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

agldragonRN · Sep 12, 2011

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 teacher in lpn school asked the whole class the same question and i was one of the few that raised my hand for "doing it for the money." she then said those who raised their hands will never make it. guess what? i made it and i became an lpn then an rn after 2 years. i made 60k my first year as an lpn. isn't that "good money"? i don't think an entry level accountant will make that his first year or some bachelor degree holders.

anyway, nursing is not "a calling" profession any more. as long as you are professional, knowledgeable, and treat your patients with respect, you can be a "good" nurse. you would not do this job for free, right?

if your hypothetical scenario happens for real, you can always request a different nurse to care for you so you would not have to worry about this ex-coworker treating you fake.

good luck with school.

Orange Tree · Sep 12, 2011

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.

Can you imagine what kinds of relationships people would have with each other of they were always "real"? Sometimes it's better to put on a show. I don't need to know every thought that every person has about me. And besides, the human mind is a very fluid thing. What you think and feel now may be the opposite of what you think/feel in five minutes. We all grow and change constantly. It's also possible (even likely) for contradictory thoughts to exist at the same time.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Sep 12, 2011

We are usually forced to take assignments and of course not everyone we are assigned is pleasant or easy to care for, yet we do our best to be kind and professional, whether we like them or not. As for being fake I think your viewing it wrong. We aren't best friends or family of our patients but we must go out of our way to make them feel safe and comfortable. Is that being "fake" or just being polite, granted this can be very difficult with some of the abusive, violent, mentally ill etc we are forced to care for. I have great difficulty dealing with the etoh/drug, violent, mentally ill patients and I do my best to stay calm and make the best of a bad situation. When I feel trapped in these situations I just count down the time till I can escape. Maybe you haven't been a nurse long enough to have dealt with these very difficult and stressful situations so I think you shouldn't judge other nurses and just focus on yourself! If you have a personal issue with the nurse in question than just request a different nurse to care for you if the situation ever arose.

You can't judge another person and you don't know what's in their heart! As for money, it is a basic necessity to make a living wage. That is not greed, that is realism! Come on nursing is not a quick, get rich scheme, you work blood, sweat and tears and you will not get rich. Someone doing it for the money would surely look for an easier job. But there is nothing wrong with considering pay in deciding on what job to train for, in fact, it is foolish to go to school and spend all that money to work in a low paid field, unless your wealthy and don't need an income. Most of us are not so fortunate. We need a job with a living wage to keep a roof over our head and provide for our family! You sound like you could be a Martyr Mary and don't worry management will be happy to take advantage and then you may find yourself burned out and frustrated. So don't be so quick to judge the motives of everyone. This is a job, it is not the nunnery where women self-sacrifice themselves for God!

JenniferSews · Sep 12, 2011

Nursing was all that I ever wanted from the time I was 7. But it wasn't possible for me until I was 35, and by then I had gone through several careers that I loved, was challenged by and that also made good money. So I questioned why I still wanted to be a nurse and money was still in the top running answer.

But that doesn't make me a bad nurse. I do my job not for the adoration of my grateful patients. I do it because being a smart, resourceful and quick thinking nurse is a good thing to do every day. I don't get burned out that my patients aren't forever grateful. They are often miserable and distrustful at first but I gain their trust by doing my best, being kind and thoughtful, and taking great care of them. At the end of the day I go home. It's a job, and I am good at it. I put the same effort into your grandmother that I would into a serial killer. I don't need to be selfless and totally devoted to be a good nurse. Maybe I'm a better nurse than I might otherwise be because I am not putting my whole body and soul into my job.

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2011

Nursing is not all about being compassionate.

In my university course, we were taught that Registered Nursing is more focussed on management issues. If you have a 10 patient load, for example, you can still show compassion and use good nursing techniques and care, but you must be able to manage your patient load, or you will drown. There are hundrends of threads testifying to this on AN alone. I have met nurses who spent too much time talking with elderly patients for example, and who have gotten way behind with their work.

I wouldn't say compassion is rare in nursing, but with your situation, you may be worrying unduly. You won't always have the same nurse and if u get this particular one, you can ask for a different one, and he/she may be OK towards you. It's difficult to surmise how a person would act - think ur gettin ahead of yourself a wee bit.

If I thought someone was caring for me in an unsafe way, I would have NO hesitation in asking for another nurse to care for me - and I would ask that the unsafe nurse doesn't touch me again. Then again, that's just me - I'm not intimdated by anyone - working with top plastic surgeons with sometimes volatile tempers makes you more wary of the world.

EDIT: I too didn't realise you were new, welcome and I hope we can help you out in the future (sorry if I sounded too harsh!!) :)

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Sep 12, 2011

How someone relates to co-workers isn't necessarily how they'd relate to them as a patient...there were plenty of nurses I didn't particularly like, but I'd still give good care . :) But I'm still not asking them out to lunch on a day off

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 12, 2011

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.

sigh. here we go again.

worry about your own reasons for going into nursing rather than anyone else's.

i'd rather have a smart nurse who was a competent multi-tasker than a compassionate one who was neither smart nor a multitasker. i'd rather work with the former than the latter. i'd rather be the former than the latter. i don't care why anyone chose to be a nurse. i just care whether they do it well . . . critical thinking trumps compassion. i have seen nurses literally kill patients with kindness. (the one who let her intubated patient have a glass of iced tea, for example. aspirated and coded.)

but get back to us in a few years and tell us what you think then.

dudette10, MSN, RN · Sep 12, 2011

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.

This made me chuckle. As a newbie, I can say that all the compassion and empathy in the world doesn't get the job done.

It's not an either/or situation to be a great nurse. It's BOTH. And, if you can't feel empathy or compassion for a patient, the good nurses also fake it rather convincingly. We're human...we're not going to like everyone we take care of.

allnurses Guide · Sep 12, 2011

I worked with a nurse who we all were... well... doubtful of.

We all made a pact with each other: if one of us goes down at work, we would not let Nurse B touch anyone.

Yes, I have wondered how I would be taken care of if I had to be in the care of one of my coworkers.

Only Nurse B freaked me out. The rest I felt I could trust.

I think it's natural to wonder about that.

As for doing it for the paycheck: I don't think the motive matters as much as the end result. In other words: if the end result is desirable... then I don't care about the motive.

I'm doing it for the paycheck... and that is the only reason why I work at all... seriously...

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Sep 12, 2011

I was a patient in my own unit once and was cared for by a coworker with whom I did not always get along. She took outstanding care of me, really went above and beyond.

caliotter3 · Sep 12, 2011

You can always request to have another nurse and then both you and this questionable nurse will probably breathe easier in the hypothetical situation you describe. End of debilitating worry.

NightOwl0624 · Sep 12, 2011

Unless I was in a life-threatening emergency, I wouldn't want ANY of my coworkers as a nurse, even though they all seem quite competent and are mostly likeable.