Is it okay to not like an aspect/feild of nursing?

southernbelle08 · Apr 5, 2010

I think it is absolutely ok!

I have worked in Oncology, which I did like, but it was too hard on me emotionally so I got out of it. The second job I had was in Med-Surg and I typically handled Ortho patients more than anything else. I do not like Ortho at all. I am sorry, but I do not enjoy it and dreaded work every single day. I liked my patients, but the care and things that went with Ortho - no. I finally got a position in Nursery (I wanted to do this back in nursing school, but couldn't find an opening) and I can honestly say I love every aspect of my job. I love going to work. When I am off more than a few days in a row I miss the babies and want to go back.

There is nothing wrong with feeling the way you do. If anything, I think it is better to admit that to yourself rather than stay in the situation and get completely burnt out.

cherrybreeze, ADN, RN · Apr 5, 2010

I currently in my 3rd year of nursing school and got a job with a home health care company. I work as a home health aide on the weekends. Well today I was with a client and I was at my utmost uncomfortable potential. He has a very rare neuro disorder. He was blind, garggled speech and can not move but he is totally coherient.I am very capable of caring for him but It is emotionally exhausting and I cant shake this feeling I have. I was on the verge of crying. Is this normal? I dont think it is. Idk. Is it okay to not like a certain aspect of nursing? I tried telling my boyfrend about it and he dosnt understand where Im coming from. He kept telling me I was being a baby about it and he does not know why Im going into nursing if I cant handle this. I can totally do blood, vomit, and diarrhea, but this I could not and I dont know why. Does anyone know where Im coming from? Thanks alot!

Nursing is one of those professions where there is a VAST range of situations you'll encounter. There are many different specialties, many different things you can do (kind of like law...a lawyer can do environmental law, contract law, criminal defense, etc). There wil naturally be areas you will gravitate towards, and areas that will not interest you at all. That's ok. We need people with interests in everything!

The key is, to be able to overcome your reservations, and give good care in spite of them. If you do home health, you know that some patients are going to have afflictions that you don't feel as naturally comfortable with. It's ok. As long as you can still provide good care, and not let the PATIENT see that you may have any discomfort with the situation at hand, you're doing ok. In time, your comfort level will improve, too...sometimes it's the unknown that makes things the most unappealing. When I first became a CNA, I was young, I was only 16. Learning how to interact with the residents I took care of had a huge learning curve for me, it was especially hard to be comfortable taking care of patients with dysphagia, for example. One lady in particular was on the younger side, and completely oriented, but her stroke affected her abliity to speak to the point that she really couldn't verbalize anything...the words just wouldn't come out. Once I learned her gestures, how she thought, what she liked, she became one of my favorite people :heartbeat, and in turn she requested me frequently. We could have whole conversations without her saying a word.

If it's not a comfort level issue and simply a matter of just not liking it, that's ok too. Again, how you conduct yourself in spite of it, is what makes you a good nurse. :)

CoffeemateCNA · Apr 5, 2010

Of course it's OK not to like every aspect of nursing. This is one reason that there are many specialties available. Nurses who love to work with the elderly may not like working in peds, and nurses that love OB may not want to do neuro all the time. It all comes down to personal preferences. BUT... We all face those situations that we are uncomfortable with. Part of being in the nursing field is the ability to "turn off" those feelings and do what needs to be done for the patient. We're there for them, not for us.

You will get more comfortable with certain types of patients as you get more experience in the field. You're only a 3rd year; give yourself some more time to get used to the job and the population you're working with before deciding that it isn't a good fit. I started out in LTC and felt exactly like you did at first; as I worked with the elderly more and more, my confidence level increased.

WishfulThinking9 · Apr 5, 2010

You have to remember too, you are also human! Of course it's emotional draining, you don't like seeing people in situations where they are in pain, physical, emotional, or mentally...this doesn't mean you don't like nursing, I would just look at the parts you do enjoy and look for another speciality!

aura_of_laura · Apr 5, 2010

Of course it's okay! Rare is the nurse who likes all areas of nursing. Just try getting most nurses to work psych or D&A! And you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming to get me on a community hospital med-surg floor.

