Can someone please tell me exaclty what RN's do?

[tamarin100]

Hey girls and guys. I am a career changer, already have a 4 year degree in business, looking to get my BSN and my RN (maybe). Can some of the RN's out there specifically tell me what they do during they day? I have heard mixed results on what RN's acutually do during the day and i am starting to steer away from the field. I dont feel like going through 3 more years of school if i have to empty bedpans and colostomy bags all the time, do RN's have to do this stuff? I really like helping people and i love medicine but i dont think i can do that all the time.

I am havent shadowed an RN yet because of HIPPA rules and i dont think i would actually get a good idea of what they do anyways for that reason. There is a level one trauma teaching hospital here in my town im interested in but what would an RN in say the ICU or maybe even med/surg do during the day? Be specific as possible if you could. I greatly appreciate the help. thank you.

[RN007]

OP,

I don't think people mean to be harsh. It's just that with nurses, you hit a nerve when you ask about bedpans and colostomy bags. Have you visited this site?

http://www.discovernursing.com/

I'm a second career RN who worked 20+ years in corporate PR. I have a master's in communications. As someone suggested, I did work as a tech my second year of nursing school. I already knew what RNs did at that point, but it gave me a chance to work hands-on with patients. It's true what everyone has said: Being allowed to help with these most private moments is an honor. Imagine how you would feel if someone had to wipe you every time you had to pee (and if you're on an IV diruetic, say, you may have to pee a lot).

If you spend some time reading through allnurses, you'll get a good sense of what nursing is all about. Good luck trying to decide what to do.

RN007

[november17, ASN, RN]

Being allowed to help with these most private moments is an honor.

:chuckle

I'm glad someone thinks so.

[wonderbee, BSN, RN]

In an ICU environment, you would have two patients. You are responsible for all of their care. There are no aides, at least on most units. You will perform an assessment every two hours using your eyes, ears, touch and ability to read and interpret monitors. You will chart the assessment. You will administer meds, usually IV. You will assist at bedside procedures such as inserting lines and intubation. Assisting would consist of having the equipment and drugs ready on hand. You will have to know when something is not right to make the calls when they need to be made. You will go everywhere with your patient, whether it's to the OR or the MRI. Patients on ICUs don't wear underwear. When they defecate, it's all over the bed pads. You clean up the patient, usually with help from your fellow nurses and you in turn will help them. You bathe your patient. Do mouth care. Turn them every two hours. You do a lot of working on codes. You receive your patient back from the OR and have to know how to hook up every line and every monitor lead. And there's more charting. There's a lot of body fluids in this job.

Or you could become a psych nurse on a unit that sees generally physically healthy people. It's a different kind of nursing. There's still some med-surg but not nearly to the extent of what you'd see in a medical facility.

[JHansen]

"I hear an IV pump going off"

[APUalyssa*]

shadowing a nurse would be a good idea.

nurses do alot from the dirty or work to tech work to everything. and it depends on what speciality you shadow a nurse on. to reallly get a grip, shadow a nurse that is doing what you would like [if you can]

it should show you if you really would like it, so you dont waste your time and money for anything

if you love it, DO IT

[inava]

It's not glorified like you see on TV. You don't have time to stand around the nurse's station gossiping about every body else.

Here's a small sample of what I have seen and done:

--Handed a dead newborn baby into his mother's arms to hold for the first and last time.

--Worked like mad with everyone else for months to save the remaining leg of an 18 year old accident victim.

--Called a code to jump start a response from residents for a patient with double pneumonia who was soon to code and needed to be moved from med-surg to ICU ASAP.

--Provided information and emotional support to a Mom whose 4 year old had just been diagnosed with diabetes.

--Emptied countless Foleys, marked and read hundreds of Pleurovacs, hung numerous bags of blood products, started too many to count IV's, auscultated thousands of hearts and lungs, wrote an encyclopedia's worth of charting, and listened to many, many voices as they entrusted me with their needs.

[MB37]

I just graduated nursing school, and haven't started working yet. I also have a previous bachelor's degree, so I went to an Accelerated BSN program for second degree students - if you still want to be a nurse after reading some of these responses, find out if there are any of these programs in your area. I didn't know much about nursing a few years ago. I have 0 family members who are nurses and my first university didn't have a nursing program, so it didn't cross my mind until I was maybe 24/25. I had a few friends who are RNs, and that's how I learned about the profession and decided to give it a try.

I think you're asking very valid questions, for someone who knows nothing about the field except stereotypes that you've heard. How many of us have encountered patients, or even our own friends and families, who feel that all we do all day is wipe butts and empty bedpans? Is it part of the job? Of course. In some areas you'll do more than others, but even psych patients are known to occasionally fling feces across the room...The thing is, it's nowhere near all of the job. From my experiences in clinicals...

