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:

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Oops, meant to respond to this quote :-) Thanks for posting this!

You're welcome....I always keep that poem close to remind me even on ther worst days.....why I became a nurse

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Yeah I hear ya!!! I've worked in EMS almost 20 yrs then decided to become a nurse. Not only do ya get kicked in the teeth doing your job, but the government makes it a hardship if you have student loans.

I'm sick to death of the lazy useless doctors who take on the responsibility of nursing homes and tons of residents and then get ****** off when you call them. Or better yet make ativan a scheduled drug for a majority of their patients........???? WTH??? Lets not bother them with the patient/resident that has nightmarish/catastrophic reactions to this, just send them out for evaluation only to be sent back 2 hrs later with MORE ativan on board. Hello doc......if you don't want to be bothered with us calling you then don't take on the people who have intrusted you for their care. Have any of you had a doctor respond to an urgent call for a resident with difficulty breathing and chest pain only to tell you "I can't do nothing for them" (because he thought the resident was still listed as a DNR) ? Or how about an old fx of the femur that has fractured again, and the doc tells you " Hang them from the ceiling........, or how about blood sugars so high they wont' even register? I am sorely dissapointed with nursing home docs, and stupid management that can't seem to understand that 12 hours of the above is enough to send a sane person over the edge. I don't know, I've tried to enlist the help of our illustrious elected officials with the mandatory overtime, stupid doctors, and have gotten nowhere. The only reason I stay in it is because I so love the residents/patients I take care of.

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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.

You can work your orifice off, be sweetness and light and the families in acute care will find something to complain about. My all time favourite was being told "the icewater isn't cold enough". I've also been held responsible for a blizzard that kept the flights from our northern community down.

Attitude from the staff usually reflects the attitude given by the patient and their family.

I'm a nurse, NOT a babysitter, mindreader, waitress, or whipping girl.

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Specializes in Med-Surg & Psych.

Hmmm....now I'm a relatively new RN, career-changer. And I've done a year of med-surge on a VERY busy floor with 5 specialties, and pretty much got "run-ragged". However, I refuse to "be" or remain a "victim". (And I'm not calling you a "victim", and maybe you're just venting----which is fine.) But I'm curious as to why you'd choose to remain in a nursing environment like THAT? One of the GREAT things about nursing as a profession is that you---and you ALONE---have the ability to "change your work place" (eg: work environment) SOOOO much easier than 90% of the workforce out there.

In other words, if your current unit/specialty/work-place "isn't for you" (and from the way it sounds, it ISN'T for you/isn't HEALTHY for you to remain there), then take a deep breath, bond with other RNs and explore what ELSE is out there. I'm not working in a psych ER and LOVE it!! Plus, I do some per-diem work in a jail setting, and LOVE it. No where NEAR the hassles, in either place, that came with med-surge nursing.

I feel fortunate that I am able to "change" my work environment, if it's not right for me. So, I'd like to say you're already taken the first step: reaching out and posting your feelings. Evaluate the input from everyone, and TRY another area of specialization. You can't go wrong, and probably can't do any worse than your current work setting.

Good luck! And most of all.....HANG IN THERE!! It CAN, and DOES, get BETTER!!

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Specializes in Long term care.

maybe you should look at jobs that are more administrative in nature, or training, teaching, you have a RN degree, that gives you more possibilities, maybe a break from the hospital work scene would do you good...its crasy busy in LTC, but the elderly always give you smiles, and thank you's and hugs, and these things keep me going each day as an LPN...making them smile and feel alittle better makes me smile.

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Specializes in Med-surge, hospice, LTC, tele, rehab.
Hmmm....now I'm a relatively new RN, career-changer. And I've done a year of med-surge on a VERY busy floor with 5 specialties, and pretty much got "run-ragged". However, I refuse to "be" or remain a "victim". (And I'm not calling you a "victim", and maybe you're just venting----which is fine.) But I'm curious as to why you'd choose to remain in a nursing environment like THAT? One of the GREAT things about nursing as a profession is that you---and you ALONE---have the ability to "change your work place" (eg: work environment) SOOOO much easier than 90% of the workforce out there.

