I am a prenursing student looking to finish up and start applying to schools this January. I already have a degree. I've been doing sales support for about 8 years - so it's a pretty stressful position in itself. However, I think I was searching in to PICU nursing and came across this website, and well, I know that people are more likely to write about the bad then the good, but wow. Is it really like this in your opinions? I've posted the original post, but the comments just go on and on.
I graduated from nursing school in 1979 and easily got my first job in a teaching hospital in acute care pediatrics. I was young and stupid and didn't put 2 and 2 together that while I hated nursing school and all the "BS" I would also hate nursing. I have not worked since 1990 because I was literally killed emotionally, spiritually and physically by this career.
If anyone wants to know why there is a nursing shortage it's really pretty easy, NO ONE WANTS TO DO IT!!! The real clincher is you work with other miserable people and wonder all along if others are hating it as much as you. (A good indication is when you start a new job and your preceptor keeps saying things like, "I hate this job.")
I worked in the PICU and also did transport and trauma. Have you ever asked someone in another profession if they ever feel guilty that someone is going to die because they dared to stuff a half a sandwich down after not eating or drinking until they felt like they were going to pass out, or do they have to ask someone to watch "their work" so they can go to the bathroom, or are they so tired after staying up for days that they are hallucinating, and this while lives are at stake.
Another thing that destroyed me was when my patients died and instead of getting a break or even a pat on the back I just got another patient. This is outside the range of being normal. I think nurses suffer terribly and from things like PTSD. We work in carnage!!! This is not normal. Things are not going to change and we are all looking at being "cared for" in some scummy hole by jaded caretakers.
Yes we are jaded for the reasons I just wrote. Think of how a "normal" person reacts to just going to a funeral, try doing it on a daily basis and having to act like it's the most normal thing in the world. Death and dying are a part of life but so is the sympathy and understanding that usually goes along with it. It's not normal to live your life in the greiving process and try to act like this is life.
Anyone who is in nursing school right now and/or mired in debt and doesn't think there is anyway out think again. There is always another path. Don't throw your life away like I did. I ended up getting a large settlement from a medical malpractice suit after becoming suicidal and being abused by a doctor. Now I am facing having to work again and the prospect of anything that has to do with nursing is nightmarish.
I am in a legal nurse consulting program and just reading the message board with all the pukey nursing enthusiasm (yes we that hate nursing know what I am referring to) I thought, "I have to have some commissuration", so I typed "nurses hating nursing" into my search engine and came onto this site. I hate to discourage people into nursing but I will give my honest opinion when asked and finally I have found some validation for my own feelings after so many years of total anguish. Maybe some of you can relate to this, it is almost a sin in some circles to say you hate something as sacred as nursing. You may think hate is a strong word but I wish I could think of something stronger, like HATE TO THE MILLIONTH POWER!!!
Don't get me wrong I was a superb nurse, but I absolutley despised every second working as a nurse. Now I live a life being so damaged by this profession. If you hate nursing like this do not feel like you are alone, there is at least myself and I am not a crummy person. In fact I am a Christian and very loving and smart (Summa Cum Laude graduate) sensitive and talented (and like I've read no I am not obese, unattractive, nor do I live on coffee and junk food). Please do not wait until you are 53 years old like I am to decide on a career move. Love yourself as much as we have loved our patients and get out while you can. Take it from me it is NEVER too late.
I am a new nurse, Im not saying an exp nurse has nothing to offer, but dont rub off your misery on me!!!! Just because you have accumlated the years does not mean you have the knowledge, they are still nurses out there who have been a nurse for a hundred years and still dont know the whys of what they are doing, they just know they have to do it the are like robots!!! So please some new nurses knows more than the old ones especially if they were already in the medical field!!!
Nurses keep your issues at the front door or do private duty in hospice, where u dont have to talk and interact as much!!!!
