If you had to to do all over again...

Nurses General Nursing

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Would you still be a nurse?

I'll answer first: No. Not because I don't love caring for others. Not because I don't love being a nurse. I do love it. But there are so many problems with the field in general, and I just don't see any solutions.

I have so many patients, I can not care for them all the way I want to. And I find the patients that take up most of my time are not the sickest...they are just the needest, or the harder to please. So I end up spending all day trying to pacify them and family, --Because we most have good patient sat scores-- while the patients that really need my attention suffer without complaint.

If I complian about the situation, I am written up for having a bad attitude as managment tries to smash any resistance. So, I guess I'll cont to come home at the end of 12 hours and eat my first meal of the day. Probably even pee first the first, maybe second time. And no, every shift isn't like that. But there are getting to be more and more frequent.

My hours are cut when the floor is slow, but I am made to feel guilty if I'm not eager for every hour of overtime offered when we are busy.

I thought as a nurse I would get to spend time with my patient, get to know them better. Really be able to help them. But endless paperwork gets in the way of that.

I just feel like nurses takes everything out of me, and in the long run I'm not making the difference that I wanted to.

Specializes in Just started in HH.

JessieRN,

God bless you, young lady! Here's a hug for you :icon_hug:

As Jules A said earlier, you should be proud of what you've accomplished at 23 years young. You have so much good to contribute to society by way of your caring attitude, and patients need people like you. Don't give up. Toughen up a bit (without losing your servant-heart), learn with time to look beyond the bad, and know that sickly fellow-Americans (and maybe foreigners) need caring souls like you. This is what I would tell my daughters & sons if they were nurses and feeling discouraged and unappreciated as you are.

The other advice Jules A gave you about looking into home health service is worth considering. I'm more like you in that I prefer getting to know my patients well, so maybe you should look into this area.

God bless you, young woman, and give you strength to continue serving as best you can in such an imperfect environment.

Have a good weekend!

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Specializes in Neuro.

I haven't been a nurse very long (6 months), but at this point, I still would. The whole process has been hard, and challenging, and I have been angry and frustrated and cried and whined, but I still love it. I live for those moments, rare as they seem sometimes, where I know I have done at least a little bit of good for my patients.

My last two shifts (my 4th and 5th off orientation), were very challenging and I was faced with a lot of the crud mentioned in this thread. One brief example -- a lady who had a CVA and fell, broke her leg, which is only in a brace, who has expressive aphasia. She would put her call light on every 2 minutes and cry "Pain! Pain! Ow!" but I couldn't medicate her for another 3 hours and the meds she had ordered didn't work. I called the Dr. and all I got was an order to increase her xanax dose, and a fleet's enema (for.. leg pain..). I was frustrated at the constant calls from the unit clerk about the call light, frustrated at the constant interruptions from the walky talky needy lady down the hall, frustrated at the demanding physician who interrogated me about why things were or weren't done overnight.

So I went in, for the 20th time, to tell the lady I couldn't give her any pain meds, but as soon as I was able to, I would bring them in. She took her good hand and touched my cheek and said "I love you anyway. Thank you for taking such good care of me."

And then I remembered why I love my job in spite of my job.

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Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.

Yes. It's something I wanted since I was in my 20's. BUT, I would have tried harder, done more research and stood my ground to make it happen back in my 20's. Back then understaffing wasn't the issue it is now. I never regret having become a nurse. I've enriched peoples lives. I've even saved a couple. But I'm tired and it's getting harder every day. Everything in its season.

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Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

If you would have asked me this question 5yrs ago the answer was emphaticaly yes, now NO NO NO. I used to have a job that facillitated great nursing care, worked with a great group of staff and worked for a hospital that strove to be the best in the state. The philosophy of the hospital changed and so did nursing here. At this point I would actively discourage anyone I care about from going into nursing. It's a horrible job with backbreaking working conditions and is almost universally without respect or thanks. The pay isn't bad for a BS based career but the way thing are now, and the direction they are going, nursing isn't a sane way to earn a living. I long for the days when I was a dishwasher at the local pancake house!

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Specializes in Critcal Care.

I agree with one of the responders here who suggested that you have not yet found your niche. Hospice nursing sounds like something worth exploring. It may be that the ratio and the pace of the unit where you are now are simply incompatible with your work ethic and the level of care you believe your patients deserve. It sounds as though you are trying to address your patients' physical and emotional needs while the institution for whom you work displays a blatant disregard for your quality of life. You have the right to address your body's needs during a shift. And as long as we're talking about this word "deserve", it is nonsensical to say that someone does or does not deserve to be a nurse. Nursing is the application of clinical judgement and skills. A profession is not something that is bestowed upon the worthy. That's a part of what's wrong with the profession today; the profession has not been separated from its religious roots and this idea that martyrdom is part of the job.

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Specializes in Nursing Ed, Ob/GYN, AD, LTC, Rehab.

For me it depends on the day. When I have bad stressful days, no, but today I had a great victory so today, yes I would do it again. I think a job is like any relationship, ups and downs, but I stick with it because its what I like

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threads like this really make me nervous

im a nursing student, just finished my first year

duno if i could handle some of this extreme stress and being pulled into

several different directions

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Specializes in Psychiatric.

I would definitely do it again...but only if I could work psych! LOL I hated the year I spent on a med/surg unit (may the deities bless you med/surg nurses!) but I ADORE psych nursing...I adored working inpatient psych, and now I work in a county mental health office...I too like having more time with patients, and I particularly like educating patients, and I get my fair share of both in county mental health...

There are many options in nursing...maybe do some research and see what you might like, and experiment! Best of luck!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
threads like this really make me nervous

im a nursing student, just finished my first year

duno if i could handle some of this extreme stress and being pulled into

several different directions

Then you are reading into it what you want/need to hear. Without going back and counting I'd say there were just as many positive statements as negative even from people that answered no. Our stakes are higher because we are dealing with human lives but any profession has good and bad parts. Hang in there, if this is what you are really interested in doing you will find your niche.

FWIW, I'm not really of the mindset that we should always have to pick one career and stick with it forever. I did my first one for over 20 years, and enjoyed it for the most part but was ready to move on to another challenge. If someone is truly stagnent and miserable in their job it is time for a change.

;)

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Specializes in Telemetry, Case Management.

Yes, BUT....I would not be an LPN and never find the time to finish my RN. If I could do it all over again, I would get a BSN RN first. My job opportunities would have been multiple, and it wouldn't have taken me 24 years to find my dream job.

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YES, YES, YES! No hesitation, no thinking twice, no reservations. I've been doing this for 20 years now and I love it just as much as when I started. There are things about nursing that I don't like, but no one would like every single aspect of their job no matter what it is. Are admins unfair? Yes. Are we overworked? Yes. Are we often hung out to dry? Yes.

Then I think of all the times I've made a difference to someone.....the man who came in with an evolving MI. The girl who cried in my arms when she miscarried and had no one with her. The 3-yr-old who came in stumbling, complaining of headaches, who had a brain stem tumor.......several months later she came back with her mom walking steady and with a bright smile, and she gave me a hug. The 4-yr-old whose face was mauled by a dog, who remembered me a year later and said "You're the lady who helped the doctor fix my face."

Yeah, I would choose nursing again. In a heartbeat.

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Absolutely yes.

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