If I knew nursing was so vindictive, horrible, and crazy like this I would have NEVER entered the nursing program in my school to become an RN.
I am a soon to be finished first year student in an ADN program so I do have SOME clinical experience and know a little bit about real world nursing.
I always thought it would be a decent and respectable career with flexible hours and the chance to actually make a difference. All I see on here is how easy it to lose your job and your license, how burnt out nurses become after the FIRST year and how there's NO camaraderie between nurses.
Makes me want to just get my RN and jump ship and become a CRNA or NP... sheesh!
Nursing isn't for anyone looking for just a good paycheck. Nursing is a new challenge every day, sometimes it can be enjoyable and sometimes it is very frustrating. We all have days when we would like to kill our co-workers & other days when we want to buy them a beer. Nurses are people who need a challenging adventure every day. I love what I do & some days I hate it, but it is never boring.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I worked network support in the communications industry for 25 years. Well, it has it's cutthroats and backstabbing also. It is not the job, it is the people. We are all human and we have our good days and bad days. The problem is some people have more bad days than good and seem to feel that it is the fault of the rest of the world.
I agree! I travel by train as often as I can and have been unwittingly privy to the conversations of young people working in the corporate world. Not only are many of them backstabbers they actually plot how to one-up their peers and brag about how they pulled off a successful torpedo of a colleague by some strategy they read in Sun-Tzu's The Art of War.
Whereas when nurses are jerks it is normally completely spontaneous! :)
Well, now that I've read the posts, it kind of makes sense...
This may sound dumb, but where are the "good" vent posts about nursing? Why focus on the one bad patient, family, day or whatever when you can focus on the 10 good ones...? I know life isn't sunshine and roses, but that doesn't mean it has to be dog **** either.
There are a few but usually positive stories are related in the ongoing back and forth within the threads themselves.
If you go out and look for threads that are full of sadness or requests for support, maybe the first death a nurse experiences, a job termination or a crisis in the family I think you will be touched and maybe surprised at how quickly nurses run to shore up that nurse's emotional fuel tank. You just can't expect that a website where anyone can post and is viewed by thousands of people per day that you aren't going to get a few inappropriate comments, though . . .
Nurselovejoy88 and Roser13 another group (cops) that deals with the public as nurses do has separated their forum that resembles ours into "cop only" and public with a banner "no cop bashing allowed" :) here is is:
The thread title is so wrong. You say that we, nurses, make nursing HORRIBLE?
This is a site which upholds the nursing profession. And i, for one, will never say that we made nursing seem like horrible to all of you nursing students out there! Of course we vent off frustrations but i won't say the nursing profession is a horrible one
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
OP, I have not read through all of the posts, so forgive me if I am repeating the opinions of others. I just got finished with a 15 hour shift, and my mind is a bit "feeble" at the moment. I do want to share a few things with you:
1. Yes, nursing is tough. We come here to this forum to share frustrating experiences because we feel safe to do so. We cannot do this amongst our co-workers because we may somehow offend them. We like to keep things as drama-free while working as we can. Thus, the negative posts that you are reading.
2. That being said, YES, there are HUNDREDS of stories that are positive. The toddler who had a C-3 fx and recovered fully. The 15 year old girl that was set on fire by her BF who recovered fully, and now speaks at functions regarding abuse awareness. The demented pt that had not communicated purposefully with anyone in years who looks you in the eye before anesthesia induction for surgery and nods and smiles at you while giving your offered hand a tight squeeze. The soldier who came home from leave and was involved in an MVA that walks out of the unit WHOLE while his family offers you tearful and heartfelt gratitude for your care. THESE are the patients that keep us in the profession. The rest is really static.
The real world of nursing is full of politics and ineptitude from many many facets of the multi-disciplinary teams that we work in. BECAUSE our livelihoods depend on the safe delivery of care that WE are responsible for, the level of stress can skyrocket. The trick is to pick your battles. This becomes easier with experience.
