Negativity, Are most nurses burned out?

[Studentluck]

I've been reading a lot of forum posts here. While some are positive, there are many people who just really seem to not like nursing and/or are just burnt out. Is this the norm? Is it a case of squeaky wheels? Do many nurses enjoy what they do and where they do it and I'm seeing a bad representation?

I haven't started taking pre-requisites, but if I do, I would start taking them in the Spring. I have very young children right now (3 under 4), so I would definitely want to be working part time for the foreseeable future until they are all older. I imagine that working part time would not be as "terrible" in terms of nurses being overworked and understaffed.

Can anyone give me insight into how they feel about their working situations?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

People don't start threads titled "I love my job, everything is rainbows and butterflies". They come on here to vent to people that can relate to their vent. It is not that a majority of nurses are burned out, they are the most vocal on the messageboard.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Agree with NICU Guy- but working part-time does not exempt you from "over-worked and under-staffed". My last clinical job was Peds ICU and I worked 2 nights/ week. Every single night it seemed we were understaffed. And therefore over-worked. It has ZERO to do with how many shifts you work.

However, I LOVED my job, my patients and my colleagues. We rocked it despite the circumstances.