OK, maybe I've been reading the wrong Threads....

[Fgr8Out]

I had no preconceived notion of WHAT Nursing was when I went back to school at age 30. Twelve years later, this is what I've learned about Nursing:

Nursing is NOT a Fairy Tale...there very often is no "happily ever after." Yes, there are many times of great joy and accomplishment... but you're never given a guarantee.

Nursing is HARD... as Nurses we face countless situations and crises each and everyday. Many of these have no solutions, no happy endings, no logical explainations. We deal with people who are not at their finest hour; they're scared, angry, confused, disillusioned and looking for something/someone to lash out at for their misery.

Nursing requires FLEXIBILITY... we have to think fast, act even faster, be all things to all people all at the same time, react to changes in patient status quickly and expected to make the right decision.

Nursing demands that we think OUTSIDE the box...that means looking at our Profession as more than just assisting a delivering mother, suctioning a trach patient, titrating a drip in ICU, to include educating family/friends/physicians/each other. To expect that the "typical" patient very likely will become "Atypical"... and at the worst possible time... and to accept that this happens, because it is entirely out of our control.

Nursing is not about CONTROL...see above. You can't MAKE the COPD or PVD patient stop smoking, you can't MAKE the diabetic adhere to their diet, you can't MAKE the at risk mother-to-be follow doctors orders that can help ensure a safe, successful delivery, you can't MAKE the substance abuser abstain and you can't MAKE a new nurse not do all those things that new nurses do that make us all roll our eyes.

Nursing is NOT 9-5, Monday thru Friday, Holidays Off...it is on occasion not spending your days safely cloistered in your specialty "niche"... because sometimes...even though you don't know everything about other areas of Nursing... you CAN provide a certain amount of care... care that would otherwise be unavailable at possibly a crucial moment on that Unit you've been asked to go to.

Nursing requires COMPASSION; for our patient's (compliant or not), physicians, New Grads, families, ancillary personel, administrators, TPTB AND each other.

Nursing requires TEAMWORK...even when you don't want to be a part of the team.

Nursing is FRUSTRATING...and the best any of us can do sometimes, is to simply remember why we're where we are... and know in our hearts that today we did the best we could do for THAT particular day...and do this even when we don't feel like it, even when we sense something is unfair.

Nursing offers OPPORTUNITIES... to make change in a patient's status, to comfort a grieving family, to realize changes in policy/protocol/procedures because we believe in what we do and we know that our actions can lead to an improvement in our Profession. Nursing offers countless opportunities for ourselves....

Nursing is REWARDING... when miracles do occur...we're here to witness them in all their Glory.

Nursing requires an Open Mind and an Open Heart...

We need to support one another...regardless of what circumstances or situations brought us into the Profession called Nursing. We all come to this place with our own gifts and talents...and we need to ENCOURAGE each other so those gifts and talents may shine. We need to ACT in a Professional manner in dress and in conduct so that others around us will know and SEE the Professionals that we are.

I'm not suggesting ANYONE just lie down and take what they're handed at work without question... We need to promote what needs promoting and work hard to rid our workplace of what needs to be removed. But there are those times in our Profession, as in Life, when we need to say "OK... today isn't the day to challenge this or that...today is a day to be the best Nurse I can be and face the other challenges at a more appropriate time."

Choose your battles...time and place. Make those times of battle count and don't make EVERYDAY a battle. No one wants to work with someone like that. If you're argumentative on a regular basis, you're wearing out your co-workers... and your goal, however admirable and just, won't be heard.

I appreciate and respect the opportunity this site provides for everyone to voice their opinon... TO VENT THEIR FRUSTRATIONS and to share their joys and victories... their fears and sorrows. I hope those of you who read this post will respect and appreciate my taking this opportunity to share my own views, and to read between the lines of my message. And if I've ever offended anyone on this site, my apologies... sometimes I feel the need to vent too.

I love nursing... I admire and respect Nurses... and each and everyone of us deserves more recognition than any of us will ever get.

Be kind....

Peace:)

[Fgr8Out]

Originally posted by NancyRN

So Lori, what you're saying is, "suck it up"?

If, on occasion, that's what is required... why not?

Don't get me wrong... I have absolutely no problem with venting... IF, as I pointed out, you read between the lines... you'll see I am venting as well...

