Do I Love Nursing? What Day is it?

This is a very good article. I love it!

You have a great post but I have to say I HATE nursing. Yes, I have been an RN for 20 years and only liked it the first few years. I got into it in my early 20s as a single mom. I had to make a decent living and get a degree fast. I obtained my RN and AA degree. Management at hospitals is what is making seasoned nurses leave in droves. I left the hospital a few years ago, NEVER to return. I still work as an RN....I also have my BSN (returned to school in 2000). I work in psychiatric nursing and drive around with the police department putting mentally ill into hospitals. It is NOT like nursing at all. Do not even need a CPR card. (Many at the hospital I worked at BOUGHT their CPR card without doing the class). I see about 2 clients in a 10 hour period. NO medications to give, NO IV's, NO bedpans, NO overtime, NO harrassing behaviours from managment, NO long report writings, NO worry about having to deal with way too many patients. I make 6 figures, see ONE patient at a time, do a psychiatric assessment that takes about 1 hour and then figure out if the client fits criteria for a 5150 hold. If so, I write a hold and the police transport to the hospital I have found...(depending on their insurance). What a job. I NEVER want to be a TRUE nurse again. If I can be an RN at this job...OK...I will do it. My daughter is in nursing school now. I have tried to get her to follow me into psychiatric nursing OUTSIDE of the hospitals. I know she will have to pay her dues for a year or so...but then she will also leave the hospital setting. KUDOS to those who stay. I have to add here that I DO enjoy working with the patients. It is the ONLY joy I get out of nursing. Plus, I am good at what I do and feel I help some of them, especially ones feeling suicidal or getting ready to jump off bridges or buildings. This job is all in communication.

Castymiss - so glad you found your niche! You illustrate what I love about the medical field - a person may hold a certain license or certification, yet work in a unrelated position. I am a EMT and a nursing student. Yes, it was fun riding hot down the highway & saving lives - but it got to the point where the suicide runs weren't worth the $9 an hour pay. (Never understood why people would blow their brains out on a beautiful Spring day.) I now work in a school as a nurse wanna-be as I'm going to school.

I'm new and it was awesome!

you know what guys, before i used to just browse the internet to check my email and 2 blogs, now, i check allnurses all the time, i realized that i do this because of articles like this one which keeps me inspired.
I'm a beginning nurse and i've tried school, hospital and now homehealth. Each one brought different experiences for me. Though it's hard and tiring, tiring, tiring.. i don't like to give up because of the diversity this field is giving me.. i'm learning a lot and i like it. thanks to all of your inputs/replies because it keeps me going... on a different note, my dream is to really reach out to areas where i'm needed, like travel and do missionary work? do you guys know where and how to start? Do you think i can do that even when i'm just beginning and have not been really earning so much at this time?I know that you don't need to be rich to do this, but i just don't know where to start...THANKS!

I'm no nurse yet, still thinking about it, but you mentioned you like to travel, I know that there is the peace corps which does work in other countries, you could look into that.

My days would be better if we were not always short on help. 108 residents for two nurses on 2-10. Six g-tubes, one IV, 23 accuchecks, 14 breathing treatments, 21 medicare charting, 6 or 8 on ABT's, one woundvac, and that is just off the top of my head. They say we should have three or four nurses but they can't find any one to work. But they don't pay us for picking up the extra work and they don't seem to be in any hurry to find anyone. Nursing homes are no longer for storage of the elderly. We have sick people!

You are never too old to start. I am 56 y.o., male, went back to school for nursing at age 54. In the thick of it now and going for my R.N. which I hope to have in a couple of years from now. One of the nice things about allnurses.com is that yes, it is an advice forum, along with everything else that it is. There is a section for nursing students and pre-nursing students also. Best wishes to you

I always love nursing... there are just a lot of shifts where i really don't like it.

"Do I love Nursing?"---I have been asking myself this question almost everyday and I assure you I understand every single word you said.

I'm gonna graduate from school this summer but right now I'm already working in the General Surgery Dept. in a hospital. I thought it would be a new start in my life which should make me a little happier but the same problem came to me again---I can't sleep!!
I can't sleep at night or in the day. My friend says it's quite possible for me to get depressed if things don't get better.
I have to put a lot of makeup on my miserable face to look less tired. I try very hard to find out what's wrong with me.
Is it genetic?(Mom and Dad's fault)Is it astrological?(I'm an emotional Cancer)Is it artistic?(Don't creative people always suffer from depression because we are supersensitive and special?)Is it hormonal?Dietary?Philosophical?Environmental?Do i have a chemical imbanlance? Or do I just need to get laid?

Even though I have so many questions I still don't wanna change my profession. I chose to go to nursing school and I had opportunities to do something else but I just didn't give up being a nurse. Everyday I'm doing the same old routines, I get emotional, I get angry, I get exhausted, I get sleepless... just can't figure out what i've been holding on.