the nurse i dont wanna be

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As a nursing student and pca I have encountered the nurses I will be never be. Why are some nurses so freakin miserable? Why pick a career you hate? Smdh :confused:

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I know what you are talking about, I have seen several!

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I totally agree but they are generally the ones who do it or keep doing it for the money. On the other hand, they may have encountered a lot of bad nurses. Maybe they have seen so many nurses who don't like their jobs and complain about it a lot but still have been promoted. I'm sure it can a little frustrating for them and probably just give up being nice and happy. Your co workers really make or break the job for you. At least that's what I think.

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I see it a lot, too! Honestly, I think it's a phase that each of us will face. Let's just hope that we will be emotionally intelligent enough to make a change rather than stay in an area that obviously makes us unhappy!

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

i'm going to attempt to answer your question on the off chance that it really was a question and not just a complaint.

most nurses who stay at the bedside for any length of time go through one -- or several -- periods of "burnout." sometimes it takes a bit of time for the nurse in question to recognize the symptoms of burnout -- it often appears as if everyone around them is just stupid, lazy, ignorant or trying to pi$$ them off. a nurse in the early stages of burnout may appear to be a miserable nurse who hates her job and her life, but usually that's only a temporary phase. there are lots of remedies for burnout that i won't discuss here, but there are several threads you can google if you're interested.

once you have bills, a mortgage maybe, children to support and social obligations, it isn't all that easy to just quit your job and do something else even when and if you do recognize in yourself the symptoms of burnout. suzie may realize that she's burned out with the er and be actively seeking a med-surg job, but the only hospital that's hiring for med-surg is 75 miles away. she cannot move because of her custody agreement with her ex, and she cannot sell her house anyway. so she's stuck. while she works through her symptoms in another way, she may look like a nasty, mean or miserable nurse. in reality, she's a wonderful person and a font of knowledge for anyone who cares to ask her. and she's just waiting to be asked because honestly, mentoring is the only thing that's getting her through each day on the job.

angela may also look nasty and miserable . . . she's good to her patients, but her co-workers often catch the sharp edge of her tongue. her father is dying of cancer and her mother has alzheimer's, and she's caring for both of them in her home. she had triplets about four months ago, and one of them has a heart condition. her older son is autistic, and her brother was just killed, his wife went to jail and their 5 kids have come to live with angela and her husband as well. her husband makes decent money, but not enough to support 13 people all by himself, and they cannot really afford to hire a nanny either. mom and dad require constant care and supervision, and the brother's kids have issues. angela gets by on 2-4 hours of sleep a day and her life is one unending stressor after another.

when i was 25, i thought i knew everything. over the past 30 years i've discovered how little i actually know and how lucky i've been in my life. please have some -- and i'm using that word that i swore i'd never use -- compassion for these women. they can teach you a lot and one day you might actually be one of them.

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Bravo Ruby!

I've never known a nurse who started out hating their career or job, the hatred (and misery) came with time.

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

The nurse I don't want to be: the one who delegates all of their work to the aides/techs because she complains that she is too busy and then sits at the nurses station doing nothing.

My roommate is an RN at the hospital I work at. A girl just graduated with me 2 weeks ago and told her, "I can't wait until I can be an RN then I won't have to do this s*** anymore - no more bed baths or cleaning up patients." My roommate told her she is in for a rude awakening. When she told me this, I got really fired up!! :madface:

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Specializes in interested in Labor and Delivery.

I know right! There are a lot of nurses that does not like to do their work. I thought this was suppose to be team work. They really don't like to help assist. Oh yeah, I am nurse tech.

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I work with a nurse that makes our life at work very miserable.

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