why so many negatives about nursing?

Mandy0728 · Nov 29, 2013

I'm a pre-nursing student as well. I start the BSN program in January. It's very discouraging reading negative comments about the nursing profession, but I've learned to not let it affect me. Everyone gets tired and stressed and maybe those people don't like their job, but that doesn't mean you'll be in the same boat. If nursing is your passion as it is mine, nobody can say anything to change your mind!

PurpleLover · Nov 29, 2013

I ignore those threads. As with any career, people get jaded. I know nursing is my passion, but one day I may get worn down by the rigors of the career. I have read most people say this place is for venting, so that may be why there seems to be more negative than positive.

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Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Nov 29, 2013

I wouldn't ignore the threads. They offer an insight to nursing that is very real. Nursing isn't for the faint of heart...it's a tough, brutal job with rewards scattered sporadically. You will be responsible for everything but have very little power to change anything. The promise of Big pay and easy jobs are long gone.

Many areas of the country have as high as 47% unemployment of new grads. The average job search is about 14 months. I know someone will come along and give anecdotal reports of how everyone in their graduation class had a job within 2 month of graduation...but the reality is there is a plethora of new grads out there all vying for the same positions in hospitals and there are very few spots that are open that will orient a new grad.

There is NO NURSING SHORTAGE right now. It is a lie that is being perpetuated by the media and hospitals. Hospitals use this as an excuse to cut the bottom line and say...."we are looking for help but there is a shortage" that ia a line of manure. That they had to cut staff because of Obama care is another line of manure for if more people have insurance...they will have more money in their pockets because more people are paying for their insurance to reimburse the hospital and therefore more money is in the hospitals pocket....which will not translate anywhere near nurses pockets.

You are going to work hard for your money. This is no gravy train. Nursing is demanding. Nursing is hard. Contrary to popular belief.....nursing involves grunt work like pill passing and bedpans....you WILL work holidays and weekends and you WILL have to do shift work....regardless of whether or not you like nights and patient excrement.

I love being a nurse....I have been one for 35 years. But I expect to work hard and I don't shy away from the "menial jobs" for that is my job.

Being a nurse means...

You will never be bored.

You will always be frustrated.

You will be surrounded by challenges.

so much to do and so little time.

You will carry immense responsibility

and very little authority.

You will step into people's lives

and you will make a difference.

Some will bless you.

Some will curse you.

You will see people at their worst...

and at their best.

You will never cease to be amazed

at people's capacity for

Love, Courage, and Endurance.

You will see life begin...and end.

You will experience resounding triumphs

and devastating failures.

You will cry a lot.

You will laugh a lot.

You will know what it is to be human

and to be humane.

calivianya, BSN, RN · Nov 29, 2013

Well, I think the bottom line about nursing boils down to this: really hard work, not enough pay, and constantly disrespected by everyone ever. There is this thing that happens outside of the hospital - people get surveyed and everyone talks about nurses being so respected, blah blah blah, most trusted profession, whatever. It gives you this beautiful ivory tower view of this career where everyone respects you and treats you like a professional. The truth of the matter is that I got more respect from customers and my coworkers when I worked for $5.15/hour at a movie theater, or for $9.00/hr at a hotel. Nobody respects nurses in the hospital. Maybe nurses respect each other, but that's not always true. The patients certainly don't respect you when you won't give them the pills they want *right now.* The family doesn't respect you when you kick them out of the room to try and give the patient some privacy when they need to be cleaned up. I feel like if people realized that nursing is a lot more like being a waitress with more job stress and a slightly better paycheck, instead of thinking that nursing is this awesome career where you are respected, there might be more job satisfaction among nurses. It just rubs salt in the wounds when these patients/family members who have been giving you the third degree and ripping you a new one all day shut up and say "Yes, sir" or "Yes, ma'am" when the physician comes by for 30 seconds and says the exact same things they've been disrespecting you for saying all day long. It's hard to deal with being undermined as a human being like that, day in and day out, with a huge load of responsibility on top of it to boot. I miss customer service sometimes. It was a lot easier and I was more likely to be treated like a real person.

DoeRN · Nov 29, 2013

There are so many negative comments because nursing can be a very negative career. You're not going to be smiling at the end of the day filled with rainbows after being disrespected all day. I wish I would have joined this site while I was considering going to nursing school. I would have picked radiation, nuclear medicine, radiology technician instead.

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foxnurz · Nov 29, 2013

Be sure this is what you want to do. Good luck

bankssarn · Nov 29, 2013

I don't hate the art of nursing; I love it. I love educating and caring for patients. I love learning new things every day. However, I will admit that nursing is not what I imagined it to be. Still, I can't see myself doing anything else. It's the politics of nursing that has many nurses feeling discouraged. Twelve hour shifts typically become thirteen to fourteen hour shifts, lunch breaks are seldom actually taken, working short-handed is commonplace. It can run you ragged.

