"I don't want to do bed side nursing"...SAY WHAT!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

had a couple different nursing students say: "well, i'm going to school so i don't have to do bed side nursing". one even told me she want to work in plastic surg. office, not at the bed side. o.k. , i'm an "old nurse...47 yrs old", but when i went to nursing school in the 80's , we knew we knew we would most likley have to work our way into other areas of nursing after some experience in an acute care facility or some other such place. i hate to sound like i want to eat my young but, a part of me wants to see these new nurses go through the ranks like many of us did. not because i want to see them go through he double thooth picks, but because i feel , taking care of pateints, hands on , learning orginizational skills, pt. asses. , are the best way to learn nursing skills. as a critical care nurse of 27 years, i continue to be amazed at how much i can find out about a pt. during a bath and bed change. we have beds that turn, vents that suction, monitors that alert a critical care team half way across the city, bells, beeps and whistles,,,,what ever happened to good old hands on. i think it is funny that a nursing student thinks if she goes to a plastic surg. office she will only see tummy tucks, face lifts and boob jobs. she's forgetting the big ugly draining wounds , burns, and amputations etc..these office settings see. would love to be a fly on the wall when she takes care of her first pt. with these things and says......"oh my gosh, a plastic surg. takes care of these people too...!" guess i'll go into dermatology.... ha , if you've been around the block you know what awaits her there too. hee heee....but i swear i don't like to eat my young !:lol2: :rotfl: :clown: :lol2: :lol2: :uhoh3:

Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.

I have said before and I will say again, if you don't want to do bedside nursing, for whatever reason, don't do it...let someone else take on that task. If I am a patient, I want a nurse there who cares about me and wants to be at the bedside. It does not upset me one bit when someone says they don't want to be a bedside nurse.

Nursing is so much more than giving baths, making beds, and wiping butts. Anyone with half a brain knows that. It doesn't take a degree to accomplish those tasks, they are just a hazard that comes along with the job. And if you love your pts and have true compassion, you don't mind doing this for them and realize it is only a very small part of your job discription.

There is so much diversity and posibilities in nursing that if someone doesn't want to be a bedside nurse, why should the bedside nurses, or anyone really, complain? Do you want to work alongside, or manage, a nurse who is forced to do a year of med-surg? I wouldn't. I want co-workers/employees that are excited about and satisfied with their job position. They produce the best outcome for the patient. If these nurses prefer, they can work in OPS, ambulatory care clinics, health departments, schools, planned parenthood, etc.

Don't put down bedside nursing because you imply that being a bedside nurse does not encompass skill and knowledge, only dirty work. Don't discourage another for seeking another avenue in nursing that needs to be filled simply because it is not the conventional way in which things "should/used to be done".

First of all I am not trying to step on anyones toes, or down play what nurses did in the past, or tech jobs, CNA, etc. I am stating facts & my own personal feelings which I think everyone on this board is entitled to, especially if it is different than mine, variety is what makes this world go around, other wise we would all be doing the same job, then where would we be?

I totally agree with the above statement, I am not going through all of these technical procedures in school and paying all of this money and having to learn all of this critical care information, to be a tech/aid, again nothing wrong with that, my mother is a tech and has been for years, she is the one who has encouraged me to go back to school for my RN, so I don't have to do the job she does. By the way she is a excellent CNA/tech and has great respect at the Hospital and in the community.:)

I agree if I am spending all of my time making beds, changing bed pans, bathing & feeding patients, who is going to hang the meds, hang the blood, put in foleys, put in feeding tubes, the list goes on and on, it sure won't be the tech, so then not only am I doing my job, I am doing their job too and they can't help me with my job. Its called the ladder everyone has a certain job, and at my local hospital there are CNA's, LPNs, RNs, & docs, they all have diff jobs, do they help each other when they can? sure, will I help when I can, of course, am I going to do it all? NO Way, I have not suffered throught the hectic schedule, the instructor abuse and torture tests to do something I am already certified to do as a CNA. Sorry.

And, also, if you think about it "traditional nursing" that everyone is talking about or so keen on nurses today suffering through or starting at the bottom (whatever that means), is not like, it used to be, it was a lot different in the past, they were not required to know the things we have to know now, or do the procedures we have to do now, most of their job was total physical patient care, the docs, did alot of the procedures we have to do now in school, also, alot of nurses years ago did not even have to go to school as long as we do, I am talking moons ago, that is where the traditional nurse started (Ms. Nightingale), that is why now we have Techs, LPNs, & RNs, each is to learn a different step in Nursing, not one person is required to do it all.

