Is nursing just okay?

[esunada]

A lot of people I've met so far who are nurses say the job is just okay - sometimes the patients are crabby, sometimes they think they should have taken a different path, sometimes they say it's too stressful, bad hours, on their feet all day. There seems to be a lot more complaining than positive comments. And in clinicals half of them seem too busy and annoyed to help a student nurse. Their drinking liters of pop and gossiping. Do they just keep it all in and take it out on nursing students?

I know there are nurses out there who love their job but I've encountered an awfully large percentage who seem unhappy with their job so far and more catty than other careers/jobs I've worked in my past. What's the deal?

Of all the careers out there, with one that requires compassion and patience, you'd think I run into more nurses who want to help out a student nurse. And why have I run into so many nurses who are indifferent towards their job? It makes me nervous.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I'm sorry that you have had a bad experience with the various nurses that you encounter during your clinical rotations. However, please be cognizant that you cannot possibly know what those nurses are experiencing until you have walked one mile in their shoes.

The nurses might have been sipping pop and other soft drinks on the floor because they don't always get breaks to adequately feed and hydrate themselves. They might be in a bad mood because they've been talked to in a disrespectful manner early in the shift by some rude family member, patient, doctor, vendor, or visitor. They might gossip because they feel insecure, so talking crap gives them a temporary ego boost.

After nearly five years of being a nurse (first as an LPN/LVN, now an RN), I would describe my experiences as "okay." My experiences have not been wonderful, but they have not been deplorable, either. I'd be just as happy doing something else, but nursing is one of the few career pathways in this economy that offers a wide array of flexible scheduling. For my personal situation, that's the truth.

[KaringOne]

It is true that nursing is a very stressful profession, but then again, so is life. Yes, there are crazy hours and people can be very rude and difficult, but that also goes with many other professions. I've been a nurse for about 8 years now & I find that through any and all the craziness that I may come up against, nothing beats that feeling of my actually having made a difference in someones life, helping them to feel or live better. No, I don't always like Nursing,

(I don't always like my children either :)) but I really enjoy caring for & helping people. Keep your head up because just like in Life, there are good days and bad days.

[Davey Do]

esunada:

Nursing is what we make it to be.

I think it was Abe Lincoln who was credited for saying something like, "Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be." So, in line with that premise, we can also understand that most people are as happy in their jobs as they make up their minds to be.

Too often we believe if we follow a certain course, we will be happy: I'm not happy now, but doing this certain thing will make me happy.

Daniel Gilbert, in his book, Stumbling on Happiness refers to how we will be in the future as our "future prodigy". He contends that our current selves do not know how to make our future prodigy happy. But we try, anyway.

Those Nurses who are unhappy with their jobs were probably unhappy with whatever they were doing before they became Nurses. It's more of a personality thing than a job thing.

Daniel Gilbert also says that we feel better if we have someone or something to blame for our unhappiness. Nursing is as good a thing to place the blame on as anything else.

I believe that "My happiness does not depend on what others do or say or what happens around me. My happiness is a result of being at peace with myself."

Dave

[silentRN]

I can tell you from experience, it is what you make it. I've learned to love the stress that my job brings. It's the stress and the difficulty that my job makes me endure at times that draws me to the ICU. I've never been attracted to easy jobs that require little effort. I started off working the floors, and it was a different type of nursing that left me feeling unfulfilled and unsatisfied. But once I started working in critical care, it was a whole new level that I've come to appreciate, and I thank God all the time that I am where I am.

You can go to work, and look at what's laid before and gripe and moan because you actually have to work, or you can look at it as a challenge everyday, and try to do the best you can, and actually leave being happy with what you had accomplished that day. It may be hard to believe, but there are nights that I am excited to get to work. My co-workers also play a big part in that as well. The best advice I can give you too, is to stay away from the negative talk. Even if you're tempted to say something bad about a person, just don't say it. Gossip can be so toxic and ruin your moral...because just realize...as they are gossipping about someone when they aren't around, they are also gossipping about you when you are not around. So don't even get involved with that mess, and people will actually respect you a little more.

I hope all works out.

-David

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Of all the careers out there, with one that requires compassion and patience, you'd think I run into more nurses who want to help out a student nurse.

I get so tired of the "nurses are supposed to be compassionate, why are they so mean to me???"

We're supposed to be compassionate and patient with our patients. Maybe that day they'd used up their supply and didn't have any left for someone that, quite frankly, was making their job harder.

Walk in our shoes, deal with job that is far from frolicking in a meadow with bunny rabbits (even for those of us that like what we're doing) and THEN tell us how much "compassion and patience" you have left over to give.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

G'day I'm a RN.

