Your priorities - page 2

1. 
   Jul 30, '04

   I love nursing, I love my job, but I love my family more. I give my all to the job when I'm there and I do do extra if it fits in with my family, but family does come first. I also don't expect my staff to feel any different, nor do make tham feel guilty if they cannot come in extra or have to be off due to their families.
2. 
   Jul 30, '04

   Kids, hubby, then work.
   
   My kids and hubby were there well before I became a nurse, and will be there long after I retire.
   
   Like the old saying goes........... no one on their deathbed will ever say "I wish Id spent more time at work"
3. 
   Jul 30, '04

   My relationship w/ my dh is first.
   When I am at work, the patient is my first priority. Second is making sure that I am not getting screwed by the company. They will work me to death if I let them, and my nature is to let myself be worked to death. I am finding that the only way I can stay in nursing is to be aware of this at all times, and to constantly be maintaining boundaries and setting limits with the facility, just as we must do with manipulative overly needy pts. The facility is just the place where I do my work. I am not loyal to a company or a facility. The loyalty is the the pt and to myself.
4. 
   Jul 30, '04

   Quote from Hellllllo Nurse

   My relationship w/ my dh is first.
   When I am at work, the patient is my first priority. Second is making sure that I am not getting screwed by the company. They will work me to death if I let them, and my nature is to let myself be worked to death. I am finding that the only way I can stay in nursing is to be aware of this at all times, and to constantly be maintaining boundaries and setting limits with the facility, just as we must do with manipulative overly needy pts. The facility is just the place where I do my work. I am not loyal to a company or a facility. The loyalty is the the pt and to myself.

   You got that right!! :hatparty: I love what I do, and the management at my particular workplace has actually been VERY good to me......but I've also busted my butt and EARNED what I have, and even so, I realize that I'm replaceable.
   
   My family, however, is not, and as my children grow up and leave home I hold tight to what 'together' time we have left. I learned during the hell that was my last administrative job that work, however necessary for life, is NOT my life..........this is why I now work an 8-hour shift, four days a week, and when I turn that narcotics key in and swipe out, my time is my own.
5. 
   Aug 1, '04

   Quote from LarryG

   Tom -- Not sure 'bout you.
   
   The above sounds an awful lot like OJ. Are you really him?

   ]
   Which or What OJ are you referring to.
6. 
   Aug 1, '04

   It's very important that I have a job that pays the bills. My job is a nurse. Family has to make sacrifices. Fortunately my "family" is spouse and two dogs, so the sacrifices are not that much. I work holidays, every other weekend and nights, so it takes its toll. So it's a very high priority in my life. It's my #1 priority the three 12-hour shfits I'm there.
   
   But unless there is a disaster, then the hospital is no where on my priority list while I'm away. They can call me all they want, my health, my family, and my spirit are more important at that time.
   
   So for a simple answer. No, the hospital is not my #1 priority in my life.
7. 
   Aug 1, '04

   Quote from Celia M

   I love nursing, I love my job, but I love my family more. I give my all to the job when I'm there and I do do extra if it fits in with my family, but family does come first. I also don't expect my staff to feel any different, nor do make tham feel guilty if they cannot come in extra or have to be off due to their families.

   AMEN! Couldn't have said it better!
8. 
   Aug 1, '04

   Quote from teeituptom

   ]Which or What OJ are you referring to.

   You gotta ask???
   
   Why Orenthal James, of course.
9. 
   Aug 20, '04

   I became less stressed and happier when I started leaving everything at the door when I left. Sure a pt or situation will cross my mind after work but I do not allow myself to dwell on it. It is very well known not to bother calling me at home, I don't answer the phone. Other nurses have commented to me about how no one can ever get ahold of me, and then in the same sentence complain that so and so called them about something that could have waited until they returned to work. 100% at work is fine, 0% after I clock out.
10. 
    Aug 20, '04

    Quote from sassynurse78

    I became less stressed and happier when I started leaving everything at the door when I left. Sure a pt or situation will cross my mind after work but I do not allow myself to dwell on it. It is very well known not to bother calling me at home, I don't answer the phone. Other nurses have commented to me about how no one can ever get ahold of me, and then in the same sentence complain that so and so called them about something that could have waited until they returned to work. 100% at work is fine, 0% after I clock out.

    
    Things got so much better for me when I stopped doing charge
    
    Then I was obliged to be available to respong to calls
    
    now, no longer in charge and no longer obliged to answer or return calls
    
    thank god for caller ID and kids, they all answer the phone anyway, and always respond Daddies gone Golfing again. Or Daddies sleeping, or Daddies gone to the topless bar or whatever.
11. 
    Sep 6, '04

    At the end of the day , the last day of your life will you regret missing time at work or time with your family ? For me the answer is simple. If my choice to make my family the top priority in my life , makes me not dedicated then so be it .
12. 
    Sep 11, '04

    Family first, then work. I have 3 kids. One of the reasons I left the hospital was so I could take a M-F job that was flexible whenever I needed time off for appointments or other matters. No 12 (or 13, 14)-hour shifts for me...no nights, weekends or holidays. I end up traveling about 3 or 4 times a year but it's only for a day or two. Family is always always first in my book, even though we rely heavily on my income.
13. 
    Sep 11, '04

    One of the biggest disadvantages of choosing to work in a "helping profession" is that the public, employers, and society in general expect one to always put others (strangers) first. We have to set our own limits with our employers; I feel sorry for those of my co-workers who complain to me about how much they are "having" to work, and in the next breath talk about how they "just couldn't say no, because we are so short-staffed". Well, we are short-staffed, but that isn't my fault, nor my responsibility to fix. I work hard on those short-staffed days, but I don't resent all my co-workers who have chosen to keep their days off to themselves. Because I do the same on my days off.
    
    I am not a martyr, and I guess I'm not much of a hero either. I'm just a good worker on the days I have to be there, (and I'm there because I have to earn a living) and feel no obligation on my days off. It's my belief that this is the way it is supposed to be.

    Last edit by directcare4me on Sep 11, '04 : Reason: grammer

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