How do you feel about the role of a Nurse currently?

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I know this may be a sensitive topic, but I'm asking because I need to start sending applications to Nursing programs, and I'm having second thoughts about my career choices. I was a CNA for almost 10 years and I worked in LTC and on a Med-Surg floor. It has been quite awhile since I have done this, but my experiences working short staffed and not having time to give proper care to my patients happened more often than not. From what I can see, this trend has not slowed down any. I went into this to care for patients because I truly enjoy patient care and feeling like my work made some difference for a person. And what I mean by that is a personal satisfaction, not a congratulatory pat on the back.

My question is about how Nurses are feeling in their jobs. Do you work with unsafe staff/patient ratios more often than not? Do you feel like you have enough time to give each of your patient's the proper amount of time for assessment and care? These are important questions for me because I'm not afraid of hard work, learning, getting feedback to make myself better, etc. What I don't want is to be constantly working in an environment where I have so many patients that I cannot give the proper care, and might make a fatal mistake because of it. I don't expect the perfect working environment, but if this is pretty much how all nursing jobs are now, I'm not sure the cost and stress of going into this field is worth it. I know that a lot of facilities care much more about the bottom line than the actual care of the patients and their nurses well-being. Is this most Nurses experiences currently?

I truly appreciate anyone that takes the time to read and respond. Your responses will be very helpful to me.

Thanks.

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I personally feel that we're throw to the wolves everyday and administration only there to help us fill out the paper work without their names attached. Please if that's what you want don't let no one stop you. You been out there and saw alot. In my short time of practicing nursing I got a Cultural Shock of the things that really happens. Eg. According to who is administration some people make big mistakes and get away with it because they are rubbing shoulders with administration. Others makes simple mistake and get written up. You can't complain because administration is their friends ect. You giving total can and others finished so fast and you can barely get a break, and you are told you care too much, manage your time. Adminstration tend to MAJOR in the MINOR and MINOR in the MAJOR. Other culture gets away with murder and others go down for nothing smh. Ect. I can go on and on. Forget about short staffing we need a whole other thread for that. Nursing is mentally and physically draining from where I stand. However, go for it if it is your passion and truly care about your Patients. I hope this helps.

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Thanks for your honest response and it does help. I really do love interacting with patients, well most of them, but if Nursing has become more about numbers, paperwork, and administrative BS, I'm not sure it's worth it for me. I haven't committed myself to nursing school yet, so it's not too late to change course. Ideally, I would love to be working one on one with patients, but I do love science and histology.

I asked this question to a nurse last night, and she basically told me the same thing. I decided to ask this question here to reach a wider population. I hate what has happened to the nursing profession and what nurses have to endure on a daily basis because of administration bs.

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2 minutes ago, annabellarose77 said:

Thanks for your honest response and it does help. I really do love interacting with patients, well most of them, but if Nursing has become more about numbers, paperwork, and administrative BS, I'm not sure it's worth it for me. I haven't committed myself to nursing school yet, so it's not too late to change course. Ideally, I would love to be working one on one with patients, but I do love science and histology.

I asked this question to a nurse last night, and she basically told me the same thing. I decided to ask this question here to reach a wider population. I hate what has happened to the nursing profession and what nurses have to endure on a daily basis because of administration bs.

You're welcome. You can be a Forensic Nurse. Nursing is such a broad field. Take time to do more research. We are here for you.

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Thank you!

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I do not work with unsafe staffing ratios. I truly appreciate that with my place of employment.

what I get fed up with is the meaningless tasks I al expected to complete every day that have nothing to do with patient care. I work with no tech and the ones I do have complain about every little thing you ask them to do. It irritates me. Meanwhile, at each meeting we are told we are adding this and that to your required charting or tasks to do each day. It only adds 5 minutes........ Yet each one of those “5 minutes” adds up to an additional 30 minutes.

It also irritates me that I’m treated like a child for the most part. Here I am tasked with making life altering decisions concerning a critically ill patient, but I’m treated like a child over the time clock. I’m like, you either trust me with lives or you don’t. I find it very hypocritical.

I like the patient care aspect of my job. I absolutely detest the rest of the administrative BS.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Oncology, School Nursing, OB.

For me it's always been exactly as you said in our hospitals around here only as a nurse you will have more responsibilities which in turn causes more stress than you had before. However there are many jobs to work as a nurse outside the hospital and if you were able to handle 10 yrs as a CNA then I see no reason you couldn't handle a couple more as a nurse until you got enough experience to find a job outside the hospital!

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Thanks everyone for your honest responses. I've struggled with my decision especially because at 41, I want to make the best decision possible. I know in my heart nursing is what I'm suppose to do. I've tried to think of different options like Lab and OT, but it's just not the same. At least I know what I'm getting myself into. I think I'm going to do some tech work this summer to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully, my past experiences will help me in nursing school.

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Specializes in Urgent Care, Oncology.
On 3/24/2019 at 7:10 PM, LovingLife123 said:

It also irritates me that I’m treated like a child for the most part. Here I am tasked with making life altering decisions concerning a critically ill patient, but I’m treated like a child over the time clock. I’m like, you either trust me with lives or you don’t. I find it very hypocritical.

AMEN. I might paraphrase you when our evaluations come up in the next month or two.

I'm tired of sometimes working short because management's bonus is tied in to OT and then I get a nastygram for going .25 or .5 hours over.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

I love nursing. I work with safe staffing. There’s BS involved for sure, but a lot of that depends on the culture of the individual workplace.

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

To be honest, I felt more fulfilled as a CNA than I do as a nurse. Both jobs, in theory, give you the opportunity to help people, but as a nurse, I feel like a combination of factors makes it very difficult to do that. There are unsafe staffing ratios, equipment that doesn't work, superfluous documentation, and patients and families who threaten you with bodily harm over the most innocuous stuff. (I'm extra disenchanted with my place of employment right now, so take my feelings with a grain of salt.) As a CNA, I knew that if nothing else, I would leave my patients clean and comfortable, the next shift would have up-to-date vitals, and the room would be tidy and free of safety hazards. You can still have that satisfaction as a nurse, but it's frustrating to have so many additional responsibilities and sometimes you have nothing else to show for them.

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The role of the nurse is so broad and there are so many kinds of nursing it is difficult to describe. The role of a hospital bedside nurse is different from a school nurse. I suggest narrowing it down a bit.

My role as ADON of a LTC was great til the regulations got so bad I left. I felt that I was able to lead well and manage my team to meet patient goals. I was a prompt admit nurse in a hospital and loved that role. I was very efficient but it was far from home and I returned to my home state. My current job as bedside nurse in a hospital is almost undoable. I don't really get to do nursing, it is more customer service. I fetch coffee, work as an aide and pass pills and chart. I do 2 minute assessments that count as full assessments. The system sets the nurse up for failure, the charting I have seen is about 50% copied over.

When the schedule comes out there are 1/3rd of the days that are short, I expect this to get worse as the population ages. Also, aides have the highest rate of musculoskeletal injuries of any profession across the board. Nurses get hurt plenty too. I feel that unless a person has a level of apathy about doing a great job then nursing is not a good choice. I would love a job in nursing where I felt fulfilled and could actually make a positive impact.

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