Well I don't know where u have been working, but the large, teaching hospitals I have worked in wouldn't let me have time to 'sip pop' or look at the net in front of a computer. Lucky nurses that can do that! Maybe ur just working in a slack place at the mo? Sometimes it's hard not to be crabby (nurses are human!) because you may have worked 6-7 shifts in a row, ur feet hurt, u have the same heavy patient load, with the same families c/o the same issues u can't do anything about (ie: it may be a Dr/management issue) & ur tired & ++ stressed. I worked on oncology last night and me & this other RN had about 10-11 patients between us. Sounds easy doesn't it when u think 'Oh that's only 5-6 patients each!' Figure in all the chemo that has to be done, (& some of the RNs are only just learning this so they have to go slower), all ur dressings, drugs, ECGs, bladder scans, IV antibiotics that have to be checked & drawn up, pumps that get stuck, IV cannulas that tissue then u have 2 wait 4 it to be re-sited, families concerns/complaints listened to & dealt with, dealing with Drs who want an update on patients, notes to be done, patients with uncontrolled pain & the Drs don't want to give them DDs, bells going off all night, computer results to be checked, ++ heavy patients who need pressure care, cleaned up & pad changes, one patient who died so we had to deal with the family & listen to them, contacting Dr 2 certify death, dealing with the funeral directors, feeding people, dealing with any emergencies - I could go on. That wasn't even everything we did last night! We were pretty much running last night, not walking either.

I've had busy shifts with students & I try to get them to do as much as possible, to try & get them to organise their time management & think about what they're doing, whilst asking questions. I don't see the point in being rude, but sometimes I think RNs may be abrupt cos they are stressed and busy, but don't mean to be. Mind u on my clinicals I met some real *******, & they didn't deserve the title of nurse.

You can be compassionate, but nursing is all about time management & efficiency in my opinion. Hospitals are busy, busy places with unexpected occurrences, at any time, so u must be a flexible person & think ahead with ur time management. Wait till YOU are in charge & have to deal with and organise everything! You will feel like ur losing ur mind.

And BTW, I always have a drink or diet coke behind the nurses station, as hydration is very important. U will get extremely dehydrated running around & the air (in my hospital at least) is very drying. I don't care who sees me drinking.

Hope this helps. Next time u see a tired, stressed & crabby RN, offer to help as much as possible - they will appreciate it, trust me :)

[nursel56]

A lot of people I've met so far who are nurses say the job is just okay - sometimes the patients are crabby, sometimes they think they should have taken a different path, sometimes they say it's too stressful, bad hours, on their feet all day.

I don't know any profession that is required to believe that everything is fluffy clouds and unicorns all day long, but it seems there's an unwritten rule book that says we're supposed to rejoice and revel in it all or there's something suspect about our character. Dare we not mention that patients are crabby?? That our work is stressful? That sometimes we wish we had chosen something else?? I know very few people in any other job that the complaints above might not be heard every day after they got home.

A cashier at Wal-Mart says the customers are crabby. An accountant working during April says his job is stressful. A teacher wonders if he or she should have taken a different path. A salesman complains about the bad hours. A waiter says his feet hurt. ---shrug--- of course! Those are normal complaints! Big deal! But if a nurse dares make the same complaints it's as if he or she is seen as a deficient in some way, and make people nervous.

The rest of your comments about non-compassionate, soda drinking, annoyed, gossiping, catty, non-helpful nurses -- is that something you've personally experienced or was that a general question that you hoped any of the nurses would answer for you? If you are having problems at your clinical site as a student there are lots of other students and nurses who can probably be more helpful if you provide a little more detail about your current situation.

[RNperdiem, RN]

Place the "joy of work" on a bell curve that you learned in statistics.

On one end is a small number who find work in nursing a complete and utter joy.

At the other end of the curve is another small number who are so dissatisfied that they are barely able to function and find no joy under any circumstances.

Most of us live between the two extremes.

We have good days and bad days. We know that work is work because they have to pay us. We do the best we can in the circumstances given.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I don't know any profession that is required to believe that everything is fluffy clouds and unicorns all day long, but it seems there's an unwritten rule book that says we're supposed to rejoice and revel in it all or there's something suspect about our character. Dare we not mention that patients are crabby?? That our work is stressful? That sometimes we wish we had chosen something else?? I know very few people in any other job that the complaints above might not be heard every day after they got home.

A cashier at Wal-Mart says the customers are crabby. An accountant working during April says his job is stressful. A teacher wonders if he or she should have taken a different path. A salesman complains about the bad hours. A waiter says his feet hurt. ---shrug--- of course! Those are normal complaints! Big deal! But if a nurse dares make the same complaints it's as if he or she is seen as a deficient in some way, and make people nervous.

The rest of your comments about non-compassionate, soda drinking, annoyed, gossiping, catty, non-helpful nurses -- is that something you've personally experienced or was that a general question that you hoped any of the nurses would answer for you? If you are having problems at your clinical site as a student there are lots of other students and nurses who can probably be more helpful if you provide a little more detail about your current situation.

I love the fluffy clouds & unicorns bit! If only nursing was like this everyday, like u see on the soapies!

[nursel56]

I love the fluffy clouds & unicorns bit! If only nursing was like this everyday, like u see on the soapies!

We mustn't forget wooh's "frolicking in a meadow with bunny rabbits" above lol If only nursing really was about frolicking in a meadow with unicorns and bunny rabbits with fluffy clouds above'!!

[OttawaRPN]

Yet another thread on why can't nurses be nicer to the students.

Having you following me around increases my workload substantially and since my plate already runeth over, if I'm crabby at you it's because I feel overworked, underpaid and unappreciated at being given the extra responsibility of babysitting you especially since I didn't ask for it. On the other hand, if you are motivated, resourceful and thirsty for knowledge, showing genuine interest in learning instead of just going through the motions, then we'd get along just fine.

But to answer the question: most days nursing is just okay, there are ecstatic highs and there are overwhelming lows but it's a necessary job and somebody has to do it.