Does nursing change you into an angry person?

[DesireeBeyerGreen]

I read a lot of posts and my aunt who has been an LPN for over twenty years has told me to stay far away from nursing. She works in LTC, I believe, mostly nursing homes. I don't think I have ever heard her say anything good about the field. I want to be a nurse. I admire the field and the men/women who do it every day. I think if I'm going to work and work hard it should be doing something that benefits mankind as a whole. I can't think of anything better than helping sick people. Corny, maybe, but I'm an corny person. My question is...does nursing turn you into an angry, bitter burnt out person. Only if you let it or is it just inevitable by how the whole system is set up?

My goal is to make a career out of nursing. I want to learn as much as I can and advance as far as I can go. I come from nothing, high school dropout, married young, kids young, and I'm one class away from being accepted into the LPN program. I want to make my children proud of me. What's your opinions nurses? Does your job make you a hateful person?

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

NO! I was angry before I was a nurse. :)

HAHAHAHA!! Me too

Actually, I'm cynical rather than angry. Anger takes more energy than I care to expend at this late point in my career. Besides....just about the time I think I've seen it all, some patient or family member will come up with a new behavior that is so cruel, so evil, so unfathomable that it goes off the charts, and I realize that there are MANY things I haven't seen.

I don't consider myself to be bitter, either. I have this invisible wall built up, you see, and it protects me from the slings and arrows......thus I don't take a lot of it personally. Every now and again someone will penetrate my defenses, and it's devastating when it does happen; but I just repair the crack in the wall and consider it a lesson learned.

[fawnmarie, ASN]

Good for you for your decision to go to LPN school! You will be a great nurse because you seem to genuinely want to help others! LTC is difficult...I only lasted 18 months in a nursing home before being utterly, completely, and hopelessly burned out. Many LPN's seem to feel as if they are stuck in LTC because salaries are lower for us in other areas of nursing. When I left LTC to take a job in a state psychiatric hospital, my hourly pay dropped by more than $6 an hour. However, 9 years later, I remain at that job because I have found my niche. This is what I am here to do, to care for people with mental and emotional disorders. It's not about money. When you earn your LPN license, explore all avenues that are open to you, and choose what makes you happy. I have been an LPN for 11 years and I love, love, love what I do. You will, too! Good luck!

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

I don't think it's anger. I think it is an increased BS detector. You find yourself questioning why with a lot of interventions and "just because medicine can, should they?"

You quickly become aware of entitled people consider themselves to be.

I don't hate people in general but there are days I hate my job, coworkers and patients

Ditto - perfect explanation

But with that said, I have absolutely no regrets about entering a LPN program waaaayyyyyy back in 1985! And, my kids, now nearly adults, have always been quick to brag with pride on what their Mom does.

[AngeLance07]

If Nursing changed me into a different person, it made me happier and easygoing. People with ailments have some kind of endearing quality to them making me want to care more for them. They might get grouchy and sometimes annoying but as a nurse, I have learned to be more sensitive and compassionate about their situation and I automatically make adjustments in how I present myself to them and how to handle them individually as a human being.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

No but it has destroyed my hope/faith in mankind.

[prmenrs, RN]

I think it can make you an overwhelmed, tired, sad, and often depressed person. And you don't learn to recognize how overwhelmed, tired, etc., til you're so far in the hole you either start crying a lot or snapping @ people. Or some other self-destructive behavior.

What to do about it? Take care of yourself! Physically, mentally, spiritually, any way you can. Have some fun, too. Frequently.

[NurseDirtyBird]

When you see all the crappy things that happen to people, the crappy things people do to others, and how helpless you are in many of those situations every day, yeah, anger and bitterness can be a defense mechanism. You have to find a healthy defense mechanism and learn to detach yourself a bit. If you can do that, you'll survive it with your optimism intact.

Unless like me (and a couple other posters) you are not an optimist to begin with. Then your only friend is a very dark sense of humor.

[SaoirseRN]

It can only do so if you let it. Yes, nursing is hard and sometimes ridiculously so, but a person can chose to keep a positive attitude even in the face of that. What makes me angry is unnecessary suffering, so I do what I can to stop and prevent it. I chose not to be an angry person.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

Anger means you care. I can't bring myself to care.

[nursel56]

No, but I've worked in a pretty wide variety of environments, so I never had that endless wearing away at your soul sort of feeling that can happen when you stay in a job that has long since lost it's meaning for you. Pediatrics certainly gave me some sad moments and anger at some of the parents. It really helps to have a healthy appreciation of the absurd.

[ybanurse]

I myself started nursing when I was young and naive and didn't have the balls to speak up for myself. I lacked confidence because I was a new nurse and didn't have required the skill set yet to be autonomous so I relied on my "coworkers" to " show" me the ropes . REmember this, Just because every LPN or RN has a license it doesn't mean that the way they do things are the right way to do them. Girl, I tell you that was many years ago, Now I'm a loud mouthed nurse who knows better than take the word of her coworkers that the meds have been given, orders transcribed, the doctors have been called, the tube feedings have been hung and are running, transportation has been confirmed, the lab draw was done, the foley was changed and so on and so on.... You learn to follow up on your coworkers because many times if the mistake isn;t caught on your shift everybody gets written up. This job is a headache but the money is good. You always have to C.Y.A ( Cover your A...) this means making sure the CNAs are doing their jobs properly, your doing what your suppose to do and when you have a meeting with manangement they are going to have a witness and you bring a witness too. Keep your mouth shut don't gossip , tell your business, or get in with the clique. It's no way to to sugar coat nursing and who ever does is lying. Nursing needs its own reality show, with the REAL in it!

[ybanurse]

Apparently it turned your aunt into a very unhappy lady.I can't imagine hating my job for twenty years.Why don't people like that look for another position? I don't get it-there just is not enough money for me to be miserable for 8 to 16 hours a day.

I don't know about you but I have bills to pay such as rent and utilities and without going back to school Im not going to get a job paying me 23.00/hr. I cant live off of 10.00 an hour so I stay miserable. Where are you working that's not miserable so that I can come get a job? Maybe you havent worked in LTC before this forum is always broadcasting the misery in nursing. I say more of us are miserable than happy and this is because of the politics of nursing and nursing being run as a business and so many other things that arent being talked about but rather swept under the rug Nursing has gone to pot!