i was just on another nursing message board, my first time there and the first post i read is this really negative view of nursing ( i attatched it at the bottom in red). warning us students to reconsider. i don't know about all of you student nurses but it really gets my goat because here i am getting excited about going into this profession and i feel a lot of people try to burst your bubble and to tell you the truth all of these negatives about nursing is really bothering me. some people can make you feel as if you're actually stepping into the pits of hell. :angryfire i understand some people are just bitter, maybe the job wasn't for them. whatever the reason, it does scare me....a lot. i have worked as a na in a nursing home. i know that this is some hard sh*it! but dang, is it really that bad? by the way, i really did not like that job because no one would help me, plus i didn't like to cry on a daily basis because i was uneducated and left on my own. i am a much too happy person for that kind of misery. i have been in many unfullfilling careers and one of the reasons i wanted to be a nurse was the teamwork and the professionalism of it. i'm starting to find out there isn't a lot of professionalism involved and a lot of bitter people. is this true? anyone else agitated and scared like me? maybe i'll feel better tomorrow. sigh.
p.s. i've been informed copying and pasting a post is "socially incorrect", so to speak. sorry for that, so here is the link incase needed. :)
Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
The copied and pasted post is an example of burn-out. Burn-out has a high occurrence in nursing, but it can be avoided or ameliorated.
First, do your homework. Use the nursing shortage (soon to be crisis :uhoh21: ) to your advantage. During the job interview, ask about nurse patient ratios. If the ratio is too high, go elsewhere... hey, for the graduate RN it's an employee market. Find out from word of mouth about the doctors in a particular unit or hospital. If they treat the nurses like dirt, simply don't go there. If, however, there is a true atmosphere of collaboration between the physicians and nurses, well this is a big plus. Check out the floor... what is the "feel" or atmosphere? Are the nurses embittered, angry, and creating a toxic environment? AVOID THAT UNIT LIKE THE PLAGUE. Thanks to the nursing shortage, the ball's in your court and you can be very, very choosy :) It's your future career, choose carefully, choose verrry wisely. A little proactivity goes a long way.
hi everyone. first of all, i want to apologize for cutting and pasting that thread. i did provide a link to rectify my actions. :) i don't know proper "netiquette" i guess. :chuckle secondly, thanks for everyones feedback and opinions. third, i never meant to start any heated debate. i just was feeling down about what i read and felt as though this person was trying to prevent students from going further which is crappy because one persons bad experience isn't always anothers. plus, isn't this why there is a shortage with nursing anyway? i'm sure a lot of it has to do with the stigma involved. either way, i'm not letting anything deter me from continuing on in something i believe in, no matter how bad it is. i believe this profession is all about finding your nitche. if you find a place that suits you and you're happy there you can work in any conditions. just my opinion. i appriciate everyones feedback. thanks,
christy
p.s. i am taking off the "red ink" post so it won't be an issue anymore. the link will still be there.
good luck to everyone in this [rofession and everyone striving fo the dream.
Christy - I think you know in your heart what it is you want to do. When I went to school, there were plenty of nay sayers as well. However, I had to follow my heart and my dream. That was over 20 years ago and I am glad that I did. Nursing has been and continues to be a passion of mine. I also know many nurses where nursing is also their passion. Stay true to yourself and your desire and I am sure you won't go wrong.
In relationship to the nurse who "got out" - she obviously had some pretty bad personal experiences with nursing. I think nursing is so diversified, that even if you find one area of the profession that does not suite you, there are so many other areas that might. I have never regretted my education and I am sure you will find that your education as an RN will open many, many doors.
Best of luck to you and your desire to become an RN.
also glad that i won't be stuck in a hospital with someone like that caring for me!
there are people in all professions that hate their job. posts like that make me sick to my stomach that someone has so negativity that they feel the need to go around bursting bubbles.
You know, I would have to agree with every single statement made by the person in red ink. My coworkers and I talk about all of those issues a great deal. These ARE legitimate problems with the field. As long as you can accept the profession's limitations, you'll be reasonably happy in the field -- but I understand how people get "burned out" & tired of remaining voiceless, powerless and frustrated when all you want is a little respect, a chance to give valuable input & to make positive changes, and the best care for your patients.
Honestly, students have NO IDEA what the field is really like. You won't know the truth from classroom dialogues, textbooks, or observation from a vantage point outside of the RN/LPN role. I thought I knew what it was really like when I was a nursing assistant -- how wrong I was.
A year or so in the field, practicing as an RN/LPN, will really open your eyes. Please hold your judgement of well-meaning advice until you experience the reality of the job for a while yourself. Let's hear your opinion a year after you've worked under your own license, in the field.
As an experienced nurse,(CNA 3 years, LPN 8 years, RN 4 years) I completely agree with the above. Very, very, well said.
Lol, bring on the flames because my opinion always is the more you know the better. She has more experience obviously than we do and I consider her opinion to be of value. If nothing else, you get a heads up for what's to come and are not perhaps as shell shocked by it as you otherwise may have been. Also, use it as a spring board for discussion with other nurses... "You know, a nurse made these comments one time.... What's your take on that? Do you agree?" I'd always rather know the good, the bad, and the ugly and as far as I'm concerned the opinions of two people can often give you a clearer picture than just the opinions of one... but then I'm a sucker for honesty.
Whine whine whine whine. Good thing this person is leaving, I wouldn't want someone like this taking care of anyone I knew anyway. She/he probably got into it for the money alone and then realized it was actual work with real respondability. .
