No time to actually be a nurse???

[MelissaPhoographerRN]

This is one of my biggest disappointments about the nursing profession. I feel like we're so short staffed and everything is so mandated by proper paper work, charting and such that it leaves little time to actually care for the patient. Like someone said in another post it almost seems like you have to fill out so many pieces of paper about patient education that you hardly have any time left to do any education.

I went into nursing because I wanted to be able to help people. When I worked on the floor it wasn't quite so bad, depending on the day. Some days I still felt like I was only in the room long enough to pass pills and run. However, most days I had time to talk to my patients and build a relationship with them, especially if they were there for more than one of my shifts. Maybe that was part of the problem in ER, nobody is around long enough to feel like you did more than give some pain meds and discharge them and if they are around for awhile they're too sick to communicate.

I guess as I'm looking for a new job I want to find somewhere that I will love and feel like an actual nurse again. I'm just looking for others' points of view.

I loved L&D when I was in school and spent some extra time there shodowing a nurse, it's where I wanted to work after school, but nobody would hire me as a new grad. I'm wondering if it would be a little better as I would have fewer patients and not have to split my time between so many patients. I know ICU is also this way, but from working there a few times I wasn't crazy about it. I was also thinking NICU and getting time to spend with the parents educating them and such. Or is everywhere like what I described and I just need to suck it up? haha

[Keepstanding, ASN, RN]

i see your frustration. that is why i left bedside nursing. no such thing anymore.

praiser :heartbeat

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I also understand your point of view. That's why I didn't last long in E.D... I just didn't like the episodic nature of patient contact in that area. I found ICU to be much better in terms of interaction with patients and their families. However, it really is 'intense' on many levels. You find yourself interjected into the lives of strangers who are experiencing horrible crises. Continuous exposure to sad & tragic situations can take a toll on the nursing staff as well. But you never have to doubt that you are making a difference.

[chicookie, BSN, RN]

I heard that something more like private nursing and sometimes home health is that way. Its one on one patient care, I don't know too much about it but you can ask around.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I too became disenchanted with nursing. It was nothing like my "dreams" were of holding a pts hand and talking them through the hardest parts of their lives. I felt like I was just doing tasks. Hang this NS, push this lasix, chart chart chart. Therapeutic communication that I learned so much about in school was non-existant. Between that and the unsafe staffing, I made a beeline to school nursing.

The funny thing is, many people look down on school nursing as not being a "real" nurse, but I FEEL more like a nurse than I ever did on the tele floor where I started. The health promotion, the teaching, the talking, the hand-holding - it feels like nursing to me! There is so much more to it than handing out ice packs and band-aids! Sorry if this is OT, just had to get it in there!

[MelissaPhoographerRN]

Well, I'm in Georgia where they're fighting legislation to keep school nurses, so I don't think I have much hope of finding a school nurse job here. However, I have thought about it.