Nurses...Miserable?

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I am finishing up my first undergraduate degree and starting immediately into an accelerated BSN. Most people don't understand why I have decided to make this switch. Until recently, I didn't let it bother me.. because I had done some soul-searching and I have a plan - one that I am quite happy with. Today, however, my friend made a stupid generalization that really angered me. I was talking about the nursing program I'll be starting and she said, "That's so funny, I really can't see you being a nurse. Every nurse I know is miserable." Now I know I will get some fired-up responses because of that line...and that's what I want to hear!! I want to know that my friend was wrong, that she made an uneducated, sweeping generalization. I know a lot of venting goes on in this forum, and after being on here a few months I've read both stress-ed out threads as well as ones describing greatly fulfilling experiences. I just want to be reassured that there are many nurses out there that love their jobs! I also really want to have a good attitude going into this program... any tips on how to approach my first clinicals? Should I be prepared to become thick-skinned? I know I'm going to experience some stressful situations as a student and I don't want to be scared away!

Specializes in oncology, trauma, home health.
i wonder if the bus boy at bob evans restraunt realizes that there are many of us, degreed, college educated health care professionals who, given the chance, would trade jobs in a minute.- providing of course i would keep my current pay. i was happier as a dish washer at the local country club than i have been for much of my nursing career. when things are running as they are supposed to nursing has a lot of job satisfaction.

when management makes foolish decisions that obstruct my ability to provide the best care, when families are unreasonalbe, when the docs are rabid, when i can't get out of my car when i get home in the morning because my knees and back feel like they are broken- scraping garbage into a bus pan and calling off when it's a sunny day just for a day off sounds so much better.

i honestly thing the "many people" who would like to be doing what i am doing in my career would only feel that way because they haven't done it!

that is why you have to choose a career that you are passionate about. nursing is a calling. if you aren't called to do it, you will run at the drop of a dime. i don't know if you are a christian or not, but there is an anointing to do certain professions. people have to be anointed to be a nurse, and if you are anointed to do the profession there will be a gentle ease. i suggest people to do what they are naturally passionate about. when you are passionate about something, it isn't work for you. you will love it so much that you could do it for free! i think that many people get caught up into what nurses make and not actually sit back an evaluate the profession.

nursing isn't for everyone. people need to get before god, and ask what he would have them to do. he will lead and guide you in the path you should take. i actually feel that i'm supposed to do nursing. it has to be a desire from god because my whole family can't see why i would want to be a nurse. lol i am very creative and have a strong sense for fashion, and my family feels that nursing is totally opposite from my personality. they feel that i need to direct my career towards fashion and move to new york, atlanta, or some major city. yet, there is a desire for me to be a nurse, and i know that god has a purpose for me to become one. anyway, if you feel the need to switch careers, do so! it is never too late to go back to school and try something else.

my calling from god couldn't afford me a bachelor's.

i am grateful for having come so far. i am grateful for the lives of the people i have met. i don't think it is god's calling for me to have to re-insert that rectal tube for the 7th time, restrain the drunk, argue with the resident, reinforce the tape on the leaking wound vac for the 800th time, re-prime the tubing to get that pump to stop beeping, or take a verbal lashing from a family member.

try med-surg for a year and then tell me how you see god in your daily life. i see him when i get home and know i have 3 days off.

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Concentrate on only what u want 2 do.

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that is why you have to choose a career that you are passionate about. nursing is a calling. if you aren't called to do it, you will run at the drop of a dime. i don't know if you are a christian or not, but there is an anointing to do certain professions. people have to be anointed to be a nurse, and if you are anointed to do the profession there will be a gentle ease. i suggest people to do what they are naturally passionate about. when you are passionate about something, it isn't work for you. you will love it so much that you could do it for free! i think that many people get caught up into what nurses make and not actually sit back an evaluate the profession.

