Really disappointed with the reality of nursing.

Nurses Relations

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Anyone else feel the same?

When I was in nursing school, I was so excited to get finished and get a job. I thought I would enjoy doing nursing tasks all day...meds, IVs, injections, dressing changes, catheters, charting. I was so proud to tell people I was becoming a nurse. I would be making all of this good money. My job would be exciting all day long. I would be helping people. I would get respect...

But 5 years later, ha! What a joke! Don't get me wrong. I am grateful to have a degree. I am grateful to have a job in this bad economy, but nursing sure turned out to be a disappointment. I never thought that I would be worked to death the way nurses are. I never thought I would be talked to like a dog the way I am by patients, their families, people from other departments, and some doctors. I never thought bosses would be so quick to stab you in the back and try to get you in trouble. I thought I would be a valued employee and appreciated for what I did because I am a nurse who truly has a heart, cares about my patients, likes to get along well with others, and work as a team.

Instead, as a nurse you are treated like a peon. You have a team of 6-8 patients and are running like a mad woman to take care of all of them properly while your boss sits on her butt looking for any one tiny thing you might miss (while not offering to lift a finger to help you). Families sit in the room watching you like a hawk assuming you are going to hurt their family member. Griping because you have to turn people with skin issues or check for incontinence. Griping because you have to change an IV. The other day I had a family member sitting there watching me like a hawk as I had to change the patient's IV. Mind you the patient was an obese lady with huge arms and had had to have deep lines in the past. She said to me very rudely, "You get ONE stick, then somebody else is gonna do it." Then proceeded to stand and watch me with her arms folded across her chest. Excuse me, since when does the family dictate my job? :mad: That really burnt me up. Fortunately I got her IV on the first stick, but I have to take crap like that from people or I would probably be written up by my manager. I never thought nursing would be like this. When I visited people in the hospital before I was a nurse I had respect for the medical staff and would never dream of talking to them the way I am talked to.

You are blamed for everything. Doctor comes in late today? Nurse is yelled at about it by family. Doctor changes a medicine and doesn't tell the family about it? Nurse is grilled about it. Lab wakes you up early for blood draw? Nurse is yelled at about it. Doc orders stat MRI at 5 pm on a Friday? Nurse is yelled at about it by Radiology. Assistant doesn't check patient for incontinence while nurse is trying to start an IV in another room? Nurse is yelled at about it by family. Medicine is late from pharmacy? Nurse is yelled at about it. Dietary doesn't send up a food tray for a patient? Nurse is yelled at about it. We can do nothing right. It has really been disheartening. We go into nursing to help people and instead are treated like crap. I can honestly say that nursing is the job I have felt I have been the least respected in of all the jobs I have ever had. It has just been very disappointing. Maybe I am just venting because I have had a bad week, but just wondering if anyone else has felt this way? I WANT to like nursing because I spent all of this time getting this degree and getting licensed but wow. :crying2:

ok you guys what is LTC sounds like it might mean what we aussies call community nursing. It all depends on a lot of things doesn't it, I mean the maturity, knowledge and experience of the nurse, the communication abilities of both nurse, patient and family...the particular stress of the family, patient and nurse on the day..lots of variables...all we nurses can do is to try to be patient and communicate well with both patients and famiies and realise their is a lot of stress involved in ill health and just do our best..if it is too tough for some nurses then maybe they should try another type of job...I don't know..I love it for all it's ups and downs..but I am in the community and mostly it is not high stress..I've not worked as a hospital nurse but have been a patient a lot and know they are under a lot of pressure..Will go in as patient again on Monday and at least can talk to them nurse to nurse.

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Specializes in Long term care.

what in the heck were you trying to tell me? is there something wrong with reminding nurses even ones who have worked for many, many years, that actions speak louder than words? for goodness sakes.

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Specializes in Med-surge, hospice, LTC, tele, rehab.
While I can relate to a lot in the opening post, the above portion really burnt me up!!.

I can tell you as a nurse, and as a patient, that when I am in the hospital or one of my family members is...I am the one watching others like a hawk. If you are confident, and competent, that shouldn't be a problem!!

In this profession, mistakes happen, I get that, we are all human. However, due diligence from a patient, or from family should not be frowned upon, but respected. When do patients or family members dictate your job? Everyday. It is called patients rights, as a nurse and as a patient, those rights should be respected. Family members sometimes need to speak up and be the advocate for their loved one, that should also be respected.

The last time my father was in the hospital with a severe obstruction, staff came in the room to get him "out of bed, get him on the treadmill for a stress test"...umm, not happening, please recheck the order! Then all we got was a "ohh yeah, i guess your right." I am giving just one example, could post many more. Mistakes happen, being diligent (patients and family members) helps prevent them.

