No need to be upset at the truth! Change careers

[RNGriffin]

One thing that has baffled me on this website is individuals always are up in arms when the truth is, if you have no passion for the profession you need to make life decisions for yourself. Most individuals come on allnurses.com to complain about the nursing profession, long hours, nursing staff, arrogant doctors. The truth is, this is not Mcdonalds where you work the job because it's a requirement for survival. You entered into college and chose a profession that makes you miserable, spent countless hours studying a subject that you have no interest in, and entered the work field to make others who are passionate about their careers miserable. Yet, many complain that the healthcare field has taken a turn for the worse. Has it ever occurred to those same individuals, if there was no passion for the career to begin with there would be none after starting your first, second, third, or even tenth position?

Maybe it's my family values that taught me, if I don't love what I do there is no way I will ever be successful in life. Success is not defined by the basic salary, but level of contentment with my life all together.

So I say, if you hate nursing make life decisions so the rest of us can enjoy our jobs.

[MA_Davis]

I agree with OP. A career is loving what you do. If you don't love what you do than maybe just maybe it's not for you. Yeah it's ok to complain sometimes but if it is draining you of being who you really want to be. Or it's making you flat out miserable...DONT DO IT...I get irritated when I hear people saying they go into nursing just for the money..and most of the time those are the nurses walking around making patients feel uncomfortable because they carry that negative attitude around with them.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

With over 3 million Registered Nurses in the United States, I certainly don't take the comments I read here as a true sampling of how people feel about their jobs. Most of the comments I have read here are from people who want to be a nurse, and simply have to vent about a current situation they are in. Some are merely seeking validation for what they are going thru, or feeling. Besides, you came on here to vent, didn't you?

[MJB2010]

Be careful up there on that high horse, people occasionally fall off. It has been known to happen. How many years have you been a nurse?

[JZ_RN]

LOL OH PLEASE. I LOVE patient care. I LOVE what I do. I don't love being treated like a disposable commodity, instead of a human being. I don't love when people treat me with disrespect like I'm a slave or worse, and I don't love unsafe working conditions that make work unpleasant and make patients unsafe. If you're complacent and okay with unsafe working conditions and poor patient care, please continue to hold our profession back and accept being treated like a customer service rep with a stethoscope. For myself, I'll keep trying to make nursing what I know it can be, mostly pleasant and rewarding, and most of all, safe care for patients.

[Live.&.Learn]

The only person who can change you is you, and you are the only person you can change. I dislike the fact that there are a lot of nurses who are unhappy with their jobs and I wonder why they would have put so much effort into getting where they are if they weren't passionate about becoming a nurse, but why let that get to you so much? Are your co-workers really making your job miserable? Then you are allowing them to do that. You have the ability to look at the world in an entirely different light, it is what you make it. You know those people who are always smiling and have a positive attitude? The one's who seem like everything is going great in their lives and they would do anything for anyone and never expect anything in return? The one's who love their job and their spouse and their friends and family? I want to be that person, I want to love my job, and feel grateful and blessed each and everyday. If you want to be that person, than BE that person. You don't have to allow these people to make you angry, and when it comes to this site you don't even have to read their posts but I agree with whover said "give them a place to vent", this site is a perfect place for venting and the best part is, you don't have to listen to any of it.

[missladyrn]

I used to have a passion for nursing, but it has been stomped out of me. I went into nursing to care for patients, not to pinch pennies at the expense of patient care at the direction of insurance companies and profit seeking hospitals. I guess I am wondering why you feel compelled to toot your horn?

[MA_Davis]

it's ok to vent but when somethings tearing you apart CLEARLY let it go..or find out what makes you happy...When you LOVE doing something and it is WHAT YOU WANT TO DO...it can't be stopped...it can't be put out..when you are ready to give up and you don't bounce back and you just keep going down hill...there is just no point unless you want to live on as a miserable nurse...We all have bad times...but if your bad times out-weigh your good times...hey its not for you let it go..

[missladyrn]

Ever see the movie Office Space? If you had a billion dollars what would you do all day ? The reality is, passion does not pay the bills. The reason you get paid to work, it's WORK. Otherwise they would not need to pay people to do it. If we all did what we love, there would be very few people scrubbing the toilets. But you see, the toilets still need to be scrubbed. The world is not the same when you take off your rose colored glasses.

[MJB2010]

I suspect the op is just stirring the pot, maybe trying to get people all riled up.

[sydzmommy]

To OP,

I know I have read many a post where the terms "passion" or nursing as a "calling" are frowned upon. Is it wrong to say I am passionate about nursing, or medicine as a science, and truly feel that this is a profession I will excel at and enjoy? *shrug* maybe, since I am not an RN *yet heh* but I can say That I love medicine, always have. Since they age of 16, it is all I have done!

I work at one of the best veterinary teaching hospitals in the country, in the intensive care unit. I LOVE critical care. Obviously, people are not animals, BUT I use the nursing process every night. I rely heavily on my critical thinking skills, and above all, I advocate for my patients (yes if that means calling the resident at three in the morning so be it, or going above them to faculty if warranted)

So to an extent, I think people who are passionate about their profession make better nurses. It takes a certain personality type to "make it" in advanced practice/critical care. I have see quite a few in my unit who just were not cut out for it. The key for me, is complacency. I am am never happy to just "do the job". If I encounter a new med, I am immediately researching, I read about our espirit ventilators and mechanical ventilation in my free time because I love my vent cases. When I am running a pressor drip, I am comparing it to what i will see in the "human world" I read the critical care nursing journals regularly. I lecture my peers for continuing education purposes. I have reached IMHO, a state of plateau in my career, and I am excited to apply to the nursing program in the fall, because for me, it is a natural progression of learning. It is the next step in *hopefully* a long career in medicine.

Having said that.....It is discouraging as a hard working mother in my 30's, pulling 4.0, to be surrounded by people who IMHO, have no business entering nursing, or healthcare in general. (yes I am being an elitist). I do not know it all, and in nursing school, my plan is to keep my mouth shut! Haha. My friend who is now an RN had the best advice: if asked by the professor if I have any experience placing an arterial or central (or even ucath!) my reply will always be "only in a dog or cat" But I watch prospective nursing students around me, and many of them barely pull minimum a passing grade in prerequisites, complain that professor is "too hard" if he tests them on concepts vs memorizing terms, and no joke, some of them cannot even focus a microscope. If you have to retake AP, micro or chem, maybe a science major ISN'T FOR YOU! I can only pray, they do not make it through nursing school, and it would suck to be competing with them for valued RN positions.

I can only hope, that sometime down the road, there will be room for me in the nursing profession. I know there are no jobs. I am going to rely my drive to get me there, eventually. IN the meantime, I am lucky to have a job I love! I have many coworkers who have become nurses (fantastic nurses at that!) Some tell me they hate it (so much charting and no time to do it!), a few tell me they love it. I hope to someday be with the latter!

[MA_Davis]

If anybody knows PASSION doesn't pay the bills its me...but what I'm saying is do what you don't want to do to get the bills paid and when you CAN find something you LOVE to do...spare the world of the nurses who don't like what they do...what's the point ...Whatever you're doing right now is not something you have to do forever and like I said before everything is not all butterflies and cupcakes and of course your gonna have bad times but calm down...and WORK what you came to do...why complain all the time...

[MA_Davis]

To sydzmommy

PREACH! lol You expressed how I feel to a "T" lol