Really disappointed with the reality of nursing.

[NurseFrustrated]

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? 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.

[abbaking]

Wow, what kind of hospital/unit are you working in? I am a nurse manager of the step down ICU unit. I do not tolerate rude phycisians or family members and my unit has the highest patient and nurse satisfaction of the (Magnet) hospital,(for the last 2 years in the 90th percentile!). If you have a Unit Council, they should work on your environment.

A nurse manager on here? Rare Breed! Joking aside, I thank you for not tolerating any BS from anyone. I think a big problem right now is hospital politics - Many facilities are pushing more for customer service/customer satisfaction than for actual SAFE patient care.

For example, a hospital in my town is focused on the fluffy duffy (Grand piano, new glass atrium, room service, flat screen tv's, etc) and ignores the critical lack of staff, lack of supplies, and ever increasing patient census. At what point does upper management take the hint that a patient in cardiac arrest does not need or want piano music in the glass atrium with HBO on the TV? When does upper management connect the dots and realize that when you short staff a unit and cut corners, mortality rates increse as to the risk for falls, UTI's, infections, med errors, and so on?

Food for thought

[sdwmb]

one of the best things about nursing is that you can pick up and move on without starting the whole educational process over. I remember those days (scarred is a better word), but I found my niche and I love it. I love teaching and home health and I love love love that I am not in the politics and crud that is so rampant at some hospitals

[katenurse]

I'm so sorry that you feel like the world's punching bag. I'm a psych nurse, which is a completely different field than med-surg. I feel like we are respected by our colleagues for the most part (there are always one or two slackers, no matter where you work.), we have good relationships with the docs (again, for the most part), and share mutual respect with the mental health therapists who do such a wonderful job of managing our milieu and helping our patients feel safe. Also, I work at night, when it is a calmer atmosphere, usually just managing a few people who are psychotic or manic. Maybe you just need to find a niche where you are happy. I carry 8-9 patients at night, but without the crazed busyness of med-surg. Of course, you do have to have a thick skin for verbal abuse from mentally ill clients, but that is part of their illness.

[imjillson]

I really understand what your saying, as a nurse for 24 yrs. I had many ups and downs, but the beauty of nursing is how many fields you have available for you to move into and out of until you find an area (specialty) you like. Take advantage of your experiance and look at other nursing jobs. By the sounds of it , it appears you are working on a Med/Surg floor, which in my opinion is one of the hardest for nurses. Look around , ask around and see if any other specialty interest you. You don't have to give up on nursing, just look for a change. Good luck:nurse:

[m_love84]

I have been in nursing for 6 years. I have had a trend that I could only take 2 years in each area that I transferred to. I have worked, peds, er, icu. I enjoyed ICU the most but the constant cuts to staffing soon made it miserable also. I felt so guilty not providing the level care the patient's deserved. I soon figured out I could not continue working at the bedside, I don't see how anybody does. Nursing is such a thankless and disrespected career. I got so tired of being treated like crap. My last nurse manager was a saint. She understood all our frustrations and really advocated for us. I ended up getting my bachelors degree and going into case management. I like it much better. It has it's own headaches that is for sure but I'm not exposed to the continual degrading and belittling verbal and physical abuse. Not to mention constantly being manipulated. God bless you guys that work years and years at the bedside, my hat goes off to you.

[MeeBeeC]

You have put perfectly into words how I too feel. People would speak about nurses eating their young and being treated as peons, shame on me for not listening to them; I thought that somehow with a positive, caring attitude and hard work that I would make a difference. After 5 years of dedication, caring, and a positive attitude I feel defeated. The question is what to do now?