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
To those who think the original poster is "not cut out for nursing" SHAME ON YOU. I precepted on a floor where the nurses had a reputation for "eating their young". Luckily, my preceptor was wonderful and when I was around the other nurses I just kept my mouth shut. We are in a caring profession, but most of the time nurses will not take care of each other. There are all kinds of excuses, blaming management, blaming "it's how it has always been done", stating that if we stand up for ourselves, we will get fired. Yes, nurses are overworked, yes we work long hours - sometimes dangerously so, but, if we do not take care of ourselves - we have no one to blame but us. I will not work anywhere that I cannot take a bathroom break. I will stand up for myself and tell someone when they cross the line. Why do we blame the nurse for hating their profession and not how the profession is run? It is like telling a rape victim that they must have done something to warrant the attack. Why don't we treasure the new nurses for their knowledge and enthusiasm instead of beating them down? I feel bad for those who are in professions that they hate, whether is be nursing or plumbing.
Sorry for ranting. Take this for what is is.
I didn't think they were telling the OP (a pre-nursing student) that she wasn't cut out for nursing. They were saying that bitter old clam who wrote the post on some other place other than here was not cut out for nursing. My first job was in an "ICU-stepdown" unit in a peds hospital, too. I am 53, too. I don't feel anything like the author of the "get he hel1 out while you still can rant".
Saying this person wasn't cut out for nursing is not looking at the whole picture. She worked in nursing for 11 years, not just a few months. A person can get VERY burnt out by not being able to be the nurse they want due to short staffing, lack of supplies, etc. To those of you who haven't experienced that, you are one of the lucky ones. To go home shaking, so thankful your very sick patient lived since your patient load was (deliberately) unsafe and you weren't able to properly monitor, is not something I want to experience ever again. It quickly drains your spirit. OP, there are real problems in nursing, some of which were highlighted in that post you found. Things like poor staffing and difficulty taking breaks are prevalent in hospitals. Take a look at this link for the proof https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/no-lunch-no-372337.html .
You can do a search on the news section and find multiple stories of nurses' lawsuits against hospitals who are not paying for missed breaks, and who are forcing unpaid work.
Nursing itself is pretty wonderful, but there are many roadblocks to nurses actually being able to do their jobs. So instead of ragging on the poster of that message, how about we come together for change, and unify to support passage of safe staffing laws nationwide?
Specializes in Hospice, Case Mgt., RN Consultant, ICU.
To those who think the original poster is "not cut out for nursing" SHAME ON YOU. I precepted on a floor where the nurses had a reputation for "eating their young". Luckily, my preceptor was wonderful and when I was around the other nurses I just kept my mouth shut. We are in a caring profession, but most of the time nurses will not take care of each other. There are all kinds of excuses, blaming management, blaming "it's how it has always been done", stating that if we stand up for ourselves, we will get fired. Yes, nurses are overworked, yes we work long hours - sometimes dangerously so, but, if we do not take care of ourselves - we have no one to blame but us. I will not work anywhere that I cannot take a bathroom break. I will stand up for myself and tell someone when they cross the line. Why do we blame the nurse for hating their profession and not how the profession is run? It is like telling a rape victim that they must have done something to warrant the attack. Why don't we treasure the new nurses for their knowledge and enthusiasm instead of beating them down? I feel bad for those who are in professions that they hate, whether is be nursing or plumbing.
Sorry for ranting. Take this for what is is.
Well spoken! I wonder are some people going into nursing 'for the money'?? If I ever worked anywhere where nurses 'ate their young' I didn't know it! It's really stupid to treat new nurses that way and a total shame!
Specializes in Hospice, Case Mgt., RN Consultant, ICU.
can't speak for anyone else, but there have been days that were so bad that i would had rather painted fences for a living than to spend another 12hr shift in the icu.
ICU is too difficult to be working 12 hour shifts! These 12 hour shifts were started for the benefit of managers making up the schedules. They are not for the benefit of nurses. Yes I know some will say they love all the time off. What good is it when you are so tired you sleep and sleep? This is just one area of nursing that needs to be changed. Nurses are responsbile for the life of human beings and all the studies show errors go way up after 8 hours on duty. Even truck drivers are no longer allowed to work more than 10 hours!!!
