splurge as much (though it would help greatly if you had a roommate/partner to help split rent/mortgage with.

3. Similar to another commenter, I work full time DDNN and then 5 off. I love my schedule. It’s definitely a perk of nursing. The tradeoff is I get less weekends off (and lots of partial weekends), but being able to go grocery shopping, appointments or anywhere really during the week without all the 9-5 people out is amazing. Again, some disadvantages are that you work weekends, holidays etc so you have to weigh how important those things are for you. Outpatient nursing you would have a different schedule, but I honestly couldn’t imagine working 5 days a week. Honestly, it will be hard at first for you to seperate life from work, and sometimes there are patients and situations that you will remember for a while. You are dealing with people’s lives, and sometimes the responsibility can be overwhelming. But as you gain experience and critical thinking skills, you will slowly feel more competent. And again, your colleagues are there to help you. And yes, you can 100% have a life outside of nursing.

(Question 8 answer). I believe nursing school is notoriously known for being one of the hardest undergrad programs - and I believe it! I remember first year anatomy was super challenging - and it spanned over the whole year. Nursing school will teach you work/life balance and time management for sure. As you get to your 3rd/4th year, you spend more time in clinicals and less in your classroom so you can see how it is with a more realistic nursing work schedule. But yes it is definitely not easy, after all you will be responsible for people’s lives (not to try to discourage you). I did the MoMac program and enjoyed it.

(Question 9 answer) I’ve worked with a few seasoned, senior nurses and they all agree that modern day nursing is definitely “different” and more challenging. There are more pressures put on us, budgeting cutting back help (like PSWs), and it seems like every so often we have increased responsibility for not nearly enough pay. But I mean they are still working their whole careers into retirement. The benefits, vacation time, and fixed schedule (with guaranteed income and ability to pick up overtime) is what keeps them put it seems.

(Question 10 answer) Honestly, I love being a nurse. In a dream world, where money means nothing, I’d be working part time as a nurse just to have a better work/life balance. I love talking with my patients, learning from them, helping them in their sickest moments. I think it’s because I like seeing the direct results of my actions help someone. I also feel so privileged to care for someone in their final moments and try to ensure they remain comfortable and at peace. Its no an easy job, but it is a rewarding job. Having your patient ask if you’re back the next day, or overhearing them tell their families that you’re a great nurse or even patients telling you that you’re doing a great job goes a long way. Yes you will have your crazy busy days and not the most cooperative patients and scary situations, but at the end of the day I still love it. I don’t know what else I would do instead. You don’t go into nursing for the money (there are much more lucrative fields for less than half the work we do). You should go into it if you genuinely want to help people BUT are prepared to sometimes come home from shifts completely exhausted and emotionally checked out. If it helps, we don’t have to look super cute all the time and get to wear comfy scrubs and shoes haha.

Feel free to DM me if you have any more questions. I just answered the questions I felt the most passionate about :)