i'll probably get flamed to the moon and back for this but..

Nurses General Nursing

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does anyone else get tired of hearing (from other SNAs/hopefuls/vets) what we nurses are "suppose" to be like ?

i read through thread after thread of how if you're not "compassionate to the core" and "really into nursing" and all this other stuff, you won't do well in the program or as a nurse in general.

is it really that big of a deal that some use the profession as a fallback option, or as a way to get by while trying to pursue something they'd really wanna be doing, without having to work something that provides just above minimum wage to make ends meet ?

i often hear people being scolded because their "heart" isn't in nursing, and for taking a seat away from others who "really" want to be there. Are any of us less deserving because we went through the same prereqs as everyone else but were competitive enough to actually secure a seat ? Is this something i should apologize for ? Should we be barred from applying simply because we have different prospects for the horizon ? Say med school ? or a field outside of healthcare altogether ?

Is it wrong to consider this profession a job ? one in which i will do my best to do well as i would with any other endeavor ? I go in with an attitude to make sure all of my duties are done, everyone is accounted for, and everything is the way it should be from the time i arrive until the time i clock out. Does it make me a bad nurse that i don't cry with a patient when they're going through a hard time ? Please dont take this as an implication as me directing negative or rude comments towards the patient. I'm attentive, and consoling, but i'd rather not have my emotions tie me up in knots to the point where i start to make clinical errors, which in the end is truly the most important thing to me.

Don't mind me, just my Tuesday morning rant for the day. I'm curious to see who else feels like this. I know im the minority but i can't be the only one

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
The "Compassion, Empathy, Understanding and Love" group gets on my nerves, too. Sure, all of those are great qualities to have in a nurse and in a human being, but they are not the be all and end all. Without the ability to understand and remember complex policies and protocols, think critically, calculate drug dosages, do a rapid, focused and accurate assessment and put it all together to communicate to the provider, all of the compassion, empathy, understanding and love in the world isn't going to make you a competent nurse.

Oh, well. I'm a proud member of the Crusty Old Bat Society, so I'm sure someone will pipe up and tell me how wrong I am.

I couldn't agree with you more, although I'm just an aspiring Crusty Old Bat. :)

OP, if you don't mind me asking, are you a paramedic now? why did you decide to go for nursing? feel free to not answer if you don't feel like explaining. no judgment, just curious. :)

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
LOL, I switched from working in dentistry for MANY years before going to nursing school. I'm not sure why you'd say dental hygiene is easier!

I have eyes and I go to the dentist. Dental hygiene is definitely easier than Acute/LTC nursing. Maybe the stress level of school nursing or working in a doctor's office would be equivalent to dental hygiene, but a large percentage of nurses work in hospitals or long term care facilities.

Specializes in cardiac, ICU, education.

I guess I don't understand what you mean by "is it really that big of a deal that some use the profession as a fallback option, or as a way to get by while trying to pursue something they'd really wanna be doing"

A fall back is usually something easy to accomplish. However, I know there a nurses out there who went into nursing for the job and not because they were actually interested in the profession. Having a father who died of cancer, I could tell who those nurses were the second they walked in the door.

My question to you would be - Is it fair to your patients that this is a fallback job for you? If you can provide the same level of care that other nurses can, then fine, but you do actually have to care about the patients you take care of. Will you get frustrated from day to day? Yes. But it is a pretty hard job when you heart isn't in it.

I don't look down on ppl who want to make sure they have a secure career. I think its smart. The only time I have a problem with it is when they hate doing it or just in it for the money. There has to be a certain level of professionalism, compassion for others. A good nurse has to be compassionate no matter what. You have to care about your patients. To me it doesn't matter if nursing wasn't your "first choice" its just how you do your job. Thats just mr at least.

1.It's a job

2.I make decent money

3.I get all of the overtime I want

4.My brain gets used

5.I get 4 days off a week

Those are my reasons, if some nursing student or pre-nursing student has a problem with that I don't care. I have a RN job and they don't.

Those are my reasons, if some nursing student or pre-nursing student has a problem with that I don't care. I have a RN job and they don't.

What about the experienced RNs who may be unforunate enough to be your co-workers? I hate patient and co-worker complaints stemming from someone who is just there for a paycheck and only does the minimum to keep their job. It makes for a very long shift for the rest of us.

What about the experienced RNs who may be unforunate enough to be your co-workers? I hate patient and co-worker complaints stemming from someone who is just there for a paycheck and only does the minimum to keep their job. It makes for a very long shift for the rest of us.

Except I just got presented with a patient satisfaction award and have never had a problem with coworkers we all help each-other. Nice attempt at a jab though.../yawn. Lol at people thinking just because you don't have a passion for something you can't be good at.

I bet you are one of those people that employees dread to with (especially after reading your presumptive jump to conclusion).

Specializes in ICU/PACU.

................

"Otherwise, I wish I had a sugar daddy, shopping and lunching and mani-pedi-hairdo kind of days. One foot in the grave the other on a banana peel--and a golf obsession so that my afternoons are free...... ;)"

LMAO...I like this! too funny;)

oh my....to be honest...I am not concerned why another nurse got into nursing(I have way too many other thoughts in my head;) as long as a fellow nurse has my back during our shift like I will have theirs;).

All though my SIL told me she is "too compassionate" to do what I do;) but I am sure she meant that in a good way....ah..right?:)

Nursing is a profession and to be successful at any profession you need to have a balance between IQ intelligent quotient and EQ

emotional quotient. Its about having empathy (which requires engagement) not sympathy which denotes a degree of superiority over another. Its the difference between being "cared for" and "cared about" According to press ganey the pollsters patients want to

be cared about.

Nursing is also a science. If you havent read up of Florence Nightengale please do so. She set about establishing nursing as a science and speaks of the rightious with disdain. She also felt women were too emotional to be effective in medicine (too much EQ!)

Here's a great example of the problem with healthcare: On my unit people are asked to come up with WOW moments with patients

and they are posted on a white board to share with staff. The other day the night nurse asked a patient what would really make him happy, he asked for one of those disgusting pancake egg sanwhiches from mickey ds which we have at our hospital. The nurse

bought him 2 of the sandwiches so she would be extra special and of course he enjoyed both. The day nurse who is telling me this

story explains that this pt is a IDDM and while the night nurse got mention for the deed she was left with the chore/task of managing

his BS which was 459 in addition to some patient education.

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