Getting into Nursing Just to Get a JOB!!

nicurn001 · May 7, 2009

Nursing is ,as is any other job , just a job ! , but it is a job which requires abilities to interact with people , whilst they are sick , vulnerable and often not behaving / reacting to the world in their ( or anybody elses )normal fashion .If you can't adapt to that , you will move on .

But some of those that view nursing as a calling , often do nursing a diservice , though they are often excellent bedside nurses ,they will put up with terrible working conditions , because the patients will suffer if I don't accept these problems and cope . The downfall of that logic ,is that if the problem is not resolved , the patients will suffer , in the end eg .poor staffing = inability to give good care / assesments = detremental patient outcome .

pagandeva2000, LPN · May 7, 2009

I had a clinical instructor who said to us one day "I don't care if you are into it for the money. I only care that you do the right thing". Perfectly understood. It is a JOB. Yes, we deal with people and to me, if your rule of thumb is to treat people the way you expect to be treated, the knowledge is already there that we need to be professional, competent and prioritize properly.

I have a friend that is a whiz of a nurse. She automatically knows how to respond to a code, can prioritize, critically think, is a STRONG advocate and shows a great deal of compassion towards her patients. They all LOVE her. To ask her what she thinks of nursing, however, will surprize you. She tells me each time we speak that she not too interested in her patients and actually does not like the majority of them. You'd never know by her performance, notes or actions. She said she treats them well because in her mind, she wants for herself and loved ones to be treated in the same manner, but has no calling or no personal interest in any of them. My mouth hit the floor, but I understood. And, I'd still want her as MY nurse if the chips went down.

loveshospital · May 7, 2009

I know two nurses.
The first got into nursing because she really wanted to help people; because she loves to "nurture" people. She is as dumb as a box of rocks and it's a wonder she made it through nursing school, let alone passed the NCLEX. If you need your bed made or if you haven't had a BM for a few days, why she'll take care of it. If you don't feel well and want your Mommy, why she's the nurse for you. Protocols were made for this nurse, because they take all the thinking out of nursing.
The second one is as smart as a whip, and got into nursing so she could provide for her family. She was tired of struggling financially and wanted a stable and secure job. This nurse could have been a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon, but she chose nursing because it gives you the bigger bang for the buck in regards to length and expense of education and earning power. She is the one the charge nurse always assigns the most complex patients to, because the charge nurse knows she can handle it. This nurse knows the difference between when a protocol applies and when it doesn't, and is quick to act in the best interest of the patient.
How about a smart and kind hearted nurse,they do exist.I would choose none of them,I want both of these qulities.
Hm, guess which nurse I want taking care of me and mine?

How about a smart and kind hearted nurse,they do exist.I would choose none of them,I want both of these qulities.

loveshospital · May 7, 2009

I know people in my class who dont like to take care of "difficult" patients.I always think to myself "well quess what honey then you should have had choosen other medical field.

zahryia, LPN · May 7, 2009

Do we really care? I sure don't. Instead of complaining about why certain people are get into nursing, how about we unite once we become nurses.

I feel to a certain degree we are crapped on because this profession is a 'calling' therefore we shouldn't complain and demand respect and fair wages.

OP, although I get what you're saying, I feel that most likely these people will be weeded out at some point or another. In the meantime, I'm working on empowering patients and families to advocate for themselves, so if they come across an uncaring nurse, doctor, cna, dietary worker, etc.-they know what their rights are.

Lovely_RN, MSN · May 7, 2009

I don't care about why someone gets into nursing it's none of my business. As long as they can do the job with competence and compassion then their reasons really don't matter. The only thing that sucks is the supply and demand issue. More nurses competing for jobs will drive our wages down and limit our job opportunities. I think that it's cyclical though because the thing about nursing is that as job conditions worsen more nurses scatter for jobs outside of nursing bringing the "shortage" back. I have a feeling that the next few years will be lean ones for nurses until the economy picks up and once again nurses leave the bedside for better opportunities. :twocents:

loveshospital · May 7, 2009

Do we really care? I sure don't. Instead of complaining about why certain people are get into nursing, how about we unite once we become nurses.
I feel to a certain degree we are crapped on because this profession is a 'calling' therefore we shouldn't complain and demand respect and fair wages.
OP, although I get what you're saying, I feel that most likely these people will be weeded out at some point or another. In the meantime, I'm working on empowering patients and families to advocate for themselves, so if they come across an uncaring nurse, doctor, cna, dietary worker, etc.-they know what their rights are.

The reason why will never unite in nursing is that different personalities go into nursing and certainly not all of them are what we could define as "compassionate,nurturing",hence it would be impossible to satisfy everyones needs.

Nursing schools demand decent gpas,I'm suprised no one yet come up with certain personality criteria for nursing although I understand that it is maybe impossible to measure personal traits,but I think that emotional intelligence tests should be made just for nursing schools itself.