I ask you to not weigh your opinion of nursing from this forum. As I stated previously, we are hesitant to voice our frustrations at work, because the cost for doing so is great. We feel safe here. We can commiserate, we can vent, we can scream. We can't do this at work. We would be shipped off in a skinny minute.
Just wait until you are able to hold the hand of a new mother while she is in labor and pushing. Wait until you can speak softly to the dying patient and KNOW that you made a difference in their last moments on earth. Wait until you see the unadulterated relief on a parent's face when all of the tests for their child came back negative and they can be discharged home. IT IS ALL WORTH IT.
Makes me want to just get my RN and jump ship and become a CRNA or NP... sheesh!
'Become a NP'? I presume NP stands for Nurse Practitioner? How on earth do you think you will 'jump ship', not have any experience (clinicals don't count, sorry!) then just walk into a job as a NP? You have only done clinicals and 'you know how bad it is?' These sentences are a bit naive, mate!
Have you ever thought that nurses stay in their career cos they have to? Some have mortgages and other responsibilities they can't just walk away from. How old are you BTW - 20 maybe? Has it also ever crossed ur mind that the nurses who STAY in nursing love it, and they are the ones who hold together our failing health system? What would happen if everyone just walked away?
I'm really, really tired of everybody - even fellow nurses - criticising nurses and their whining. We are HARD WORKERS. We DESERVE TO WHINE!! We do ONE OF THE HARDEST JOBS IN SOCIETY. We do the sometimes crappy jobs lazy and ignorant relatives of patients can't be bothered doing - they would rather pay us to do it. We are constantly put down and hounded by nurse managers, doctors, relatives, other staff and society, and we put up with it, cos we love our jobs and our patients. Not everyone is miserable. I myself will probably leave nursing in a few years, but that's cos there are other goals I want to achieve in my working life, & I am getting too old to do late-early shifts for example.
I've known many good nurses who fought their whole career to change the health system - who MADE the health system a better place. Maybe they made a difference I don't know - the system will probably get worse over the next 20 years or more, but we will still keep fighting cos we know that NURSES ARE THE BACKBONE OF THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. You can argue re that with me all you like but you will be wrong. I myself have tried to change things for the better, albeit in a smaller town where it was a losing battle (another story for another thread).
Have you yourself been REALLY ILL in hospital, or had a very sick friend/relative? Watch the nurses there - most will work hard and be compassionate to a certain degree (we are not perfect), then come back on here and be critical. Imagine if those nurses weren't there? Guess who would be caring for their relative - it would be you or another family member.
All I can say is, come back on here when you have even 2 years CRITICAL CARE experience under your belt, then you may be qualified to tell us 'how bad nursing is'.
I for one am SO TIRED of people coming on here and being critical of people who work b****y hard for the elusive dollar, when you haven't even done the hard slog! Hopefully, you will never be my nurse or, God forbid, a NP cos you wouldn't have the slightest clue what to do unless you get that critical care experience.
Mate, you should be KISSING OUR FEET, not criticising us!!
Well, which one is the truth? The vents on here or the appraisals you give to your families?
Well, I've already seen and experienced that in clinicals... I'm not sheltered and I know that real world nursing isn't gonna have my teacher behind me holding my hand... I really don't get why they don't tell us this in school so that way we aren't shell shocked when we do get a real job.
I presume you are very young, very naive, arrogant and an extremely critical person.
Tell me, why are you in nursing if you hate it so much??
Boy, if you think you've seen everything in clinicals, wait till YOU are in charge of EVERYTHING (not just staff), then see how you go. U might even like it, you never know.
All I can see from your posts is criticise, criticise, criticise. If you hate it that much, get out now. Don't put down everyone who has done the hard slog - it's offensive and shows your true, naive character.
I agree! I travel by train as often as I can and have been unwittingly privy to the conversations of young people working in the corporate world. Not only are many of them backstabbers they actually plot how to one-up their peers and brag about how they pulled off a successful torpedo of a colleague by some strategy they read in Sun-Tzu's The Art of War.
