Do you love/hate your profession?

Angelic,

Scares me to death too! However, I think people, in general, do not act very well today, in any profession. I have tried to figure out why that this takes place, but cannot find any concrete answers. I worked for a large fortune 50 company. It was pure h*ll. I had a woman boss who would literally follow us around all day long. She was eventually terminated, as she had so many "issues". Finally, I believe that our society as a whole is far too stressed out. Both mom and dad are working. Prices are going up, so it seems everyone has financial issues. Everyone is worried about his/her retirement. Healthcare is a disaster, as you can see by these forums. Prescriptions cost too much. Far too many people are uninsured. ER rooms are full of illegals. I could go on and on. But, it seems like our society as a whole is breaking down and that is leading to people feeling insecure. Just my opinion....

I love mine. Sure there are rough days and there are problems with the system that make our jobs more difficult, but overall I'm highly satisfied with my career decisions.

I LOVE being a nurse. I don't always like my job or have terrific days, but I wouldn't trade being a nurse for anything. I love being able to help people on a real and practical level. It makes me happy to be there for people when they are in need, stressed and worried--or in pain. Not only can I be there for them in a personal way, I can also use my skills from my education, experience, etc to REALLY help them get better. That is job satisfaction. Nursing is not for everybody. You can't look at these boards to make your decision. You have to really search inside to find your answer. Good luck to you.

I think that nursing is just one of those professions that you love and hate. I have days where I just can't imagine doing anything else. Then there are those other days, occasionally where you get so stressed out you could blow up. I think it is all the emotion that goes along with the job. You are dealing with people who are on edge to begin with. I work with a lot of kids with all kinds of problems, but being on a neurosurg floor I deal with a lot of childhood cancer. I think a lot of the patient/families emotions depends on their support systems. Sure you could go do a seemingly meaningless job with no emotion, or you could do something that really matters and be stressed out occasionally. I would prefer the emotion. The best part is that most of us work 12 hours a day 3 days a week, which equals 4 days to de-stress.

I am a new grad nurse and I was reading all of the replies, and I have to say that I can relate to all of them. Even though I am new in the profession. I will agree that nursing has to be a personal decision. You have to love people and enjoy being an advocate. When you deal with people there will always be ups and downs, comes with the territory, but the service you provide to your patients and the smiles you get when they recover, is priceless...

I really enjoy nursing, it's these insecure co-workers. Out of 18 years of nursing, I have learn how to pray for them instead of wishing they get hit by a car so they will not return to work the next day.

I remember this really nasty nurse, I mean nasty. She was working a lot of hours. One day on her way to work, she was in a really bad accident that left her in a quadraplegic state. I really felt bad.

Because of all the politics and nurses afraid of new blood and young or more experience nurses, I just work through the agencies / travel. It's a place for all of us and nursing can be wonderful and rewarding.

Don't quit.

Treasure

There are times when I regret being a nurse, but I have never regretted becoming one, if that makes sense. I may hate what I'm doing at the moment, but I don't hate the profession. If I ever quit nursing, it will be kicking and screaming.

I love my stupid job! I'm nearing my first anniversary as an RN, after seven years in healthcare previously. I work on a busy neuro/neurosurg floor and am just beginning to feel a little bit competent. Charting sucks a lot, but the patient care is usually rewarding, though at times that sucks, too. I work weekend nights plus one other 12. Weekends I tend to see the same crew and really like them all. My third shift is usually on Fri or Mon, but this week I worked Wed. Don't mind having them split up occassionally, but usually prefer my days grouped.

Not all my co-workers are as happy as I am, so I'm trying to learn from their experiences to avoid the same pitfalls. Of course, we all complain--it's part of the bonding process--but some people are seriously bugged by things that don't bother me, so I'm careful to draw a line between empathy and buying in to their dissatisfaction.

Being a nurse is hard work, no doubt about it. Lots of stress, and a fair amount of it is just unavoidable. But I believe an important lesson in all of life is that having fun and being happy are not the same thing. A lot of times nursing is fun, but even when it isn't, I try to remind myself how happy I am. There's a definite satisfaction in being able to hang in there and get things done even when a part of you just wants to run and hide.

So far, my plan seems to be working. Will it still work in ten years? Time will tell.

I started the Nursing Program 1 year and 4 mos. ago. It took me that amount of time to find out that Nursing is not for me. Maybe it is how our program is run and I am not happy with how we as students are treated in our clinical rotations by the staff Nurses. Obviously they are not happy at their job to treat us with disrespect. Anyway, I explored my options and decided to go into Surgical Technologist program, and work at my home hospital where I know many of the Surgical staff and enjoy the OR setting. I don't think I wasted time by staying in the Nursing program for as long as I did, in fact the time it took for me to come to a decision helped me to become stronger. I must say " I am no longer stressed out and feel much better about myself " for this I am grateful.

"THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON WHAT WE DO FOR OURSELVES TODAY"

What great answers on this thread! They make so much sense to me. I think we are feeling the same things. Maybe you don't have to be a special kind of 'nurse' person to do the job, but you have to be that kind of person to love it even when you hate it? Makes sense to me.