Irritated that everyone feels the need to mention they want to help people

loriangel14, RN · Dec 24, 2012

That's very sad if that's how you feel about nursing.

queserasera, RN · Dec 24, 2012

You're right, I would rather be medically treated by a brilliant doctor with all the answers and no bedside manner than a doctor who has given up trying to find better treatment and is just there to love his patients.

My nurse however I would want to walk me through every step of my recovery/ treatment with compassion. Treating me, knowing how lonely and scary being in a hospital can be, I've been in that position and it has made the difference.

Nursing and being a doctor are two totally different careers. Doctors are about medicine, Nurses are about delivering a care plan to make their patients comfortable and their lives easier, it takes the compassion and empathy that you dismiss.

Maybe those steroids are making you rage? May want to ease off.

allnurses Guide · Dec 24, 2012

I find most people fall in between the two poles you mentioned. Wanting to help people doesn't mean you form an emotional bond with them. I believe most people who post how they feel about this are not lying.

umbdude, MSN, APRN · Dec 24, 2012

I understand your irritation. Sometimes the posts on here can come across that way. But I think some are trying to say that one shouldn't go into nursing only for the money, which I agree. If you go into nursing for the money but you don't like other aspects of it, you probably won't last long. Not because you're not good at it, but because you dislike it so much that you change career. It's also hard to be really good at something you don't even like.

On the other hand, I do find that people overuse the “helping people” reason. When you think about it, virtually every kind of work involves “helping people” in direct or indirect ways. So saying that you want to help people as the main justification for a career seems a bit superficial. But I think most people here want to go into nursing for multiple reasons, maybe it's just easier to name that one because it's more widely accepted.

Treating people with compassion really isn't the same as the emotional bond that you're talking about. The type you're talking about, one that undermines treatment, would be inappropriate for any health worker. But that doesn't mean you cannot be compassionate to someone ill...it could be as little as offering an extra blanket or cup of juice. Can you be successful without a lot of compassion? I think so...as long as you deliver your medical service to patient well. Nurses are probably too busy or too stressed to show compassion nowadays (seen that first hand).

Mewsin · Dec 24, 2012

You know, I understand what you're talking about.

I do want to help people and I actually really enjoy my job. My job before CCA was at a charity as a program coordinator, so before this job I was also helping people. Now the reason I choose to be a CCA was the rate of pay. I picked this job because I wouldn't have to work 5 days a week to make the same amount of money I was already making, and I could spend more time with my children.

I am not ashamed to admit that I became a CCA for the $20/hr and I will become a LPN for the $33/hr. This does not mean that I do not give proper patient care, this does not mean I don't interact with the families in a kind and gentle manner. It just means that I am able to make a decent wage doing something that helps people, and as a single mom, I need to make a decent wage.

JennabeanRN · Dec 24, 2012

Helping people was truly the reason I chose nursing. And it's the reason I chose to continue on with nurse practitioner. The money is nice too!! But besides the money, I volunteered before I even became a nurse. There are some people who only do it for the money but everyone does not fit that category. One thing I can't stand is a non compassionate or hateful nurse. The patients are already sick..leave your crap at home!

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Dec 24, 2012

It appears to be a pattern that the majority of people here appear that they feel the need to mention they're main reason for wanting to practice nursing is because they want to help people. They also indirectly suggest those that do not will not succeed in nursing and therefore should chose another path. It is also these same people that state they're not in it for they money. Certainly I am not the only one who believes this to be ******** and possesses the ability to see through such transparent lies.
My logic being based on the fact that treating family or having an emotional bond with a patient weakens important treatment, hence why treating family is frowned upon.
All a great nurse needs is to have an obsession with medicine and its functions. Also to understand its relative material. An understanding of human psychology and A&P and etc.as well.
As long as you have advanced communication and behavioral skills, it does not matter if you truly give a crap about a patient personally or not. As long as their needs are met and whether chemistry is accurate, that's all that matters.
Those who say they are not interested in the money and just want to help people, are silly and are unrealistically trying to impress others.
If one is truly good at something, do it for money, don't sell yourself short or underestimate your true value.
Would you want a genius doctor with no compassion to treat you, and if he fails his family will go hungry? Or an intellectually average doctor with all the love in the world who is not getting any incentive to find a cure.
I am sure this will anger many, but the truth hurts.

Well.....where do I start.....

I will tell you that if you do not have a passion about being a nurse..... will make you very unhappy. This is not a profession for the faint of heart. To not have that passion makes being a good nurse very difficult....... for while we make a good wage........we are not paid anywhere near what were are worth for the job that we do.

We perform the "dirty" jobs. We perform the personal tasks for the patients comfort. The doctors move on....we provide the comfort....we ease their fears. I believe that you misunderstand we don't love them like our family.....we care for them as we would want our family cared for.....we treat them like we wish our family to be treated. We care and LOVE our jobs....but we remain objective so that we may care for every patient to the best of our capabilities.