Whereas when nurses are jerks it is normally completely spontaneous! :)
There are a few but usually positive stories are related in the ongoing back and forth within the threads themselves.
If you go out and look for threads that are full of sadness or requests for support, maybe the first death a nurse experiences, a job termination or a crisis in the family I think you will be touched and maybe surprised at how quickly nurses run to shore up that nurse's emotional fuel tank. You just can't expect that a website where anyone can post and is viewed by thousands of people per day that you aren't going to get a few inappropriate comments, though . . .
Nurselovejoy88 and Roser13 another group (cops) that deals with the public as nurses do has separated their forum that resembles ours into "cop only" and public with a banner "no cop bashing allowed" :) here is is:
I always thought it would be a decent and respectable career with flexible hours and the chance to actually make a difference. All I see on here is how easy it to lose your job and your license, how burnt out nurses become after the FIRST year and how there's NO camaraderie between nurses.
Makes me want to just get my RN and jump ship and become a CRNA or NP... sheesh!
You really need to step back and see how health care and nursing has changed.
Medicine/healthcare has become a business first and caring profession sometime later.
In order to meet patient needs, many nurses are over extended on many levels.
This is one reason for the discouragement that you see, and along with a major fact that
other departments like administration/legal/management are setting the focus and pace of
how nurses work. With these constraints and demands. nurses are taking care to ensure the high
safe standards of care are still met. Many are doing this on behalf of their patients and their safety
at the expense of their own health. With the economy, nurses do not have the job flexibility
that they have enjoyed in the past. Many nurses on all educational levels are working to
ensure that nurses have control of their practice. Take a look at the discussion on the
As to jumping ship, to be a CRNA or NP, the responsibility and stress in increased so you will not be escaping the worries of nursing practice..........
I am graduating from nursing school next week, and thank God, I haven't found this website earlier in the program. Or I would have freaked out really bad.
Every profession has its good or bad sides, I see some people are just full of but drama which doesn't help.
Do what I do and dont read too much of bad day stories here. haha, I need to stay motivated for this new profession I am now entering, not freaked!
I also meant to add: when you DO get a job/career where there is NO or minimal backbiting, no gossiping, no bosses hounding you for almost impossible things, no clients/customers/patients complaining or whining, NO stress whatsoever, please let me know - cos I'd like to go work there!!
You need to go out and work in the real world - a reality check is in order I think!
See if you can get a part-time job as a nurse intern at a hospital, even a CNA position would make the transition to nursing easier.
Look around and try to find the best hospital in your area. Union hospitals usually provide better staffing ratios and some say in working conditions. Supposedly magnet hospitals are good, too.
Hospital nursing is stressful. I've read that hospital nurses are less satisfied overall than nurses in other areas like insurance, clinics. But usually you need a year or two of hospital nursing to get into those areas.
There are good and bad days. What drives me crazy are dealing with violent, mentally ill or drug addicted or demented patients. I don't work a psyche unit but so many are there for medical reasons.
I do think there are good and bad hospitals. The best ones will have safe, fair decent staffing ratios, working equipment and a no-lift environment. I do believe if we had national staffing ratios, mandated no-lift environment, and no mandatory overtime; there would be alot less stress, better working conditions, good morale.
Since most hospitals focus on the botton line, I believe unionized hospitals are the way to go. The workers usually have a real say in their working conditions.
I'm not going to say nursing is all sunshine. It is not! But you do make a difference in people's lives and save people's lives. It is definetely not boring. I'm amazed at all I've done and all the lives I've touched, even family, friends, coworkers, neighbors. You do make a difference.
forwardd
6 Posts
Nursing isn't for anyone looking for just a good paycheck. Nursing is a new challenge every day, sometimes it can be enjoyable and sometimes it is very frustrating. We all have days when we would like to kill our co-workers & other days when we want to buy them a beer. Nurses are people who need a challenging adventure every day. I love what I do & some days I hate it, but it is never boring.