How many of you actually enjoy your job?!

champagnesupeRNova · Feb 8, 2015

I LOVE my specialty (NICU) and like my job. Do I jump for joy the night before work? No. Am I content when I get to work? Yes. Even on the craziest days when I've been running around all shift, I leave feeling like I accomplished so much and did my patient right.

sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN · Feb 8, 2015

99% of people are lying if they say they love their job... unless you're a millionaire who gets paid millions to play a sport.

guess that puts me in the 1%, really do not like my convictions challenged, especially when I have over four decades clinical experience to justify

Larry3373 · Feb 8, 2015

"Enjoy" is such a strong word. I work 12 to 13 hours a day and barely have time to eat. I am expected to get an enormous amount of charting done each day while taking care of my patients' every need. I am blamed when things go wrong, and I am not thanked when I get everything done. No matter how good a job I do, I am rarely thanked. I am thankful just to get off work reasonably on time each day and hopefully get a few hours sleep before I come back and do it again. I rarely have days where I have the time to "enjoy" anything. It pays the bills and it allows me an opportunity to do my FNP at some point. I am thankful to be employed and there are good days, and bad days. However, mostly nursing involves a lot of stress and a huge learning curve. By the way, I think I can speak for most people when I say that no one really enjoys cleaning up poop, emptying urine or vomit, or giving bed baths.

brownbook · Feb 8, 2015

Nope. Hate it. Have hated it for years. Nursing is poopy and dumb.

I love your post.....my stomach hurts from laughing....I feel like a 7 year old boy "she said poopy"! Please let us know if you are serious!

I love my job now but (thankfully the bad memories fade) I know I was so scared and probably hated nursing when I first started out.

TU RN, DNP, CRNA · Feb 8, 2015

There are certain parts of my job that I do enjoy, but for the most part my work is pretty deadening and miserable. I'd like to take up some specialty focusing more on the areas that I like, but there aren't any jobs for them. When I was in nursing school the gossip was "Nurses are needed everywhere! You'll get hired!" Then that devolved into "1 year of professional bedside nursing experience REQUIRED." And now it seems to be "2-3 years of professional bedside nursing experience and at least 1 year of professional experience in such and such specialty while balancing a glass of water on your head and standing on one foot." Then I come home and talk to my friends who air their frustrations about not having enough work to do at their 9-5 desk jobs so they're forced to find ways to entertain themselves. The grass doesn't simply appear greener, it actually is.

SubSippi · Feb 8, 2015

By the way, I think I can speak for most people when I say that no one really enjoys cleaning up poop, emptying urine or vomit, or giving bed baths.

But not all of us do that! I work bedside and it's pretty rare that I have to clean up lots of bodily fluids.

I also enjoy giving a good bed bath...it means I'm getting to spend a chunk of one on one time with my patient, it gives me a little break from answering phones, and I love getting them all fluffed and puffed and comfortable in a clean bed. It makes me feel like I'm really taking care of someone, rather than coordinating the three-ring circus that is cardiac surgical intensive care.

Coralbell · Feb 8, 2015

I like my job, but to get the type I job I wanted, I knew I had to put in a few years at jobs I didn't like to get the skills and experience necessary to attain that goal.

"Twilight follows the brightest day, And every cat in the twilight's gray, Every possible cat."

luvsltcrn · Feb 8, 2015

I have been an RN in long term care for 20 years. I absolutely love my job and wouldn't change a thing about my career path. Sure there are rough days but overall yes!! I do love my job.

danielle2000, MSN, RN · Feb 8, 2015

I love interacting with my babies in the unit and teaching building a rapport with the parents. But I can't stand the bureaucracy and politics of nursing one damn bit.

JWG223 · Feb 8, 2015

Hi All!
I am a brand new nursing student, and I was instructed to join allnurses.com for a class. Now, as you can expect I have this picture of my head when it comes to nursing of helping others, having awesome co workers, and just having an awesome job in general! I understand that it is not always sunshine and rainbows, but I hope the good will outweigh the bad that could possibly happen. This is why I decided to become a nurse, but coming onto this website scares me! All of the threads I see are titled "I hate my job", "I should not be a nurse", "My co workers hate me", and things like that. It seems to me like these are all new nurses just starting out and still trying to find there way in the nursing world, but all of these posts are very intimidating to someone who will be in their shoes in just a few short years. So, I guess this brings me back to my original question. How many of you actually enjoy your job?

It's "job/work". If people enjoyed it, it would be called "hobby".

My #1 and #2 complaints?

#1: We change very little many times (many people are just flat-out non-compliant and we will never really do much but fix acute crisis and enable them). Sometimes, we cause problems (such as that family member who we keep alive while all they want to do is die with dignity while the person collecting their check yells "DO EVERYTHING FOR MAWMAW!"

#2: Noone is accountable except for a nurse. Why? Because the patient is the customer, and brings money/reimbursement, and the MD attracts the patient. The nurse is the only one in the equation who is a net-negative. THE BEST we can do for our employer is to "stop the bleeding" by keeping "never events" and low survey scores to a minimum. We don't bring anything at all to the table. We just keep as much from falling off the table as possible, and a business model does not typically account for that very well in my experience.

Now the good:

#1: Sometimes you CAN help people, they let you, and they improve their life practices.

#2: It is a good career field regarding income, portability, sustainability, and security (debatable), requiring a very minimal amount of education.

SassyTachyRN · Feb 8, 2015

I worked in a hospital med surg/oncology floor my first few years of nursing. Most days I hated my job. That environment/area of nursing was not for me. I've been in school nursing the last few years and I can honestly say without any hesitation, I love my job. I never dread going to work.

Are there challenges? Sure. Are things always easy? No. Do things frustrate me at work? You bet. But I still love what I do and I do believe it's what I will do for a long, long time. I think everyone has a niche, they just need to find it.

I work with the most amazing nurses in my district, who are always supportive and will do whatever they can to help you. My boss is the most kind, empathetic, supportive, and compassionate person I have ever worked for. She advocates for us to amazing extents. I consider myself lucky to have the job I have.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Feb 8, 2015

I'm the baby/recovery nurse at deliveries. 98% of the time it's a happy, joyous occasion and all is well. The other 2%, it makes my lips numb just to think about it. Can't see myself doing it for the rest of my life, but I do enjoy it for now. Awesome coworkers, management that I respect, and a pace that isn't (usually) as frenetic as the postpartum floor that was killing me by inches.

Am also in FNP school full-time since I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. :)