When I worked as an CNA I liked it, I worked on Oncology and loved the patients, it was the CNAs I worked with that were awful, they hated RNs, all they did was talk about them, how they never did anything or they make all that money and don't do the labor, or they would not ever go to school to be an RN, and they would complain and gripe about their job all the time and how it was unfair what they had to do and get paid less. I just wanted to look at them and say "Then why are you here? Why are you a CNA, Why didn't you go to school to be a RN? Go to Walmart and work. I had a bad experience with those CNA's, I just stayed away from them.

So to end my soap box, if you want to be a RN, be one, if you want to be a CNa be one, but don't gripe because you have to do your job. And yes, when you get out of school as an RN you do have opportunites where you don't have to do patient care, or bedside care, who said that was what you went Nursing School to do anyway? Some people call it a "calling" but for some it is a way of feeding their families and putting their children through school. The ones that don't want to do patient care should not be judged I am sorry but that is not the definition of Registered Nursing anymore, people really need to deal with it. :o ;)

Actually Ms. Ruby, the reason for the break up of nursing duties was a monetary one. Back in the day, the nurse didn't do alot of things because there was a more limited technology. By breaking up nursing into CNA, LVN, RN (2 year) and BSN---it justified different pay scales. Old school nurses went to college for four years to be called a nurse. So they put in more hours and more money (in yesterdays monies) then todays two year RNs AND they did the dirty work. You go to the hospitals today and LVN's and CNAs do alot of the work with an RN in charge. Actually, your response has backed my position that most go into nursing for the money. That's fine, but a paper pusher is just that a paper pusher. If there is no shame in NOT doing patient care then be proud to call yourself an administrator. Even today the average person identifies nursing with direct patient care. Alot of schools interview perspective students nowadays; I wonder what song and dance about caring for people was done by many whom today want no direct contact with patients :uhoh21:

whenever someone acts like bedpans etc are below them with me, i say, "imagine you were ill and scared in the hospital with let's say, cancer, and the dr was in your room with you, and you all of a sudden had to have diarrhea. what would you think if the dr put your chart down and quickly offered you a bedpan? would you think that was "below" her? or would you think the dr really cares about you as a person, and didn't want you to have an accident on yourself?"

it's not about the task, it's about treating people with dignity when they are at the lowest point in their entire lives.

Well put :yelclap:

Specializes in PICU, Nurse Educator, Clinical Research.
Actually Ms. Ruby, the reason for the break up of nursing duties was a monetary one. Back in the day, the nurse didn't do alot of things because there was a more limited technology. By breaking up nursing into CNA, LVN, RN (2 year) and BSN---it justified different pay scales. Old school nurses went to college for four years to be called a nurse. So they put in more hours and more money (in yesterdays monies) then todays two year RNs AND they did the dirty work. You go to the hospitals today and LVN's and CNAs do alot of the work with an RN in charge. Actually, your response has backed my position that most go into nursing for the money. That's fine, but a paper pusher is just that a paper pusher. If there is no shame in NOT doing patient care then be proud to call yourself an administrator. Even today the average person identifies nursing with direct patient care. Alot of schools interview perspective students nowadays; I wonder what song and dance about caring for people was done by many whom today want no direct contact with patients :uhoh21:

First off, nurses are not broken up into RN and BSN- an RN is simply an RN, no matter what educational path got them to the point where they could take the NCLEX-RN. Also, you should check your facts on the 'old school' nurses who all went to school for 4 years- hospital nursing was evolved from hospital training programs. There was actually a lot of resistance to the notion of college education for nurses back then. And don't forget that in the early days of hospital nursing, a LOT of the work was actually being a maid as well. Yes, doctors did a great deal of the work that nurses now do. It wasn't just technology; it was training, skill level, and the perception of nursing as a low-skilled job, not a profession.

I don't understand the comment about being proud to call yourself an administrator. I suppose I'd be called a 'paper pusher' as a researcher (even though I rarely do anything involving actual paper, y'know?). But I'm a registered nurse. I am practicing nursing as a part of my job. I haven't stopped being a nurse because I utilize my skills and knowledge away from the bedside. So I'm going to continue calling myself a nurse- because I *am* a nurse.

And, for the record, I *did* have to interview for my nursing school program. I was completely honest about my desire to work in research. I felt no need to do a song and dance. I knew what I wanted in a nursing career, and I was willing to do whatever I needed to do to make that happen. If my goals were a problem, they would've kept me out of the program.

One more thing- I have a question for anyone who says that money doesn't figure in to their reasons for being a nurse. Why aren't they working for free?

Specializes in Geriatrics, Gen Med.
I have said before and I will say again, if you don't want to do bedside nursing, for whatever reason, don't do it...let someone else take on that task. If I am a patient, I want a nurse there who cares about me and wants to be at the bedside. It does not upset me one bit when someone says they don't want to be a bedside nurse.

