help! i think i hate nursing!

Sigh is right. A friend of mine who was working as an aide and considering nursing school said she was hesitating because it seemed like the aides spent more time with the patients and the nurses spent most of their time charting. Naive nursing student that I was, I assured her that the nurses who spent most of their time charting were the ones who didn't want to spend more time with the patients.

I've eaten those words more than once. It's more than a little frustrating how much crap gets in the way of what we got into nursing to do. I think about the things we're taught in therapeutic communication--pull up a chair, sit and listen, don't make them feel like they're keeping you from a dozen more important things...yeah, right. Sure, sometimes that's just what the patient needs, but nursing administrators really don't like to pay time-and-a-half for you to catch up on your charting.

Nursing will just suck the life right out of you, if you let it.

When I was new, and annoyingly enthusiastic, some of my more cynical coworkers used to smile wryly and say, "Just wait..." And they were right.
I have become one of those nurses who whines on the way in, whines on the way out, and grumbles a good bit in between. Makes my sig line seem just a tad bit hypocritical, I suppose.
But I'm reminded of something my Dad told me about his time in the military, that the sargeants never worried while the men were complaining--it was only when they stopped complaining that they became concerned about morale. And I think that also applies to nurses. Part of the reason we gripe is because our perception of how things are doesn't jive with our vision of how things should be. Lose that vision and it is what it is and there's no reason to complain.
One of the biggest surprises of my orientation was working alongside a nurse who was a big part of my inspiration to become a nurse, who continues to be a mentor and role model, a really great nurse who never gets flustered, always knows exactly what to do, and never complains. So, one of her many words of wisdom she passed along to me was not to let management walk all over me. Faced--as we all sometimes are--with the choice of being an excellent nurse or an excellent employee, she's an excellent nurse every time. And it turns out, she even gripes about it, a little, just not in front of the unlicensed staff, patients, or even newbie nurses. (I think it is fair to say she doesn't let the occassional complaints outweigh the reasons she became a nurse, and I am trying to emulate that. And, like many of the experienced nurses I see, she has a rather sardonic sense of humor.)

So, speaking with all my many months of experience, I would say it really does get better, over time. These days, I find myself rushing to get things done that two years ago I didn't even know I needed to do. My manager would cry, but my time-management actually has improved, somewhat, so that I'm spending less time on routine stuff like med passes and even assessments. I actually do find a minute or two, here and there, to chat with patients or get their visitors a cup of coffee, and if a patient really needs it, I can usually find ten minutes to pull up a chair and listen. My shift ends at 0730, and I'm usually out by 0800, but sometimes I run seriously over. I will never again, even in jest, tell my NM that charting isn't so bad at $30/hr, but I continue to tell myself, "If they wanted a good nurse, they should have hired one." I take the assignment I'm given, do the best I can with it, try to do most of my grumbling in the privacy of the med room, try very hard to leave work behind when I walk out the door, and try to remember, in my heart of hearts, that I do love my stupid job.

I think being happy as a nurse requires a sort of functional schizophrenia.
You have to build a bunch of mental compartments. You need a place to stick your personnal problems while you're at work. You need a place--or several--to stick all the BS that takes you away from the real work. You need a "happy place" to visit as you're scarfing down your ten-minute lunch. You need a quiet little place you can hide in (at least mentally, and if possible, physically) when it's time to "chart like the wind," and you need a place where you're Supernurse and actually feel like you know what you are doing, sometimes.

Reality can be manageable, if you break it up into bite-sized pieces.

I am new to nursing also and some days I feel I don't like it. With all there is to do you really don't have time to give the patient that one on one personal time they deserve( I work in LTC but on a Medicaid hall). It is so stressfull and I feel like some of the other posters-there is never enough time. I have been doing this going on 2mths and it seems I am never going to be as fast as my co-workers with getting things done in time to get to charting or a lunch break(some days I don't get one). It seems they look at you funny when you have to stay past your clock out time to finish charting(I guess they think your trying to get overtime). I often ask my co-workers when the reviewers come through from the state and we have to give these meds an hour b4 and an hour after how will we? The patients go to activities, therapy etc etc. I just hope things get better because I am thinking about going back and finishing my teaching degree.

Along the lines of the topic, I am beginning to feel the same way, that maybe I've made a mistake going into nursing versus another field. But, I'm still in nursing school, so maybe that's why. I'm finishing up my accelerated BSN program and am doing my senior preceptorship now in a busy med/surg unit and it's been a nightmare. Running around like a chicken with my head cut off, without a break expect for lunch, and without enought time with patients, and without a collaboration with physicians, I feel distraught. I am thinking I will try to salvage my decision, by applying my clinical experience to another related field.

I had to put my input in...I am only a CNA/CMA/HHA and also I have a Lic. as Adult Care Home Operator..I was going to go on and get my LPN or RN along time back...but, I have been doing what I doing now since 94 and I decided I wasn't going any further...I have respect all you LPN and RN's out there who do and put up with what crap goes on. I am burned out in working in all of it and the crap..that is why I decided not to go further..I am working on my bachlors now but for an Human Resource degree and Bus. Admin. I like the bus. and paper work end of a bus. that is just me...I have finally found what I want to do..but, I salute all you out there...it just isn't for me...unfor. I have done a lot of job hopping and it does show up on records, ..I just can't seem to like doing this anymore. Good luck..