I won't apologize for my positive outlook on things... just as I don't expect those I work with to apologize for getting angry at a system that places us in a position of having to choose between Patient A and Patient B and Patient C and Patients D-H. Believe me, I deal with the realities of Nursing every single day and am equally as frustrated and dissatisfied. And I do engage in activities designed to correct and ameliorate these problems and issues.

My post merely attempts to bring about a balance to what I've read as a rule here...to allow those reading these posts who are considering a career in Nursing to hear from one who is satisfied in her chosen Profession...warts and all. My post also emphasized the fact that Nursing is a difficult, underappreciated, much maligned Profession. Those who choose it certainly must understand that before they enter... or be sadly disillusioned when reality rears its ugly head.

I agree with each and everyone of you who vent your frustrations... venting isn't whining. Venting can be very cathartic and can lead to action... and that action can lead to the goals we all keep in front of us: sensible patient ratios, respect from our peers in Healthcare, compensation that reflects our education and contribution to Society, a say in how we care for our patients.... Whining, on the otherhand, is counterproductive and self-serving. My "tag" is a phrase I use at work... not necessarily for anyone but myself, as a reminder to keep focused on the business at hand. It is in no way intended to say anything else.

Nowhere in my post did I ever indicate I'm anywhere near "perfect." My imperfections are what lead me to learning and discovery. And that, is all I have to say on comments made to that effect. :)

It makes me smile when I see some here take words or sentences out of context and twist them to suit their own purpose or agenda. Again, read between the lines and for heaven's sake don't personalize comments that aren't...they are generalizations made through observation and completely subjective on my part. These are my opinions purely... although they are blessedly shared by others besides myself, as evidenced by the comments of those who truly understand the point I was trying to get across. Blinders are out of fashion, but apparently still worn by some.

When I say "Peace :) " I truly mean it....

[adrienurse, LPN]

I feel that I have been helped immensely by being to put into words what drives me crazy about work. Everyone should have this kind of outlet.

[fergus51]

Lori,

I completely understand what you're saying. There was a thread a while back asking how many nurses actually like their jobs. And even though a lot of venting happens on this forum, most people including myself, said they love nursing. There have been positive threads about mentors and preceptors, favorite rotations as students, favorite areas of nursing, nice things about coworkers, etc.

Personally, I hope to continue nursing until I am a feeble old lady. I am just not immune to the frustrations that go along with the job. I see both the good and the bad in this crazy profession and post on and laugh about both. I am sure if you look you'll find more positive threads if you look, or you can always start even more of them:)

[micro, RN]

cynical optimistic pessimist=micro

[NancyRN]

Permission from Lori to vent...golly gee! Thanks!

In case you hadn't noticed, we ARE sucking it up. We're all working as nurses, except for those nurses with injuries and/or age related problems which prevent their working in the boot camp atmosphere which pervades todays hospitals. Those nurses have been chewed up and spit out by the same hospitals which are decrying the "nursing shortage".

Blinders ARE out of fashion...

[mattsmom81]

Originally posted by NancyRN

Permission from Lori to vent...golly gee! Thanks!

In case you hadn't noticed, we ARE sucking it up. We're all working as nurses, except for those nurses with injuries and/or age related problems which prevent their working in the boot camp atmosphere which pervades todays hospitals. Those nurses have been chewed up and spit out by the same hospitals which are decrying the "nursing shortage".

Blinders ARE out of fashion...

I totally agree, Nancy, as one of those nurses who slogged through 25 years of boot camp mentality with many work related injuries to show for it. Hospitals will continue to abuse us as long as we take it, and 'making nice' isn't going to make positive changes in our profession...nurses have been sucking up and overextending themselves too long...and hospitals use our kind natures for THEIR benefit.

JMHO. If this is 'whining' to you, Lori, then so be it...was it you came onto our "Recycling older nurses" and "Over 50 with health problems'" thread and suggest we 'stop whining' too?

Many of us there described how the hospitals have used and abused us for 20-30 years...and after we've given our all, when we succumb to an injury...that 'last straw' to an overworked back or knees, hospitals booted us out the door and denied any workers comp coverage for injuries sustained on the job.

I hope when younger nurses read of some of these experiences they will take pause...and consider what they are getting themselves into...and how little the hospital really cares for nurses. We are disposable, expendable commodities to them....little more than slaves. I would hope young nurses reading older nurses' posts will think, and maybe have a plan and take some steps to AVOID mistakes we old nurses have made....like sucking it up, working OT, chronic short staffed, dragging that 500# patient out of bed 'as ordered', giving 120% over 20-30 years...believing that we had no other choice.