Really, any career has its bad parts. But, unless you are independently wealthy, you have to do something for a living. There is no job out there that is 100% stress free. Stress is relative also.
Basically, I like being a nurse and I enjoy my specialty. Yes, I have my bad nights(like tonight) but I try to let those roll off me.
That person in the OP-I feel bad for them. Obviously, they had a horrible time of it and were probably burnt out..and it's a good thing that they got out. Working like that would not be fair to the nurse or any patient either.
Specializes in Hospice, Case Mgt., RN Consultant, ICU.
And if you get tired of being a nurse, UPS is hiring drivers that make an average of $74k a year. You have to pass the training, though. I only got what I read on Yahoo. You may want to do some more research. No patients and pissy co-workers. Just yourself in shorts, a big brown truck, and alotta boxes. Woo!!! Boxes!!!!
Make sure those shorts are pressed though because from what the article says, the uniform should be crinkle-free.
I like being off topic.
I know from inside information that being a UPS driver is pretty darn stressful. If it were not for a strong union the UPS drivers would be in a lot of HELL!
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
QUOTE=fungez;4232198]Yeah, this is a very hard job. I told my daughter that is she wanted to major in Nursing I wouldn't pay for her college.
That makes me a little sad. . .does she really want to be a nurse? I wonder what it is that makes her even consider nursing since you've found it to be so overall awful. Please understand I am not discounting your experience in any way. My daughter is in her 2nd year of college with the goal of physical therapy, today she told me she is re-thinking it, but wants to do something "in the health care field"-- she's veering a tad closer to the "N" career. .:uhoh21: I think I might counsel her about some of the pitfalls, but I do think she could be a nurse and not find it a soul-deadening experience.
I think a lot of people get into nursing because they think it will be a quick fix for their economic woes. I was a CNA before I became a nurse, so I was well aware of what I was getting into. I actually like my job. It really just depends on where you work and your co-workers. Critical Care is a great field to be in. Everyone to their own liking. Not all nursing is the same. But all nursing experience the same crap. Problem with nursing is that nursing doesn't move up but only lateral.
OP: I loved being a carpenter for 25 years. It was a wonderful job. Every spring, when the whether starts turning nice, I miss being out on a jobsite, sawing and hammering and figuring things out under a warm sun with a cool breeze and the smell of sawdust and...well, but there were plenty of hot, miserable days, or days when you had to get a roof covered as the rain clouds gathered, and cement trucks always show up right before lunch, and there were days when you just didn't feel like going to work, and months where you wondered how you would pay your bills, and customers who became your friends and others who were out to cheat you, and in the course of my career I think I learned pretty much all the cuss words and maybe even invented a few.
So one thing leads to another and I find myself a nurse, and yes, it is a little frustrating that I have to hide in the med room when I want to try out my cuss words, but other than that it's a pretty good job, most of the time.
Everyone keeps talking about the money nurses make, WHAT MONEY????? I'm sure You can count on one hand how many RN's work only one job!!! Many RN's have two jobs, they are signed up with a million agencies, so where is the money if I have to work 2 n 3 JOBS to make it?????
You have to pass the training, though. I only got what I read on Yahoo. You may want to do some more research. No patients and pissy co-workers. Just yourself in shorts, a big brown truck, and alotta boxes. Woo!!! Boxes!!!! 
:up:
GM RN 2010
40 Posts
I am a new nurse, Im not saying an exp nurse has nothing to offer, but dont rub off your misery on me!!!! Just because you have accumlated the years does not mean you have the knowledge, they are still nurses out there who have been a nurse for a hundred years and still dont know the whys of what they are doing, they just know they have to do it the are like robots!!! So please some new nurses knows more than the old ones especially if they were already in the medical field!!!
Nurses keep your issues at the front door or do private duty in hospice, where u dont have to talk and interact as much!!!!