Nursing is so much more than giving baths, making beds, and wiping butts. Anyone with half a brain knows that. It doesn't take a degree to accomplish those tasks, they are just a hazard that comes along with the job. And if you love your pts and have true compassion, you don't mind doing this for them and realize it is only a very small part of your job discription.

There is so much diversity and posibilities in nursing that if someone doesn't want to be a bedside nurse, why should the bedside nurses, or anyone really, complain? Do you want to work alongside, or manage, a nurse who is forced to do a year of med-surg? I wouldn't. I want co-workers/employees that are excited about and satisfied with their job position. They produce the best outcome for the patient. If these nurses prefer, they can work in OPS, ambulatory care clinics, health departments, schools, planned parenthood, etc.

Don't put down bedside nursing because you imply that being a bedside nurse does not encompass skill and knowledge, only dirty work. Don't discourage another for seeking another avenue in nursing that needs to be filled simply because it is not the conventional way in which things "should/used to be done".

To quickly clear this up, I am not putting down bedside nursing. I am a kind and compassionate person and, I have worked as a Nurse Aid and loved doing it. I am 54 now though and don't have the back to lift and tug on patients or make 30+ beds a shift like I used to. That does not mean that I won't do my part, or will grouse about doing it. I enjoy working with people, helping those in need and don't mind patient contact in the least. However again, I am not in my 20's now, and I am undertaking these studies so that I can move to the next care giving level and not spend an entire shift doing CNA/Tech work. Again, if I wanted or could continue doing their work, I would not undertake nursing studies, and all it entails.

It's going to be hard work and require loans to accomplish this. Finally becoming a nurse will be worth the effort though and, it will be rewarding to be in a position to help others in such a satisfying way. I will be in debt for years for the effort and may well go into retirement with debt still to pay. For this committment on my part, however, I don't think it reasonable for CNAs to expect me to do their work on top of mine. I never expected help from the nurses to make a bed or change/bathe a patient when I was a nurse-aid. Nurse aids helped each other and if absolutely necessary, we asked an LPN for help if we were in a bind and needed an extra set of hands. Now and then a nurse might step in to observe us, or talk with a patient while care was given, and might give a bit of help or take over if she chose as part of her patient care and assessment, but it was not expected or asked for by the nurse aids. Has this changed?

:nurse:

Specializes in Pediactrics geriatrics med surg L+D.

i am a new nurse only been a nurse 3 years before that i was a cna for 4 years and i am in school for my RN now the most satifying thing to me (and forgive the spelling i just got off of work and i am dead) is to be able to asses the patient there is alot i can tell just by the way my patient is talking to me.

now i know i have a long way to go and you have to crawl before you walk but what the new grad is forgetting that patients tummy tuck might get infected and who is going to be doing the dsg change! lol reality will hit her in the face lol

whenever someone acts like bedpans etc are below them with me, i say, "imagine you were ill and scared in the hospital with let's say, cancer, and the dr was in your room with you, and you all of a sudden had to have diarrhea. what would you think if the dr put your chart down and quickly offered you a bedpan? would you think that was "below" her? or would you think the dr really cares about you as a person, and didn't want you to have an accident on yourself?"

it's not about the task, it's about treating people with dignity when they are at the lowest point in their entire lives.

I don't think bedpans are below me at all but, I think it's a lot more complicated than whether you care for the patient or not. I also blame management for not giving us effective tools to deal with things like diarrhea. Especially since we get patients with non-stop diarrhea where they keep going even while you're changing them.

I don't have time to change a patient 10-20 times a day and neither does the aide ... nobody does. So what really happens? No matter how hard you try, they're going to be dirty and there's going to be skin breakdown not to mention, if they have a foley (which they often do) ... they're probably going to get a UTI from that as well.

At one hospital where I worked they had these really great, very flexible, very comfortable fecal bags for cases like this but, I've only seen these fecal bags at one hospital ... probably because the other hospitals don't want to spend money on it.

So, just recently at another hospital I had a patient with non-stop bloody, diarrhea who also had a foley. Those fecal bags would have really come in handy because I just could not keep this patient clean, no matter how hard I tried.

This is one of many things that frustrate me about floor nursing. There are tools available to make the job and the patients better but, management won't invest in them.

And if you dare say you don't have time to clean up diarrhea 10-20 times a day (and, as an RN you really don't) then you get accused of being lazy, being a primma donna, not caring about the patients and not being a real nurse.

I guess it's better for the patients to develop a pressure sore and/or a UTI with the old wipe and change system.

I find the whole thing incredibly frustrating.

