Are there any positives to being a nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello everyone,

I am pondering becoming a nurse because like everyone else I have felt pain before. When I'm in pain the best thing is to have someone with you that can hold your hand and assure you that everything is going to be ok. I want patients to feel secure around me and know that I'm there for them in a time of such distress and anxiety.

Many of the threads in this forum (not all) highlight all the negatives, lack of support from fellow nurses, lack of training and orientation, demanding patients, demanding family members, shortage of staff, no flexibility in vacation time. Some people here describe nursing as the worst job on earth!

Please can someone state some positives.... :)

I know this is probably silly-- but its the thing that makes me smile every single time I think of it.

We had a little lady with MR come in from the developmental center. She just laid there with crackles throughout her lungs. Would barely respond to anything-- but she'd open her eyes when I said her name. We thought this was her 'usual' because we just assumed this was the way she was.

I gave her a huge amount of lasix to help get rid of all that fluid. Within an hour she was awake and smiling. She clapped her hands. She held out her stuffed dog for me to hug. Even though she was non-verbal, her eyes gleamed with appreciation.

I believe I will take her big smile and bright eyes to the grave with me. That is what nursing is all about to me.

:redbeathe

More days off than other occupations. 3 days on one week. Four days on the next. (As long as my wife lets me get away with it.) Some people work just 3 12-hour shifts every week! You can kill yourself with overtime, of course.

Specializes in ICU.

it takes a special person to be courageous enough to be the last obstacle standing between a person's life and their death. there is no better feeling in the world to know at the end of the day i used my intelligence, wit, inginuity, gut feeling, skills, caring attitude to give a mom or dad just one more day with the ones they love....it don't get better than that......ever. :smokin:

Hi Lola89,

I think you answered your own question. You have felt pain. Did being cared for feel good? That is what nurses do! You would be providing that care for a living!

It is obviously all sunshine and dandelions, but I try (TRY!) to remember why I got into nursing in the first place and it puts things in perspective.

A few positives:

Making a REAL difference everyday. Not many professions can claim that.

Huge variety of work everyday-no two days are alike!

The ability to continue learning, and to continue moving into other fields.

Traveling! I have worked as a travel nurse and have had a chance to see the country, and care for people throughout the country. Again, while it is not at all always easy, it is refreshing to know that people, not matter how different, appreciate you everywhere you go! I know it sounds corny, but it makes me feel good about my profession, and sort of enhances my faith in people!

Check out some of the forums on this site, and other sites, and I am sure you will have more "positives" than you can possibly count!

Good luck!

OOOPS!

I meant that "It is obviously NOT all sunshine and dandelions...."

But it is still a great career!

:nurse:

Specializes in ED.

Sure there are good things about being a nurse.

  1. I feel I leave the community a better place at the end of the day on most days
  2. I know I've helped someone when they remember me on the street, although I guess some mumble under their breath negative comments as well but you can't solve everyones pain
  3. I have learned soooo much from my coworkers and docs and use the good experiences with them to get through the not so good times
  4. I am able to provide education to those who will accept it about their illness/injury
  5. How many people can say for sure that they are there at the beginning of people's lives and also at the end of it
  6. With other jobs you feel expendable, where as a nurse I feel needed (I know those docs arn't going to push meds and wipe butts as much as I love some of them lol)
    :nurse::typing

Specializes in cardiac.

Of course there are positives with our job. Just remember, a lot of people come here to vent because others work in the same field and can relate to our situation. Sometimes, that "bad day" can stick with you a little longer than the good days. :smokin:

Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I agree with what others have said. I wanted to also add, that IMO, a big perk of nursing is all of the career opportunities. Knowing you can do med-surg, peds, ICU, or go into management, teaching, research, etc. gives you tremendous opportunity. If you began to get tired of any other field, most likely you would have to change fields. With nursing, it would be easy to find something still using your nursing lisence but in a different capacity.

Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

Nursing is the career most love, but have hateful moments or shifts. I can explain it in no easier clearer ways.

I could not imagine doing anything else, why as I love it.

Specializes in Telemetry.

There are plenty of positives to being a nurse! But, as with any job, there are negative things to go along with it...

positives:

Work 3 days a week

Decent pay right out of school for having a min. 2 yr degree

Making a difference every day in one way or another every day

So many different career paths to choose from as a nurse

For me, while its been tight, I feel a good amount of pride that while my SO has been out of work, I've been able to provide for my family of five.. bills are paid, food is on the table. We have few extra things we are able to do, but the necessities are provided for.

There is nothing like the feeling you get when you see someone come around... whether they've been uncooperative with other staff and for some reason you are able to connect with them and get their cooperation, or when they've been looking pretty bad, and they start to get better. I remember a guy in particular who came in with dehydration, acute renal failure, respiratory failure, tachycardic with underlying Afib... he was not making any urine at all, even though he'd been on IV fluids etc for a couple of days. He was starting to have third spacing. I'd taken care of him for a couple of nights, and he would respond to his name, but he had bipap on, and would only really respond when you took it off (Which I was doing fairly often, probably hourly, to do mouth care). This particular shift the renal doc had just finished rounding and was trying a couple of new things. At about midnight I went in and looked at his foley- there was 800 of clear pale yellow urine in there!! I practically did a dance in his room. Truth be told I was a bit overly emotional to begin with from PMS at the time, and I actually got a little teary eyed!! He was by no means cured, there were still many problems to deal with, but this was a small little victory for this guy. He was on our unit for over a week, and there were many issues that happened, and for the first time as a nurse I advocated like crazy for the guy. Days would say he was unresponsive, but every night I'd go in his room immediately after report and he'd respond to me, but you had to take the bipap off. (which every day I'd report) His poor mouth was just peeling and cracked from the bipap, and I practically begged the oncoming nurses to do his mouth care hourly. IMO he could have come off the bipap about 4 days before he did. Every time I took it off of him, his O2 sats stayed in the 90s on room air, and they drew ABGs which came back fine, but because it was difficult to get an accurate O2 sat on the guy, they were reporting that he desatted all the time. :banghead:

Anyway, we eventually got him off the bipap, and he looked like a different person a week after he came in... he eventually transferred out to a medical floor, but I will never, ever forget him. He was the first patient who really touched my heart.

Anyway, I got off on a tangent there, so to answer your question, yes, there are many positives to being a nurse.

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