Nurses don't have a hard job

There are, unfortunately, people who think that all we do is push pills and bedpans and write. Those people will never change their minds about us.

Oh....and we titrate that drip you're on. We hold your meds, call your doc for more. Monitor your labs, and call the doc again. Not to mention trying to make you comfortable in a not so comfortable enviroment. We do our best to make sure you stay alive. Period. We give blood..prepare patient's for procedure's. And yes...we have to document all of it. So maybe you don't get it when your bp is 200/115 or 70/30. Maybe the other patients don't get it either....but I am not a waitress, I don't prepare your meals, I am here to keep you safe.Isn't that the ultimate responsibility of the nurse?

Honestly I don't think I would say anything to this type of person. Stupid is as stupid does. Why bother?

At the most, I might say something like "it is interesting that that is your perception." Then I'd probably give a sly smile and move on.

...reminds me of what so many people's perceptions of a "new mom", oh you get to sleep all the time, must be getting caught up on your reading, blah, blah, blah...like the little one is a doll we play with at will.

Oh....and we titrate that drip you're on. We hold your meds, call your doc for more. Monitor your labs, and call the doc again. Not to mention trying to make you comfortable in a not so comfortable enviroment. We do our best to make sure you stay alive. Period. We give blood..prepare patient's for procedure's. And yes...we have to document all of it. So maybe you don't get it when your bp is 200/115 or 70/30. Maybe the other patients don't get it either....but I am not a waitress, I don't prepare your meals, I am here to keep you safe.Isn't that the ultimate responsibility of the nurse?

And we always get the blame no matter how hard and how much work we have done !

There are, unfortunately, people who think that all we do is push pills and bedpans and write. Those people will never change their minds about us.

And there have been days that I have felt like that is "all" I did all day bec there were too many patients, not enough staff or just a lot of issues with meds, and that by no means made it an easy day!!!

And that much more is said about night shift nurses. They do not realize that we work with less staff, less resource individuals and departments, no doctors on hand (sometimes a blessing), no one to call in to take the place of one of our folks who call in, and on and on. Sometimes the only satisfaction in my wonderful years of nursing was going home and knowing I did my best even if no other human being knew or recognized it. One needs to walk in the shoes of the nurse on one of those nights (or other shifts) that we packed 16 hrs. of work into 8 hrs. and then had a head nurse come in and the first question might be, "Why didn't you get that ua on patient so-and-so?" When there was bad weather and nurses called in, our HN would be on the phone at 4 p.m. making sure we night people would be in. Yet, when we are there at night and day shift calls in, no one was there to help us find replacements so we could go home. It only happened twice but in my years of night shift nursing, I ended up having to stay over and work a day shift because there were no replacements for me so I could go home. I wonder if this could have been a legal complaint? So my comments have gone beyond ungrateful visitors or patients and even into those of our own profession. My memories of the positive moments are with me and I will always love my profession.

I literally had a guy have the nerve to tell me that nurses don't have hard jobs. When I said I was tired, he asked "from what? All you guys do is sit behind a desk and write" I was so outraged I don't think I could even answer with a coherent word. I went thru alot of the things we have to do to ensure our patients health, assessment, and safety ( not leaving out cleaning up after incontinence) and he shut up quick. I asked him if he though putting on hip waders and elbow length gloves to clean up a patient who has had massive diarrhea incontinence sounded like an easy job to him.

Kellie

Tell him when he obtains the education and experience you have, then he can "sit behind the desk and write". I used to work in a nursing home and one day I offered to work as an aid as they had a call-off. I thought it would be great to work a whole day without any responsibility for a change. I asked another aid to help me with a 2 person assist pt. This aid did not know me or my position. She starts telling me about how "Those nurses are so lazy, they have such an easy job, I work as a "Q" and I know there's nothing to do after you pass meds". I told her that I was a nurse and I could promise her that she sat that day and the other nurse was twice as busy makeing health assessments and documenting it, making appointments, doing all the treatments on her own pts as well as the pts the "Q" gave meds to since a "Q" did not have the education to complete all the other tasks her pts required that day. That shut her up and she hated me after that. Who cares. Bottom feeders always think they work harder.

Yeah...my husband, of all people made a stupid comment like, " How can you say you're tired?" "All you do is pass pills and sit at a desk." Never mind that I was 9 months pregnant and working 12 hour shifts on a busy tele/ stepdown unit, day shift. He changed his tune after eating Banquet TV dinners for a couple days. LOL!!!!!

Don't forget about sticking people with needles like a million times a day, constantly monitoring the ICP, CVP, PWP...oh and did I forget to leave out the overdose patients, trauma victims who need ALL your attention...hmm the list could go on....yea and we don't do nothing..haha that's a joke! I feel like I work as hard as I can and still it is not enough!

Yeah...my husband, of all people made a stupid comment like, " How can you say you're tired?" "All you do is pass pills and sit at a desk." Never mind that I was 9 months pregnant and working 12 hour shifts on a busy tele/ stepdown unit, day shift. He changed his tune after eating Banquet TV dinners for a couple days. LOL!!!!!

Oh WOW, is he still upright? (I'dve been tempted to deck him)

Halinja,

I agree, and home cooking wouldn't be the only thing he'd of been deprived of in my house!!!