Of course I can understand wanting the best care for yourself and for your family. I would want no less for family and friends and for my patients. And I do the best for them. In fact I bust my butt for them. Maybe they have dealt with bad nurses who didn't care in the past but that doesn't mean I have to be branded as one the minute n I walk in the room. I'm talking about people having the attitude of judging someone as guilty before proven innocent. Frankly that is insulting to me as a health care professional. What I am talking about is having common decency and respect for other human beings. There are ways to voice your concerns and questions to workers in any profession without being RUDE, even if you are a customer in a restaurant speaking to your waiter. That's the way that I was brought up. I was raised with manners. I'm not saying family should sit there with their mouths shut while I neglect or treat their family with below standard or God forbid dangerous care, remain silent if I make mistakes, or not being diligent for Pete's sake. You completely misunderstood what I was saying.

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Thanks for your reply. I would love to just send them all out of the room when I do any procedure but the hospital I work for now I feel doesn't have the nurse's back at all. I could see the family throwing a fit, complaining on me to my manager, and me getting fired over it. That's how much I don't trust the management at my hospital. That's another reason I have been applying at other jobs.

I think the problem lies mostly in your working environment. Don't blame the profession just yet. Try to work in a couple more places before you give up on nursing.

I think in any profession where you're dealing with different people on a daily basis, there will be nasty folks out there. I've seen a pharmacist being called a dumb a$$ by customers. I've seen teachers being yelled at by student's parents because she caught him cheating. You try to put those aside and focus on your work.

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hi dear, i understand the way you are feeling dear... im in the right same situation with you... well but only the situation is different..im working in a nursery and the baby's parents treat us like slaves and thinks that we can make a starving baby stop crying...gosh luckily i have a lot of support from my collegues...try to find a collegue who you can tick with and you can get a lot of support from them if you go through the right channel...gosh... so difficult typing in all full words.. Try hanging on dear..

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
Anyone else feel the same?

When I was in nursing school, I was so excited to get finished and get a job. I thought I would enjoy doing nursing tasks all day...meds, IVs, injections, dressing changes, catheters, charting. I was so proud to tell people I was becoming a nurse. I would be making all of this good money. My job would be exciting all day long. I would be helping people. I would get respect...

But 5 years later, ha! What a joke! Don't get me wrong. I am grateful to have a degree. I am grateful to have a job in this bad economy, but nursing sure turned out to be a disappointment. I never thought that I would be worked to death the way nurses are. I never thought I would be talked to like a dog the way I am by patients, their families, people from other departments, and some doctors. I never thought bosses would be so quick to stab you in the back and try to get you in trouble. I thought I would be a valued employee and appreciated for what I did because I am a nurse who truly has a heart, cares about my patients, likes to get along well with others, and work as a team.

Instead, as a nurse you are treated like a peon. You have a team of 6-8 patients and are running like a mad woman to take care of all of them properly while your boss sits on her butt looking for any one tiny thing you might miss (while not offering to lift a finger to help you). Families sit in the room watching you like a hawk assuming you are going to hurt their family member. Griping because you have to turn people with skin issues or check for incontinence. Griping because you have to change an IV. The other day I had a family member sitting there watching me like a hawk as I had to change the patient's IV. Mind you the patient was an obese lady with huge arms and had had to have deep lines in the past. She said to me very rudely, "You get ONE stick, then somebody else is gonna do it." Then proceeded to stand and watch me with her arms folded across her chest. Excuse me, since when does the family dictate my job? :mad: That really burnt me up. Fortunately I got her IV on the first stick, but I have to take crap like that from people or I would probably be written up by my manager. I never thought nursing would be like this. When I visited people in the hospital before I was a nurse I had respect for the medical staff and would never dream of talking to them the way I am talked to.

You are blamed for everything. Doctor comes in late today? Nurse is yelled at about it by family. Doctor changes a medicine and doesn't tell the family about it? Nurse is grilled about it. Lab wakes you up early for blood draw? Nurse is yelled at about it. Doc orders stat MRI at 5 pm on a Friday? Nurse is yelled at about it by Radiology. Assistant doesn't check patient for incontinence while nurse is trying to start an IV in another room? Nurse is yelled at about it by family. Medicine is late from pharmacy? Nurse is yelled at about it. Dietary doesn't send up a food tray for a patient? Nurse is yelled at about it. We can do nothing right. It has really been disheartening. We go into nursing to help people and instead are treated like crap. I can honestly say that nursing is the job I have felt I have been the least respected in of all the jobs I have ever had. It has just been very disappointing. Maybe I am just venting because I have had a bad week, but just wondering if anyone else has felt this way? I WANT to like nursing because I spent all of this time getting this degree and getting licensed but wow. :crying2:

G'day how you going? I too feel exactly the same way as you. Many nurses feel this way. I think we all get so disillusioned that we just put up with whatever is thrown our way, then people quit.