i've read all of your posts and it seems that you really have all the answers. until you walk a day in a nurse's shoes, i don't think that you can fairly evaluate why and how nurses get burnt out. it is ideas such as the above that contribute to the many problems within the nursing profession. i am a christian, but i don't believe that nursing is a calling. nursing is a profession just like law, medicine, accounting, teaching, or any other profession. because nursing is a profession, we deserve to be compensated fairly for our work. the idea of nursing being a calling is what contributes to the low pay and poor working conditions. after all, if something is a calling, such conditions should be tolerated. irregardless, your thinking is illogical. even in professions that are thought of as a calling, such as clergy, i'm certain that there are challenges and there is no "gentle ease" about it.

you are quite right about nursing being on a different level from other jobs that you have had. in nursing, you are at times literally dealing with life or death situations. when nurses are new, it is not unusual to experience the intense emotions of fear or anxiety that you describe. it takes awhile for a new nurse to acclimate to the idea of being responsible for another individual's life for 12+ hours. the vast majority nurses do overcome these anxieties (or move onto a different type of nursing) and i'm certain that the posts you are reading about panic attacks and throwing up before work are coming mostly from new nurses.

i don't believe that all nurses are miserable. many nurses are dissatisfied with the current conditions in health care and within the profession. i was very unhappy until i found my niche in nursing. the wonderful thing about nursing is that there are many different options.

by the way, what do you mean that your "wisdom isn't worldly"?

okay, this is becoming redundant. the same things are being said over and over. after this statement, i'm finished with this thread. i've got the answers that i needed from this board, and that's not to become a nurse. i'm free and i have enough common sense not to go into a profession that's a hostile environment. every where nurses turn, they aren't appreciated . there is disrespect from the administration, doctors, family members, and patients. in the hiearchy of the hospital, janitors might receive more respect and appreciation. yes, there is a hierarchy system in the hospital and from the average person's point of view, nurses are not at the top. so i can see why there is a lot of resentment going on because nurses have sacrificed a lot to not receive any appreciation. anyway, i wish everyone well in their endeavors and i'm finished with this thread. :)

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That isn't true of the nurses I've been in contact with and its the reason I am going to be an RN. My friends who have nursing carreers are caring well rounded and they love their jobs. Yeah they have bad days but no matter what u make of your carreer you will definitely have hard times because nothing is perfect. All you have to remember is that you are doing what you truly love for yourself only.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
I'm not referring to this thread in particular. I'm referring to the allnurses website all together. There are a lot of threads that nursing are venting about their jobs. There are only a few positive threads compared to the vast majority of negative threads. Yes, I understand that people complain about their jobs but it isn't to this extent that I"m reading on this allnurses.com website. I have had previous jobs that I cried before going to work, but never to the point as some people have described throwing up and having panic attacks. (referring to other threads) I've heard other people complain about their jobs but not like how nurses complain. It's at another level of discontentment and that's scary.

This is true, we do come here to vent our concerns and there are people that have panic attack that aren't pretty and those people frighten me and saddened me. But overall, most of us are dealing and asking for support in how to deal further.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

okay, this is becoming redundant. the same things are being said over and over. after this statement, i'm finished with this thread. i've got the answers that i needed from this board, and that's not to become a nurse. i'm free and i have enough common sense not to go into a profession that's a hostile environment. every where nurses turn, they aren't appreciated . there is disrespect from the administration, doctors, family members, and patients. in the hiearchy of the hospital, janitors might receive more respect and appreciation. yes, there is a hierarchy system in the hospital and from the average person's point of view, nurses are not at the top. so i can see why there is a lot of resentment going on because nurses have sacrificed a lot to not receive any appreciation. anyway, i wish everyone well in their endeavors and i'm finished with this thread. :)

take another picture. read a nursing journal and you'll find some inspiring stories. daily nurses make differences in people's lives. we nearly always top polls when the public is polled "what's the most honest profession" (you'd think preachers would be at the top of that list).

students by the thousands are on waiting lists around the country wanting to become nurses.

granted, it's a tough demanding and backbreaking job, and some people do drop out, but the backbone of the nursing profession are hardworking individuals committed to their patients and finding rewards where than can.

it's almost as if you're coming to a nursing forum to try to convince us how miserable we are. some people are and that's sad for them. i can't speak for anyone else, but i'm stressed and i'm tired, but life is too short and i'm too self-actualized to be miserable.

i know you're done with this thread, but that's my two cents.

peace out.