We all have our talents. I've a special patience for psych patients, and can handle sociopaths, sexual acting out, self-injury, and the lot without blinking. Yet I can't handle bedsores, and suctioning a trach gives me the willies (must've been the time I got a glob of bloody, cancerous phlegm hacked across the room at me by a guy with throat cancer).

The important thing is to realize your limitations, and become well-versed in whatever specialty you decide on.

Good luck!

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Apr 5, 2010

only you can decide if it is "OK". There are no rules in that area. Personally, I believe the patient care you described would be exhausting to anyone, physically and emotionally.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Apr 5, 2010

Yes, it's ok to like certain aspects and not like others. It's called being human.

We are not necessarily called to be martyrs. It's ok to enjoy your work and it's natural to want to avoid aspects of work that make you uncomfortable and unhappy.

It might help you learn to be more comfortable if you figure out why you are feeling ill at ease with certain types of patients. Maybe not. What hopefully will help you is to understand and accept that God has put us on this planet for a reason, in a certain condition, with certain events in each life, easy or hard, happy or sad. He wants us to always look to Him for sustenance and succor, even if He withholds explanations. He wants us to honor Him, thereby each other and ourselves. He works miracles and blessings out of the most impossible material. He lives in and likes to stay in, abide in, our praises.

Take your worries and fears and repulsions and frustrations and anger all to Him in prayer. Just talk to Him. Consult your priest, rabbi, minister, imam, yogi, or other spiritual leader for help, talk to your mom or your best friend. What you are feeling is so completely normal and it isn't something to be ashamed of or that you have to carry alone.

We see a lot of very sad things in Nursing. Some of it hurts for years afterwards. Some of it causes us to decide we are not going to work at the bedside, rather in the OR or PACU or another area where we see happier things and only briefly get in touch with patients. You might need to work the OR now but be drawn to the burn unit later on when you are older, more mature, not so scared.

Just be true to yourself, trust your feelings and leanings.

RPN_2012 · Apr 5, 2010

I think it's perfectly Okay!

I for example don't realy like old people, no offence to anyone :rolleyes: and the whole end of life, LTC stuff. It makes me depressed just to think about it. But I love the other end of the spectrum, I love babies, kids, and women/maternal health. I'm interested in getting into maternity, OB/GYN, L&D, perinatal, NICU, PICU and all this good stuff . I know I'll have to deal with the other end of the spectrum at least in nursing school (starting in Sept), and I can handle it,it's okay, but I don't have to like or really enjoy it.

It's perfectly okay to not like certain aspect/area/specialty of nursing! You're human, and you are entitled to your likes/dislikes! :rolleyes: And it's good because in nursing you can do so many different things, there's soooooo many specialties and different types of jobs! Someone who works in public health/community nursing in no less of a nurse than a nurse in OR, Oncology, Neuro, or any other specialty!

You don't have to like every specialty in orded to be a good nurse! :) And no offence, but your BF doesn't know what he's talking about:uhoh3:... You just need to fing your niche! Good luck.:)

ItsTheDude · Apr 5, 2010

it's all right, that's what is great about nursing, lots of ways to be a nurse.

MiahMSN, MSN, RN · Apr 5, 2010

Yes, I think it is definitely OK and quite normal. This is the exact reason why I couldn't do LTC nursing. I'm similar to you, I will be starting a MEPN program in August, but right now I'm getting my CNA/HHA certificates so I can work during nursing school - but as I complete my clinicals at the nursing home, I come to realize that I cannot handle seeing residents completely unable to do anything for themselves. Too of my main residents that I'm assigned to during clinicals cannot talk or walk and one, she tries so hard to communicate but she just can't. The frustration that I see in her eyes breaks my heart. Blood, feces, pressure ulcers, I'm getting used to, but this I cannot. So yes, I know EXACTLY where you are coming from!

SharonH, RN · Apr 6, 2010

I HATE neuro nursing.

Also do not care for:

psych

ob-gyn or any aspect of women's health

oncology

So feel free to dislike and go find what you do like.