Nursing is not what it is made out to be..

Nurses General Nursing

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If your thinking of going to school to become a nurse please take a moment to reflect on my experiences during the 17 years I have been in nursing. To be honest up front, nurses are treated like dogs. If you have the compassion to take care of others then thats awesome but I must warn you that no one is going to foster that compassion once your in the real world. You will be expected to never make a single error and even to the point as having to consistently correct a physicians mistake. Oh yea, thats right. You must tell the physicians what needs to be done all the time and catch all their errors or else you the nurse will be punished or scolded. Most of you who are not a nurse probably think nursing is very rewarding. Wrong again. Nurses are not commended for a good job done because it is expected even when you correct errors there is no special recognition. Also the attitudes of todays patients aren't very grateful but can be downright mean and hateful towards nurses. Furthermore, physicians hardy even assess their patients adequately leaving you to wonder if the doctor really saw everything with the patient that needs to be assessed. For instants any skin issues or wounds. Most of what is the duty of the MD the nurses wind up doing.

Look, I can go on and on but here is some helpful info to help you decide if you wanna be a nurse for the rest of your lives.

Do a google search for "the truth about nursing" and see what comes up. This is a great way to see just how awful the nursing profession is.

Thank you, and good luck choosing a career.

I would really like to thank the OP for this post. I have worked all over the country and been working in hospitals for 30 years. I started as a nurses aid. There have been sweeping changes in our profession. Some of the workplace environment issues that the OP has highlighted are impacted by staffing ratios. When nurses are less overworked, there is more time for a supportive work environment. I believe places like CA have a far better workplace culture than places "like Texas" for instance. Right to work states are difficult for nurses. No unions or legislated staffing ratios. I have personally worked on a unit where our nurse manager got a "bonus" if she came in under budget. Since nurses are a major part of the budget, she would intentionally work us short. I believe this was in order to "come in under budget". I have seen this sort of unethical behavior right down the line with management. Starting with the people in the highest places. This has not been my experience everywhere. I worked in WA State and worked for a very ethical organization there, and did not see this sort of thing happening. So, you cannot exactly generalize. I have tried to leave the nursing field a few times. I actually have two separate resumes currently, but finding work is sometimes difficult.

So, this is my takeaway. We all must band together, those of us miserable, and those of us happy in our jobs. We all must work politically to mandate nurse/patient ratios. In my 30 yr career I have rarely been able to take my breaks for instance. This is just plain wrong. It is not a "badge" or a "sign of a good nurse"... We deserve time to mentally recover from the very emotional things we witness each and every shift.

I'm so confused. You say being a nurse "sucks" but "Np for the win!!!" What is the first word in NP? Isn't it nurse? So doesn't that make you a nurse? So you completely contradicted yourself.

Oops. I guess youre right, to a degree. Let me rephrase what I said. Being a registered nurse does suck.. Np for the win!!

Specializes in Med Surg.
Just as a reminder, I wasn't asking for anyones opinion or discussion.e.

So naturally you chose a discussion board.

For crimony sake.

Specializes in Psychiatric and emergency nursing.

Perhaps you were aiming for bedside nurse? Ya know, since we NPs are still nurses, and are registered to boot!

Oops. I guess youre right, to a degree. Let me rephrase what I said. Being a registered nurse does suck.. Np for the win!!
Just as a reminder, I wasn't asking for anyones opinion or discussion.

It doesn't really make a difference whether you specifically asked for opinions, or not. More often than not, it's just what naturally follows when you decide to make a post on a discussion board.

I'm not sure what you expected or hoped would happen. Did you just want to be able to warn/discourage people from joining the nursing profession (and preferrably not have that quest impeded by other posters offering a different perspective/opinion)?

Most of you who are not a nurse probably think nursing is very rewarding. Wrong again.

The thing is; some people who actually are nurses do find the job rewarding. Obviously not everyone as evidenced by your post, but I personally do. So, don't you think it's important that someone considering to join our profession, gets to hear from many different nurses?

You will be expected to never make a single error and even to the point as having to consistently correct a physicians mistake.

Furthermore, physicians hardy even assess their patients adequately leaving you to wonder if the doctor really saw everything with the patient that needs to be assessed.

You really seem to harbor some sort of resentment towards physicians. I just skimmed the previous thread that you started on this subject and I don't really agree with most of what you said. Of course I haven't worked with the docs that you have, and perhaps I've been more fortunate. I think that this feeling that nurses are doing all the hard work, including half of the physician's workload, and that physician's hardly do anything is wrong. I have to wonder if it isn't a case of not knowing what you don't know. I think that the majority of physicians work very hard.

Nurses are not commended for a good job done because it is expected even when you correct errors there is no special recognition.

