Am I the only new nurse who doesn't hate my job?

Hahaha we should have an "optimistic nurses" or "happy nurses" forum for all of us who need a break from negativity

I think that's a great idea!

I love my job. I'm right where I need to be. I go home feeling like I've really made a difference (on most days).

I'll be at my one-year-mark in July.

Me too! July 20.

December '08 graduate here, working in a small SICU.

I love my job!

I think my previous craptastic Corporate jobs, cushy though they were (strolling in a 9, taking a 2 hour lunch break, and leaving at 4,) gave me a little perspective, though. Nursing is much harder than any job I've ever had (and I've had lots...5 jobs in the first year out of college the first time around!) but also much more rewarding. I love my patients. I get a huge lift to see my previously vented patients walking the halls! Every day is different, every day I learn something new, and I'm being challenged every second. Part of my brain probably went necrotic during those years in Corporate America, so I'm thrilled to be using the noggin' again.

Is it frustrating? Hell yes. Every day I feel at least a little bit like a fraud. Yesterday, my patient told me I'd be a good nurse "someday," after my preceptor mentioned I was new. He's right; I don't feel like The Nurse yet. In fact, there's still very little seperating me from a nursing student, except I can pull narcotics and double check insulin. I've made amazing progress in just a few months, but the more I learn, the more I realize I have to learn. I think that is one of the hardest things we face as new graduates.

But even after my hardest days, I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be working, or any other job I'd rather be doing. I haven't yet woken up dreading my shift. My husband even told me I haven't been hitting the "SLEEP" button as much as I used to. I told him, "that's what happens when you don't hate your job."

I would obviously rather be independantly wealthy, but until that happens, I feel pretty honored to call myself a Nurse.

I really like my job!!!! I work on a neuroscience floor and feel right at home because I use to work on a psych unit(5 yrs) and a nursing home(15yrs+) in another field. I loved both of those jobs and now I feel like I get a combination of the two on this floor.Its like getting aquainted with my previous population and nursing them back to health.

i hate my job everyday>>>>>>the nurses i work with aren't "people person's" i hate it that i've been nursing for only a year and a half and have to precept another precepting nurse's student because she gets too overwhelmed. I hate signing off other people's paperwork because they are too busy talking on the cell phone. I hate it when everyone comes to work frowning and p'd off because they have to be at work and then look at me and say "why are you smiling?" What is really going on?

Let's keep it positive people...please! This is a great thread. Gives a lot of hope for future nurses.

to be honest, i have days i leave and never want to go back. then again, i have days where they fly by and i find myself thinking that despite the floor where i work (peds hem/onc which is a very difficult floor in terms of emotions and job description) i have the greatest job ever. it usually just all depends on what has happened to me that day. i think the key is to remember that nursing isnt just a physical job - it can be an emotional one too, and that can make for some very challenging days... but it can also offer the most rewarding days as well.

over all, i have had far more good days where i love my job than where i hate it. i guess that means things are going good!

I too love my job, I am excited to go to work! All of my co-workers are fabulous! It has been almost a year since I began working as an RN and I can't believe how much it has changed me. I am more confident in all aspects of my life, more outgoing and comfortable with myself. There are still times that I wish I could have explained some thing better to my patients, or had more knowledge about a particular disease or meaning of certain labs but I know that I have so much more to learn and that it will all come in time, so I don't beat myself up over what I don't do exactly right - just keep learning and realize no one is perfect or stops learning.
There is nothing I would rather do or be than a nurse!