What does an RN REALLY do?

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2011

Acute care in the hospitals it is the nurse at the bedside with the assistance of CNA's and possibly LPN's. I think you can get a pretty good idea of what nurses do if you search this site and read the threads.

beast master RN · Oct 7, 2011

i just sit at the nursing station all day reading magazine and eating snacks, i ignore my call lights and makes the aids do EVERY thing ..lol

Palliative Care, DNP · Oct 7, 2011

Don't do the dirty work? Well I have been in my fair share of stool, urine, NG fluid, JP drainage, wound drainage, etc. Bedside nursing is not always pretty it is HARD work. Our job is to take an ill patient and assist them back to their optimal level of functioning. We are the nurse, the confidant, the shoulder to cry on, the object of rage, the listener, the problem solver, the advocate, and whatever else is required. Don't forget while you are all of these things to this patient you very well may have another 5-6 that you are doing the exact same thing for. If you are a student and already do not like bedside nursing then maybe you should switch majors now to something else. We specialize in doing more with less on a daily basis it is taxing and tiring and probably the most rewarding job ever:twocents:

casi, ASN, RN · Oct 7, 2011

Nurses do everything. SOB patient? Call the nurse. Pain? Call the nurse. Clogged toilet? Call the nurse.

Dixielee, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2011

Nurses end up doing what no one else can or will do. If there is no transporter, the nurse does it. If there is no housekeeper and the room needs cleaning, the nurse does it. If the pharmacy is too busy to bring up a med, the nurse goes to get it. If dietary messes up a tray, the nurse is the one who has to straighten it out. If the lab can't get blood on the patient, the nurse has to figure out how to make it happen. If the family can't be there to console or comfort a sick or dying patient, generally it falls to the nurse, especially if there is not a chaplain available.

If the patient is lying in their own urine and feces, it is up to the nurse to make sure that patient gets cleaned up. If anything goes wrong with any patient, you can bet somewhere along the line, the nurse gets blamed. If the patient is hungry and can't feed themselves, then the nurse has to make sure that patient gets fed.

The nurse may not have to do every single thing for that patient, but it is the nurses responsibility either implied or in writing, then the nurse is responsible for making sure it gets done.

The responsibility in nursing can sometimes (OK frequently) be overwhelming, but it is part of the package.

Many people get into nursing because of job security and a decent salary, those are the wrong reasons!

Most of the rewards in nursing are intangible. You are there when someone is most vulnerable. You help them until they can help themselves.

Is bedside nursing dirty, disgusting and scary? You bet it is, and only you can decide if the tradeoffs are worth it.

Would I go into nursing again? Probably. The pros have outweighed the cons over the years. Is it an easy job? HECK NO!! But, there are so many options in nursing that are not available in other professions.

Would I encourage my son or daughter to go into nursing right now? No, I would not. I see it becoming more and more dangerous from a physical standpoint (an increasingly violent society) and a liability standpoint. Everyone wants to blame someone when there is a bad outcome, and the nurse is frequently in the cross-hairs. We are having to do more and more documentation on unreliable and slow computers, and it is taking time away from the bedside, creating more stress and liability.

So I have any answers for you? Nope. Life is tough, you make of it what you can.:)

anotherone, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2011

Dixielee's post was acurate. so much so i could barely stand to read it right before work.........as a bedside nurse you do everything. keep in mind, many hospitals do not have cnas or many cnas. you are responsible for getting things done even if there are cnas. you have to make sure it all gets done. baths, changing patients, turning/repositioning, meds (tons), prns, calling/paging drs, calling pharmacy, answering the pharmacy or labs call ( they can never call or page the dr themselves and must use you as a middleman-sarcasm but true). then throw in a complaint of chest pain, sob which may take up an hour or more of your time, before the pt is transfered to another floor or dealt with etc and all the other stuff still has to get done. the other patients don't care that you are in a rapid response. they still have to use the bathroom or get their tv fixed.

Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN · Oct 7, 2011

i just sit at the nursing station all day reading magazine and eating snacks, i ignore my call lights and makes the aids do EVERY thing ..lol

With these new handy dandy state of the art med-carts.. I don't even have to get up to pass meds. It pops the med into the cup.. crushes it if necessary.. and makes the confused little old lady take it!

All I need to do is put a bed-pan under my butt and plop myself down at the nurses station for 8 hours.

On the serious note... Dixie's post sums it up.

dblpn · Oct 7, 2011

i just sit at the nursing station all day reading magazine and eating snacks, i ignore my call lights and makes the aids do EVERY thing ..lol

Hey this actually sounds like someone i use to work with. :lol2:

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2011

If you don't like bedside nursing, don't be a RN. It's as simple as that. Think of being chained to a stove if ur a chef...

Also get a realistic idea re nursing on here. Don't go into a RN program then come back on here & whine & complain endlessly that you didn't know what u were getting yourself into. We have too many students/nurses that do that on here.

ADD: and despite what everyone tells you, yes u do need at least 1 years experience, in Oz at least, to get nursing work. You won't get a high paying RN job w/out experience - I think the ones on here that say they do get jobs w/out experience are lying TBH. I wouldn't trust all answers on here.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Oct 8, 2011

Hi all--
I'm a Nursing Student in my 1st semester of Nursing School. I have my CNA & work in a LTC facility, but mainly pass meds (they have CNAs do it there-bc we only have 1 RN to 150 residents). Anyways, I have always dreamed of being an OB RN or Peds RN, but since starting school I've realized I HATE bedside nursing. I've had people say RNs don't do the dirty work anymore & some say they do.
I'm not looking for criticism here--I've already learned about myself that bedside nursing (at least for adults!) is not for me. I'm just curious how much bedside nursing RN's in hospitals ACTUALLY do in REAL LIFE.
Any input is helpful :) Thanks!

If you already hate it after ONE semester.....UH..... maybe rethink this whole nursing thing...seriously. New grads now take what they can get- and another position doesn't just show up- you have to make time apart from your work schedule to find another job.

It's not a good sign if you already can't stand what you wanted....

I went into nursing for pediatrics.....17 years after graduation, I got the job I wanted- It wasn't ANYTHING like I thought it would be. The kids were a wreck from being born too early, abuse, car wrecks, developmental/genetic disorders, etc- VERY few were the tonsillectomies or ear tubes. VERY few. A kid with a tonsillectomy was rare. The most frequent were kids that would NEVER be ok.

Give this some thought.

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2011

In nursing school, I thought I might hte nursing...but realized it was probably just medsurg. Have you done other floors besides that yet?