Characteristics of Nurses

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I found an opportunity to become a CNA at a nursing facility. I took the course and became a NA and quit before I took the CNA exam because a whole lot of it had to do with the way the other CNA's treated me and found that it wasn't quite what I expected.

I got into nursing because of wanting to make a difference in someone's life, but with the amount of patients I would have to take care of (about 16-20) and because I had never done anything like it before and feeling like I was getting pulled in a thousand different directions all at once, it was very overwhelming and pretty much every day I went home crying and stressed, but I felt like I had a purpose with helping people.

After I quit, I ended up taking the CNA exam on my own and though for sure I failed the skills/clinical portion of it, but instead passed my exam. Not with flying colors like I'd hope I would have, but I passed and I felt so accomplished by that. I definately need something challenging at work or otherwise I am bored out of my mind. I told myself that I wasn't going to get into nursing ever again because of my experince at the nursing facility, but the idea of becoming a RN hasn't really ever left the back of my mind.

I know nursing is a stressful field and would like to have some opinions as to see if anyone thinks I have what it takes to be a nurse. I am caring and compassionate and have patience (most of the time), however I feel like I get stressed easier than some people and don't do all that great in emergency situations. I play by the rules every time and try and go the extra mile for the patient (even if they weren't mine). A few of the residents who I took care of said I would make a great nurse.

I had a really weak stomach when I first started my class, especially with having to clean up crap. There was one resident who had really bad bm's and I was gagging in front of her and my CNA I was shadowing did it for me (I apologized after to her because I felt bad), by the first week I was on my own with her, I was able to change her brief without any problems. By the end of my first day while shadowing my CNA, I changed an ostomy bag with her help. My CNA and some other CNA's said that I was doing a really great job.

What are some characterists of a good nurse? I am afraid that because I get stressed and because I take a lot longer on some things than others that I am not cut out to be a nurse. I have a bubbly personality, but there are some days when I would just rather take care of people and not spend that much time with them. I was told by the DON that because a lot of the geriatrics were sick, not to take it to heart if they start yelling at you, they can't help it. I do have a tendency to take it to heart and sometimes I feel like I am too caring. Please be honest with me, do you think I would make a good nurse?

:nono::nono:

:nono:

Take it from someone who has been in the field for 24 years: YOU ARE TOO GOOD A PERSON TO GET INTO NURSING!

don't do it. I feel brutalized by the experience.

Nursing is an unforgiving field.

#1 Nurses eat their own. I have never been in a field where women are so vicious to each other.

#2 Your employer will put you in impossible situations, like giving your too many patients to be safe and then blame you if you can't handle it. Don't ever look to management to back you up or care about happens to you.

#3 Patients will treat you very disrespectfully. Ever notice the way nurses are portrayed in movies, greeting cards, stories? We are either Nurses Ratched or Nurse ****.

#4 Insulting pay for the responsibility you have.

There are alot more reasons. Don't get stuck in a profession that will leave you burned out, emotionally and physically

damaged and last but not least, broke.

The word that was censored begins with an "s" and ends with a "t".

Wow. Sounds like you really love your job. :uhoh21:

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
I find it hard to believe this...I see nurses taking lunches,sitting by the desk charting,I understand that sometimes you wont be able to take a lunch but I'm sure you can manage to use the bathroom...

Thanks for the laugh! That's the funniest thing I've read all year!

Libra,

I think perhaps you need to find a job you like. Yes, nursing has many troubles and is not perfect but you sound like you are working in the wrong environment.

Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.
I find it hard to believe this...I see nurses taking lunches,sitting by the desk charting,I understand that sometimes you wont be able to take a lunch but I'm sure you can manage to use the bathroom...

I've seen days where I dare not have a swallow of water because I KNOW I won't have time to pee...believe it or NOT.

a bladder the size of a horse.. you never get to go pee pee and sometimes i don't remember i have't pee pee'd until i get home

i'm sorry but i don't care how busy i am - if i have to pee i have to pee. i work as a nursing assistant and yesterday my precep and i had 25 pts. i drank plenty of coffee on my way to work and thus my kidneys were working OT. when i had to go yesterday, i went. not that i spent hours and hours in the bathroom - just 2 minutes to get my business done.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
i'm sorry but i don't care how busy i am - if i have to pee i have to pee. i work as a nursing assistant and yesterday my precep and i had 25 pts. i drank plenty of coffee on my way to work and thus my kidneys were working OT. when i had to go yesterday, i went. not that i spent hours and hours in the bathroom - just 2 minutes to get my business done.

