I would not encourage anyone to be a nurse!

bulletproofbarb · Mar 19, 2005

If i had a child I would not encourage him or her to take up nursing.
I am a UK nurse born and bred and if I had the opportunity to get something better I would!
I am for what its worth a glorious team leader, in charge of a number of nurses, and there is no support from my clinical nurse manager. Is it any wonder that nurses are stressed and the sickness rate is out of control in the NHS.
They have recently put up our salary a little under Agenda for Change, but it does not compensate for the stress I am going through with this job.
It doesn't matter how much Tony Blair puts into the NHS - if nothing is done about senior management.
Improving Working Lives means nothing - if you show indifference about your staff.
No wonder you cannot get enough nurses in the UK - the way they treat nurses!
:rotfl:

I just spent a year working in the UK. I am from Australia. The UK nurses conditions are appauling. I wouldn't have a good opinion of nursing if I had only worked in the UK, but luckily I trained and worked in Australia and I love my job and therefore would recommend it.

bcjams · Mar 22, 2005

Before I became a nurse

I saw all the same problems yall talk about.

I watched adults treated badly by others for things like the cost of cheese or who would pay for bushes damaged during a move...truly foul abuse.

I became a nurse knowing that would not change but that it was worth enduring because I was helping humanity.

I could go home and look myself in eye and know that the things that we said to me were not true. I was not an idiot becuase cheese cost exceed budget buy 1 %. Nor to do I allow the nutjobs at work tell me I suck.

I look at my patients. And if they lived it was because I did it right. And if they died I know did all I could to prevent it. Let the small minded petty nutjobs be damned. I am nurse and God loves me for it.

adboehnen · Dec 22, 2005

As sick as this sounds, I find comfort in this thread b/c it makes me feel like I am not alone. I agree with the person who wrote that he or she fights for every penny that they make. After learning such detailed information regarding the human body and caring for and treating patients, I feel it is all wasted. I am overworked, verbally abused by co-workers and patients, under-supported, etc. At first I thought something was wrong with me...Maybe I should learn to bilocate on the floor! Afterall, just yesterday my charge nurse told me it was possible to assist a patient in conscious sedation and admit a patient at the same time. And maybe when patients throw their foley bags in my face, spit on me, tell me to "*uck off" and "go to hell" I should just be able to take it with thick skin every time. Perhaps watching co-workers abandon patients and sit around while I could use a little help should not bother me....The truth is, it disheartens me a lot, and I feel emotionally and physically drained. I find myself crying a lot, and I have a difficult time enjoying time away from work b/c I am so sad.

I see all of the negativity in my job as a reflection of all of the dysfunctions of human behavior and evils of mankind. When things are bad, they get worse b/c people are angry and reflect their anger on innocent bystanders. I realize this, and when I am the innocent bystander it helps to depersonalize an attack. However, the attacks are repetitive and unrelenting.

How about that ACLS class I passed? Wait, I can't focus on those skills at work, I need to focus on getting water, wipping rears, and performing room service! I don't mind these tasks, and I am not insinuating that they are not necessary to promote health and well-being, but I would like to be able to spend some time doing what I trained for.

Here I am at the beginning of my professional career in nursing, and I am a total burnout! It is so sad. What a waste of happiness and life. Now I must choose to either surrender and leave or continue to drudge through the trenches that are slowly dwindling my spirit.

Alpha13 · Dec 22, 2005

edit

expatnurse · Dec 24, 2005

Don't give up hope yet. What area of nursing are you working in? Perhaps you may be happier in a different area.

carribeanbound · Jan 2, 2006

Hello, I am new here. I also would not recommend nursing to anyone. I have been an RN for 26 years. I am wondering what next career a nurse would be good at. We have alot of unrecognized talents. We teach, organize, plan, implement, mathmatical problem solving,etc. I went to a seminar once on different nursing jobs. I will never forget what the speaker said (who was an RN), and that when she presented the information to her CEO friend, he told her that Nurses had the qualities of a CEO. I wonder what else we would be great at. Any suggestions?

Cute_CNA, CNA · Jan 2, 2006

PERFECT DESCRIPTION OF HOSPITAL NURSING TODAY!!!
In every country it seems, the same sad song about hospital nursing rings out loud and clear....we are SCREAMING to be heard and CHANGES are desperately needed, yet no one that matters is listening or caring! When will change come? Who has the answers to what troubles healthcare today?
We are trained to implement change when change is necessary, yet we can't seem to write a positive care plan for this profession. If we can't fix our profession of nursing, who will? It is going to take EVERY nurses involvement to turn this profession around for the better. If one nurse be against us as a whole, a weak link is in the chain, and one weak link tends to leave an open wound in the profession for the predators to come in and eat us alive.
If we want nursing to change......we must be willing to fight for the change by pulling together no matter what our degree might be.

Excellent post.

Cute_CNA, CNA · Jan 2, 2006

As sick as this sounds, I find comfort in this thread b/c it makes me feel like I am not alone. I agree with the person who wrote that he or she fights for every penny that they make. After learning such detailed information regarding the human body and caring for and treating patients, I feel it is all wasted. I am overworked, verbally abused by co-workers and patients, under-supported, etc. At first I thought something was wrong with me...Maybe I should learn to bilocate on the floor! Afterall, just yesterday my charge nurse told me it was possible to assist a patient in conscious sedation and admit a patient at the same time. And maybe when patients throw their foley bags in my face, spit on me, tell me to "*uck off" and "go to hell" I should just be able to take it with thick skin every time. Perhaps watching co-workers abandon patients and sit around while I could use a little help should not bother me....The truth is, it disheartens me a lot, and I feel emotionally and physically drained. I find myself crying a lot, and I have a difficult time enjoying time away from work b/c I am so sad.
I see all of the negativity in my job as a reflection of all of the dysfunctions of human behavior and evils of mankind. When things are bad, they get worse b/c people are angry and reflect their anger on innocent bystanders. I realize this, and when I am the innocent bystander it helps to depersonalize an attack. However, the attacks are repetitive and unrelenting.
How about that ACLS class I passed? Wait, I can't focus on those skills at work, I need to focus on getting water, wipping rears, and performing room service! I don't mind these tasks, and I am not insinuating that they are not necessary to promote health and well-being, but I would like to be able to spend some time doing what I trained for.
Here I am at the beginning of my professional career in nursing, and I am a total burnout! It is so sad. What a waste of happiness and life. Now I must choose to either surrender and leave or continue to drudge through the trenches that are slowly dwindling my spirit.

True, so true.

natasha700 · Jan 2, 2006

I would encourage my child to be a nurse if he or she wanted to. It is how you look at it. First off I do not let nursing spill into my personal life. When I come home that is it I have other things to keep my thoughts positive. I am a traveler nurse and agency not strapped down to staff nursing because of the many problems that are occuring! I enjoy taking care of my babies and teaching first time parents. True the political crap can be overwhelming and we will continue to fight for what we deserve! I take control of what I want to do. Nursing has came along way and it has a long way to go still. It is not nursing that is bad it is the powers that be who claim they have vision of what nursing should be, non nurses!

1BlessedRN · Jan 3, 2006

I would encourage my daughters or anyone else to be a nurse...in the end its their choice...I take the good with the bad as with any job...the one thing of nursing I really love is the flexibility....to those of you that are unhappy in this profession why not try another dept...specialty...before calling it quits, this is a rewarding profession despite what the higher uppers (administration) try to do to us, hang in there...

WE NEED YOU....:wink2: :wink2: