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.
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?????
This is entirely inaccurate. I would wager that most RNs do not work two jobs. My salary is just fine. No, I don't have a McMansion. Maybe part of the gripe with nurses salary is the huge cost of college, and the subsequent desire to have a quarter of a million dollar home with a 50K SUV in the garage. My salary doesn't fund that...but it does pay for a modest house with two decent vehicles, a nice retirement fund, and a decent college savings account for my kids.
How many people do you think would say they need to be paid more in their job? That they aren't paid what they deserved to be paid? Everyone says that, whether you're at McDonalds or at a physician's conference. It's a tire, old line, and it's universal.
OP, Although you found a very strong heart felt negative post about our profession, it had it's value. Entering into the profession you learned breaks can be scarce some days, dealing with death and drama is an everyday occurrence and your expected to simply truck on... personal injury is likely, I've had two knee surgeries, and a direct care rotater cuff tear from lifting, You can see from the "nurses eat their young" threads... that not all facilities eagerly welcome you and provide mentors... these are part of the bad... yes it is all true. Believe no one that tells you otherwise.
But there is good. Strangers entrust me into their lives at their worst moments, give me trust to care for their family member and sometimes we bond and become close, sometimes we don't ever click, sometimes it's a tough challenge. But I've been lucky enough to be apart of a patient waking in the morning, seeing the sunrise and saying "thank god, another blessed day"... and so many good moments. So many beautiful moments when patients or family hugs me and tells me they won't ever forget me. Or times I think I've finally gotten through to the frequent flyer, or was part of saving someone I wrote off from the get go... or simply didn't give pillow therapy to the fake OD drama queen that broke up with her boyfriend.
Nursing was never a "calling", it is my job, a profession... I leave it when I clock out. But when I make a difference, I know there is nothing else on this dang planet that can give me that feeling. That good feeling doesn't always outweigh the negatives, and unfortunately... the negatives are more if you focus on them... but they are usually managerial and peripheral, not about what you actually do in patient care.
It can be an incredible "job"... and many of us have changed positions several times to keep what keeps us going, keeping us going. But you won't know until you get there.
15 years in i could see all the loss, drama and trauma as heavy weights that break me down (some days they do), but instead, I look at my life, my family and I've never lost track of my priorities, I've learned so much from my patients and families when they never knew they were teaching. It can be a great profession, providing you care for yourself first, then you're strong enough for the rest.
There are times that are stressful; most of those times as a new nurse consist of getting down on myself that I don't have as much knowledge or experience that I wish I did. And of course as a young mom it's hard to get motivated some days to leave my baby and have to work full time to pay the bills. But other than that, this is the best job I've ever had. It's intellectually stimulating, it's fast paced, it keeps you on your toes. The people you meet both challenge you and reward you. I have room as a nurse to grow in leaps and bounds.
That said, not every work environment is created equal. There are those hospitals and facilities that will burn you out - they will give you a large, heavy patient assignment, they will pay less than you're worth, etc. But not all nursing jobs are like that. And if yours is, keep looking. Don't like experiencing death and trauma? Don't work in the ED. Work in an MD office. Don't like blood? Don't work in the OR. Don't like changing depends? Don't work in a LTC/med surg unit. Work in peri-op. Work as an educator or in IT or in management. There are so many options out there.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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!!!
i've been working 12 hour shifts since 1983. i was part of a pilot study to see if nurses would prefer 12 hour shifts to eights, and by the end of the first month, i loved it. i'd never go back. (and yes, i've worked in icu since 1982.) twelve hour shifts were popular with nurses who have actually worked the eight hour shifts that many today think they might prefer. i was instrumental in getting 12 hour shifts in our hospital in the first place -- management caved in to please the nurses, not the other way around. at least not where i worked.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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?????
i personally haven't worked two or three jobs since i graduated from nursing school, although i certainly did to pay for it while i was in school. i don't know very many other nurses who are working two or three jobs, either. but perhaps those who are working that much are doing it to pay for 4000 square feet homes, $50,000 suvs, vacation homes, and extravagant vacations. i have a nice, middle class lifestyle that i enjoy very much, but i'm not rich.
BluegrassRN
1,188 Posts
This is entirely inaccurate. I would wager that most RNs do not work two jobs. My salary is just fine. No, I don't have a McMansion. Maybe part of the gripe with nurses salary is the huge cost of college, and the subsequent desire to have a quarter of a million dollar home with a 50K SUV in the garage. My salary doesn't fund that...but it does pay for a modest house with two decent vehicles, a nice retirement fund, and a decent college savings account for my kids.
How many people do you think would say they need to be paid more in their job? That they aren't paid what they deserved to be paid? Everyone says that, whether you're at McDonalds or at a physician's conference. It's a tire, old line, and it's universal.