Cry me a river...?

[Jedrnurse]

I have been in healthcare for a long time (since just out of high school) in one form or another. There's a trend I've noticed with a lot of posts that I'm wondering if it's new, or if I've just happened to miss it over the decades.

So many people post about crying at work, before work, after work, well, you get the picture. Are things really that bad, or are people less "resilient" (to use a recent buzzword)?

[Orion81RN]

2 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

Possible, but I'm not sure that crying at work inspires confidence in a professional's reputation.

If I've ever talked about crying during or after work, I was talking about crying in private. I've maybe cried (meaning I had a few tears) at work a couple times, a d that was just when a couple close patients I had died. You go to the bathroom, splash it away and return to work.

As for after work, again I do it in private in my car on my way home.

1) yes, work situations where staffing is so bad you're getting reamed out all day, as if it's personally your fault 10 people want their narcs at the exact same time everyone needs their BG taken before lunch arrives.

2) crying in a controlled manner is not a weakness. There are people who don't cry but go home and verbally abuse their kids and spouse and neglect their family due to stress. Yet no one is saying that person is "weak."

[Forest2]

I don't think crying is a weakness, I think it is a valve to release many different emotions and stress. It just seems to me that nursing is way more stressful than what it used to be. There is more pressure in my opinion.

[OldDude]

I don't think it's a bad thing to cry with a parent when you've just handed them their dead baby to hold for the last time...

[Davey Do]

I cried when I saw my first paycheck as an RN after working 7 years as an LPN.

*sniff!* Heh heh! *sniff!*

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

6 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

Possible, but I'm not sure that crying at work inspires confidence in a professional's reputation.

I think it entirely depends on the situation. As a peds nurse who frequently works the oncology floor where there are more rough days and news being handed to families than there are good ones, it has been my experience that sharing in the emotion of the devastating news parents receive has not had a negative impact on their confidence in my or my coworkers. If anything I have heard countless parents over and over again say they appreciate it because they feel staff really cares for them and their child.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, JadedCPN said:

I think it entirely depends on the situation. As a peds nurse who frequently works the oncology floor where there are more rough days and news being handed to families than there are good ones, it has been my experience that sharing in the emotion of the devastating news parents receive has not had a negative impact on their confidence in my or my coworkers. If anything I have heard countless parents over and over again say they appreciate it because they feel staff really cares for them and their child.

Good point.

[AnnieNP, MSN, NP]

6 hours ago, OldDude said:

I don't think it's a bad thing to cry with a parent when you've just handed them their dead baby to hold for the last time...

Thant made me cry right now!

[Persephone Paige, ADN]

Just watch the news and you'll get your answers. A generation of whingers... I miss the days when you could fight it out in the parking lot. Sorry

[FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN]

13 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

That's my point. I've never seen it with the nurses I've worked with over the years. I'm going by posts on AN. Didn't know if it's a new "thing" or just over represented by some people who share online.

You may not have noticed.

[asoonbsn]

I think we are seeing a sicker population than in years past, with an increasing demand an increase in acuity and a continued shortage crying seems like a great option, lol

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

15 hours ago, JKL33 said:

Support and common human decency have left the building.

I'm not a crier, but I might think about crying if I walked into the sort of general workplace disdain for nurses that is rampant now. In fact, if I did, I would walk right back out and find something else to do with my life.

AMEN

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

11 hours ago, OldDude said:

I don't think it's a bad thing to cry with a parent when you've just handed them their dead baby to hold for the last time...

This would get me every time,the act of extending your arms and placing the baby in their arms,that connection at that moment...