I am scheduled to start Nursing School next fall. I am really excited about it and am looking forward to becoming a Nurse and getting into the workforce. I am not worried so much about the curriculum and caring for patients. I figure whatever a nurse has to go through it is often harder on the patient anyway. But I am concerned about the paperwork and the bureaucracy, I have heard horror stories about Medicare, Medicaid, and the dreaded HMO. So please give your thoughts and experiences. Is this an area that doctors are mainly responible for, or do nurses have to deal with it too?
Thanks..
Also, feel free to elaborate on anything you want regarding the work of a nurse. While my decision to become a nurse was well though out and with good intentions... I can't think of everything.
I hate the way nurses cannot seem to understand there is power in numbers. If we banded together within our little niche, management would have to listen.
We nurses have no representation with upper management - except for the 2 or3 tattle tales every floor has, they run in the bosses office constantly. The worst part is, the boss encouraged it - thereby perpetuating the "nurses eat their young" belief, that is by the way, true.
Stress, stress and did I mention stress? Nurses have an abundance of it. We are responsible for peoples lives and with a few exceptions, our hand are tied without Dr. orders. I like standing orders for this reason.
The hours can stink. I'm in a position where I have to take call, once weekly and q6th weekend. I hate it. I'm on edge the entire time.
Compensation or lack there of is a problem. I realize that compared to other college grads with 2 year degrees, we do pretty well. Even so, considering the stress we must endure, the hours and having peoples lives in our hands daily, we are NOT compensated appropriately.
The work is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding and try as I might, there are always patients I bring "home" with me and go over their care in my mind time and again to figure out how I could do better.
Nursing, your guaranteed a job no matter what the economy, but is it worth it?
The thing I hate the most is when they cancel nurses for the next shift because the patient census is low...and so we start our shift with fewer than normal nurses, but then they turn around and start sending us admission after admission after admission....and expect us to be fine.
Oh and the other thing I really hate is how nurses on 7-3 trash talk 11-7 and 3-11 nurses, and vice versa. Why do people do this? One shift is NOT better or worse or easier than the other shifts...they are just different, with different things going on. I really hate hearing shifts complain about each other...ugh!!
Specializes in Adult Med-Surg, Rehab, and Ambulatory Care.
Hello.
I am scheduled to start Nursing School next fall. I am really excited about it and am looking forward to becoming a Nurse and getting into the workforce. I am not worried so much about the curriculum and caring for patients. I figure whatever a nurse has to go through it is often harder on the patient anyway. But I am concerned about the paperwork and the bureaucracy, I have heard horror stories about Medicare, Medicaid, and the dreaded HMO. So please give your thoughts and experiences. Is this an area that doctors are mainly responible for, or do nurses have to deal with it too?
Thanks..
Also, feel free to elaborate on anything you want regarding the work of a nurse. While my decision to become a nurse was well though out and with good intentions... I can't think of everything.
First of all..."afraidofamericans"?? I have to question the screen name here!
Anyway, onward...
Paperwork and bureaucracy is the major headache of all nurses, IMHO.
However, as a staff (floor) RN, I personally don't deal with insurance issues...I just care for my patient(s). There are nurses whose job it is to deal with the insurance paperwork and such, but they do not do that as well as take a patient assignment. I hope that helps to answer your question a little bit.
The worst part of my job?
Under-staffing is a biggie, as well as the oft-annoying mandated nurse : patient ratio. The state says I can handle this many patients, blah blah blah...well, the state needs to follow me during a shift once or twice when my assignment, while numbers-compliant, is on the verge of being utterly overwhelming. And being canceled due to low census and having to use saved vacation days to cover the time is a major PITA.
Charting is the bane of my nursing existence, but it wouldn't be so bad if the department of redundancy department didn't have me charting the same information in 3 or 4 different places. I am darn good with my time management skills but I still have the occasional night when I am on the floor well past the end of my shift documenting a ton of information. And I don't get paid overtime for that.
Stress. Nursing is stressful, plain and simple. You are responsible for someone's (many someones!) life. You just have to learn how to destress, hopefully in a healthy manner.
Other than the above, the low points to my job are relatively minor. Catty co-workers, crappy bosses, annoying/rude patients (or "clients," if you prefer) and family members, etc...I think you find that in varying degrees no matter what job you work.
Best of luck to you in school! Nursing can be a rough yet very rewarding career.
