What are the major issues you have struggled with as a nurse?

i worked almost exclusively psych.

1. families thinking i looked "too young to have learned enough to really help."

2. families (and sometimes the pt.) expecting a quick fix that would last forever.

3. families who took the attitude that the entire "problem" was the pt. and saw
absolutely no reason why they should be in therapy to help resolve some issues.

4. lack of community program funding or inadequate funding for exsisting programs.

5. the very very real stigma attached to any type of mental illness. mental illnesses
are every bit as real as diabetes or heart disease.

off my soapbox! great topic!!

Ethical issues related to unethical employers and co-workers.

This is the most major issue that I have found.

Medicine is a fickle field.

It's hard being a 6'2" man working in an area and with equipment designed with 5'4" women in mind.

For profit hospitals
unrealistic staffing
unrealistic expectations

I believe this can apply to any place that employs RNs.

For me, it is management and higher-ups that fail to understand that nursing doesn't fit into a tidy 36- or 40-hour workweek.

Administration ignoring 'real life' on the floors

gossip, backstabbing, unprofessional-ism on the part of co-workers

too much work/ too little time

Fatigue! Disordered sleep.

End of life care.
I'm appalled at what people do to family in the name of love.

Screwed up sleep from working nights
Taking care of people whose life choices I really really disagree with
Decisions about how I do my job made by people who haven't done it in decades, if ever
Not being listened to when I have a crumping patient