Nurses who love their job.

1. Nurses who LOVE their job, please reply. What do you do? Why do you stay in your position? Is there any nurse out there who is satisfied with their job and actually looks forward to going to work? Any words of wisdom?
2. 

   About susanmary

   Joined: Dec '00; Posts: 826; Likes: 16
   RN

   32 Comments

   Topic Closed

   1 2 3 Next »
3. 
   Jan 22, '01

   Occupation: Staff Nurse/Critical Care & Nursing Instructor Joined: Nov '00; Posts: 345; Likes: 26

   I LOVE my job. Granted, I don't wish I were there every minute of the day. But I truly love my job. I am a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner. I stay in my position because there is no other place that I would rather be. I have worked with older adults my entire nursing career [have loved everything I have done in nursing, CNA, LPN, RN] and now love this also.
   
   I have only one piece of advice: Do what you love. If you don't love it, get out of it. I do not make a lot of money, but I live in my means, and I do what I have always wanted to do.
   
   
   ------------------
   Tis with our judgements as our watches, none go just alike, yet, each believes his own.
   -Alexander Pope
4. 
   Jan 23, '01

   Occupation: Oncology Nurse Joined: Mar '00; Posts: 94; Likes: 14

   I too love my job. I am a staff nurse on an oncology/medical unit. I have been here for about three years now and still really enjoy what I do. I think the key is to do something you find rewarding and work where you feel appreciated. Maybe not by everyone but at least by a few people.
   
   There are problems with workload, internal politics, ******** and other problems common to the nursing profession. Things aren't perfect but no job is. I think the key is to focus on the things you can control and learn to let go of those you can't. If they get to be too much, you move on. If there are things going on which you feel are unsafe, you need to be very assertive and unyielding in preventing them from taking place. I have been lucky (or stubborn and loud) enough that those times when I have felt I was being dealt with unfairly I have been able to resolve the situation.
   
   If you enjoy what you do, these things are liveable. It really helps when you have a good group to work with too. I find oncology a very rewarding and challenging field to work in. I learn something new every time I go into work and when I go home I am proud of what I did!
   
   Hope this helps!
   
   Cheers,
   Bigjay
5. 
   Jan 23, '01

   Occupation: staff rn trauma icu / preceptor Joined: Jan '01; Posts: 7

   susanmary I LOVE MY JOB I REPEAT I LOVE MY JOB... i work in a dedicated trauma icu 23 bed unit. work is very demanding but i can work 12 hours and feel as if i've really made a difference. trauma affects everyone it does not discriminate. its goes after the rich and poor young and old. families and patients go through terrible experiences but i've seen the "dead" walk and the rock stable die. i truely love my work i enjoy bedside nursing and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world
6. 
   Jan 23, '01

   Occupation: RN Joined: Jan '01; Posts: 511; Likes: 20

   Susanmary,
   I love my job. I work in ER, have worked in ICU's and ER's in a number of places including the Persian Gulf. I love working at the bedside with patients and their families. It's hospital administrators I can't stand.
   
7. 
   Jan 23, '01

   Occupation: RN, government consultant Joined: Jan '01; Posts: 167; Likes: 6

   I love my job. I am a nurse consultant for a government agency and I do community health teaching on health and driving.I have direct contact with citizens over their health concerns and those of their loved ones. I do over 40 public speaking presentations a year to community groups in my state. The job requires an RN and I deal with just about every health issue that can befall a human. It has really kept me on my toes! I also act as a judicial reviewer for people with health crises who want to get their license back.
   
   I'd like to make the point that I did not land in this job out of school. I had a series of other nursing jobs over 14 years. I always felt I had skills that were not being utilized in hospital nursing. I agree with prior poster who said that if you don't love the job, move on. It was only by finding out what didn't work for me that I found what I did best. Good luck.
8. 
   Jan 23, '01

   Occupation: Staff nurse Joined: Jan '01; Posts: 5

   Hi susanmary!
   I love my job! I work on a renal unit in England. I have been a qualified RN for 20+ years and have worked in several specialties. I now work in a very large teaching hospital 20 miles from my very small home-town. (I suppose that's not very far in US)
   Although we work internal rotation ie 3 shifts, I usually look forward to work. I even quite enjoy night shift! It gets you out of the hassle for a couple of weeks. I work 7 nights on then 7 nights off; we get a choice on my ward; we can work 4 on and 3 off if we prefer. I work 1 week nights every 4 again my choice.
   Our staffing levels are quite good - 1;2/3 on all shifts depending on dependency levels of patients.
   Bye for now.
9. 
   Jan 23, '01

