People in it only for the quick hire

Published

I hate how I see nurses in my hospital who I KNOW from the bottom of their heart, only went to nursing school because they wanted to get hired quickly and have a guaranteed job. To be in this profession you have to have compassion and empathy. I work as a nurse extender in my hospital and I see nurses who are there that don't give a rats @$$ about anything. They point their fingers and give orders, they don't have that quality that most other nurses have. People should be on a very massive probation when they get hired because the NCC needs to be aware of these idiot nurses who don't care about human emotions. I am so sick of it.

'our' humor is one of my favorite parts of nsg.

i can't tell you how many times i've keeled over laughing, all in the name of dark and sick humor.

i don't think i could share this type of humor with anyone other than another nurse.

leslie

This is so true. I can't begin to remember how many times I've shared a laugh with fellow nurses over things I'd never reveal to "civilians."

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

Fortunately I work with a great team of nurses and only one that's a toad.

:rotfl::roll:flowersfo

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Some people don't get it when I say I've had enough and I feel like moving to a cabin in Montana and riding a bicycle.

Come on up.

I promise we won't shoot you :D

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

What a wonderful way of wording this!;)

Only love to the OR, my best nursing friend is in the OR. I used this as an example of an area with limited patient contact. I am sure patients come scared all the time to OR, sometimes I bring them there from ER. The truth is that unless they are someone who will have repeated operations, you may never see them again. Several friends chose OR so they would not have to deal with the families and long term patient issues. Do they love nursing? You bet! Are they nice and understanding? Absolutely! Is their patience tested by family and patient 13 hours a day. NOPE!

I had considered working in Oncology after being in a nursing externship for 16 weeks. I loved the patients, families and nurses. I maintain relationships with those nurses and some families, but losing those patients after so many had rebounded during their struggles with cancer made me realize that I just couldn't give that much. I don't think it makes me a terrible nurse to realize my limitations, I can, and do, offer support in the ER, along with counseling and information, but I don't think I could do it long term. For me, emotionally, this is a better fit. I realized I had made the right choice when a patient whom I thought had passed, came in with her family. I had become very fond of them during my time on Oncology-I cried when I saw her and her family-they did the same. Yet, I was relieved that she wasn't my patient when she was in the ER. I was able to give her extra and ask her nurse to be extra special, yet, I didn't want to know her prognosis. It would be too painful to lose her again. Does that make sense?

Perhaps, the nurses that don't seem caring don't belong in certain environments and just haven't tried on different hats to find their perfect fit. I hope for their sakes they do.

Nurses are like the colors of the rainbow, sometimes colors clash-sometimes they blend beatifully. Maybe we just have to help the colorblind.

Maisy;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I know some nurses will charm the patient and family to the point that they idolize them, however, some of those same nurses do not administer all of their medications, will sign and say that they did give them, and purposely neglect to do the care that is ordered. The familes do not realize that they are being shortchanged and neither does the patient. But, the nurses that work with these so called avenging angels know that this person is really full of crap-ola. A person that is not receiving their meds and treatments is not on their way to healing, but, of course, with Ms. Charming Nurse, they would not realize it.

I don't know...What makes a good nurse?

I suppose I'd answer something like, "Someone with sufficient knowledge, skills, and experience to promote optimal patient outcomes while minimizing duration, discomfort, and cost" (How's that for meaningless MBA-talk?)

I think you can be a good nurse and go a long way toward meeting my criteria without being particularly compassionate. You can be attentive to someone's needs and expeditiously meet those needs without particularly caring about them.

When DD was in the NICU, some of her nurses did not even try to act compassionately but they did tend to her needs. I slept well during those nights when they were on duty.

However, they could have provided so much more if they had cared about her and her parents. The ones that did that are the ones that we remember to this day.

Here's a good example: While my wife was in L&D trying to buy our baby time, we had a nurse who was very compassionate and caring. She had a great bedside manner and a soothing disposition. The problem is, she was also incompetent (to me). She hung a bag of MgSO3 on the IV pump and clearly didn't know how to use the device. When I asked her about it, she very compassionately informed me that it was fine. After watching it for about 20 minutes, I concluded that it wasn't fine (keep in mind, I'm an engineer, not a nurse {August '09 baby!!}) and worked up the courage to go find help. Somebody came and fixed the situation without any evident compassion but the drip resumed.

So, which would I rather have? I'll take competent and compassionless over compassionate and lame, any day.

FYI, I'm leaving engineering and going into nursing to a large part because of practical considerations. Yes, I also feeling a calling to the NICU but wouldn't pursue it without the money/stability considerations.

I don't begrudge at all any technically competent and attentive nurse who's doing a good job primarily for promotion opportunities. I feel a little bit sorry for them but if they achieve good patient outcomes, I'm fine with it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I can agree with this; I had a professor that said there is nothing wrong with getting into nursing for the money. But, she said, "Do the RIGHT thing by your patient and give them what they are due as well as retain their dignity".

I interact with a few patients who I really dislike with a passion DAILY. Some days, I dislike 90% of them depending on the population. But, funny enough, they never sense it; in fact, those same patients will actually come looking for me in my clinic because they say that I explain things so well for them and provide them with what they need. Even had a few letters sent to administration about their appreciativeness of my services.

Disliking the patient is not the same as disliking the job.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
I hate how I see nurses in my hospital who I KNOW from the bottom of their heart, only went to nursing school because they wanted to get hired quickly and have a guaranteed job. To be in this profession you have to have compassion and empathy.