:typing

I Work In A 180 Bed Snf. As The Only Rn On The Floor I Am Responsible For 30 Residents. My Duties Include , Ans The Phone, Passing Meds, Making Sure Labs Are Drawn, If Not I Do It, Making Sure Lab Results Are Reported To Md., Making Sure Residents Get To Appointments, Treatments, Assessing Every Resident For Changes, Working The Dinning Room Bedside Nursing Care, Dealing With The Crazies, Not Only Residents, But The Staff, Getting Reamed On A Daily Basis By Famlies Because Things Aren't Perfect,

Trachs, Piccs, Ijs, Pegs, Transcribe All Orders, Admissions, Discharges And Whatever Else Is Tossed My Way. I Manage To Do This 12hrs. A Day 5 Days A Week. Don,t Tell Me There Are No Bedside Nurses, Come Work Where I Work.

Specializes in Emergency Room.

there is no complete wrong or right answer to this subject, but the reality is that nursing is a hard job. i work with alot of miserable nurses because they HATE doing bedside care, but continue to do it because they have bills to pay and very often those 9-5 office/clinic jobs don't have the same pay or flexibilty that bedside does. do they treat the patients bad? no. but if they could do something else that offered similiar pay and flexibilty they would be gone in a heart beat. many nurses don't want to get out of their comfort zone either, so this also contributes to job dissatisfaction. Bedside nursing is not a glamorous job, and i think that it is important for people to know that before getting into it, but there is room out there for everyone to spread their wings in healthcare, bedside or not.

Actually Ms. Ruby, the reason for the break up of nursing duties was a monetary one. Back in the day, the nurse didn't do alot of things because there was a more limited technology. By breaking up nursing into CNA, LVN, RN (2 year) and BSN---it justified different pay scales. Old school nurses went to college for four years to be called a nurse. So they put in more hours and more money (in yesterdays monies) then todays two year RNs AND they did the dirty work. You go to the hospitals today and LVN's and CNAs do alot of the work with an RN in charge. Actually, your response has backed my position that most go into nursing for the money. That's fine, but a paper pusher is just that a paper pusher. If there is no shame in NOT doing patient care then be proud to call yourself an administrator. Even today the average person identifies nursing with direct patient care. Alot of schools interview perspective students nowadays; I wonder what song and dance about caring for people was done by many whom today want no direct contact with patients :uhoh21:

Again, this quote above is the reason why (I feel like, in my opinion) people need to learn Nursing is Diverse, and quit putting down nurses who don't want to do patient care. These nurses sure don't want to be put down for doing bedside care, but they sure want to put down Nurses that don't want to do it. I realized in Nursing school that I do not want to do Med/Surge, well excuse me if I feel those patients would be better off without me taking care of them, being miserable and hating it. I think it is great when a Nurse realizes that they would not benefit a patient working in a certain area, instead of being as most stated miserable and hateful to their patients and in their life.

And as far as why nursing was broken up into different areas, there are many reasons, not just monetary. I was also referring to Nursing from the very beginning, most was not required to go four years, and I do agree with the four year program comment, I am currently working on my Bachelors degree and minor in Psychology.

Again, this is my opinion, not to reflect on others, and everyone is entitled to their opinion, especially the quote above, diversity (see).;)

Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.
To quickly clear this up, I am not putting down bedside nursing. I am a kind and compassionate person and, I have worked as a Nurse Aid and loved doing it. I am 54 now though and don't have the back to lift and tug on patients or make 30+ beds a shift like I used to.

My post was not directed towards you or I would have quoted you. It was a general opinion on the subject.

My point was that there is a place in nursing for everyone, regardless of their initial motivation to go to school, and bedside nursing is not for everyone and should not be forced on anyone.

This is just my humble opinion, which is allowed under Ms Ruby's diversity quote. I would like you to ask the next ten non hospital affiliated people you meet if they think nurses have direct patient care. I think the majority if not all will say yes. Those of you who don't have direct patient care seem very defensive about the prospect of not considering yourselves nurses. You can be a researcher with a nursing degree (by the way that is another example of the corporates trying to save money, years ago you never heard of a someone with a nursing degree doing research----maybe I'm going too far back for some on you younguns). You can be an administrator with a nursing degree and on and on. When I classified LVNs and CNAs I said that NURSING had changed to include them in more patient care. They are part of nursing not nurses hence they don't take the NCLEX-RN. This seems to be a question of semantics. As for someones statement of working for free--don't be ridiculous, but every nurse I've met, with 10 years or less experience, has gone into it strictly for the money. Twenty years ago most men would never have thought of being a nurse and the ones that did were ridiculed. My neighbor quite his job as a police officer to become a nurse because he said he could make more money and not get shot at. On the internationl forums on this board the main questions other than visas is how much money they should hold out for. If the wages for nurses were to drop----how many would leave the profession to include those of you in research etc....

Don't get me wrong----I don't think RNs should change bedpans or make beds. In most cases it is the nurse not the doctor that notices and intervenes in saving a patient's lives, especially in ICUs where RNs do everything.

+ Add a Comment