Older nurses' passivist behaviors have PERPETUATED the problems seen today in nursing!!! So I'm convinced a Pollyanna approach is NOT the way for nurses to behave if we want to effect change.

Now maybe you're one of the fortunates who work in a decent hospital...there are a few left out there....but please don't hide your head in the sand about what's REALLY going on out there in the majority of hospitals across the country, and even around the world in many places.

And Lori, what is this 'reading between the lines" stuff? Just come out and say what you mean please. We can handle it. :)

This board is a great place to learn, vent, and problem solve.

:kiss And "If I bore just ignore...hehe." :roll

[fab4fan]

Originally posted by hoolahan

Yes, you have offended me at least. None of us are perfect. I agree nurses must act as a team, and I agree with a lot of what you said, but, we are not above needing to whine and vent just because we are nurses.

To address a few things you said specifically...Nurses need to think outside of the box...I can't disagree with that at all, it's called critical thinking.

Nursing is not spending your days safely nestled in your specialty niche.... Why not??? I really don't see what is wrong with a nurse wanting to excel in one particular area. Doctors do it. Nurses who have those specialty skills are in great demand now. Just b/c we choose to stay in a specialty area we are not able to think outside of the box?? Hardly!! Have you seen the ads and sign-on bonuses for expereinced OR nurses?? Upwards of $10,000. I am sorry but I have never seen an ad saying "nurse of all trades" $10,000 sign on bonus. It is not about the money that I am pointing this out, rather about the demand, a demand which meets the needs of patients! Then you say we need to support one another, and that we all have our gifts and talents. Yes, my gift is cardiac nursing. Does that mean I am not a team player b/c I wouldn't want to be pulled to L&D or PP????? I personally don't think so.

Nursing requires an open mind and heart. Once more, this is a BB, and we vent, it does not mean we are always argumentative just b/c we don't all see things the same way. You have no idea what kind of nurse anyone here is when they are actually on the job. What about nursegoodguy, who had a pt rub HepC blood on him, he should feel OK w that b/c he should be understanding and have an open heart?? If he had come on here and said he hated working w psych pt's, I wouldn't automatically assume he had a closed heart, or that he really hated psych pt's, just that he had a bad day and needed the support of his fellow nurses. We are, above all alse, only human.

I do indeed respect your opinion and right to voice it, as I hope you will mine.

Thank you, hoolahan, for a compassionate and balanced response.

We come here to vent, because, even though we all don't work in the same specialty, we can have a universal understanding of the difficulties inherent in nursing. Try blowing off steam to a family member or friend...he/she will probably have no idea what we're talking about.

This board, and others like it, can be a safe place to fall. And I would much rather listen to someone whine than have that person be so despairing that she/he becomes depressed or even leaves the profession.

If "whining" posts bother some, then just don't read them, or put those people on the "ignore" list.

PS: Isn't complaining about "whiners" a sort of whining itself?

[Fgr8Out]

Originally posted by mattsmom81

I totally agree, Nancy, as one of those nurses who slogged through 25 years of boot camp mentality with many work related injuries to show for it. Hospitals will continue to abuse us as long as we take it, and 'making nice' isn't going to make positive changes in our profession...nurses have been sucking up and overextending themselves too long...and hospitals use our kind natures for THEIR benefit.

JMHO. If this is 'whining' to you, Lori, then so be it...was it you came onto our "Recycling older nurses" and "Over 50 with health problems'" thread and suggest we 'stop whining' too?

Many of us there described how the hospitals have used and abused us for 20-30 years...and after we've given our all, when we succumb to an injury...that 'last straw' to an overworked back or knees, hospitals booted us out the door and denied any workers comp coverage for injuries sustained on the job.

I hope when younger nurses read of some of these experiences they will take pause...and consider what they are getting themselves into...and how little the hospital really cares for nurses. We are disposable, expendable commodities to them....little more than slaves. I would hope young nurses reading older nurses' posts will think, and maybe have a plan and take some steps to AVOID mistakes we old nurses have made....like sucking it up, working OT, chronic short staffed, dragging that 500# patient out of bed 'as ordered', giving 120% over 20-30 years...believing that we had no other choice.

