Lazy nurse or what

ComeTogether, LPN · Aug 18, 2012

Uh yeah. It's that hard. Harder, actually. I'm a nursing assistant so my job is different, but the RN I work with don't stop alllll day and are always there late finishing up. Not everyone can do this work. In fact most people can't.

"No day but today"

DutchRN09 · Aug 18, 2012

You can't be serious. Really?

Tarabara · Aug 18, 2012

Have I seen a lazy nurse or two? of course. But for the most part no, we're not lying when we say nursing is hard. There are days when I really dont get a chance to sit down, take a bite to eat, or even pee until 5pm. For some its worse than others, I'm lucky enough to work for a place with good patient:nurse ratios (I've never had more than 5 pts), but it can still be incredibly busy. Most people know the simple things nurses do such as medications and charting but no one outside of nursing understands all the behind the scenes things we do to keep everything together.

Sun0408, ASN, RN · Aug 18, 2012

Charting and flowsheets are preventing quality care from happening. I can't count all the flowsheets we have plus our 8 page ICU flowsheet. Everything you do for a pt is charted somewhere and heaven forbid if you forget to chart it in one of the boxes and your nursing notes. OP, its all the other stuff that make nursing harder than it has to be. Everything comes down on the nurse one way or another. Dietary messed up and brought the wrong jello, the room is too hot or cold, PT didn't get the pt OOB, the doc didn't write for a certain pain med the pt wanted, cable doesn't have enough channels; yep yep, it all comes down on the nurse. Why, because we are there 24/7. Either way, I love it and don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

CrazyGoonRN · Aug 18, 2012

Yeah it really is that hard. Every day/patient is different. There is no way to get in a set routine. The unexpected is the norm. The things you hear are not exaggerations. Some nurses are lazy but if they are they probably will not last long. The last 12 hour shift I worked I only ate 2 snickers bars the entire time. There was no time to take a break. That is real life.

umcRN, BSN, RN · Aug 18, 2012

I work in an ICU and even with only one or two patients there are still days I don't pee or sit down! Just today I had one pretty stable kiddo and admitted another stable yet VERY chronic and complex kiddo. I didn't eat lunch till four. It took me all day getting his admission paperwork charted, fighting with pharmacy to get meds that they swear they sent 3 times, getting his special formula from the formula lab, getting docs to put in orders, doing complex dressing changes, working with his family to figure out his med schedule, routine, likes/dislikes, assessing how much of his care his parents are able to do and what they still need to learn, etc etc. I was there until after 8 not only because I was still catching up but because it took so long to give report on him. I still had to leave stuff for the night nurse that I would otherwise do on day shift.

I love every minute of it.

(minus fighting with pharmacy!)

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 18, 2012

"Are the nurses who complain just plain lazy..." ROFL....

Excuse me while I go make some freshly-popped popcorn and hunker down to watch the self-hanging continue...

PlourdieRN · Aug 18, 2012

Sorry OP, it really is just that busy ...especially for those nurses who work hard and care enough to do that thorough assessment, go that extra mile (instead of letting it fall to the CNA), and follow up that loose end at change of shift. Whether you have 2 patients in critical care or 40 patients in LTC, there is always more work to be done.

I like to think (and my supervisors tell me) that I am a good and thorough and organized nurse... but I still routinely skip my half hour break and put off bathroom runs (15 min break? wth is that?!) and I am still struggling to get every last thing done before I clock out. My experience has been that the "lazy nurses" are the ones waiting for the minute to change over on the time clock so that they can punch out at the ends of their shifts.

And yet... I wouldn't have it any other way. I love nursing, and I love a challenging shift (though I may not say it while "in the trenches"!).

BrandonLPN, LPN · Aug 18, 2012

No, of course nurses who complain here aren't lazy. They're just venting. I WILL say that nursing is not as hard as it probably seems to an outsider who reads these boards. Nurses don't come here to post about how they had a smooth night that went okay. That would be a pretty boring post, wouldn't it? They post about a BAD night where everything went wrong. But not every shift is like that of course..... we just tend to talk more about our hectic shifts, cause that's what's interesting and relevant....

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Aug 18, 2012

For me it's not so much that amount that needs to get done that makes a day really busy, but the way that I constantly get interrupted or something isn't as I expect it to be that causes me to run around like a chicken with my head cut off. Example:

Going in to hang IVs, give meds, and assess patient A. Patient B calls. He's having shaking chills. Now I need to stop what I'm doing with A, and go assess B, page the doctor, wait for him to call back, take orders, often stat orders, etc.

Or I go into an isolation room of patient I had day before. He needs an IV abx. I know I left my tubing from yesterday in there initialed, capped, dated, and out of the way so I don't need new tubing. Wrong. The night shift threw it out. Ungown, unglove, wash hands, get tubing, repeat in reverse. And while you're out of the room pharmacy calls with a detailed question on a patient you've never taken care of that requires you to look up orders and lab results to answer. And then hunt down the nurse taking care of the patient who is no where in be found.

Or you get a stat med order. Wait 40 minutes for it. Not there. Call pharmacy. They sent it to the wrong place, but can't remember where, they'll send it again. Now it takes 20 minutes before it's on the floor again. Meanwhile doctor comes on unit and asked if med has helped yet. And you have to explain why you haven't given it yet.

I could go on all day, but these are the sorts of things that make nursing frustrating and keep you running back and forth.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Aug 18, 2012

After you've been through school, passed the NCLEX, received your registration, AND worked for at least 6 months, then you'll have a better idea what a nurse deals with. Nursing wouldn't be as demanding, except most places are understaffed with too many redundant forms. So yes, nursing is that hard.