Can you give me the darkside of working as a RN

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I am going to nursing school in Jan 2011 (BSN degree). As of now, I am completing my pre-reqs, and am taking some studies that might interest me in other careers besides nursing. But I am certain that nursing is for me and it seems like a very rewarding career.

BUT... I want you guys to tell me some bad experiences you have had working as a nurse, or even studying to be a nurse. Just lay it all out for me before I embark on this 4 year adventure.

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Specializes in MSP, Informatics.
BUT... I want you guys to tell me some bad experiences you have had working as a nurse, or even studying to be a nurse. Just lay it all out for me before I embark on this 4 year adventure.

my worst experiences I have had as working as a nurse had to do with life in general. The things that would have happend anyways, if I were a nurse or not. The dark side is there always...doesn't matter if you are a nurse, a teacher, a clerk, or a homeless bum.

If I were just embarking on this career.... I don't think I would want a collection of what could go wrong. Do you think anyone would become a cop if they asked that question!

you can read thrugh the threads and see everyone laying it out. the good, the bad and the ugly. (oh...actually, you have to wait till you are really a nurse to see the ugly in person!!!)

Good luck. You are right. Nursing is a very rewarding career.

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Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Dying children.

Especially fullterm neonates.

HORRID.

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Thanks for the responses. I also want to ask about the hospital setting. Is it depressing? I know there are people dying, and that sometimes gets me down. But how do you deal with it?

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Dying children.

Especially fullterm neonates.

HORRID.

I would agree...but the very opposite is expecting to get a "bad" baby, and having them arrive kicking and screaming!

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I think any job is going to have a "dark side" or difficult aspects to it. I work in a hospital and would say that young people dying of cancer is pretty awful.

Also, even after 4 years, I am still shocked by the way some pt's and their families treat nursing staff. Some of them show NO respect or even common courtesy to the very people who are trying to help them get well. Of course I am aware that being in the hospital is a stressful time for pts and they are not at their best...... but that is not a licence to treat nurses like dirt. I have had pts call my the B word and spit on me. One guy asked me to turn around so he could see "if I had a nice a##." You go into nursing school to become an educated professional and it may suprise you that you will not always be treated as such.

I wouldn't do anything else though.....do love being an RN.

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

The crazy work hours can make family life difficult, i.e. working holidays, being tired and grouchy from lack of sleep, etc.

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The crazy work hours can make family life difficult, i.e. working holidays, being tired and grouchy from lack of sleep, etc.

and weekends

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What's up with spitting? I've heard so many RNs and CNAs talk about being spit on and cursed. What do you do when someone spits on you? Do you have to keep working with them, do you have any rights? I just don't get it, I've had 4 surgeries and I have gone so far as to call managers after leaving the hospital to make sure that the staff was rewarded for my excellent care, what are people so bent out of shape about???

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Having an unsafe patient load, where you are genuinely concerned about one of them living through the shift, simply because you can't watch them like you know you need to be, and having a problem occur that I knew could have been caught much sooner if I was able to monitor this patient like I wanted to.

Having simultaneous emergencies on 2 of your patients while the rest of the understaffed floor was already tied up with another nurse's emergency. This was a 17 1/2 hour shift.

Coming to work early, skipping your lunch, peeing maybe twice, staying late, and go home feeling like crap because you know what your patients needed and you had the knowledge of how to help them, but you couldn't because you had far too many patients, just like every other nurse.

So the theme of (deliberate) understaffing is, to me, the dark side of working as an RN

Please support safe staffing laws :)

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Had a patient bite me in the shoulder when she was pushing. It drew blood so I had to get the full round of testing. I understand that being in labor is painfull and stressfull but that seemed a little over the top. But I did manage to refrain from calling her what I wanted to call her (insert expletive of your choice here).

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Specializes in Psychiatry.
If I were just embarking on this career.... I don't think I would want a collection of what could go wrong. Do you think anyone would become a cop if they asked that question!

My sentiments exactly.

All the best to you, :up:

Diane, RN

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