Do most nurses not like writing papers?

[purplegal]

It seems that whenever the topic of nursing school comes up, many of the people I went to school with mention that they always disliked writing papers. Whenever I talk to people who are currently in nursing school, or want to enter the healthcare profession in some other way, the answer is pretty much the same--they dislike writing papers, as well as other projects.

I was just wondering if this was the norm? I usually don't share this with anyone, but I rather enjoy writing papers. I love being able to sit down and just let my thoughts flow, or organize information that I've found through research articles. I also quite liked the projects we had during our public health clinicals such as making booklets and powerpoints, and then teaching the content to others. Most of the people who went to my BSN program disliked the public health portion part.

At work, I still love to write. I love charting and writing progress notes, whereas most of the nurses I work with dislike that aspect of the job. So, am I really that abnormal in that I enjoy writing? Do I seem to have less of a nurse personality because my opinion on writing seems to differ from many others who are in the same profession?

I don't believe it affects my nursing care, at least not in a negative way. I work well with my patients and am very attentive to their care and needs. It's just that my documentation is very thorough and I may have the tendency to over-document.

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

I also like research papers and get a weird kick out of writing a good, thorough note. (But I haaaaaate other documentation.) I don't think our enjoyment of writing/other projects has any relation to our nursing abilities. It's just another fun skill to have. I was an English major at one point, and reading and writing have been long-time favorite hobbies of mine. Nursing, and nursing school by extension, is another way to enjoy those things, for me.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I absolutely love writing papers. In fact, becoming a writer and mystery novelist had been a childhood dream of mine since the age of six.

The feeling I experience after having created an original essay with my unique syntax and phraseology is intangibly awesome.

[cleback]

I think most of us do not relish writing papers on subjects we are not passionate about or will never use in their careers. Most nurses are very practical that way. I do not love writing for the sake of writing, but I felt darn proud of the 23- page evidence based practice proposal I wrote last semester, based on a clinical problem observed in my practice area.

[Libby1987]

I was not good but I did like writing and I actually enjoy charting sometimes. Makes me an outlier but also has made the job less frustrating for me.

[Cat365]

I don't mind writing, but I'm more of a free flow writer. I hate APA format and SMART paragraphs.

[Davey Do]

I enjoy doing just about anything with my job given the TIME! I don't like to be under the gun.

Back when I was doing home health, in the days of paper charting, I opened a case on a dressing change for an I&D as the result of an infection on a LE s/p ORIF. The nurse that was going to take the case requested that I do a drawing of the wound so she knew what she was getting into. I enjoyed doing that! So much, in fact, I'd sketch pictures in my notes whenever I believed they would be helpful.

Once, when I was the nursing supervisor for the home health agency, I opened a new case with an AIDS patient who was receiving five different IV fluids though a timed device. One IV fluid was through a "baby bottle" that was administered q24hr. I sketched out the entire setup with instructions so any nurse coming onto the case knew what to do.

Yeah, purplegal, I enjoy writing, but love drawing!

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I enjoy writing to an extent. I actually had fun doing the paper and powerpoint on the use of motorcycle helmets for my public health nursing class. The 15-page museum proposal on propoganda that I wrote for a Europe/WWI history class back in 1998 (so back in the days of perusing actual books in the school library), whose prof was "the one who never gives As"/from whom a B- was an accomplishment...torture. My affect while in the early stages of the project kind of resembled "shell shock." Seeing that big red B- felt like Christmas. I do feel extremely satisfied with a detailed note, although I draw the line at double charting. I save the narrative notes for info that can't be gathered from my flowsheet data. I like getting home on time.

[HeySis, BSN, RN]

I actually hate writing APA papers, not an original thought in the whole thing, every line with and in-text citation. I feel like I'm not showing what I have learned but telling you what others learned.

I love writing, letters, stories, memories, even a good progress note (which we have moved away from in the age of computerized charting and charting by exception).

I do not love formatting papers, and making sure the headers are correct, or checking it for spelling and grammar. I understand the reasons for it, and can do a decent paper, but I really dislike doing it. And all of my BSN classes require APA papers and most of my homework even the question/answer homework, has to be APA formatted with in-text citations and references. You cannot answer any questions based on the fact that you have been a nurse for years and you know how to do a head to toe assessment, you have to go and find at least three peer reviewed articles about doing a head to toe assessment and use their information, if it's the same as yours.

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

I love writing. I like reading too. Grad school has been so much better than undergrad, with both reading and writing. I only have one class this term with a textbook, my other classes use journal articles (much easier to get through textbooks, and even when they're dull there is still the abstract and summary to get the gist). We have been given assignments and structure for projects, however, we can pick the topic we want. This makes it interesting to both do the research/finding sources and to do the writing.

I do enjoy writing things that are not related to clinical/school subjects more. That is significantly more fun.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

It is my strength so I am fine with doing it.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I don't suppose this comes to a big shock as anyone here, but I love to write. I enjoyed writing papers and wished I could have skipped exams and just written papers instead.