In other words, if your current unit/specialty/work-place "isn't for you" (and from the way it sounds, it ISN'T for you/isn't HEALTHY for you to remain there), then take a deep breath, bond with other RNs and explore what ELSE is out there. I'm not working in a psych ER and LOVE it!! Plus, I do some per-diem work in a jail setting, and LOVE it. No where NEAR the hassles, in either place, that came with med-surge nursing.

I feel fortunate that I am able to "change" my work environment, if it's not right for me. So, I'd like to say you're already taken the first step: reaching out and posting your feelings. Evaluate the input from everyone, and TRY another area of specialization. You can't go wrong, and probably can't do any worse than your current work setting.

Good luck! And most of all.....HANG IN THERE!! It CAN, and DOES, get BETTER!!

Thanks for your reply. Fortunately I have found another job! :yeah:I am leaving the job I was venting about. I am in the midst of finishing out my month notice. The new job will be in a totally different facility and environment. I have heard very good things about working there. I know that the job I have been in (the one I vented about) has been terrible for my mental and physical health. I am counting down the days until I am out of there. :clown:

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I think every nurse out there has experienced this kind of thing, and yes, it is very disheartening. One of the reasons that I enjoy working nights is that I can enjoy taking care of my patients without having to deal with demanding families and grumpy administrators. It's a whole lot quieter, and I have the time to get the job done at a slower pace.

You don't always have to take family's crap, either. Ask them politely to step out of the room when you do a procedure. Ask about your facility's policy about staff abuse. A good facility will have a no-tolerance policy regarding staff abuse ( even verbal).

Floor work is a real grind, and you don't need it made worse by other people. Good luck, and hope you find something better.;)

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So sorry you feel that way. But, it's reassuring to know I am not the only nurse who is sorry she took this path. I am sure there are many more out there as well. Not too much longer, then I'm outta here!!!:jester:

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Specializes in drug seekers and the incurably insane..

I'm not sorry I went into nursing....just sorry at times that the job market isn't good, and I can't leave my current job as of yet. My job isn't an ideal job; once I approached the Executive Director about a staff abuse policy, he looked at me like I had 2 heads!!! However, there's good and bad. The good: I'm paid fairly well for an LPN, decent benefits, a few great co-workers, and there are a few residents whom I enjoy working with. The bad: HR coordinator....a weasel if I ever met one! Megalomaniac management....read my postings about the Maintenance and Dietary Directors, lazy, lazy unit managers, nepotism that runs rampant in my facility, and the constant talks about accepting the residents' **** with a smile!! These are issues you'll find in every workplace though..

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Specializes in currently in Medical.

I understand that its hard when ur colleagues and the staff you're working with aren't cooperative ... when the patients and everyone else turns against you. But at such time and amongst all this mess you are in , a word of thanks that you hear from and old lady .. .. or a smile you put in a kid's face.. or patient that needed you to be there beside him . I guess such moments will make you forget all ur sorrows and makes you indeed forget everything u have been through.

That moment is worth all that.

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Specializes in LTC.

ive only been a nurse for a few years and im already burnt out i wan to go back to when i was 17 working at a pizza place and not having to worry about every tiny detail.

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NurseFrustrated: I hope you really like your new job. I have been a nurse for 5 years and love my job! It's the only one I've ever had and I hate to leave it. In a few years, I will have to though, because I am returning to school to get an MSN/FNP.

There are many hospitals out there that treat their nursing staff well. Our unit, a telemetry unit, has an average of 4-5 patients per RN. Most of the families I have ever dealt with have been grateful and understanding (although there are a few bad apples).

My advice is to keep job jumping until you find a good fit. There are tons of opportunities for nurses, and there is no reason you should stay in a place and be treated like dirt.

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