   Joined: Jul '00; Posts: 11,351; Likes: 387

   I am another job lover! I work in Labor and Delivery and postpartum and gynecology (all the chick stuff is merged in my hospital) and in general it's great. Most of the other nurses are the BEST (supportive, funny, intelligent women)!!! Even the docs aren't that bad . There are some troublesome patients, but the majority are very understanding of how busy we get and are very polite with us. We even have patients thank us (gasp!). I can see myself leaving eventually when my body can't take these 12 hour shifts anymore, but I am not looking forward to it...
10. 
    Jan 23, '01

    Occupation: RN-Inpatient Oncology Joined: Apr '00; Posts: 150; Likes: 5

    I love my job. I work on a 22-bed med-surg oncology unit. It is a very special place and I am honored to work their! The best part, the patients, they are absolutely breath takingly strong people! I am a new grad and took this position right out of college, so I have now been working on this unit for almost 7 months. I am planning on relocating to Raleigh, NC ,(during the next year) and I will most certainly look for another cancer nurse position.
11. 
    Jan 23, '01

    Occupation: RN, Founder, Integrative HealthCare Resources, LLC Joined: Oct '00; Posts: 269; Likes: 13

    Originally posted by susanmary:
    Nurses who LOVE their job, please reply. What do you do? Why do you stay in your position? Is there any nurse out there who is satisfied with their job and actually looks forward to going to work? Any words of wisdom?

    Unlike the other posters, I love my WORK. I have never truly loved a job. I have always found jobs (employment) constricting and stifling in the long run, but have always taken away many positive learning experiences from each job i have had. Now, back to work. I love the work of nursing, I have always loved the work of nursing and I will always love the work of nursing. My personal view of nursing work is not drudge, is not labor, is not unsatisfying. My personal view of jobs is drudge, labor and unsatisfying. I realize this might sound a bit contradictory to some, but you can get a better picture of what I am talking about
    http://www.preferredrns.com/articles...naljourney.htm
    The article to which I am referring is "Energy Collaboration: A Personal Journey". It is the essence of who I am as a nurse.
    
    I was terribly restless as an employee in just about every job I had. In fact, I was the employee who always questioned why, when, what, how, why not, etc. I was a challenge to say the least. I am sure you must have worked with some of us. I could never quite get a handle on why the employer had to control everything I and my colleagues did. And it turned out that freedom to choose made all the difference in my life. I choose now, and the work I do is meaningful and purposeful, not only for me, but for the people for whom I provide nursing care. My nursing work is powerful. No job could hold that power for me. I welcome dialogue if you have had similar experiences in your nursing life.
    
    best regards
    Chas
    
    
    
    [This message has been edited by bshort (edited January 23, 2001).]
12. 
    Jan 23, '01

    Occupation: NICU-RN Joined: Jan '01; Posts: 7

    I love my job!!! I work in a 44 bed very busy NICU. I also deal with all the typical bad aspects of our profession, but I think the point is that every time i know I have made a difference it is worth all the bad aspects. As another poster said, they are everywhere in our profession. I have been a nurse for 17 yrs, worked many different areas and know that the best places are where you work with a good group of nurses, but thats not always the case. As long as I know that I have made a difference that is satisfying to me, and I can always hope for a class action attitude adjustment!!!!
13. 
    Jan 24, '01

    Occupation: RN Joined: Jul '00; Posts: 46; Likes: 2

    I, too, love my job. I work in a SNF that is more like a 4-star hotel than a hospital. We are overstaffed most times (a census of 25 with 2 licensed nurses and 3-5 CNA's during day shift. Adminstration is there for the nursing staff and they listen and act on our input. I feel very supported by both staff and administration. Words of wisdom? Look at the 3 month evaluation period as from both points of view...they take 3 months to see if you're going to work out and you should take 3 months to evaluate the facility and see if that is the place you want to work in.
14. 
    Jan 24, '01

    Occupation: RN Joined: Jan '01; Posts: 77; Likes: 30

    I have a very unique job and I love it. I can't work 12 hr shifts because of child care problems, so I work 4 hrs a day doing lunch relief for ICU and ER.

Must Read Topics