Is It Fair to Say We Hate These Things or People?

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B

There are a number of tasks that we do as nurses that we may not especially enjoy. There are things that we are responsible for as nurses that are not our favorite, especially if one is on a unit that has a mixed population of patients. There may be coworkers who get on our last nerve. There may be managers who are out of touch with the realities of bedside nursing. But is it fair to say we hate these things and/or people?

Is it equally fair to then transpose that to hating our jobs?

In using the definition of hate, if anyone has intense hostility, that bears watching. Nothing in one's life should get one to the point of being intensely hostile. Not even nursing.

At what cost to one's own personal sense of security is hostility?

Being hostile serves no useful purpose. It can not change the behaviors of others, (and if it does you are using hostility as a control mechanism, and that is not a good thing) it doesn't make you a better person, and it eats away at anyone's peace of mind. We all have to learn to control out anger in alternate ways. Seek help with this if you need it, as hostility and nursing may not be an ideal combo.

What hate does not mean is overwhelmed. They are 2 entirely different things. Because one feels that they can't get done what they need to, shouldn't equate to "I hate this". Yes, it can equate to "this really, really stinks" but "I hate everything" does not one thing to make it better, or to make one more productive.

We all do what we can to the benefit of our patients. Sometimes to what seems to be overwhelming odds. But things get done, we move on, and patients do as well. Even residents of LTC go on with their day.

Be careful of your actions and your words. Hating is also derived from a sense of "injury". Most of the people under your care are not there because they have nothing better to do, so they thought they would bug you in order to make you angry. There are a multitude of issues that happen when a person is hospitalized, in LTC, in skilled care.

A smile and word of encouragement can go a long way in making a person's day better. At the end of the day, we are there for them, not the other way around. So even if one feels like a medication machine with no end in sight, take a breath, take a moment, and connect with who you are giving meds to.

It can mean a huge difference, and your advantage is that you begin to know the population that you are medicating. That can be to your advantage as you go on in your job.

And finally, you are you, and you are you as a nurse. Once your shift is over, it is over. Hopefully, you are where you should be, and the patients are as well. Everyone has bad days, there are days we all question our choices. But if you are questioning your choices to the point that it is interfering with the rest of your life, take a step back and reassess. Getting angry to the point of hating anything is only doing damage to you.

Is It Fair to Say We Hate These Things or People?

About jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B

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