Is this a strange way of viewing your co-workers?

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Okay, I think I might be weird. Nursing to me means compassion and genuine concern for your fellow man. Before I quit my job (see my other post), there was a nurse that I worked with that hated me. But, she treated her patients okay. I couldn't help but sometimes think, God forbid, I ever fall ill again and end up on this unit. I have a medical problem that I also happened to work on the same unit that if that medical problem should become an issue, that would be where I would end up. I would think, how would this nurse treat me then and if it was with compassion or any form of decency, does that mean many nurses are fake in their compassion and "put on a show"? I am not accusing any of you guys of this, I am just saying in the context of my situation that my former co-worker treated me bad but if I were a patient would that treatment change? Would it be fake? I hope this makes sense what I am saying. Is this weird how I viewed that person and that situation? I just couldn't help but think this...I want to know your thoughts.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

It's pretty weird.

Worry more about your own practice, and less about the practice of others, esp. in hypothetical situations.

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

If you worked with me and I didn't like you, you'd still get professional care. I've had patients I could not stand, I mean truly loathed because they were horrible people -- people who'd abused their kids, killed someone in a wreck because they were drunk and spent their stay complaining how it was all a set up (yeah, the cops put that elderly couple in a car and sat them at a red light all night just waiting for your drunken self to T-Bone them) -- but I still looked after them. I don't have to like my patients. I'm not paid to like people, I'm paid to be their nurse -- not to be their friend, their sister/mom/wife/BFF, I'm paid to be the person who may have to do some horribly distasteful, disgusting painful things to a complete stranger to keep them alive.

When I have one I like, it's a gift. If the patient's a jerk, I may be thinking, "Oh, for God's sake, will you get OFF the callbutton for freakin' nothing, I've got people in here who are here because they're sick, not because they're a PITA and the floor refuses to take them." But I care for them all, regardless.

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OCNRN, I am only concerning myself with myself. What I am saying in plain English is are people going into nursing for all the wrong reasons? I am still in school and there was one girl that admitted to the professor that she was becoming a nurse "because they make a lot of money". Another girl thought professionalism, heart/compassion, empathy were lower on the "totem pole" than multi tasker and stuff like that on what top 10 traits make a great nurse.

I don't understand people. Why become a nurse if you are only doing it for the money? There are other jobs.

I can honestly say that I have never thought "hey, I think I'll be a nurse because they make good money". I genuinely care about others and have great interest in health sciences and if I do not know an answer, I will gladly look it up. I can't help but get frustrated with people who become nurses (and even doctors) for the money. :/

Sorry, for my weirdness.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
OCNRN, I am only concerning myself with myself. What I am saying in plain English is are people going into nursing for all the wrong reasons? I am still in school and there was one girl that admitted to the professor that she was becoming a nurse "because they make a lot of money". Another girl thought professionalism, heart/compassion, empathy were lower on the "totem pole" than multi tasker and stuff like that on what top 10 traits make a great nurse.

I don't understand people. Why become a nurse if you are only doing it for the money? There are other jobs.

I can honestly say that I have never thought "hey, I think I'll be a nurse because they make good money". I genuinely care about others and have great interest in health sciences and if I do not know an answer, I will gladly look it up. I can't help but get frustrated with people who become nurses (and even doctors) for the money. :/

Sorry, for my weirdness.

My response is still the same: worry about yourself, not whether others are in nursing for the "right" or "wrong" reason. It's not up to you. Do your best at your job and be happy with that.

That's my plain English.

FWIW, there have been multiple threads about people being in nursing for the money or for the "wrong" reason, as some say.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

People go into every profession for the "wrong" reasons, there's no reason nursing would be different. You're not going to like every patient, you're not always going to feel like being at work. Sometimes you're going to have to fake being happy, fake some compassion. That doesn't make a nurse any less professional or any less a nurse.

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Okay, I do understand where you guys...err gals are coming from. :) Sorry, OCNRN, I didn't realize there were other comments/questions regarding this topic.

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Specializes in ICU.

When I applied to nursing school in 1983, three written character references, one had to be from a priest or pastor, and a personality screening test were required. I was interviewed for admission by the director and the faculty.

Today, all one needs is a decent GPA in the prereqs.

There are way too many cold hearted, cocky, irresponsible and unethical people who manage to get a nursing license. My profession is not professional anymore because no one is really screening who can get into a nursing program. Now we have "lateral violence" which is just a euphemism for ignorant low class behavior. Nursing education in this country is a joke.

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Specializes in Developmental Disabilites,.

I'm fake nice to my patients. When I first started I genuinely invested a lot of myself into each and everyone of them. And guess what, I burned out fast! Now I distance myself emotionally from my patients. So they may think that I am sweet, compassionate etc but for me it is an act. I don't know if that makes any sense.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Okay, I do understand where you guys...err gals are coming from. :) Sorry, OCNRN, I didn't realize there were other comments/questions regarding this topic.

No problem. If you do a "search" on the topic, you may find some threads that will interest you.

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You say that you are only concerning yourself with yourself . . . but then you focus the rest of your post on how other people think and why they become nurses. I don't necessarily think that's weird, just counter-productive and a waste of your good energy.

We've have many threads discussing whether nursing is a calling or a job you do for money. Every single time we arrive at the same place. For some people, it's Florence Nightingale and needy patients calling them. For others, it's the mortgage company and the Visa bill. For most of us, it's some combination of the two. Caring and wanting to earn a reasonable wage are not mutually exclusive. An emotional pull toward nursing doesn't guarantee skills and knowledge. The desire to pay the bills doesn't rule out sensitivity and connection with one's patients.

It doesn't matter why someone becomes a nurse (or a doctor) or what they are thinking about in school or on the job as long as they do right by their patients and engage in safe and effective practice. The best nurses find a balance in their own spirits and don't spend a lot of time worrying about other people's motivation.

I can promise you that very few people who are focused solely on the paycheck will survive the rigors of pre-reqs and co-reqs and nursing classes and clinicals and NCLEX and orientation and working on the floor. Believe me, there are easier ways to make a buck.

If you feel a calling, great. Enjoy it. But don't judge others who may lack the emotional draw but are still willing to work hard at becoming capable nurses.

BTW, I see that you're new here, so, welcome to AN.

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this reminds me of something I saw on tv once . this was a true story and the doc that did this was telling the story in shadow . the doc was working in the er when this man came in who had just beaten his wife "laying on the other side of the almost to death " I think he ran from the cops and was hurt and needed a chest tube this doc was so mad he did the chest tube with NO numbing drugs of any kind evey when he cut on him !

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