Older nurses' passivist behaviors have PERPETUATED the problems seen today in nursing!!! So I'm convinced a Pollyanna approach is NOT the way for nurses to behave if we want to effect change.

Now maybe you're one of the fortunates who work in a decent hospital...there are a few left out there....but please don't hide your head in the sand about what's REALLY going on out there in the majority of hospitals across the country, and even around the world in many places.

And Lori, what is this 'reading between the lines" stuff? Just come out and say what you mean please. We can handle it. :)

This board is a great place to learn, vent, and problem solve.

:kiss And "If I bore just ignore...hehe." :roll

Uhhhh....

I've never accused anyone of whining... but again, people will personalize what they will.

I've never said a thing on the threads you mentioned... again... personalization...

If you're a slave... that's not my problem. And while I do happen to work in a pretty awesome hospital... there are still plenty of problems... and again... if you'd bother to read ALL of my post, instead of nitpicking... you'd see that I have said I DO participate in activities designed to create change... no head burying here, I assure you.

Pollyanna had a happy ending....

Sarcasm is lost on some of you... so I don't feel any need to "come right out and say it."

Two choices in this world... do something about it and get over it... or don't.

Micro... pessimistically optomistic... I LIKE it :)

Peace

[mattsmom81]

Originally posted by Fgr8Out

Uhhhh....

I've never accused anyone of whining... but again, people will personalize what they will.

Uhhh. just looking at your siggy..."No whining" with a shaking finger......

[live4today, RN]

good going nurses! come on.......get it out.......get it all out of your sytems. venting is healthy......after the venting session.......let's put our heads and hearts together and see where we should go from the vent.....oh the vent.....oh the gee-jumpin' vent! yeah!!! :chuckle

i just finished rereading this entire thread, and there is hope.....there is promise......there is healthy venting going on.......no whining noted on this thread.....just a need to vent one's thoughts regarding what is happening in their personal world of nursing.

we are truly behaving as siblings usually do......this is also good at times. there does come a time when even siblings need to stop and say "i'm sorry you are hurting today. what can i say or do to help you through the hurt you are feeling."

everyone has many valid points to this discussion, and i acknowledge them all....one by one. this type of venting.....airing personal and professional feelings.....gets the juices flowing so very early this texas morn. i feel like i'm doing aerobics just by sitting here at my computer reading this wonderful thread. :rotfl: just trying to shed a little light on everyone's raincloud today. carry on siblings! :kiss

someone once said "we do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.......that said....play nice, play fair, play with love for one another, and do hear what one another is speaking from their own personal and professional perspective. our work environments may be different...but, we are still all in this nursing thing together. :)

[SmilingBluEyes]

I say put that nice opening to this thread on EVERY bulletin board and in EVERY welcome package of each nursing school to illustrate to NEW ones entering nursing what it is they are undertaking!!!! Hey, send it to your local paper editor. It was BEAUTIFULLY-written and very well-said!!!! However.......

For those here, I just don't think we needed the lecture. I think it is appropriate to "vent" here. I think a lot of things said here are NOT said at work, at home, to families, to friends due to the desire NOT to burden those around us. Yet, how good is it for the psyche not to vent someplace? We need to take it "someplace". Why not here? I think we as nurses need a safe place to whine, vent, piss-and-moan, carry on, whatever you call it, within reason and the boundaries of common courtesy. This is a "safe" place to do so, if we leave names and particulars out of it (!).

So, like I said, while I believe those words are very articulate and the essay apropos in some places, perhaps it was poorly-placed here. Hey, even Pollyanna must have had bad days and where do you think she would have gone to vent, were she a nurse and had internet access???? JMO.:stone

[CATHYW]

Originally posted by shay

The difference is, I keep those thoughts to myself and give GREAT CARE, regardless of my personal feelings. However, when I come here, I don't think it's okay to be chastised and chided because I want to vent and express myself.

Sorry if you associate personal feelings with bad nursing. I disagree.

A lot of what you wrote is very true, but the preamble is off-putting. I agree with Shay, entirely.

It is true that nursing is a profession AND a lifestyle. However, that does not mean that we must enjoy every minute of every day:p , nor should we refrain from voicing our frustrations, if that is what we feel that we need to do. Much better to say that we dislike or "hate" whatever it is in these boards than take it out on our patients!