A typical day in med-surg consists of a lot of quick assessments, a lot of medications (IV, PO - oral, SQ - i.e. insulin shots) at various times, and treatments. Treatments can include changing a colostomy bag, or teaching a pt with a new one how to take care of it themselves. They can include dressing changes and wound care, tracheostomy care, many other things. You'll have to learn to be comfortable inserting catheters into pts of both genders, and you might have to give an enema (they didn't order many at the hospital I trained at, but your experience may be different). In most hospitals, med-surg nurses have assistance called CNAs, PCAs, PCTs - the terminology varies. These people tend to handle a lot of the personal care for patients, such as ambulating them up and down the hall or to the bathroom, changing beds, helping turn patients, bathing them, and putting them on and off bedpans. However, all of these are technically nursing duties - we just "delegate" them when we're too swamped to do them ourselves, and only if the aid has time. They're typically overworked themselves. The RN position should include a lot of patient teaching and psychosocial interaction, but in reality nurses are usually too overworked to have long conversations with their patients.

In the ICU where I trained, I certainly cleaned my fair share of poop. However, at least half of our patients had rectal tubes inserted, so it all empties into a bag (that you then have to change periodically). It was a neuro/trauma ICU, so most pts had a very long road to recovery. We also typically had one aid on the unit on most shifts, but he or she seemed to be responsible for checking all blood sugars on all patients (as often as every hour), and otherwise just providing a helping hand when pts needed turning, bathing, linen change, etc.

Guess what? Poop isn't most nurses' favorite part about their job. Many of us would rather wipe a butt than clean vomit, or suction a trach, or deal with a stage 4 pressure ulcer - it seems everyone has at least one thing that grosses them out. You get pretty used to all of it though, even just through clinicals. Very little bothers me anymore. You'll have to go through all of it in school, and then you can choose to specialize. You can work in a clinic (usu. after some med-surg experience) - very little poo. You can work in psych, where they should be able to wipe themselves. You can work in NICU or Peds - kids and babies poop, but many people think of that as much less "gross" than when it's from adults.

This is long, sorry, and I know I'm just a new grad. You obviously need to do quite a bit more research before you jump into the profession. Definitely keep trying to shadow/volunteer, and if you can't find a way to get into the hospital see if you can take a nurse or two out for lunch/coffee and interview them about their jobs. Check out discovernursing.com, as well as the rest of allnurses. Do a search on "day in the life" - I've read several of those threads since I've been on here. And good luck to you, whatever you decide!

[JustMe]

Not even my nursing students can adequately answer that question yet. You have to BE a nurse to know what a nurse does. I tend to see the more cerebral side of nursing. Anybody can wipe bottoms, empty foleys, etc, etc. But the RN has the task of critically thinking about every aspect of the patient's care: physical, emotional, social, spiritual. You have to consider their family members or significant others. You need to understand what the physician is thinking. You need to be able to refer your patient to appropriate ancillary people: social workers, dieticians, diabetes educators, etc. You need to know what effect their medications will have and how they can interact with each other--with possible detrimental effects. There are also jobs outside the hospital that don't require the nurse to come into contact with blood, poop or vomit. Community-based nursing is growing with patients being discharged sooner and sicker. Nursing is also a very versatile career. With some exceptions, once you are licensed you can work anywhere in the world.

Hope this helps. I LOVE being a nurse!:heartbeat

[amazon84]

ACtually you really would get a better idea of what RN's do if you were able to shadow. If not maybe you should volunteer at a hospital to get a better sense alot of hospitals ae in need of volunteers. RN's do everything---it's hard to put it into words.

In the end you gotta have a love for what you do, colostomy bags, bedpans & all. Nurses do that & so much more....

I want to get my BSN within a few years (sophmore but not currently in school). You can volunteer and shadow an RN even if you're not a student nurse? What tasks are you limited to (I'd welcome any and every one :heartbeat )?

[APUalyssa*]

i think just minimul stuff, you may only be shadowing certain specialities, check out your local clinic or hospital to volunteer

[IHeartPhysiology]

I want to get my BSN within a few years (sophmore but not currently in school). You can volunteer and shadow an RN even if you're not a student nurse? What tasks are you limited to (I'd welcome any and every one :heartbeat )?

I am a unit volunteer at our local hospital and the tasks generally delegated to me and "non-nursing" CNA duties. I stock nurse servers and patient rooms, pass meal trays, answer call lights, escort discharges, do do various light cleaning and clerical taska. It's really fun and great work experience.

Oh, and I just wanted to add that I'm not a student nurse; I will be getting my CNA certification soon, and this experience has been really helpful. The specific hospital program that I volunteer under is designed for college students, specifically those with healthcare related majors, but there are lots of different volunteer jobs at most hospitals.

[dianah, ASN]

OP? Are you out there?

Have you noted these honest replies?

Have you any response(s)?