I was questioning whether I wanted to be a nurse from the threads on allnurses.com

Nurses General Nursing

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My mother was sick in the hopsital for a week.

When she got better, i asked her how did the nurses act towards her; if they seemed stressed out, frustrated or burnt out from their job.

She said that all the RNs seemed fine. They were smiling and didn't seem like they hated their job. They were very busy but it didn't affect their attitudes, they were pleasant at least to her. She even said that her RN gave her a hug before she left.

From reading allnurses.com, the posts had me thinking that most RNs hated their jobs, and that they were always running around with a scowl on their face from being overworked and underpaid. It made me question whether I wanted to be a nurse from all the complaining on here.

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Specializes in ICU.

Glad to hear that your mother had a good experience with her nurses! I'm still just a student, but I can imagine that some nurses are probably pretty good at putting up a front for their patients so they don't appear to be as stressed or frazzled as they really are. I think the thing to remember too is that a lot of people use this site as a place to vent their frustrations, since it might not be a good idea to at their place of employment.

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

Allnurses.com is a place for people to vent/stress and find common companions in a profession that pulls at our heart strings and pummels our emotions...but most of us love it. I know I love to vent a good story about anything from patients to debilitating policies, but in the end it is a career unlike any other!

Don't let vents get you down, just remember a lot of us feel this is a place to share frustrations so we can move forward and do well at our jobs :)

Take care,

Tait

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

Those same nice, smiling nurses that took care of your mother probably vent their frustrations to someone, somewhere, at some point. I don't understand why anyone would think that just because nurses vent, it means they hate their job.

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Ditto what was said in tfleuter's post. People come to this forum to vent their frustrations because they can't be vocal at work. Sometimes the ability to vent here makes it possible to paste on that smile at work. People don't take as much time to come here to post the positive aspects of their work so you would get a skewed view of the profession if you think that everything on here is the way it is everywhere, for everyone, all the time. Just ain't so. Don't let what you read on here be the only reason you decide, pro or con, about nursing as a profession.

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Arent you the person who said they woudnt mind marry a doctor with a lot of money?:smokin:

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Nurses are............PEOPLE, who in-turn need to let off steam like the rest of us in the world. At least on here, Allnurses, the people don't think you're crazy since they probably have been, or are, standing in your same shoes. To add on that, I have seen just as many great posts on here as stressful posts. But like the news, what we find most salient always seems to be the negative.

Just my two cents.

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Specializes in Clinicals in Med-Surg., OB, CCU, ICU.

This is a forum. A forum is a discussion upon a subject area and in this case it is nursing. One will find about every attitude, perspective, comment, and concept in a forum. I do not believe that most nurses hate their job. I believe there are normal irritations and frustrations which come with the job, but nursing is no different in that regard when reviewing other career paths. Allnurses is a place where some feel they can air those frustrations and irritations, and gain the some support from their peers. This may come across as "I hate my job!" :argue:

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Arent you the person who said they woudnt mind marry a doctor with a lot of money?:smokin:

It certainly wouldn't hurt. why you bring that up?

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
Arent you the person who said they woudnt mind marry a doctor with a lot of money?:smokin:

Maybe she is, and I'm the one who said I'd fool around with a cute doctor, but would never marry one because I am never getting married again. Your point? :specs:

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Everyone has their bad days, and nurses see some of the worst things every day. Even if they love their jobs, they need (and deserve!) to vent - especially since there often isn't anyone at home who really understands what we're going through.

For as much as there are complaints, there are plenty about the joy of nursing and learning and education. It is a difficult job that is getting more difficult by the year with layoffs and staffing shortages. Don't take this to mean anyone hates their jobs.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I also feel compelled to mention that I have many wonderful experiences with my patients that make me love my job, but I don't post about them because the information would be so specific that someone from work might recognize me. I had a really awesome experience last night and felt good when I left work, but I can't post about it without revealing specific details that would make myself and the patient identifiable to others at my facility.

Details about bad experiences are easier to fudge for some reason, so I can be more general in my vents and complaints than I can with the positive stories.

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