Thanks a lot to everyone that replied. I gave it a lot of time because I was hoping to get a lot of responses. A lot you expressed concerns over not getting paid overtime for charting. I agree. I think it's awful you don't get compensated for the hours that you work. Isn't that against the law?
Oh and by the way. My screen name is just the title of a David Bowie. I think it is appropriate also given that it is a sentiment that much of the world holds towards American, fear.
I think the worst thing about nursing is the same thing that makes you a great nurse....fear of the unknown....you never know how your shift will end....you know how you don't want it to end,,,so your entire nursing process is guided by the fact that it is YOUR eyes ears touch and sense of smell that will clue you into those signs that something could be wrong...IT IS UP TO YOU...we can never say "well I didn't know that was going to happen...It was out of my hands."
Worst part of all my jobs in my 25 years as a nurse: the people I work with. There is always some bad apple that wants to make people miserable. The best part of nursing is also the people I work with: the rest of the (majority of) good people. Unfortunately, it only takes one bad apple to ruin a job.
Short staffing, getting written up for stupid, silly mistakes, mad doctors, doctors that complain all of the time, family's that are demanding, patient's that think that you are a maid, patient's that are lazy, the backache I have after I finish my shift, my irregular sleeping pattern, the short staffing, the patient's that want their IV pain medicine around the clock no matter what, the patients that have attitude with me, the catty nurses, the nurses that are waiting to report you no matter what, the 12 hour shifts, the not peeing for 12 hours, the not getting enough time to take an adequate lunch, the ENDLESS paperwork, the initialing, the signatures, the questions, that patients that start to vomit 5 minutes before you're supposed to give report, the unstable patients that cause you anxiety for your entire shift, the hawk-like supervisor that points out your mistakes and not your strengths, the grown patients that act like little kids going through a temper tantrum, the patient that calls you just to call you, the obese patient that just pees the bed because he's too lazy to get up and use the toilet, the doctor that won't call back after he's been paged several times, the endless rules and regulations and policies, the false image I was given in nursing school of how great being a nurse really is - the only working 3 days a week, the great pay, the ability to get as much overtime you can think of - give me a break! working 3 days but 12 hours shifts make you feel like crap. the pay isn't level with the amount of work you have to do.
Had I known this is what I was in for when I actually graduated, I would have never signed up. Right now I hate nursing. There are some times that I like what I am doing (which seems to be rare right now). But let's face it, pretty much in no other field can you get a 2 year degree and get paid what I'm getting paid. UNFORTUNATELY, however, is the massive influx of new grads there are and now the inability to find a job easily.
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
The best part of nursing is the fact that so much of what you see and hear is funny, especially when you work in the ED. My regret for 30 years of nursing is that I did not keep a journal because I am sure that I would have had a lot of great material for a great book. You will run into all types of problems and a lot of good things. It is all relative. Now that I have been at this for 30 years, not much bothers me any more and I see the humor in things more than I used to. I don't take it all so seriously any longer. One thing I do know is that I never have a day that I don't learn something. I learn something new every day and with the internet, it is so much easier. It also provides me with great educational material for the patients. Nursing will be so new to you and so fascinating, just don't let all the problems stop you from seeing all the good. You will deal with all types of personalities, all different kinds of illnesses and at some point you will find what you are good at and stay there. Keep your journal. You will be glad that you did.
Babs0512
846 Posts
I hate the way nurses cannot seem to understand there is power in numbers. If we banded together within our little niche, management would have to listen.
We nurses have no representation with upper management - except for the 2 or3 tattle tales every floor has, they run in the bosses office constantly. The worst part is, the boss encouraged it - thereby perpetuating the "nurses eat their young" belief, that is by the way, true.
Stress, stress and did I mention stress? Nurses have an abundance of it. We are responsible for peoples lives and with a few exceptions, our hand are tied without Dr. orders. I like standing orders for this reason.
The hours can stink. I'm in a position where I have to take call, once weekly and q6th weekend. I hate it. I'm on edge the entire time.
Compensation or lack there of is a problem. I realize that compared to other college grads with 2 year degrees, we do pretty well. Even so, considering the stress we must endure, the hours and having peoples lives in our hands daily, we are NOT compensated appropriately.
The work is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding and try as I might, there are always patients I bring "home" with me and go over their care in my mind time and again to figure out how I could do better.
Nursing, your guaranteed a job no matter what the economy, but is it worth it?