I come here for support and sharing and I like being able to see how everyone else is living their lives as nurses.
But I can't help but wonder...am I the only nurse who is happy with her job and glad she chose to be a nurse?
I have always liked what I do. I have worked in a variety of different settings, from ICU/ER, transplantation, research, outpatient care, management and now telenursing. I haven't always found everything in my job to be wonderful but when it wasn't I either worked to find a solution to the problems or I moved on...there are too many different areas of nursing to choose from to have one person or one institution ruin me, my career or my happiness.
I feel like I make good money, I have always been able to find a job to match my family's needs and I have worked a lot of different schedules...8 hour days, 12 hour nights, 4-10 hour days, weekend option-32/40, 3-10 hour days Q week, and even some varieties of these combinations... yes, I have been a nurse for a long time.
I hate that we are our own worst enemy. We don't seem to encourage the young to seek nursing as a career, instead we disparage it and demean it and in the process show our own selves such disrespect that I can understand why people do not want to seek nursing as a career.
So my question to all of you is: How can we become more positive toward our career choice and how can we begin to reflect a positive message that would make others want to join us?
...Or am I really the only one around who is glad to be a nurse?
I love what I do. It's not just a job, it what I am. I can't imagine doing anything else with my life. I think that med/surg can really burn you out even if you love it. It is IMHO one of the hardest jobs (jack of all trades). I left med/surg when one 3-11 shift at 8pm one of my pts asked me if i was the new night shift nurse coming on. I had been her nurse for 5 hour and she had no idea who I was. I then went to ICU and stayed there for 5 yrs and I loved it. I only left due to ethical issuses involving the medical director who thought he was God. I went to PACU and this is the best fit yet. I love my job. I have bad days but they don't get me down. Everyone just needs to find their niche. There is a right fit for everyone in nursing.
There are many things I dislike about management, the whole status of healthcare right now, the fact that we are grossly underpaid and unappreciated...the fact that we are professionals that are treated like blue-collar laborers.
BUT....I wouldnt do anything else. I was a legal asssistant before nursing and was very good at what I did. Earned a Vice-President role at a Bank, whoop-de doo. But did I feel fulfilled? Did I feel like I ever made a difference in anyone I dealt with? NO!
I've been in nursing for 3 1/2 years now and have never regretted the change. My kids are proud of me and what I do, even though my schedule isnt the most family-friendly.
I'm finally doing the other half of what God put me on this earth to do...the first being a mother of course.
I love being a nurse! I started out as an LPN in 1978. Became an RN in 1995. I have worked in many areas. Presently am working in a state juvenile facility. We have serious offenders age 14-20. I love it, have been here for almost six years. I can't imagine working as anything else but a nurse :balloons:
I'm a new grad and I love being a nurse, i work in the ER......... i can't wait until i can do as many specialitys as you but right now I love ER work. NO, you are not alone.
SmilingBluEyes-- thanks for the advice. I am glad to hear that there are nurses out there who have been at this a long time and still like what they do.
I like nursing. I worked ltc for 9 years as an LPN, the worked tele for 2 years as an RN. I am now in ICU. Still in orientation, but loving it. There are so many things I haven't done yet that I can't imagine wanting to leave for a long time. read my signature line.
SHOTZIE - great thread and thank you for starting it. I have been a nurse for 20 years or so (everytime I say that I feel like I am dating myself, but who cares!) and I still love it. There are days when I feel like I am a crazy person for being a nurse, but I think that just comes with the job. Sometimes when I read this forum, I almost feel like you in that I am the only nurse that loves there job. But because nursing so so high stress, I think many of us come here to vent our frustrations with a particular day or situation, but ultimately, most like being a nurse, at least that is the sense I get from this thread.
Some of the frustrations in nursing, such as administration, tend to put me over the edge at times, but if one can work through them, nursing is a very rewarding career, IMHO.
i want to thank all the nurses on this board who posted positive comments about the nursing profession. personally, i get tired of hearing nurses whine about how horrible nursing is. if it is so horrible, GET OUT. no one is MAKING you take care of ill people. you can always work at walmart or mcdonalds for a lot less pay, but probably less stress. wake up people, i don't care what profession you get into, there are negative aspects to EVERY job. there is no perfect job. it is only as perfect as you make it. nursing is the kind of profession that you have to want to do long before you decide to go to nursing school. nursing is a female dominated profession and it is a blessing that women can have a career that offers flexibility and numerous career options at the same time. how many women with monday-friday careers can say that? women with non-nursing degrees that are male dominated such as business or sales/marketing are constantly competing to stay on top.
:) our patients deserve people that are happy with what they do, not some miserable nurse with a sour face that think she/he is doing the world a favor by coming to work every day. if you are tired of the bedside go work at an insurance company or do school nursing. if that doesn't work try something else. your options are endless. how many people can say that?
Erin RN
396 Posts
Yep...love it. Nursing has been good to me or is it that I have been good to nursing??? Either way....I can't imagine being anything else.:) Erin