I just wondered how you were going now. Can you look for another position? If patients and families are being too harsh with you, talk to your NM (good luck getting anything done by them), but might be worth a try, or talk to a senior nurse. Why don't you try standing up for yourself a bit more to these people, an authoritative manner goes a long way. I never take any c**p from anyone, and I work in a very expensive and exclusive private hospital. I've never had complaints from anyone either, but I'm not so unrealistic to think it will never happen. Sometimes managing people is the key to having a better work life. We are not taught in nursing school to really manage people and their complaints, that is part of the problem.

Can you work out some sort of plan to make your working life better? Maybe manage your time better at work.

Start to tell people at least you CAN only do one thing at a time - let them know! I don't know the US system but maybe you have to crawl a lot to patients. I never let people interrupt me or do anything else when I'm in the middle of doing meds for instance. I tell people they must wait, (barring emergencies of course). Then they usually calm down, they also calm down a bit when you listen to their problem/s and tell them you will see what you can do. But the patients have to help a bit too, I tell them. We just cannot do everything as one nurse.

I was a bit worried about you, please let us know how you are getting on. Email me if you need to on here.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
I think the problem lies mostly in your working environment. Don't blame the profession just yet. Try to work in a couple more places before you give up on nursing.

I think in any profession where you're dealing with different people on a daily basis, there will be nasty folks out there. I've seen a pharmacist being called a dumb a$$ by customers. I've seen teachers being yelled at by student's parents because she caught him cheating. You try to put those aside and focus on your work.

That is part of the nursing problem. Nobody would ever call me a dumb a** because I wouldn't let them. Instead of putting these sorts of things aside, you need to confront those doing it right away and tell them this is unacceptable behaviour. They will either argue and start abusing you (call security, and police, have them hauled away) or they will be too shocked to respond. Talk to them quietly if possible and say you are not standing for this behaviour. Sometimes I think nurses need to be more confrontational - if you let people abuse you - in any shape or form - they WILL, on a daily basis. Stand up for yourself and/or get a senior person or security to be there with you when you do it.

Do not tolerate abuse from staff, patients, the public, family members - anyone at all.

Be strong!

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Specializes in Med-surge, hospice, LTC, tele, rehab.

Hi everyone.

I'm the nurse that started this post a couple of months ago. Since I wrote this post I have changed jobs and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the problem was with that particular job, that particular hospital, those particular co-workers, and the management on that unit. It was a toxic environment and I was at an all time low point in my morale. I no longer work at that hospital. I now have a nursing job in a completely different facility where I am a thousand times happier. It's like night and day in comparison to the other hospital. I actually enjoy being a nurse again. :yeah:

Of course every job has its ups and downs and my new job isn't perfect, but it sure as he!! beats that other place. I was at the point of quitting nursing all together from working there. My advice to anyone feeling the way that I was is to keep looking for another job, no matter how long it takes. Maybe the problem isn't nursing, it's your particular job. I am fortunate to live in a big enough city that there are a few different options of hospitals and other facilities for nurses to work in. Good luck to anyone who is in search of the right job for them. Hang in there. We can't afford to lose good nurses to bad management and abusive work environments. Thanks for all the supportive and understanding comments.

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Hi everyone.

I'm the nurse that started this post a couple of months ago. Since I wrote this post I have changed jobs and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the problem was with that particular job, that particular hospital, those particular co-workers, and the management on that unit. It was a toxic environment and I was at an all time low point in my morale. I no longer work at that hospital. I now have a nursing job in a completely different facility where I am a thousand times happier. It's like night and day in comparison to the other hospital. I actually enjoy being a nurse again. :yeah:

Of course every job has its ups and downs and my new job isn't perfect, but it sure as he!! beats that other place. I was at the point of quitting nursing all together from working there. My advice to anyone feeling the way that I was is to keep looking for another job, no matter how long it takes. Maybe the problem isn't nursing, it's your particular job. I am fortunate to live in a big enough city that there are a few different options of hospitals and other facilities for nurses to work in. Good luck to anyone who is in search of the right job for them. Hang in there. We can't afford to lose good nurses to bad management and abusive work environments. Thanks for all the supportive and understanding comments.

I am glad you found of better job. Good luck:yeah:

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

Wow! Thanks for coming back to update us on your situation! I'm sure it will give people hope and we rarely hear when a story turns out well in the end. I totally believe that the people supervising a group can make or break the morale of the employees. Glad your new job worked out so well!

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele/SNF-LTC/Supervisory.

That is fantastic!! I'm glad you're staying "with us". = ) And that you're a happy nurse again.

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Specializes in Med-surge, hospice, LTC, tele, rehab.
Wow! Thanks for coming back to update us on your situation! I'm sure it will give people hope and we rarely hear when a story turns out well in the end. I totally believe that the people supervising a group can make or break the morale of the employees. Glad your new job worked out so well!

Thank you for your reply. I completely agree. My morale was pretty much broken with my last job. I was ready to throw in the towel altogether when it came to nursing. I was very disheartened because I was afraid all nursing jobs were going to be like the one I had but fortunately I did find better. Thank God!

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