When I worked as a CNA, I had time to pee as well. And I always got my breaks. It's different when you are a nurse.

When I worked as a CNA, I had time to pee as well. And I always got my breaks. It's different when you are a nurse.

i think it's important to add, that those of us who state we don't have time to pee...

that we're not being martyrs.

these are the days that there is medical emergency after medical emergency and we have to prioritize and manage 50 things at once.

and believe me, there are plenty of days like that.

hopefully, you will never know what the heck i'm talking about.

leslie

I would like to call BUNK...

I'd rather hold my pee for 6-8 hours than have to pee on myself because you can't leave your 'firing position' for 2 days. ;)

I don't know if anyone remembers that old US Army commercial. You brought along enough supplies for 3 days... It's day 12... :D Yea... It wasn't an exaggeration.

It could be worse... You could be forced to pee on yourself and continue to have to keep working. ;)

You just guys make it look like a nurse doesnt have a time to breathe,does she now? Like I said I just find hard to believe a nurse cant go to the bathroom...

Thanks for the laugh! That's the funniest thing I've read all year!

I dont know what hospital you work in,but I had plenty of rotations in many and believe me when I say it that nurses had time for bathroom,they had time to gossip and they had time to eat their lunch,sometimes in the hurry and sometimes not.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
You just guys make it look like a nurse doesnt have a time to breathe,does she now? Like I said I just find hard to believe a nurse cant go to the bathroom...

My dear, when you are a nurse, come back and tell us all about it.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
I dont know what hospital you work in,but I had plenty of rotations in many and believe me when I say it that nurses had time for bathroom,they had time to gossip and they had time to eat their lunch,sometimes in the hurry and sometimes not.

I work in a busy cardiac telemetry unit where turnover is almost constant. As soon as a patient is discharged, a new one is admitted before the bed even has a chance to grow cold. Last night, my patient load consisted of a person who had experienced an MI with VF arrest and had been in the ICU for nearly a month on an IABP and intubated, and had just transferred to our unit that day. The chart was a mess even though the patient had been on the floor for five hours before I arrived, and the patient's PICC line, which I was not told about in report, was occluded. My second patient was a patient with COPD and a ton of respiratory meds admitted with acute MI. The STAT echo that was ordered an hour before shift change was never put into the computer, and neither was a respiratory care order so that RT could come give the nebs and inhalers. The echo tech had to be called in from home to do the echo. There was a family member at the bedside with tons of questions including when the doctor would be coming. The patient was having runs of V Tach. My third patient was an elderly person with Alzheimer's with a massive PE, on a heparin drip and very painful, with only one IV access. Then before I had a chance to get my feet on the ground I got an admit who was a person experiencing V Tach and subsequent ICD firing who needed magnesium and amiodarone. They were ALL Full Codes. My CNA kept disappearing, and we found her around the corner surfing the internet. At one point, I had my falls risk Alzheimers patient on the heparin drip in the bathroom (and the IV pump battery died while the pump was unplugged, so I had to find another pump to switch the drip over to), while the family of the MI patient had tracked me down to go find a walker so their family member could go to the bathroom, and not a CNA in sight. In the meantime, my phone is ringing because the doctor wants to tell me the treatment plan for the VT patient. Now, by the end of my shift, I had all of those charts tidied up and organized, everyone had received their medications, and I knew all there was to know about all of them. I forced myself to take thirty minutes for dinner, and did not use the bathroom once. I stayed a half hour late to finish charting my assessments (the exact amount of time I had taken for dinner....), which I had done at the beginning of my shift but had not had time to chart because I was running all shift.

To top if all off, the COPD/MI patient complained that it took fifteen minutes for someone to answer her call light (while I was on my dinner break, eating for the first time all day).

Now, please tell me about your day and how you manage to squeeze in trips to the bathroom when you have busy patient assignments.

+ Add a Comment