And this surprises you? In an ideal world, we'd all be going into nursing because "we want to help people" and we wouldn't care about the money. But look at the world we live in:

Mortgage banks, utility companies, the goverment, health companies, etc. don't give a damn about people; all they care about is when their bill is due and whether the check you write them will be good.

Company loyalty and job security are rapidly becomming things of the past: now it's high turnover, cutbacks, closings, layoffs...all with no promise of a retirement pension or other compensation. Or they'll think nothing about transferring you across the country on no notice. They don't care if you've got a life here, three kids to put through school and a house to pay off.

The older you are when you're job hunting, the less your chances are of getting a good job; take a few years off to raise a family, and in a lot of professions, that's tantamount to career suicide. Getting to a decent retirement at 65 is becoming a fantasy.

Even with the upcoming increase, one minimum wage job can't support a family--people are working two and sometimes three minimum-wage jobs just to keep their heads above water. People paying minimum wage don't care about your situation: they just want the cheapest labor they can legally get.

These are the realities. So can the OP really blame people for wanting to go into nursing for the financial reasons? It's stable, it's portable, the pay's decent and there are lots of opportunities.

Can people go into nursing primarily for those reasons and still be good nurses? Of course. Would having a sense of compassion make these good nurses into great nurses? Yes. But as it's already been said in this thread, compassion alone does not make a great nurse--it's compassion AND competence together. Compassion means little if you don't know what medicine to give or where to stick the needle.

And who's to say those going into nursing primarily for financial reasons don't already have a sense of compassion or empathy, or won't develop one along the way?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Everytype of med-surg.

To expect every person working to be in their chosen field because they truly love it seems a little unrealistic to me or at least this thread was started by someone that does not have many bills to pay. Yes, I went into nursing because it was a stable career that would pay the bills. Does that make me a bad nurse? I would like to think I am a pretty good nurse. Yes, sometimes I do not have much patience for the person that wants me to be playing waitress to them and their twenty family members, however this is only because I am busy with a patient whose vitals signs are not looking good. Personally, I would rather have a nurse who was competent and observant and perhaps not the most friendly, than one that was the most compassionate and "out to lunch".

Up Vote Up Vote ×
i hate how i see nurses in my hospital who i know from the bottom of their heart, only went to nursing school because they wanted to get hired quickly and have a guaranteed job. to be in this profession you have to have compassion and empathy. i work as a nurse extender in my hospital and i see nurses who are there that don't give a rats @$$ about anything. they point their fingers and give orders, they don't have that quality that most other nurses have. people should be on a very massive probation when they get hired because the ncc needs to be aware of these idiot nurses who don't care about human emotions. i am so sick of it.

i agree. these "nurses" are a whole new breed of "sairy gamps."

of course, nurses should be paid well. of course, money is an important part of any career. the op is talking about people who go into nursing only because of the money.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

This is a situation similar to criticism of parents in regards to their childrearing when the person doing the judging has never had children and does not know the situation of the person they are judging. "When I have kids, I swear I will never...." "When I become a nurse I swear I will never...".

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Great comments to this topic. I understand the abused thing, this that and the other thing. But people, come on! I didn't write this directed toward anyone here. I notice a few of you getting very offended. This was not directed towards anyone, this was just a thought that I wanted out of my head. This place is obviously the place to do it. Anyway, regardless of how well you do your work, you still need to have empathy because NO ONE, and you all know it, NO ONE wants to be in a hospital. It means 1 or a combination of a few things. The patient can die there, they will be away from home for a certain amount of time, they miss their families, independence, quiet time(we know hospitals are noisy), mid-day chores, etc. You get it right? And to have a nurse who is COMPLETELY competent and excellent at what he/she is doing does not make up for attitudes and bad vibes half the nurses bring in(i.e. the ones who are in it because they wanted a fast job) People if you bring home to the workplace nursing is not for you. if you want a quick job where you can be a grouch, I hear accounting is the best place to be. Just you, your calculator and your temper. Thank you for the responses but I was honestly appalled by some and moved by others very much. Debate is what its all about I guess right? Thanks guys, I look forward to more.

-Dan

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Great comments to this topic. I understand the abused thing, this that and the other thing. But people, come on! I didn't write this directed toward anyone here. I notice a few of you getting very offended. This was not directed towards anyone, this was just a thought that I wanted out of my head. This place is obviously the place to do it. Anyway, regardless of how well you do your work, you still need to have empathy because NO ONE, and you all know it, NO ONE wants to be in a hospital. It means 1 or a combination of a few things. The patient can die there, they will be away from home for a certain amount of time, they miss their families, independence, quiet time(we know hospitals are noisy), mid-day chores, etc. You get it right? And to have a nurse who is COMPLETELY competent and excellent at what he/she is doing does not make up for attitudes and bad vibes half the nurses bring in(i.e. the ones who are in it because they wanted a fast job) People if you bring home to the workplace nursing is not for you. if you want a quick job where you can be a grouch, I hear accounting is the best place to be. Just you, your calculator and your temper. Thank you for the responses but I was honestly appalled by some and moved by others very much. Debate is what its all about I guess right? Thanks guys, I look forward to more.

-Dan

I guess I'm wondering who appointed you to be in the position to judge others? There really is no need to lecture. If you want to see change, then be an example for others. Worry about your own actions. I find the accusatory tone of this post disturbing. You really cannot know what is in another person's heart.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion