Nurses, how do you view your job?

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Jun 30, 2015

Good lord. You aren't doing yourself any favors posting this thread, OP.

I am a new grad. Young. I came into nursing for practical reasons...helping people is just a bonus. Yes, nursing is "just a job." Work is called work for a reason.

I deal with a very rough patient population. The vast majority are extremely rude, entitled and noncompliant clients who treat the nursing staff like crap. Just the other day, I broke down in tears because out of the five patients I was caring for, four of them were complete nasty, malicious jerks. Even my preceptors agreed that this assignment was unusually ridiculous.

But then I asked myself, why am I here? Surely not to be some butthead's punching bag. As my grandmother always says, "you don't have to take them home with you." You know what is a great motivator? Having financial stability. Great health insurance. A pension. Other fantastic benefits. The ability to help my single mother with her bills and mortgage and to help my special needs brother. To be able to live comfortably and live without deprivation.

Seeing nursing for what it is has helped me survive a brutal unit...not the intangible. If I wanted to help someone, there are many avenues besides nursing. Why aren't doctors shaming each other into being martyrs? Why is this calling only tied to nurses?

A nurse must be competent and safe. While it is nice to care, altruism in this profession is a guaranteed one-way ticket to burn out town. If I only came to be a martyr, I would have quit my job last week.

Nurses are professionals, not saints. The sooner you learn now, the better.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Jun 30, 2015

Nurses are professionals, not saints. The sooner you learn now, the better.

THIS!!!

And believed me, all I ever wanted to be was a nurse; I studied hard and researched and found out that I had the flexibility to work three days a week, not be a 9-5 job and could work at night were pluses for me, even as an adolescent.

It's my 15th year in healthcare next week; I learned early on how healthcare has become a corporate machine for it's survival-for the worse, good or indifferent 15 years ago. Having that knowledge and looking at it practically has kept me in this business without burnout...as long as I am able to do my job competently, everything else is secondary, even altruistic reasons; that doesn't mean I don't dry tears give hugs, hi-five, pounds, stickers, and give people a laugh :nono: ; having that perspective ALLOWS me to be able to do those things AND MORE.

I also have been paid well due to my knowledge of the business and have been an independent contractor and commanded to be paid handsomely for what I do; I do this every time unapologetically because I have no qualms being paid for the work that I do; pts keep me in business and living comfortably.

Red Kryptonite · Jun 30, 2015

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?

I think if you hadn't lied about being a new nurse when asked, things would have gone better for you on the other thread. Pretty stupid lie, too, considering that you had posted on this very message board about being brand new as of this month. So easily checkable.

Then, when challenged, you went right to, "I'd never want you for my nurse!" which regular posters here see so often, from exactly the same kind of poster, that you might as well be waving a red flag emblazoned with, "I've been a nurse for five minutes."

Part of the reason for the response you got is that we've seen that so many times, and you followed exactly the same script, like it's written down somewhere. It gets tiring for experienced nurses to be harangued by holier-than-thou whipper-snappers, and they're only human. They react. Think about respect a little, the next time you want to spout off like that.

SquishyRN, BSN, RN · Jun 30, 2015

Good lord. You aren't doing yourself any favors posting this thread, OP.
I am a new grad. Young. I came into nursing for practical reasons...helping people is just a bonus. Yes, nursing is "just a job." Work is called work for a reason.
I deal with a very rough patient population. The vast majority are extremely rude, entitled and noncompliant clients who treat the nursing staff like crap. Just the other day, I broke down in tears because out of the five patients I was caring for, four of them were complete nasty, malicious jerks. Even my preceptors agreed that this assignment was unusually ridiculous.
But then I asked myself, why am I here? Surely not to be some butthead's punching bag. As my grandmother always says, "you don't have to take them home with you." You know what is a great motivator? Having financial stability. Great health insurance. A pension. Other fantastic benefits. The ability to help my single mother with her bills and mortgage and to help my special needs brother. To be able to live comfortably and live without deprivation.
Seeing nursing for what it is has helped me survive a brutal unit...not the intangible. If I wanted to help someone, there are many avenues besides nursing. Why aren't doctors shaming each other into being martyrs? Why is this calling only tied to nurses?
A nurse must be competent and safe. While it is nice to care, altruism in this profession is a guaranteed one-way ticket to burn out town. If I only came to be a martyr, I would have quit my job last week.
Nurses are professionals, not saints. The sooner you learn now, the better.

