The most difficult thing to do.

live4today, RN · Sep 3, 2002

Had the job "wired" ...as you put it! :chuckle Never worked a day at nursing that wasn't quite challenging....had a few slow days at times......but for the most part....left home headed for work with the attitude that I was going to "kick butt" on the job....work hard.....VERY VERY HARD.....laugh a lot along the way.....make all my patients smile or laugh.....cheer up and help out the staff....and so I made it through each workday as I planned it to be.

Nursing is NO PICNIC job..... :nono: There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING "laid back" about it. Anyone who enters nursing with the attitude that they are going to have a "gravy train job"....needs to exit the field ASAP.....and go on to your plan b, c, or d.......because that person will be sorely disappointed if they think they aren't going to BECOME the definition of what WORK really means. :nurse:

Nurse Ratched, RN · Sep 3, 2002

This week I have been doing the most difficult thing I do as a nurse - watching a family completely screw up their loved one's wishes. I have a patient who is an absolute train wreck: demented elderly, long bone fx (can't operate), end stage renal, bony as a skeleton, wakes up screaming in pain despite our best efforts to keep her medicated.

Family can't decide to quit dialyzing her. They think she's "overmedicated." Pt has a living will (which totally goes against everything we are doing to her) but also has a health care rep whose decision supercedes the living will. Today we got to put a feeding tube in her. Several docs have (to no avail) talked AT LENGTH to the family about the disservice we are doing to this woman.

I am in tears thinking about it.

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Sep 3, 2002

You TELL 'em, Cheerfuldoer !!! :chuckle SHOULD be that way in ANYthing we do..."do what you do, do well,Son..."

Stargazer · Sep 3, 2002

Oh, Ratched, those ARE the hardest. Those were the days I couldn't help but "take home" with me, feeling like a dishrag that had been completely wrung out. Emotionally exhausting.

I have had families of critically ill patients tell me (or the charge nurse, or the doc, or the CNS) that they "don't want to hear any bad news" about their loved one. Yeah, 'cause when you've got your mind already made up, who needs the facts, right? :rolleyes:

Taking care of a critically ill person while trying to cope with family denial is like pushing a piano uphill by all by yourself.

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Sep 3, 2002

Been there many a time, Ratched. It is sad, indeed. We've had a few who have had the ability to decide for themselves when to quit dialyzing. This is a relief to all involved. But as for those poor souls who are not able to do so for themselves, it is a heartbreaking thing to witness. The family seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard place, too. Sometimes have to wonder why these elderly with multiple medical issues and not much hope for recovery are even put on dialysis at all. Doesn't seem fair to them OR their families, who then must make the awful decision to take them off...I have some hunches, but I better not go there...

kewlnurse · Sep 4, 2002

Bed Baths, can't friggen stand doing them, would rather give ss enemas for the entire shift than do baths

live4today, RN · Sep 4, 2002

Originally posted by jnette
You TELL 'em, Cheerfuldoer !!! :chuckle SHOULD be that way in ANYthing we do..."do what you do, do well,Son..."

Thank you, jnette! :kiss Yes...do to patients (and anyone else) what you wouldn't mind having done to you. :)

bagladyrn, RN · Sep 4, 2002

For me, the hardest is dealing with fetal demises - especially those that are unknown until the mother comes to the hospital. Many times I've done care of mother and the stillborn with tears in my eyes - and never felt that this was inappropriate or unprofessional.

Rottie1 · Sep 4, 2002

The hardest thing for me to have to do is leaving my family to have to come back to work when on call. - maybe the hardest in any job not just nursing, but I was just called out last night right in the middle of spending time with my 9 y/o, looking forward to football practice, and I was called in because some idiot.... well, nevermind, that is a totally different post....

I work in surgery and the hardest part was having to take a young lady back with malignant brain tumor. It always seems to happy to all the nicest people.

ptnurse · Sep 4, 2002

The most difficult job I have by far some days is just getting myself pumped up to go in. When I get to thinking about the dualing personalities of the nurses, the frequent turnover of nurses on my unit, and the staffing (or lack of). The only thing that gets me through some days is the patients. I just like doing bedside care. Once I get through all the other stuff and actually get to my patient's bedsides, I am usually fine.

cactus wren · Sep 4, 2002

I`m with you Nurse Ratched..........It so wrings you out when the family INSISTS on "DO "everything to keep Mom alive, and against the patients wishes.But for every 3 or 4 of those families you usually get 1 family that understands, and appreciates our efforts, they are the ones who makes you feel like we are making a difference.