Student nurse dismayed by bedside nursing attitude

Nursing Students General Students

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Hello all, I am a student nurse currently in my first year. Before this I was a paramedic for a about a year and then decided to go the nursing route and get my feet wet by working as a CNA. I am the type of person who likes to research all aspects of what my next adventure will be. So as I am researching different aspects of nursing, I was a bit floored by the amount of people that hated bedside nursing, in particular on the Med/Surge floor. I get that the work load is high and that can bring stress as well as all the intricate details about day to day nursing, but is that any reason to hate bedside nursing? I thought that is what the nursing profession was all about. Getting right in there, getting your hands dirty and providing the best patient care possible. What exactly are some students thinking nursing entails when they get into school?!

Specializes in Med Surg Tele.

Take 7 patients with 5 diabetics and 5 of them complaining of pain and tell me how you feel after

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

to give OP the benefit of the doubt I do see a fair number of nursing students who never plan to work bedside. They do in fact look down with dismay and even disgust at those of us who toil in the trenches. The majority of these plan to go all the way through school to get their NP without ever working bedside. I'm not sure how they plan to achieve this but I just smile and say "Good luck with that". I have one administrator in my hospital who has never worked bedside and has been a nurse for over 40 years. I am constantly having to explain the simplest things to her lie a BP of 90/60 on a hundred pound otherwise healthy adolescent is not a medical emergency.

Go figure

Hppy

In the words of Dr. Perry Cox (Scrubs):

"People suck. They suck. And make no mistake about it. Even sweet little old ladies are looking to bend you over a chair in court. Come on."

For example: https://allnurses.com/nurse-colleague-patient/angry-nurse-33.html

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Im not stressed lol....ok i guess I could have worded what I truly meant better. As far as bedside nursing goes, what is it about it, that makes nurses dislike it the most? From what I gather it is the patient to RN ratio

Yup -- you could have jumped into the forum with a bit better attitude. We get all prickly when some brand new person starts insulting us all.

Not all nurses dislike nursing; not even all Med/Surg nurses dislike their jobs. In fact, Med/Surg is a great place to see a lot of different things and to learn -- if you're open to learning. Yes, the ratios suck in many places. Many hospital administrators have forgotten the hospital's original mission and it's all about profit/loss statements. Hospital administrators with unrealistic, uninformed expectations is a huge dissatisfier.

You're not going to find groups of people anywhere getting together to talk about how much they love their jobs. Not nurses, not teachers, not lawyers, not miners. When co-workers gather, the talk usually turns to complaining about this aspect or that aspect of their jobs. It's easy to get the impression that *everyone* hates their jobs when that isn't true. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to get in the middle of a bitc#-fest to say "Not me; I LOVE my job." Even though I do love my job. There are days when I walk into work past that big sign proclaiming the name of the place that I am just so proud to work there, and there are days when I'm sure I have the best job in the country. I probably am not going to stand around the break room and SAY that, though. Instead, I'll just listen to everyone else complaining about having to work on the 4th of July. I know that the very BEST view of the fireworks is from the hospital roof!

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

You really have no idea, but you can ask your nurses how they feel about their job and why. But keep any condescending judgements to yourself if their attitude is not Sally Sunshine! If you still decide to pursue nursing all your hands on experience will make the transition that much smoother. But don't judge us till you walk a mile in our shoes.

This!

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
to give OP the benefit of the doubt I do see a fair number of nursing students who never plan to work bedside. They do in fact look down with dismay and even disgust at those of us who toil in the trenches. The majority of these plan to go all the way through school to get their NP without ever working bedside. I'm not sure how they plan to achieve this but I just smile and say "Good luck with that". I have one administrator in my hospital who has never worked bedside and has been a nurse for over 40 years. I am constantly having to explain the simplest things to her lie a BP of 90/60 on a hundred pound otherwise healthy adolescent is not a medical emergency.

Go figure

Hppy

And there is more than a fair number of new grads who want to work ICU for the minimum amount of time necessary to get into anesthesia school -- 7-9 of them every single year. That gets old.

People who have zero experience in anything health-care related (or those who do have experience but have completely lost touch with reality) have been given the position of judging both our clinical decision-making and our compassion. That is insane, and it is degrading.

The decision-makers can't decide whether RNs are educated professionals who perform critical functions, or just cogs in the wheel. They want us to be the former, while they retrain the right to treat us like the latter.

For me, I can sincerely say any dissatisfaction I may feel is almost entirely unrelated to patients.

This is probably the best description of the core problem with nursing today that I have seen. Spot on, exactly correct.

Specializes in ER.
Yes. I think the majority of nurses do want to provide the best patient care possible, and to be hands-on and closely involved with that care. But man, it is a beat down when day after day, you are asked to do too much with too little. It is discouraging to WANT to provide the best care but you can't because you are only one person and you have 7 sick patients (and they all need more than their share of your time and attention). It is discouraging, and I'm sure that you can understand how that could make you feel about your job after a while.

This is a big problem as well. Nurses are often stuck somewhere between being treated like highly educated professionals and being treated like blue-collar workers. In a way, they get the short end of both sticks. Nurses are given so much responsibility...and often almost no authority or power to effect any change in their practice environment. It's a recipe for dissatisfaction.

Nursing will never be GIVEN power or authority to effect any change in our work environment unless we demand it. We have potentially unlimited power. The lives of the nation are literally in our hands. Our level of responsibility has increased exponentially over the past decade. But, we are exploited because they--those who run the business--bank (literally) on us not wielding our power. They believe that because we are healers, we will never endanger human lives to mount a serious protest. Just the threat should bring them to their knees: A Day Without Nurses. Can you imagine?

Nursing will never be GIVEN power or authority to effect any change in our work environment unless we demand it. We have potentially unlimited power. The lives of the nation are literally in our hands. Our level of responsibility has increased exponentially over the past decade. But, we are exploited because they--those who run the business--bank (literally) on us not wielding our power. They believe that because we are healers, we will never endanger human lives to mount a serious protest. Just the threat should bring them to their knees: A Day Without Nurses. Can you imagine?

Right, precisely that. How can you protest that when people literally NEED you?

Specializes in ER.
Right, precisely that. How can you protest that when people literally NEED you?

I believe it is doable, largely because of our increased level of responsibility and the advent of social media. Social media creates the possibility of uniting, without unionizing, and mounting a credible threat. I'm still hammering out the details and open to any ideas. Reading through this thread should serve as a blatant reminder that the profession's anger is growing against a healthcare system that burns everyone--patients and providers alike--except the 1% raking in the money at the top.

Personally, Working in Med/Surg (days, CA) with 5 patients felt like finishing a to-do list rather than critical thinking. I start my day doing finger sticks, then pass AM meds, hope nothing happens so I can chart. Then repeat for the noon time. There are days where Primary team and specialty teams for a few of my patients don't talk to each other and the patient's plan of care consistently changes. I would just feel like a secretary rather than patient care.

Specializes in PCCN.
Take 7 patients with 5 diabetics and 5 of them complaining of pain and tell me how you feel after

and 3 of those are 2 assist to bsc . On Lasix. or bowel prep.

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