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Specializes in oncology, trauma, home health.

okay, this is becoming redundant. the same things are being said over and over. after this statement, i'm finished with this thread. i've got the answers that i needed from this board, and that's not to become a nurse. i'm free and i have enough common sense not to go into a profession that's a hostile environment. every where nurses turn, they aren't appreciated . there is disrespect from the administration, doctors, family members, and patients. in the hiearchy of the hospital, janitors might receive more respect and appreciation. yes, there is a hierarchy system in the hospital and from the average person's point of view, nurses are not at the top. so i can see why there is a lot of resentment going on because nurses have sacrificed a lot to not receive any appreciation. anyway, i wish everyone well in their endeavors and i'm finished with this thread. :)

hey,

i know this is going to come across as negative, but how can you start a post saying that it is your divine calling from god to become a nurse and after reading a thread on a website you have now decided it isn't? just because some people have hard days (and lives for that matter) their opinions shouldn't be considered divine intervention for your life's calling.

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Not miserable here. Happy to be a nurse. Yes some days are trying. I have my moments but miserable I definately not.

There are those people who are miserable and would be weather they were nurses, or wives of millionaires. I have family members (two that married into our family) that have always been and always will be unhappy no matter what.

I work with an LVN who does nothing but complain and criticize management. He does not know how to be anyother way. We have come to learn this is him and to ignore this behavior and attitude.

Yep that is it attitude.

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okay, this is becoming redundant. the same things are being said over and over. after this statement, i'm finished with this thread. i've got the answers that i needed from this board, and that's not to become a nurse. i'm free and i have enough common sense not to go into a profession that's a hostile environment. every where nurses turn, they aren't appreciated . there is disrespect from the administration, doctors, family members, and patients. in the hiearchy of the hospital, janitors might receive more respect and appreciation. yes, there is a hierarchy system in the hospital and from the average person's point of view, nurses are not at the top. so i can see why there is a lot of resentment going on because nurses have sacrificed a lot to not receive any appreciation. anyway, i wish everyone well in their endeavors and i'm finished with this thread. :)

did you not say it was a calling for you to become a nurse no matter how bad the job itself was? and now, after reading this thread, decided it was not much of a calling, not worthy pursuing and you must've misheard the god?

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Specializes in acute care.
That isn't true of the nurses I've been in contact with and its the reason I am going to be an RN. My friends who have nursing carreers are caring well rounded and they love their jobs. Yeah they have bad days but no matter what u make of your carreer you will definitely have hard times because nothing is perfect. All you have to remember is that you are doing what you truly love for yourself only.

:yeahthat:

Of all the nurses I know (family and friends), only ONE (one of my aunts)has told me that they don't like their job, and tried to discourage me from pursuing nursing. The rest like being nurses. My closest friends are fairly new nurses, about 4-5 years. Honestly, the only complaints they make to me are about nasty patients. Never once have they said they hate their job. Every time I ask, "What if I go through all this and I don't like it?" I am told that it will all be worth it.

Maybe I will like nursing, maybe I won't. But I won't know until I try.

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Boy vanillavirture... you seem to have all the answers. :uhoh3:

Funny how people who are not nurses just seem to know what the score is in nursing huh?:chuckle:bugeyes:

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Actually, I'm a Christian and I don't understand much of what you said either.

I also read all of your comments. For someone who has yet to work as a nurse, you sound very righteous and at times condescending.

While I'm still a student, I hardly feel that I have much to say as to why some nurses would/could feel miserable (or not). Until you've walked in their shoes... you should probably keep those comments to yourself. They won't be taken well by most. Good luck to you though.:rolleyes:

:yeah:

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