I find the opposite to be true, in most cases. It's the nurses who persued nursing because they wanted to help people, and saw nursing as a way to do good work, who suffer from burn-out far more than those who are mainly interested in money.
Those of you who blasted that ex nurses' heartfelt words say more about yourselves than you realize. I've been doing this a long time and can relate to everything she said actually. Knowledge of the truth does not necessarily make one awful to work with, actually. I prefer a savvy coworker vs a naive sucker.
In nursing school I felt I was prepared somewhat for nursing reality by my diploma program; yet one can never be fully prepared for the lack of respect and the doublespeak from administrators. It is rampant in my part of the country. We are seen as lowest level of the totem pole, a group to be controlled.
The comment about nursing's awesome responsibility and acountability with little authority is a line I've used myself many times and is quite accurate.
There are WAAAY too many physicians, administrators, and people in general that have little to no respect for nurses. And I DON'T think the nurses with rose colored glasses on will ever help us progress from that.
The comment suggesting that 'nurses who know their stuff' will always be respected is way off base in my experience. That implies blaming of the victim for not being 'smart enough'. Abuse and disrespect have little to do with the nurses' knowledge level, IMO. I DO get more respect from SOME docs in SOME situations (usually IM) because I'm an ICU nurse; but an abusive doc will generally be abusive whenever it suits them, because they CAN in my experience. And I haven't met a doc yet that won't turf a bad outcome to the nurses if they can get away with it.
I never talk to a potential student nurse without including realities. Obviously these realities are not being covered if one looks at the sheer #'s of new nurses who bail within their first year out.
If you go back and read the posts of people changing careers to go into nursing, then you will see that job disenchantment is in all professions. I've worked for years in the casino industry, and I can say that that industry sucks too. None of us can really say what it's going to be like for us until we get there ourselves. Every work environment is different. It's been said many times on this site that there are countless avenues to pursue in nursing. You're not a prisoner of your work environment. If it becomes too toxic, then try another hospital or another avenue of nursing, plain and simple. I've worked too hard and sacrificed too much so far, to be discouraged by anyone!
I'm not a nurse (yet) but I've done a lot of different things (massage therapy, aide work, data entry, production typing, editing, office managing, computer technician) and I gotta clue you in on something:
It's bad everywhere, if you let it be. No matter what you do, no matter where you are, there will be people who DO teamwork and people who do NOT do teamwork, and a whole lot of people who complain that everyone is complaining and there's no teamwork. Honest to God, that's how it is.
I work right now as a secretary on a floor which was at the time I was hired touted to be 'the best floor to work on'. That has changed, but it will cycle around again -- no doubt -- because depending on staff there are those who DO teamwork and those who DO NOT. Sometimes we are short-handed but we almost never MANDATE.
There are doctors who value the nursing judgement, and work as a team with their nurses, and there are doctors who are rude and have superiority complexes. We have both. Always will. By the same token there are nurses who work as a team and there are those who snub their noses at their aides. And there are aides and nurses who snub their noses at secretaries, but I gotta tell you the team players are quite happy to kiss my feet because everyone knows: the secretary is IN CHARGE.
So it varies. Job to job, floor to floor, department to department, and profession to profession it is all fundamentally the same. Sometimes you can make a bad environment better, sometimes you can't and you have to know when to cut your losses and move on, and not be afraid to.
Promise yourself you will never stick with a job you hate (that doesn't mean you won't work yourself through a few or even several really lousy days), never ever ever let someone else's lousy attitude reflect on YOU (don't take it personally, there are bitter people EVERYWHERE) and that you'll always BE that team player and my guess is you'll be fine. None of this well they won't play so I don't because then nobody plays on the team... get it? There are too many options as a nurse to stick with something you hate. Just don't.
I love being a nurse and I love helping people. Nothing is more rewarding, than fixing someone up and sending them home to their families. Or making their last few years in a nursing home comfortable & happy years. I must admit, however, nursing has some drawbacks- but in all my experiences, I can honestly say- the only problems I ran into was with the administrative staff & their dirty politics. But I understand their plythe, they must remain fully staffed at all costs. And yes, there are many times they are rude to their workers- trying to get them to work all hours. But that is the way the profession is- nursing is a 24/7 duty. Unfortunately, these demands cause many to burn out fast. When I am stressed, I take a long break or find a hobby to take my mind off my troubles. If in your heart, you want to be a nurse, go for it. The most important quality one can posess is the ability to care about other people. Good luck.
VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN
49 Articles; 5,349 Posts
The copied and pasted post is an example of burn-out. Burn-out has a high occurrence in nursing, but it can be avoided or ameliorated.
First, do your homework. Use the nursing shortage (soon to be crisis :uhoh21: ) to your advantage. During the job interview, ask about nurse patient ratios. If the ratio is too high, go elsewhere... hey, for the graduate RN it's an employee market. Find out from word of mouth about the doctors in a particular unit or hospital. If they treat the nurses like dirt, simply don't go there. If, however, there is a true atmosphere of collaboration between the physicians and nurses, well this is a big plus. Check out the floor... what is the "feel" or atmosphere? Are the nurses embittered, angry, and creating a toxic environment? AVOID THAT UNIT LIKE THE PLAGUE. Thanks to the nursing shortage, the ball's in your court and you can be very, very choosy :) It's your future career, choose carefully, choose verrry wisely. A little proactivity goes a long way.