[catlover5]

NurseFrustrated, I've been an LPN just over 2 yrs (2nd career for me) and I totally agree.....and it helps soooooooo much to be able to vent, even it it's typing til your fingers are sore on a message site like this because there's no one around to actually listen to it!! I had a bad review recently and after a week of 2nd/3rd/4th guessing everything little thing I do, I had a talk with our NCM (the assistant ncm wrote the review) and she told me to switch the thought process of "what did I do wrong" and "oh, did I do it" (I tend to take accountability for things that I WASN'T responsible for) and instead just ask "what DID I do right today??" I wasn't the nurse who graduated and is still at the first nursing job right out of school....it's taken me a few jobs to find my niche and where I am now isn't--I knew that going in--but I thought the experience would be good. SO, as hard as it's going to be, I'm going to try my hardest to clock in, do my job, ask for help if I need it, keep my mouth shut, and clock out. And I'm a totally social person, so not talking is a HUGE challenge for me. BUT, I think if I can get through 1 shift not giving any coworker the power to treat me like crap, then I can get through the next, and the next. Then there's my 3 shifts and after a few days off, I can start the next week the same. Hopefully before I know it, the power I've given them will be MINE and I can put it to good use by being better at my job. When your coworkers suck you dry, you don't stand a chance with pts/families/drs who suck you dry. I never realized just how powerful others feel when they make shift suck...

So, deliver the best care to your patients and who gives a crap what anyone else thinks. I like to start yelling and cussing when I get to my car after a shift....and sometimes I rant (to myself) all the way home, sometimes it's over after I get a block away. This site helps too....Hang in there, one day you will find the position that doesn't come with all the BS......Best of luck!

[catlover5]

what about an anonymous report to the state or the corporate office about possible unsafe things going on.....ever wonder who makes the calls that alert state to just "drop in" other than there annual visit?? I was told once by a former LTC DON that in the DON position, you can either take the "corporate way" of doing things, or the "safe/caring" way......she took the safe/caring way and made the place awesome for pts/employees with all kinds of perks, better conflict resolution, doing things the right way ALL the time instead of flipping out when state showed up because no one was prepared, etc. but that person stepped down because the administration/corporation was all about the almighty $$.........

just a thought

[Daly City RN]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

My secret to surviving my highly stressful public hospital nursing job that treats mostly the homeless, alcoholic, drug-dependent and psychiatric patients is to have a very good sense of humor.

Try to have a positive outlook in life. If you are a stressed out nurse, this is a difficult thing to do but try to do it anyway.

If the stress is too much to bear, take regular breaks from work. I used to schedule 1-2 vacation days each month either before or after regularly-scheduled days off. The long days off gave me the time to recharge my batteries.

Pick a healthy habit. "Likes to take long walks" sounds corny but this has been my favorite form of exercise for many years. No need to say that this is good for cardiovascular health, but for me this is also very effective in maintaining a balanced mental and emotional health. This is the reason why I can write this entry rather than staying in a mental hospital myself!

I am also lucky that I was able to "endure and survive" almost 30 years working in the large county hospital that gave generous lifetime retirement pension to long-time employees. I retired as soon as my monthly pension was enough to pay my bills.

I haven't been back to my "old hospital" since retiring from there 2 years ago. I terribly miss my former co-workers but the memories of the stress of my former nursing job is still too fresh in my mind for me to visit the once familiar hallways of the hospital. Someday I will gather enough courage to revisit my old hospital and I will try my best to remember only the good times and not the bad times.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[nursel56]

Those suggestions are great DalyCityRN and I really hand it to you for sticking it out for so long. Maybe you should consider writing your memoirs! I really relate to the sense of humor part even though my job has never been close to the insanity of an urban facility serving the patient population you did. With some of the situations we find ourselves in we know the Almighty must have a sense of humor, too.

I hope you are able to go back and visit. Now that you've been away a while you're probably more keenly aware of the way a career like yours weaves all sorts of deep emotional threads through our souls.

[kickmeiamanurse]

I believe we need to let go of our martyrdom position and demand more before the profession turns full circle back to servant status.

Too late! I do so much servant work, it's hard to get my pills passed and my charting always suffers terribly.

[sydneymum14]

Hey move to Australia. I love my job and don't get any crap from families. I work with them. I am a community nurse and yes am 45. Try letting the bad ones not rock you then you will enjoy the good ones. Everyone is different. Maybe your attitude is the fault there.