All the technical information and skills will not make you the consummate provider....it's the little things that count. It's the moments in a patients life when they are frightened in a critical situation and the realize someone SEES them....someone CARES....that someone in all the chaos looks them in the eye and "knows" they are there.....they remain human and we remain humane.

One of my best trauma stories was a site flight accident with a complicated extraction of a teenager and the one thing that the critically injured teen remembered.....that I held here hand, I saw HER....and the color of my eyes.....while I started IV's and mmobilized her in the tangled wreck.

Or the daughter of a patient of mine that years later sent me a note that she became a nurse because of the way I cared for her and her while caring for their father. She became a pedi hem-onc ICU nurse.

Now that is a nursing moment.

We are, for the most part, the worker bees. We do supply the "fluff", the "love", the "compassion" to an other wise frigid, sterile, and clinical environment. I have met the clinical expert MD's and prefer them for my family....but you are wrong....while they have no bedside manner they have passion.....passion for medicine....they LOVE what they do. They have thrown themselves onto medicine and have never learned the fuzzy side....but they are passionate about what they do.

That I care for my patients, that I love my job....that I am compassionate and caring and believe it is the little things combined with the big things doesn't mean I under value myself and sell myself short.....but I will never be paid what I am worth.

To be A nurse you NEED to LOVE what you do for the money isn't there....the work we do....the responsibilities that we have... the way we are treated......the job that we do is WAY under appreciated. To combine techinical knowlege with a personal touch, and do so effortlessly, is the real art and kill of the profession. If I didn't LOVE my work I would have not still be doing it 34 years alter.

Those who have no passion and LOVE for the job end up being very unhappy and disappointed.

I wish you the best. :tree:

ChooSoul · Dec 24, 2012

I agree with OP. I think its annoying too. And it's pure ***** the front door. I realize there are other reasons too. But there's just a lot that defend this irrationality.

Nurses are trained to be hypocritical and apathetic in a way, but they are to be always sympathetic. I'm not saying in all aspects of in life, but just towards patients and the patients' family.

Creating emotional bond with a patient hinders you from your goal to nurse and care the patient. and if you do make that bond, you will be prone to be negligent and breaking social privacy rules and laws especially HIPPA. For example, you chose to be your patients friend, so when she complains about a treatment, you'll probably skip giving your "friend" cause you would rather keep the friendship than curing and nursing a person to health. Oh! And When you're happy, sad, mad, etc. For, or, about a friend, what do you usually do? Tell someone else about it. Therefore, chances are, you could be breaking privacy laws while you steam your feelings.

itsnowornever, BSN, RN · Dec 24, 2012

Please don't ever nurse myself or a loved one. I will say I do love my patients. I'm not paid to rub a patients back or hug her when the pain is bad. It's not my job to soothe her while she's getting an epidural or cry with her when she's scared. I do that part because I love my job and I love my patients. It's my job to increase the pitocin, explain to a scared girl what's going on, tell her to push and make sure her baby is safe. That's what I get paid for, the other stuff? It's my compassion. It's what has a patient ask me to be there with them, for them. That's why I do this. My pay is crappy compared to others in my state, I make about $6 an hour less, and my benefits are crap also....but it's the population I love.

msmartel bee · Dec 24, 2012

You're right, I would rather be medically treated by a brilliant doctor with all the answers and no bedside manner than a doctor who has given up trying to find better treatment and is just there to love his patients.
My nurse however I would want to walk me through every step of my recovery/ treatment with compassion. Treating me, knowing how lonely and scary being in a hospital can be, I've been in that position and it has made the difference.
Nursing and being a doctor are two totally different careers. Doctors are about medicine, Nurses are about delivering a care plan to make their patients comfortable and their lives easier, it takes the compassion and empathy that you dismiss.
Maybe those steroids are making you rage? May want to ease off.

Your so right once your in the hospital all alone no family member all you have is the nurse by your side. Thats when your really see why nurses are very important part of the medical field. I have been and had the greatest nurse by my side. one day I hope to be as great as she was and give my patients that comfort.

Stephalump · Dec 24, 2012

I cannot imagine a nurse who doesn't truly enjoy helping people having any sort of satisfaction in the job, because the vast majority of what we do/will do is helping people. And no, not helping people in some medically intense way, but little things. We care for people emotionally. We're their advocates. We concern ourselves with their comfort. We educate.

Yes, we do have to assess and think critically and all that good stuff, but I've found in the settings I've been in that all that is really just a small part of the job. And those who had a totally different view of nursing before coming to school have had a major adjustment and either struggled or dropped out of the program.

We aren't mini doctors. A doctor with a bedside manner of a lobster is nowhere comparable to a nurse with an equally bad attitude. Our job IS the bedside