Do you hate your job as a Registered Nurse? Why?

Nurses General Nursing

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I hear so many people in the Nursing field speaking about how much they hate their career! Do you? why?

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

I don't think people really "hate being nurses" for the most part. What they hate is that they aren't allowed to BE nurses due to all the other BS that is required.

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Specializes in Pulmonary.

I don't hate being a nurse, but I don't like my particular job right now.

I'm not working with the patient population that I'd like to be, something that is changing soon (I hope).

I think that finding one's niche is part of the battle.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

No, I don't hate my job.

I like it a lot, actually.

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As ebear said, I don't hate nursing...I hate all the annoying trivia and inane protocol I have to put up with in order to nurse. I get great satisfaction from assisting people with their health and I do so enjoy the thrill of intensive nursing. But, under staffing, over time, inadequate benefits, low salaries, etc. have taken most of the thrill away.

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Specializes in OB/Psychology.
i hear so many people in the nursing field speaking about how much they hate their career! do you? why?

well, aspiring...i don't know as though nurses "hate" the actual job they perform. i believe it believe the conflict has more to do with peripheral issues related to how we must function in our chosen specialties.

such as:

not feeling as though we have an all inclusive, active, democratic voice in unit/policy/proceedural decisions. when this is absent, the outcomes can lack common sense to us frontline workers and can inhibit our ability to perform for the betterment of our patients. i am happy for any of my peers who haven't experienced this, but many of us have.

having our duties increased and staffing capped. great for the budget...bad for our patients. and a formula for burnout.

continuing to have our wages artifically suppressed as administration affords themselves great wage increases. or, hires new staff rn's $1.00/hr less than those with five years of seniority.

please do not think that i don't like being a nurse, because i love what i do. it's just that our profession is in a time of change that requires assertivess and activism to usher us into the new face of what nursing needs to look like.

:w00t: embrace what you love to do and open your mind to what you want to see! great question!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Like some of the above, I don't hate nursing or my job. There's plenty that make it stressful and tough, like low ratios, mounds of paperwork, etc. But all in all I still am happy being a nurse.

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

I love my job and look forward to going to work. You see so many complaints because unhappy people tend to verbalize more.

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For one thing, RN's have all the responsibility with no voice.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I am an LPN that loves being a nurse, but despises the crap that goes with it. As motorcyle mama stated, it has been an observation of mine that the RNs do have a boatload of responsibilities of themselves as well as delegating to others, but, cannot be in many places at once. They say to delegate to a competent person; but what if (and this happens many times) when no one is willing or capable of handling the job within their own scope of practice. LPNs may be disgruntled because we may not be considered to be real nurses, but share a great deal of responsibility as well.

I keep seeing new rules, new programs, new paperwork, etc that do not support nursing, and we have to resort to doing weird things in order to cover our butts at all costs. Then, at times, other nurses may be your worse enemy, where we should all be in the same boat together. Regulatory agencies (Joint Commission) who butt in with nurses who have dealt with direct patient care in many years make ridiculous demands, making it hard to spend time teaching the patients and caring for them. It seems that we are not really doing what we went to school for, we are butchers in the meat market, just making it look attractive (by paperwork), but no real care for the patients or each other.

Most of us stay in it either because we still care, in spite of all of this, or that it is all that we know and are unwilling or unable to make a change into something else.

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There are days I love my job.

Days when I realize how much flexibility and financial benefits that I have. I work nights 12hr shifts and thanks to nursing and God Grace I can work a per-diem job as well. As head of house hold that is very satisfying because I remember times I could not make ends meet with one job and had enormous trouble finding a second job to fit my schedule. Therefore I can manage better than before even though its hard work.

I love that sometimes after a really hard day, or sometimes while I face some serious personal problem. I pray that night ask God for strength and that night when I least expect it a patient tells me I they so much appreciate you and says they think your special. Mean while I am thinking what are they talking about. This one patient was waiting for a pace maker was stable no meds doctors not even sure if he needed the pace maker were thinking just changing his medications. There was not much for me to do for him. So I knew he like tea so I had it there for him night and each morning, once I got him a newspaper. I had worked six days in a row this one particular week so I went in to tell him I would not see him the next night. The man just would not stop saying how special I was or how good it was to have me as a nurse. I felt guilty thinking I had not done much for him but in his eyes I did. Now after working six days and after facing some difficulties in my personal life that week and the job people can be rough too that felt good coming from the patient. Some times its a coworker sometimes its the system that can drive you crazy but the patient tells you that you made a difference some how well it helps you keep going realizing just maybe with that small thing your making a difference. Sometimes the patient cant see you warned the doctors about how low there potassium was or that maybe you think that medicine is not good or effective for them or how you monitor them on the monitors all night long. Sometimes they dont know the big stuff but they do notice the little stuff and its very satisfying to know you affected someone life in a good way.

I worked Christmas eve and its the one time of year I do like to be off work.However for the second year in a row they had me working on that day despite me asking for it off. Yet I always feel God has you just in the right place at the right time. I Had a very unstable patient but by morning I felt so satisfied cause by being vigilant I helped from keeping her from crashing. I even made her laugh in the morning. Spent three days with her every day the day nurse would say she almost died on day shift and every night I spent the whole night going in monitoring working with the PA to adjust meds/ worked with respiratory to change what she was using for her breathing and got her on high flow humidified air/ and she would stabilize for me I felt great and it felt great to be a nurse...........felt I made a difference.

These are just a few things I love about my job

The things I hate well there are posts and posts about those. Staff conflicts, problems that never get fixed despite your bringing it to people attention, poor staffing, over working staff, equipment problems etc etc but it not like that every day and not every job. So I try to change what I can and then I lift the rest up in prayer to God. I come here and vent if I have too. I ask God for strength, I try to keep my self organized so I can cope and try to take a break when I can.

Patient may sometimes drive you crazy but sometimes they remind you that life can be short and while we can we need to enjoy what we have while we can and be thankful for every day we can walk talk and breath. Not all jobs bring that reality to you as often as nursing does.

So no complaining on my side I am glad I survived school and glad to make a living in which I can help others and still have the ability to care for my own family. If it ever gets to much at bedside I will work in an office job in nursing or if a particular job becomes to stressfull then thankfully because I am a nurse I can look for another job Amen to that .

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Some have mentioned changes- what, where are these changes going on? Legal, professional changes that will be put into effect? Changes that will be held legally responsible by hospitals, clinics, etc.?

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