Happy Nurses? Anyone???

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi. I'm a nursing student, doing well in school, graduate in September. I've been working at my degree for almost 4 years; pre-reqs. and waiting to get in..... then transfering to another school. Anyway, I'm still plugging away.

I visit this site often, and it seems like all I read/see is negativity. Nurses who hate their jobs, bad preceptors, toxic work enviornments, mean charge nurses, evil co-workers, ungrateful patients, rude doctors, etc. etc. etc.

Nurses with broken backs, broken spirits, and broken bank accounts. People on skid row.

Any nurses out there who LIKE their jobs? ENJOY their patients or coworkers? Reaping the REWARDS of nursing school in great enviornments where they are utilized in a positive way?

I'm sorry, but all this negativity is really bumming me out!!! :( :(

Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
:imbar

Isn't English class a requirement to get through nursing school? Poor english skills do not help the profession of nursing as a whole.

I am only a pre-nursing student trying to make my decision on whether or not to go ahead with pursuing a nursing career. One of the reasons I do not want to enter nursing is the perception that just anyone off the street can become a nurse. Reading posts with really bad spelling and grammar make my skin crawl to think that someone's life is possibly in this illiterate person's hands.

I'll also add that I strongly believe that people can have awesome practical skills and still have terrible writing skills, so I hope that the person I quoted is a good nurse. But it still makes nurses look bad! Would YOU want a nurse that sounds uneducated and unprofessional???

I believe you may have meant to say "Reading posts...makes my skin crawl," or possibly, "Bad spelling and grammar make my skin crawl." Which isn't to say that my subjects and verbs never disagrees, or that I never use sentence fragments, and sometimes even string multiple fragments together into long, meandering, and probably rather annoying monologues that seem to go on and on until even I have forgotten what it was I was (especially with my tendency toward gratuitous and excessive parenthetical asides) talking about. Or writing about.

Anyway, just trying to be helpful, here.

Specializes in ccu cardiovascular.

I think I have been one to vent as well but truthfully "I LOVE MY JOB' !!! Sometimes management does tick me off at times. I've done this job for 12 years now and though there is one thing I would have done instead(be a equine vet), nursing is my calling and I believe god sent me this direction. Nursing is hard, no doubt and we need a place to vent. Sometimes you just can't vent with your coworkers like you can on here.Let's face it family and friends not in healthcare just don't get it and though they can lend an ear they can't give concrete advice. Some of us are just plain burned out or probally should have never chose this profession and you can see it in some posts but most of us on here love doing whatever we do when it comes with helping our patients get through whatever they need.

Specializes in Oncology.

I'm VERY happy and I absolutely love my job. I can't picture myself doing anything else.

I'm happy. :)

And I like my job. :)

Specializes in ER, Outpatient PACU and School Nursing.

I do love my job- I find it very rewarding still but while saying that I do work perdiem in a very busy ER and work outpatient pacu. I do not work fulltime either place and love that I can do both. My fellow nurses tell me that if I worked more I would be burned out too. I dont think so as I did help out over the summer and was working sometimes twice a week and I didnt treat any of my patients differently than when I only work there 2-3 times per month. Doesnt mean I do not agree with how management handles things but I try and not let it get to me. I swear there are always the same issues and really never any good solutions and we are having more and more liability with the way healthcare is going but when I get a patient that thanks me for my care- I know I have done my part..

Specializes in Hospice.

Hey, hang in there!! I'm a HAPPY NURSE!! We all have to put up with crap, even if we flip burgers! It's part of life. And that's what makes this website so wonderful! We can vent, get opinions, from people who know exactly what we go through!!

In truth, nursing is a very rewarding lifestyle! I wouldn't change it for anything!

"It's not about the thunderstorms, only how to dance in the rain"

Specializes in Trauma, Neuro, Surgical ICU,.

i am so sorry you see it that way. i agree with the others, the beauty of a site like this allows us rn's to vent to others that will truly understand! i love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world!! :p however i do remember feeling the same way when i went to nursing school so i understand your confusion. but i will tell you one of the greatest perks of being a nurse is that when things get to much in whatever position you choose and your feeling burnt out, there is another 100 differant places you can change too!! i don't know of any other field that offers the immense diversity that nursing does. from changing your hours, to the amount of days you work to the type of job you do!! so before you talk yourself out of one of the most rewarding jobs you'll ever have know that nurses need to vent and if it's more than that then maybe they just need to move on. so hang in there, you'll be glad you did.:nurse:

Specializes in medical/oncology.

I graduated nursing school in May and I was terrified of starting work. All through nursing school I flew through the classroom part, but struggled with clinicals. I've always been more of an academic person--my B.A. is an English, and I somehow moved from there to nursing. The majority of my classmates loved clinicals and breezed through them, but really struggled with the tests. I was convinced that I had made the wrong decision and wouldn't cut it as a nurse--my classmates all seemed so sure of themselves and what they were doing. Now I'm working on a med-oncology floor and I absolutely LOVE it. I love my patients, I enjoy the work, I feel good most days when I leave. My coworkers are incredibly supportive, patient, and kind people. Many have worked on this unit for decades and still absolutely love the job! Of course some days just suck, some docs can be jerks, and sometimes I feel like a complete idiot when I draw a blank or encounter something I think I should know. But overall, I cannot imagine not being a nurse--I am 100% certain that I made the right decision going into nursing. And I see in my coworkers that the joy of nursing can be lifelong. Good luck to you.

Specializes in tele, oncology.

In general, I love being a nurse. I love being there to help people get better, being able to educate them to make a life long impact, even being the one to sit and hold a crying patient after they've just been told they have only hours left to live. There is no career, to my mind, that is as challenging and rewarding. Maybe being a teacher, but I so couldn't do that!

The specifics can get tiresome and annoying though....the management, the verbally abusive patients/family members/staff, the staffing issues....everything that you'll see us vent about on here. There are shifts where I feel that it's a wonder that we're not all off practicing ineffective coping mechanisms as soon as we leave.

Then there are the nights where you were the one to make sure that a patient passed on in the most comfortable manner possible and able to be surrounded by those that loved them, and the family is so giving and gracious of all that you do that it makes you want to cry. Or where you're the one to catch something that ended up making a life or death difference. Or even where a patient coded but it went so smoothly it could have been scripted.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though a lot of the time the shift sucks, there's enough good to keep me coming back smiling for more.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Happy nurse here!!! I LOVE my job and my coworkers. it is my first job and I am so happy where I am. Our charge nurse is funny, smart and works as hard as we do, my coworkers are fun and we work as a team. Sure there are some long days but those are few and far between.

Specializes in Ward,Er,Or.

yes the life of a nurse im young at it but being a nurse is not a walk in the park being a student nurse is fun not to scare you but being a staff nurse is a whole new world you will encounter a new environment if you don't have nerves of steel to survive you can quit now that what i always tell myself because when i became a nurse i thought life will be easy street but it's not it just the beginning sure life as a nurse is sometimes hell but not all the time but you can't slack off if your taking care of lives do you i can tell im tired as hell being a nurse but when you see the smiles of the patients your taking care off eases all the pain youve endured from your work it has a warm fuzzy feeling when you see that youve given quality care and patients are @ ease most of the times im angry and burned out but all of it are worth when you felt that you helped save someones life even if it was just the slightest as comforting them emotionally you'll when you've expirienced it :D

+ Add a Comment