Nurses, how do you view your job?

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I recently had a discussion with someone who views nursing as "just a job". But I feel it's more than that. They are using the fact that I am a new nurse against me and saying that basically I will eventually say it's " just a job". I never want to have that mentality though. I know that you get caregiver strain here and there and its hard work. But never could I picture saving lives as "just a job". Thoughts?

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I'm not getting involved unless there is NOBODY else there -- but there is usually someone with a "calling" to leap in and take charge.

I I would probably try to do something, but I draw the line at MVAs. I'll call 911, but that's it.

I've never had the "calling," either

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

It feels like a job now...when I first started out in nursing school and as a nurse it felt like a calling. Even though now it feels like a "job" I still really love and enjoy my work.

I love recognizing that someone is circling the drain and informing the doc of the patients status change and fixing the problem.

I love hearing "trauma alert" called over head and rushing to get caught up on my patients so I can go help.

I love the relationships I have with my coworkers and our "inside jokes."

I love when I can see what's going on with a patient and "guess" what the admission diagnosis is going to be and I get it right.

I love when I look at a patients labs and can tell what meds the doctor is going to order based off of those labs.

I love not knowing what something is or never hearing that diagnosis before and going home to look it up that night.

I love learning something new every day.

I love doctors who are willing to pull me aside and teach me things without being demeaning and genuinely caring and wanting to teach me.

I love when that patient who was a pain in the a** when they first walked in smiles and says; "Thank you."

I love collaborating with other members of the healthcare team and understanding what their role in the patient's process is.

I love the team work of nursing.

I really, really, really love my job.

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Complete honesty? I've viewed my profession in so many different ways over the years. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I wonder what the heck I'm doing. Sometimes I feel it's my calling. Sometimes I think the calling got the wrong number. Sometimes I'm just happy to get the check. Always I wish the check were bigger. (true story). Ask me on a bad day, I might bite your head off (sorry). Ask me on a good day, I might have amazing things to say. I might do both on the same day depending on the day.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

LOL---nope! Child-bearing, extensive extended nursing/pumping/donating Momma!!

DAMM! I was sure you were male! And I've even PM'd you about your user name!
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Can I say humbly and respectfully, "It's just a job"?

I am too a new nurse and I try to provide the best care as I can to each patient as the way I would like to receive if I were a patient. I am very compassionate and a caring person like many other nurses. But I don't have any fancy ideas of Nursing=saints/white angels.

I think reminding yourself, "It's just a job" is a healthy way of keeping the boundary and not to burn out so quickly in this tough working environment.

For me, nursing is just a job, a job that is mentally rewarding...

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Can I say humbly and respectfully, "It's just a job"?

I am too a new nurse and I try to provide the best care as I can to each patient as the way I would like to receive if I were a patient. I am very compassionate and a caring person like many other nurses. But I don't have any fancy ideas of Nursing=saints/white angels.

I think reminding yourself, "It's just a job" is a healthy way of keeping the boundary and not to burn out so quickly in this tough working environment.

For me, nursing is just a job, a job that is mentally rewarding...

Very well said!

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Complete honesty? I've viewed my profession in so many different ways over the years. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I wonder what the heck I'm doing. Sometimes I feel it's my calling. Sometimes I think the calling got the wrong number. Sometimes I'm just happy to get the check. Always I wish the check were bigger. (true story). Ask me on a bad day, I might bite your head off (sorry). Ask me on a good day, I might have amazing things to say. I might do both on the same day depending on the day.

This is perfection.

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Specializes in Oncology, Med/Surg, Hospice, Case Mgmt..

OP... How interesting... You took the conversation to another room and everyone followed. Wonder what that says? I have read quite a few of the posts and I find the debate interesting. I have been a nurse for 19 years and I still feel it was a calling for me and the day I think that this is "just a job", is the day I will want to quit. My husband recently had surgery and he had some wonderful nurses and some, not so much. I wonder if the latter were those just doing their "job". Obviously, you will burnout if you take all of your patients' problems and issues home every day, but you would be inhuman if you never did. You will take some of this stuff home with you and you will think about it when you are not at work. It is worse when you are a new nurse. What changes is how you learn to deal with it and trust me, you will. You will develop confidence in your abilities and decisions and you will have experiences to draw from. You will not question yourself so much. After that, what you will take home are the grateful expressions on the faces of the patients you care for and their family members. You will think about the kind things they said to you and the respect you will begin to earn from your co-workers and Physicians. Of course, I don't know any Nurses who are volunteering, so yes, we do get paid and it is a job. I think of it as a great job with some benefits that aren't listed on my paycheck stub. I hope you keep as much of the attitude you have now for as long as you can. If you do, you will be a great nurse with a great job.

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Specializes in PCU.

I just think there are two basic kinds of nurses: For some of us - me included it's what we do. For others it's what they are. If tomorrow someone told me I could no longer be a nurse that I had to find something else - okay it's been fun, I like it, but it's not the end of the world.

One isn't necessarily better than the other, and I don't think either view has a market on giving better care. It's just a point of view. But I have been doing that job for 30 years at the bedside and have seen a lot of those that think its a calling burn out in less than 5 - 10 years. Just saying maybe I can leave it at work easier?

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You hit the nail on the head! I've always said, and I really believe this: if you go into nursing for the "money" you will be dissatisfied! On the days that aren't crazy, we aren't worth what we get. On the days from H___ we are worth 10x times what we get. Yep you're nutty one day, compassionate one day and counting hrs another day. 37 years, majority in ED, I think I can speak to this one.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
You hit the nail on the head! I've always said, and I really believe this: if you go into nursing for the "money" you will be dissatisfied! On the days that aren't crazy, we aren't worth what we get. On the days from H___ we are worth 10x times what we get. Yep you're nutty one day, compassionate one day and counting hrs another day. 37 years, majority in ED, I think I can speak to this one.

I think you're wrong. In my forty years, it's been the nurses who have "the calling" who burn out the fastest. If you're in it for the money, at least you're still getting paid when all you're dealing with is nutty and when you're "making a difference."

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These individuals are not serious and must be many of the nurses who hop from job to job because it is just a job. I cannot count the number of times I have to go beyond the call of duty, and I did that because I am a nurse, and I have a legal obligation to my patients. Furthermore, I am accountable for every decision that I made and every action that I take. Opinions differ; but nursing is more than a job.

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