Nursing is a passion?

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I am aware of this being a touchy topic on AN, but my school has a nursing information session and within the session they state that nursing is more than just a steady income, it is a passion. You need to be passionate and able to set aside your problems to help somebody in "what could be the worst day of their life." Thoughts?

Specializes in Short Term/Skilled.
IMHO, a passion is something that you do solely because you love it. Exercising is my passion. I don't get paid to do it, in fact I pay money out of my own pocket to do it (gym membership). How many nurses would show up to work if they were told that they won't be getting paid for it?

I would, and plan to. I really do forget I'll eventually get a paycheck when I graduate. I just really, really, really like it. Well, most of it.

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Specializes in Short Term/Skilled.
That's not true. If you have character and strong work ethic you will do your job as best you can, passion or no.

Notice I said "more likely" and not "always" I just think that's the difference, that's all. I recognize most nurses didn't choose this profession because it's a passion of theirs, I was just stating what I think the difference is.

Doesn't mean that you have to have a passion for being a nurse in order to be a good one and it doesn't mean you're a good nurse because you have a passion for it.

I never said you had to be passionate to be a nurse, I recognize most nurses don't fit that mold and I was merely answering the question.

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Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.
Before I started working as a rn I would have said the same thing - nursing is a passion, a calling. However, the exhausting, thankless, fraustrating, draining nature of the job has made into just a paycheck.

I personally don't mind dealing with practical aspects of nursing, but the human elements and the physical toll gets me every time.

And I think we have helped dig ourselves into this hole of unsafe patient ratios and terrible work environments by accepting the idea that nursing is a calling. Of course, the problem is much wider and deeper than that issue alone.

Fair enough. Very reasonable.

But if you win the lotto or something and the job market falls apart are you done with midwifery?

You don't need the money, there are no paying jobs to be had, all the OB's took them, and you would not seek out a way to practice in some volunteer fashion, for maybe the uninsured?

I'm not going to believe you if you say yes, because you love it and it's more than the monetary compensation for you. Maybe not for most on this board but I don't believe you could stay away from it.

100% absolutely I would still work if I became independently wealthy. I wouldn't, like, volunteer to work for free at a job I would normally accept compensation for because that is crazy. If I won the lottery I would keep my full time job at Planned Parenthood, no question. I love my work deeply and get great satisfaction- personally and professionally- from my job and my association with the Federation.

If the economy collapsed or the apocalypse came or Planned Parenthood was run into the ground by the GOP (which will never, ever happen), then I would still midwife. It's what I do. If I was independently wealthy I would open a free clinic. If society collapsed I would trade my midwifing for nuts and berries or whatever. This is the only work I know, and I couldn't NOT do it any more than I could stop being a mother to my kids.

If anyone has a passion or a calling for anything, it's me. I am invested in my work 100% and find profound joy and satisfaction in it. Hell, I even turned down two jobs with much higher pay to take this position in public health.

My issue with labeling any profession as a "calling" is that it gives an excuse to accept a terrible work environment and inadequate compensation because we should be grateful for the opportunity to follow our "passion." It also creates an assumption that you need to be passionate about wiping butts and calling a provider at 2am to get an order for a cough drop, or else you are a soulless nurse. Nope. I won't accept a dysfunctional work environment no matter how invested I am in midwifery. And while I think my love of midwifery helps me be a great clinician, there are certain downsides to this level of emotional investment which I have to work to compensate for. Burn out is a risk for anyone who puts that much of themselves into a job- and that's part of why I am so vehement about this whole thing. Passion + a crappy work environment is a recipe for quick burn out. It's not necessarily a good thing that my early morning dozy dreams are almost always about pap smears and the patient I forgot to call back last night and the test i just realized I should have run and the patient with a suspicious breast mass who has been lost to care.

If I faced a work day where I was double booked every day, with poorly trained staff and admin who couldn't care less if I was staying late every day to chart and do follow up, I would be circling the drain already. But instead, I work at a place that seems to genuinely care about their employees' well being and professional growth, and it is unfortunate that I feel so damn lucky to have found a job like this. My experience should be the norm, not the exception.

A little less passion and a little more pragmatism is a good thing.

ETA- there's a difference between claiming a personal passion for nursing, and claiming that the nursing profession *itself* is a calling. It's the latter that is a problem.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

Glad I found this topic and no longer feel alone. I've had 3 jobs as a nurse all completely different settings and specialities.....I despised my first two and the 3rd, which I still have, makes me really unhappy and stressed out 90% the days I work. I had ONE interest and that was to be a plastic surgery nurse, in a small office and be the surgeons first hand and main nurse...once I got out of school I realized I have zero chance in hell of that ever happening. I've been told a 1000 times *as they chuckle at me for being so naive* that I'll need to pay my dues in the hospital and work years at jobs that I'll hate and then maybe, just maybe I'll stumble across an opening at a surgeons office.

Sorry for the rant. Basically, zero passion but it pays very well which is why I won't leave.

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Specializes in Pediatric Oncology Hopeful.
Glad I found this topic and no longer feel alone. I've had 3 jobs as a nurse all completely different settings and specialities.....I despised my first two and the 3rd, which I still have, makes me really unhappy and stressed out 90% the days I work. I had ONE interest and that was to be a plastic surgery nurse, in a small office and be the surgeons first hand and main nurse...once I got out of school I realized I have zero chance in hell of that ever happening. I've been told a 1000 times *as they chuckle at me for being so naive* that I'll need to pay my dues in the hospital and work years at jobs that I'll hate and then maybe, just maybe I'll stumble across an opening at a surgeons office.

Sorry for the rant. Basically, zero passion but it pays very well which is why I won't leave.

You should research and apply for the jobs you want, and work in the meantime. Don't pay attention to statistics and other peoples opinions. You HAVE experience, now network in the places you want to work and apply! You have to believe in yourself.

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Specializes in ED/ Periop.

I so agree. Engineers have the same amount of education (bachelors) that we do, but I would challenge you to spout that "passion", "caring" emotional crap at them. They'd laugh you out of the room. It's because this profession is dominated by women and we won't claim what is ours. Or admit it's just a job.

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