Do you think I would be an okay nurse?

You may have a fear of needles but, do you have a fear of sticking them into people? You can get over that pretty easily. I had a very old cat with kidney failure. She needed more water to flush her system than she could possibly drink. I could never imagine poking a needle into my beloved sweetheart and those needles are a lot thicker than those that go into humans. However, the cost to have the vet do it was very high. He showed me how to do it and, after once, it wasn 't too bad. It did not hurt her. The fluids extended her life from about 19 to 22 1/2 years, starting out about once a week to about every other day. I think the needle part of it would be a small issue to get over. There are other aspects that would bother me much, much more, like hearing someone groaning in pain and not being able to help them. But, as a nurse, you would be able to help. From what I know, it would be a great career "with" job openings and it sounds like you would make a wonderful nurse, no matter what level you choose.

I think you have been mislead somewhere. If you are an an RN, you work as an RN. You are not qualified to work as an LMT or Rad Tech. Yes, as an RN, you can get an x-ray and/or ultrasound credential, but it's NOT the same as being a Radiography Technologist or Sonography/Ultrasound Tech.

You also don't qualify to see patients as a "psychiatric nurse". These are NPs - it requires a Master's degree.

Fear of needles takes you out of patient care. Everyone who works in patient care will see needles. You would need to overcome it. Speak with a psychiatrist about the best way to do it *for you*. It may be volunteering at a blood drive. It may be watching flu shot videos. Or, if you have a true phobia, it might take significant psychotherapy to make it tolerable.

If you are easily overwhelmed, you need to specifically bring this up with the Psychiatrist as well and work through it. Being unable to work under stress removes you from pretty much any health care field job and most decent jobs out there. Jobs have specific requirements and deadlines and if you will be breaking down if you are asked to do three different things, it just won't work. And trust me, when it rains, it pours.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but right now, you just don't sound like a good fit for health care. Perhaps in the future, once you've gotten your needle issue and stress issues under control, it will be a different story. I wish you nothing but success.

Good Luck!

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