What's your families reaction when you discuss nursing condition's???

fergus51 · Dec 13, 2001

My mom is VERY supportive, my dad thinks we are whiners and our job isn't that hard (this from a man who was making 80K a year without any college education!). My brother proudly signed our petition when we were in the middle of a job action. My friends don't really understand, but they humor me. I thinkt he public is a mixed bag. We got a lot of support at the beginning of our negotiations because they know about the shortage, but there were quite a few incidents where the public told us not to be so greedy (18$ an hour after 6 years of work is great apparently:rolleyes: )

LTC-LPN · Dec 13, 2001

My view is from working in the LTC setting for the past 20 years. My husband says, "just quit" whenever I bring up the subject. My mom feels bad for me that I have to work so hard. My sisters (all 4 of them) cannot believe what I have to put up with. My SIL maintains that the folks that work the hardest, just keep getting more work from management (true). And my niece (and Godchild) has decided to go to school next fall to BE A NURSE!!!!! My two daughters (ages 16 and 20) will not go into any health care profession after hearing too many gross stories from me. They have also watched me work too many holidays and weekends. My friends are horrified at the working conditions - especially the fact that I was able to use less than half of my earned vacation time this year. I do get support from my co workers, especially the two full time RNs that I work the most with.

ERNurse752, RN · Dec 13, 2001

Both my parents are RNs too, so discussions can get interesting. :rolleyes:

My dad does ortho, and likes what he does...he'd like to see me go to medical school so he can work for me, hehehe.

My mom used to do med-surg, got extremely burned out, and told me my senior year, "It's not too late to do something else."

She works in an office now, and likes it better. She would be supportive of me getting out of nursing, but is supportive of me staying in as well.

Boyfriend is well-trained by my rantings. He actually seems to understand! He believes nurses are over-worked, underpaid, and not respected enough...etc...

Friends in general don't know anything about healthcare, nor do they really care. They would probably adopt the attitude of "just leave."

Teshiee · Dec 14, 2001

It is a funny thing to see and hear what non nursing people assume about us. When my husband saw my paycheck he couldn't believe I made so much money. Yet, he understand my work is challenging. He suffered a major car accident that literally could have killed him and his words were, "if it werent for the nurses I don't know where I would be"! He is very compassionate about what we do and represent. When strangers see that I am nurse they are very positive saying it is a noble profession, they could never do it. I love what I do because I love people. For those who say we are lazy, and make too much money I wish they could just work one day on a med/surg floor. I bet they would never open their mouths again!

P_RN, ADN, RN · Dec 14, 2001

My sister-in-law, our niece and I have singlehandedly emptied the dining room at family dinners doing this very thing. All three of us are RNs.

We get a lot of "sympathy", but secretly I believe they all think we are griping too much and make too much money. Now I do leave my hubby out of this. He is the one that has stood by me in all things. For two years now he has been my legs and arms.

He is the one who knows just what is happening.

As for the CEO bil, how about hitting him 'upside the head for all of us....just once?

grouchy · Dec 14, 2001

This is the funniest reaction I ever saw: A few years ago, I had a very stressful job on an oncology unit. My poor boyfriend spent many nights listening to me rant after work. One night, we were out having drinks with 2 of my coworkers and their husbands. The three of us got a little too into talking shop. I guess the guys felt ignored. One guy started moaning, pretending to be an oncology patient, saying "Look at me. I'm neutropenic. My double-lumen Hickman is falling out" My boyfriend chimed in with a few similar phrases. I couldn't believe how much of the terminology they knew! It was obvious that my friend's husband had heard similar rants, and that both of them had learned way too much about oncology nursing. Needless to say we stopped the shop talk.

night owl · Dec 14, 2001

My husband always says, "so just get a job somewhere else!" I say, "But it's no different anywhere else!" Which he replies, "So quit your belly aching." The ignoramous...My son could care less, he just likes the stories I come home with and my daughter already knows that she will never be a nurse. I must be doing something right with her... I don't discuss it at all with my friends, none of them are in the nursing field, except one. She's an EKG tech and she knows all about it and hears all about it all day long at the hospital where she works.

mtgirl63 · Dec 14, 2001

My husband is really supportive and is a good listener. He allows me to vent my frustrations when I come home, sometimes offers suggestions on how to deal with things, and also lets me share the joys of my job too. My parents are very supportive of me as well, and partly because my grandmother is in a nursing home, understand how hard my job can be. My in-laws don't say a lot, but they've never been real supportive in much I do anyway so that's ok! My friends and family all seem to respect our profession, and often call me for advice on should they or shouldn't they see a doctor, what questions to ask the doctor, is this or that normal, etc. There's also one very supportive resident where I work who says LPN stands for "low paid nurse" and she thinks they make us work way too hard!!

sharann, BSN, RN · Dec 15, 2001

Mmy husband is supportive, but keeps his mouth shut when I start ranting to avoid the "you have no idea of how hard just one shift can be" speeches.

Both my parents are thrilled to death to say "My daughter, the nurse!" They are proud as pie. They really admire nurses and the work we do. They don't get it, but how could anyone if not there?

kaycee · Dec 15, 2001

I rarely talk about work at home. I've been doing this for almost 27yrs and to tell you the truth it's not that interesting anymore that I need to talk about it at home. My husband is a cop, he doesn't talk about work either.

Fortunately we have plenty of other things to talk about.

TracyB,RN, RN · Dec 16, 2001

My parents also do the "My daughter, the nurse"with huge grins on their faces. They are very supportive. They both like the gross stories & just don't understand why nurses aren't "paid what you're worth."

My husband USED to roll his eyes at me & say stuff like, "It can't be that bad" Well, he learned his lesson the hard way once we started taking care of his Gram. She has had 6 strokes since Aug 2001 & we are caring for her at home. He actually apologized to me the first day she was home. He couldn't believe how physicall hard it is