Ruby Vee, BSN · May 7, 2009

only nuns have the so called calling because they work for free.with that said i believe that people who pick a job to only provide means for themselves will end up miserable bored,unsatisfied,indifferent to their career.

i think you're wrong, but i guess it remains to be seen. after all, dh and i have only been at this roughly 30 years apiece.

unwell · May 7, 2009

I love that post Virgo, RN, Its so true. I would rather have someone who knows what they are doing, than someone who just feels like they were "born to nurse" but are lacking the intelligence. I don't think anyone is a "born nurse". We all go to school, and yes, nursing qualities can be taught. I entered nursing school to get my R.N., and was not sure what I wanted to be, but chose nursing because there are always jobs available, and the pay is sufficient to support my family. No, it was not my "life-long dream", but who cares? I will be an excellent nurse anyway. I am set graduate in a few months, and I love nursing now.

sicushells, RN · May 7, 2009

The reason why will never unite in nursing is that different personalities go into nursing and certainly not all of them are what we could define as "compassionate,nurturing",hence it would be impossible to satisfy everyones needs.
Nursing schools demand decent gpas,I'm suprised no one yet come up with certain personality criteria for nursing although I understand that it is maybe impossible to measure personal traits,but I think that emotional intelligence tests should be made just for nursing schools itself.

Other field unite, unionize (which I'm not particularly advocating for...but that's another thread), and advocate for themselves without being of the "same" personality. We're a diverse bunch and that's a strength that should be utilized. Compassion and nuturing take on different forms based the parties involved. Culture, personal experience, personality, etc. look different coming from different people, and are interpreted differently by different people. Nurse A can be bed 1's favorite and bed 2's nightmare even if both patients are treated with the same amount of compassion. Nursing is a very difficult field to quantify because of this, therefore it's difficult for nurses to go to management and say, "I did XYZ and so I should get a raise." (as opposed to, say, insurance sales). Not every single person would be happy as a nurse, but those of us who chose nursing (for whatever reason, I'm in the "Do your job" mindset) would be happier and able to provide better care for our patients if we did a better job of banding together.

Nursing schools require good grades to get in (not amazing grades however), but that doesn't mean that all nursing school students should have a certain type of personality. There are tests that measure your personality objectively (http://www.careertest.net/cgi-bin/q.pl happened to take this today), but just because someone doesn't have a "nurse" personality doesn't mean they don't belong at the bedside as a nurse. Emotional intelligence tests are an interesting idea. I think a class or two in conflict management should be required for nrsg school. I think attempting to quantify someone's level of compassion or emotional intelligence is difficult, and requiring only those that "passed" in could be detrimental to a field that treats patients from all walks of life.

nicurn001 · May 7, 2009

I am a male nurse , I do not believe many of us dreamed as children of being a nurse , but I have worked with many compassionate , empathetic male nurse . I enterred nursing , simply because that is where the journey of life led me , it has allowed me to live on two continents ,travel around the world , to have an income that supports my familly . So bottom line I view nursing as a job in which , I have to be pragmatic and balance , is nursing meeting my needs ? and am I meeting the needs of my patients ?, when I no longer can answer yes to both those questions I will leave nursing .

angelfaceLPN · May 7, 2009

I personally never even considered the thought of being a nurse. I can recall being 4 years old and someone asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up and my response was a hair stylist. I cruised through beauty school and was a cosmetologist for 15 years. I still do hair in my spare time. My mom had been scheduled a simple tubal ligation, an outpatient procedure, she would be home by noon (about the time I would be getting up after working late night shift at a carry out and being in beauty school). Things didn't go as planned, there was some sort of problem in the operating room. She died on the table and they brought her back when they finally realized she had died. Yeah, it turns out the equipment wasn't up to par and monitors weren't working properly. When she came out of surgery, the doctor told our family that he wanted to keep her "over night" for observation. (A rational person would think that would mean that she would be fine and good to go home the following day, right?) Nope, she was moved to ICU and was on a respirator, had monitors all over the place, tachycardia (190-200 bpm) We demanded that she be transferred to a hospital that had a neuro intensive care unit. They couldn't life flight her because of an ice storm so they had to ambulance her there, about 45 minutes away. She remained in a persistent vegetative state for 17 years in a nursing home before she finally died and was at peace. During those years I saw many bad nurses and some good nurses as well. After seeing how literally stupid some of those nurses were I decided that I would go to nursing school so I could take care of her. Unfortunately two days before I started my final semester of the nursing program she died and it was only because of the education that I had been getting that I knew she wouldn't make it to see me graduate. I knew that she would die before I could start the final semester. The doctors and all who were in the OR that tragic day have long since quit, retired, or were fired from their jobs. The part that gets me is that because people are only interested in covering their own a$$es and they won't tell us what actually happened in the OR. I guess it's like going to Vegas right, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens in the OR stays in the OR. I was even told that in nursing school. I, for some reason that I don't even know, decided to look at my moms abdomen that first night after "surgery" when she was moved to the new hospital, and there wasn't even a mark on her. They tried telling us that the incisions were in her umbilicus. Ummm, hello that isn't even possible. In 1991 when they did that surgery laparoscopic surgeries were fairly new and even today I don't believe that a laparoscopic surgery can be performed through incisions only in the umbilicus.

Anyway, as Mother's Day approaches, I am reminded that I do not have one, incompetent people who were or were not called into nursing, surgery, anesthesiology took her away.