If only I can like this a million times.

SWM2009 · Jun 30, 2015

It is a job and it is most certainly not a calling. Do I lose points for that?

Red Kryptonite · Jun 30, 2015

It is a job and it is most certainly not a calling. Do I lose points for that?

Apparently, with some people, yes:

Being a nurse is a privilege. And a calling. If your feelings aren't in it at all, what kind of nurse can you be? If I am going to be a great nurse, I want to be able to put myself in their shoes and give them the best care they deserve, the kind that I would want. There once was a day where nurses were kind, considerate, empathetic, caring, and felt compassionate for the ones they cared for. I didn't get into this profession to just keep people alive. I entered this profession because I care a great deal about people.

ak2190 · Jun 30, 2015

Please come back to this thread again in a year or two and update us. Please.

Marshall1 · Jun 30, 2015

ThePrincessBride, BSN, RN - I agree with you 1000 percent...I will would also like to add new nurses (a year or less) are by and large going to view nursing MUCH differently than they will in 5 years, 10 years or like some of us, more than 20.

Maybe, if like some on here, I felt I was "born" to be a nurse I would feel differently..even this far down the healthcare road, but the truth is, at this point, if I could find something out of nursing that would pay about the same without having to go back to school and take on more debt, I'd do it and not think twice. Maybe the benefit for new nurses is they don't know how nursing use to be - when profits, get the patient in/out, customer service and documenting vitals signs in 14 different places because of some new insurance regulation has kicked is was not the norm and having the ability to spend more than a few minutes educating the patient and family about the disease process or medications was a reality, where nurses could know the patient understood or didn't and could adjust from there - not "here's your discharge paperwork along with a list of medications to continue taking, stop taking and new ones" and a print out of what you had done, etc.

Nursing in many areas has also turned into extensions of the business/billing area of healthcare - and frankly, if I wanted a business degree I would've gone that route.

It saddens me to see patients and staff get the short end but, at least where I live/work, those are the facts. As the song goes "the thrill is gone" - for me anyway...it's a job. Period. Sad but true.

klone, MSN, RN · Jun 30, 2015

What I do for a living defines, for a large part, who I am as a person. It is absolutely not "just a job" for me.

I do not feel it's a "calling" because I know if I were an attorney or a physician, I would feel the same.

But my personality is such that what I do for a living, I dedicate 110% of myself, and it's always with me, even when I'm off the clock.

I will also add that a good part of why I feel this way is likely because I'm also in school, and have been for the past 5 years. So even when I'm not at work, I'm living and breathing nursing in all of my non-work hours and have been for what seems like forever. There is no separation. Maybe that will change when I'm done with my program.

Anna S, RN · Jun 30, 2015

Nursing was not just a job for me when I was a new grad, and it's still not, nearly 25 years later. Being a nurse is part of who I am.

klone, MSN, RN · Jun 30, 2015

P.S. I didn't read the other thread. Apparently I'm missing some backstory?

ETA: Just because it's not "just a job" for me does not mean I feel that others for whom it IS "just a job" can't be excellent, awesome nurses. Sometimes having the attitude of "just a job" makes one a better, more competent nurse, especially in places like the ED or ICU when objective skill is so very important.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Jun 30, 2015

It is "just a job". I do it to make a living.

That said, the way i do it can have a profound effect on people and I hope i do it in such a way so that the effect is a positive one and the people whose lives I touch feel as though it was a very positive experience. I work very hard to try to ensure this. All the while knowing that sometimes I won't succeed despite my best and hardest efforts.