There are very few jobs, if any, where constant recognition and praise is heaped upon you. Eventhough I appreciate it, I don't really expect being praised on a regular basis for simply doing what's in my job description. But I do feel that I fairly often receive acknowledgement from both coworkers of different professions as well as from patients. I have on many occasions gotten a sincere thank you from my physician coworkers when I've caught something that they missed/forgot. They don't wish harm to our patients any more than I do, so of course they are grateful that I caught it. They are only human and they often carry a heavy patient load with lots of responsibilities, so of course they'll make mistakes. We all do.

I don't think the answer realistically is to leave as I have worked very hard to be where I am today and have spent a lot of time and money to go to school. I know I am just one life but its mine and I am not about to flush everything down the drain.

Where is the compassion for the people who are expected to be the most compassionate people in the world so to speak? "If we don't like it then just get out"?. If I took that approach with a patient I'd be fired. Why can't someone understand us as we are to be sooo understanding of others?

You are absolutely correct. It's your life and your decision. You've made it very clear that your dominant feeling towards nursing is negative. You've started more than one thread on the topic. Despite all this, you've decided that you'll stay in the profession. What you perceive as lack of compassion in the responses that you've gotten, is probably a bit of frustration from posters that you're not really owning your decision.

I understand that it's hard to just walk away from a job when you've invested time and money into it, but staying is still your choice. For some reason you've decided that it's the lesser of two evils. I think you need to make peace with your decision, otherwise I suspect that you'll remain unhappy. The constant negativity is in all honesty a bit off-putting and is likely what's generated the answers that you don't find sufficiently "compassionate".

I forgot to mention that you will be working with a ton of vicious, ruthless, and egotistical folks you will have as coworker... :-)

Seeing as you posted this after receiving several replies that you seemed to disagree with, this post sounds passive-aggressive. Was that your intent or am I reading you wrong?

Specializes in LTC.

macawake, I think that's exactly how that post was intended -- and some others here misread it. I got it immediately.

I am sorry you have had such an awful experience as a nurse. I have seen both the extremely negative and extremely positive sides of nursing. I'd have to say that the environments which foster the negative side of nursing (featuring degradation and punitive treatment, as you mention in your post) do nothing to foster safe patient outcomes. Those environments are the most unsafe for patients and nurses alike.

I really believe the best care institutions are ones wherein the care giver is taken into account. The nursing home I work at has a great care philosophy guiding its care. The only kind of place I'd want to work or have a loved one cared for is one where the people are treated well, irregardless of whether they are wearing a johnny shift or scrubs.

I have read some interesting research RE disciplinary action taken against nurses vs. disciplinary action taken against physicians, which does not contradict your assertions. I have not done enough research to really say for sure, but it does seem like nurses are made to be accountable and face disciplinary action moreso than physicians.

I've tried on several occasions to sway unsuspecting friends and family members from going to nursing school. I hate to discourage people, but certainly there are better ways to make a living. :/ I do appreciate the redeeming aspects of nursing; taking care of patients offers some of the most interesting & satisfying work around, you can meet and work with some pretty awesome people, it's very flexible as far as the kind of work you can do, and the pay is okay/decent, especially if you have seniority. All that being said, I can honestly say I'm not sure it's worth the emotional and physical bludgeoning you take nearly every time you walk through the hospital door. Chronic understaffing makes already difficult work a lot harder--and it hurts the patients--and that just *sucks.* I like being at bedside, but I'm SO glad I'm not just starting out. Due to finances I have a number of years in front of me (God willing), but at least there is light at the end of the nursing tunnel. I can't imagine doing this another 20. OMG.

Specializes in Emergency.

Hmmm...this begs of one of the best Don Draper lines...when questioned why he never acknowledged or "pats" his employee on the back or even thanks them...he says..rather gruffly: "THATS WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR" as in...quit your whining...do your job...its America...capitalism...who cares about "recognition" your employer certainly does not.

Specializes in ER.
Hmmm...this begs of one of the best Don Draper lines...when questioned why he never acknowledged or "pats" his employee on the back or even thanks them...he says..rather gruffly: "THATS WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR" as in...quit your whining...do your job...its America...capitalism...who cares about "recognition" your employer certainly does not.

Don Draper was an amoral jerk. I suggest that unbridled capitalism is not the the best way to live. I love and appreciate America but we can certainly do better than we are...

What makes me not like my career at times is not patient care or even the technical skills, it is my coworkers and hospital management. Bullying is a huge issue, doesn't matter if you are a new or experienced nurse. Thankfully, I have not been bullied much. But I've seen nurses get in screaming matches at the nurses station, belittling our techs, and taking advantage of nicer nurses. The worst I've seen is one of my coworkers being followed by another nurse into our lounge and yelled at. The way that I've seen some nurses treat each other would get them fired in another industry. Unless the issue is a patient related problem, HR cannot fire you just for nurse to nurse fights.

Specializes in LNA.

Just an FYI, as much as I would have loved to be able to quit that job, the unit director fired me instead. In hindsight she did me a favor!! I was so stressed out every day wondering who was going to throw me under the bus next.

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