To Nurse or not to nurse?

Nrs. LaLa-Land · Sep 7, 2003

I just want to say that nursing is nothing like i thought it would be. I thought it was kind of like waitressing....You get water for them...fluff pillows...and pass a few meds...smile a lot...

I was in La La Land because I thought wrong....nurses have a lot of responsibility....I am almost finished with nursing school and all of my delusions are gone....I am still glad that I made the decision but it is a very serious one....a lot of liability....a lot of room for serious error that could have bad repurcussions.....I cant tell you exactly what it's like to be a nurse but what I have learned so far is that the nurse is a the eyes and ears of the doctor...a critical thinker....a liason....a teacher...patient advocate......therapist....rehabilitator....

I'm sure someone more experienced can give you specifics about nursing but these are a few things that the job will entail...

I think nursing is an important respectable profession that not everyone can do....if you choose to do it...I wish you all the luck and happiness in your new profession!!!

Cmyst · Sep 8, 2003

Nursing involves making major decisions, sometimes under extreme pressure, often with very little time to reflect -- and then being responsible for those decisions, and the outcomes that they have on the lives of other human beings.

It involves multi-tasking and prioritizing. It involves communication skills, both written and verbal. It requires someone who can both think independantly and function as a member of a team. "Customer Service" is often stressed, but at times it is difficult to identify who, exactly, the "customer" is -- the patient, the MD, the family or the insurance company. And often, the goals of each of these entities are at odds with the goals of the others.

Floor nursing is a very physical job. And don't be deceived -- a BSN will not get you a management position right out of school. You *will* put in your "dues time". You might be on your feet for 12 hours. You will bend, lift, and push. You will walk miles every shift, from one end of your unit (which may be the length of a city block) to the other, from your floor to other departments, over and over and at times very quickly. Eventually, if the physical effort becomes too much, you can move on to other less demanding areas of nursing, but most of these require at least a couple years of the experience that you can only get doing the hard work on the floor.

Nursing involves being technically proficient beyond the skills that one learns to perform patient care. Nurses must often fix equipment, or invent a device to fit a situation, or use equipment in new or innovative ways for which it was not invented but for which it will safely perform the needed function.

Nursing involves community involvement, from your neighborhood all the way up to the Earth as a whole. It involves debate in the betterment of the profession, and often disagreement. It involves not only teaching patients, but also mentoring other nurses and medical residents. Often, we must struggle for the betterment of conditions, at work and in society. And many times, we must be willing to stand up for ourselves and to move beyond our personal comfort zone to get what we know we need to do the work we must do.

And nurses, good nurses, must do these things while remembering that ultimately we are there to advocate for our patients and to give them excellent care physically and emotionally. The best nurses balance a sense of propriety with a sense of humor, and have interpersonal skills that are not that common in the general population; the ability to empathize, to listen, to support. Our job is to establish relationships with people that *will* leave us, one way or another, and to help them in the journey.

If you have these skills, and can balance your personal and professional life and maintain a sense of your individuality beyond your role as a nurse, you will have a career that can be very satisfying and financially secure.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2003

CMYST-

What a wonderful and totally accurate description of Nursing!