INN_777, BSN, RN · Nov 29, 2013

Well, I am not a nurse, I am just starting my ABSN in January but this is what I think. Yes, there are, probably, people that are in this job for the wrong reasons and thus they hate it. I know people who went into it for the money and were only aspiring to eventually get to an administrative job and thought the whole "in-between" nursing thing was beneath them. BUT, I really think most of what people are unhappy with is not nursing as a vocation, but the whole corporate BS thing: the politics, the under-staffing, the lack of respect and appreciation, promotions for the wrong reasons etc, etc.

But I will let you in on a secret:) Corporate is corporate everywhere. Healthcare, business, anything. So having worked for 20 years in business, I figured if I am to put up with it, I might as well be at least doing something that I want to and that touches others in a meaningful way.

ixchel · Nov 29, 2013

I am one semester away from graduation with my BSN. I've been reading this site since sometime early in my gen eds. This site has made me realize:

1. I need to just start with BSN, not ADN. My area has 2 programs - an ADN and a BSN. Most of the spring BSN grads go back "home" when they graduate. I'll have a higher degree than most of my competition, which gives me a leg up, and my end goal is to become an NP anyway, so it just makes sense (for me) to go with BSN right out of the gate.

2. I am actually in one of those rare areas where the BSNs DO tend to have jobs before graduation. I never would have taken the time to find that out if I hadn't read here all of the struggles everyone is facing.

3. With those two things in mind, AN has helped me realize that the market here IS favorable for me to go ahead and get some RN experience before moving on to a masters degree.

4. I *will* still be able to go into advanced practice with a masters degree when the time comes because contrary to what my school says, DNP isn't becoming the entry level standard any time soon.

5. Burnout happens, even for the most passionate and committed nurses. AN is a safe place to vent. You can learn from these experiences because chances are, you'll face them one day, too.

6. Not that I ever thought nursing would be anyway, but I've learned that nursing isn't sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. You NEED a thick skin. Even on your best days, you might be helping people with the most frustrating problems that they will expect YOU to fix, while they have absolutely no desire to do anything for themselves. And, of course, it is your job and responsibility to help them. In my psych clinical, we actually had a great discussion about nurse burnout in psych in general. The young women in the group with me were alarmed by the lack of determination and commitment they witnessed in the staff of our community psych placement. Our instructor explained that it's not ideal to have nurses who have lost the "spark", but each year you reach out to dozens of clients and you might see observable, positive change in ONE. That would wear down even the strongest-willed person at some point. I feel that vibe here frequently, and it helps to keep a realistic understanding of how I may find myself feeling when the dust settles on my degree, and helps me realize I need to take the time to nourish myself in ways that may prevent that feeling of burnout from creeping up on me.

7. People are more inclined to share their frustration than their successes. Communities like this are helpful to those who are struggling and so that's why people come here to vent. I'm certain many of the frustrations you read here are experienced by nurses who also experience joys, too, but obviously joy-filled experiences don't usually call for a need for advice and support.

8. You ever wait tables? As a server, you are the person with the customer the whole time, depending on their happiness with your service, and yet, you have no control over much of anything at all. You don't cook the food. You don't make the drinks. So if the bar screws up on your martini or takes forever making it, your tip goes down and you get yelled at, even though it's the bartender who screwed up. Reading AN has made me realize that bedside nursing is probably the same way, only you're at the mercy of the rest of the hospital staff and resources. Glad I heard that before going into it.

I feel like my nursing choices are being entered into with a higher level of "informed consent" because I can read here what the more common struggles are in each other. It increases my knowledge beyond what my textbooks say, which is filled with a lot of happy kitty hug land NCLEX fantasticness. I want the truth, and you'll find that here. I'm sure I have more to add but that's what comes to mind right this second. You really need to read the complaints here and decide if you can handle these things happening to you. Don't ever believe you are immune to the experiences you read here because we all go into this wanting to do the best we can. We ALL want to do and be our best, always. None of us is better than anyone else, and even the craziest stories here can happen to you. Can you handle that? Even more importantly, do you WANT to handle that?

malamud69, BSN, RN · Nov 29, 2013

Well, I am not a nurse, I am just starting my ABSN in January but this is what I think. Yes, there are, probably, people that are in this job for the wrong reasons and thus they hate it. I know people who went into it for the money and were only aspiring to eventually get to an administrative job and thought the whole "in-between" nursing thing was beneath them. BUT, I really think most of what people are unhappy with is not nursing as a vocation, but the whole corporate BS thing: the politics, the under-staffing, the lack of respect and appreciation, promotions for the wrong reasons etc, etc.
But I will let you in on a secret:) Corporate is corporate everywhere. Healthcare, business, anything. So having worked for 20 years in business, I figured if I am to put up with it, I might as well be at least doing something that I want to and that touches others in a meaningful way.

YES YES YES......It is the same no matter what line of work you are in. The corporate entities that have demoralized the work force in this country do it across the board!

Sun0408, ASN, RN · Nov 29, 2013

I love being a nurse and can't see myself doing anything else. With that said, please understand what you read on here is real and not because people went into nursing for the wrong reasons.. Some are just venting but the issues are still real. Venting is healthy :)