So what is the deal with nursing.....

island40 · Jun 8, 2010

Like a lot of other jobs we complain about stupid stuff. But unlike a lot of other jobs we sometimes get the honor to say this:

Wow. Yesterday I started work before I went to work.

Didn't have anything for breakfast at home, so I decided to go to McDonald's on the way. I left my house early. Whe I got there, there were no other cars in line and only 1 little old man sitting at a table that I could see through the windows. I pulled up, ordered, and continued to the first window.

When I got there, the cashier girl took my money in a jerky fashion and closed the window. She seemed kind of slow mentally, but I didn't think anything of it cuz I know they hire "challenged" individuals and I didn't want to stare. As I was observing out of the corner of my eye, she seemed to become confused at the cash register. She stood staring for maybe 20 sec. Then, I leaned out of my window to ask if I had given her the wrong amount (b/c I still didn't want to ask if she was normally this way in case it embarassed her.) When I did, she turned and looked at me through the glass in a most peculiar fashion...

Then she began to shake, slowly at first, and then she violently rammed herself belly first into the register and began to fall. Well, I was screaming at this point, and as she fell I saw her manager come and see what was happening. So I burned major tire getting up to the door, threw it park and ran inside without closing my door.

Not all of the employees knew what had happened yet, so they all just saw some strange woman in scrubs come barging in the door and run through their cooking area to the back window. The girl was on the floor with her eyes open and her manager was beside her. As I ran, I grabbed the softest things I could find, which were the cook coats and a saints jacket and quickly stuffed them all around/under her and kicked everything else out of the way. I propped her slightly to the side and raised her legs up on some fry boxes. In the midst of this I had yelled at one fry girl to call 911, and amazingly, she did so right away. Also asked if they had an AED just in case. Nope. Oh well. Told them I was a nurse, and the manager told them to lock the store and posted someone to watch for the EMS.

The girl was nauseated, dizzy, and pale. And her hands had tremors, but otherwise she was just frightened. I asked if she was diabetic or had a history of seizures. Negative. Pregnant-yes.

Got off the phone and sat down with the girl and held her hand, comforted, calmed, etc. Asked her if I could call someone for her. She said yes. So I took her cell phone and dialed "mom." Told her mom that she had gotten dizzy and weak and that we were sending her to the hospital to get checked out. Had the other guy who was standing there go grab all of her things, purse, phone, wallet, etc. As I took off her hat and headset gear, the EMS guys arrived. I gave a quick report and got a free breakfast from the manager!

Whatta morning! I went to work afterwards and then noticed that I had grease all over the knees of my pants where I had slid down beside the girl. Whew! :lol2:

RNTwin · Jun 8, 2010

I have been around these boards off and on the past couple years. I am not a nurse yet but am seriously thinking of changing my career to be a nurse. But when I read the majority of the posts on this board I am discouraged with all the negativity and horror stories I read about.Is there a nursing shortage or not? Is the nursing shortage only in certain areas of the country and in only certain fields? Whats the real story? What is it really like? Why are seasoned nurses so mean to new grads? Are they that miserable that they feel they can take it out on others less than them? It seems like such a harsh field.I am sick of my engineering job where I go home at the end of the day and feel like I havent contributed to anything good in society. I want to help people and make a difference in the world. But if nursing is so horrible as it sounds on this board then maybe I should stick with my boring engineering job. Please someone enlighten me and help me see how it really is. Thanks.

-yes there is a nursing shortage, some regions more than others.

-the problem also is that 99% of all hospitals staff according to number of patients in a unit not on the acuity(basically how sick they) for instance in a ICU usually its 2pts to 1 nurse. so if you have 10pts you get 5 nurses but say 2 of those pts are SICK as HELL(on balloons, cvvhd, bleeding, etc) you typically only get 5 nurses still this is were most nurse get there negativity/horro stories. it's all about numbers.

-seasoned nurses that are mean to new grads ARE RETARDED/STUPID, i love taking new nurses b/c if your are a good preceptor you can make or break the grad into a sorry ass nurse or an expectional one. luckly every nurse i have precepted is in CRNA or NP school (i've precepted over 15 people) and yes one nurse was so horrible i refused to precept her after about a week, she was a total retard i don't know how she passed her boards. There is alot of older/young that don't like precepting b/c it shows their incompetence or lack of knowledge or they just don't remember what it was like to be a new grad. and yes you typically have to work harder when you have orientee b/c let's face it, they don't know much most of the time. b/c schools teach nursing as if it was in a "perfect world" unfortunetly we don't LIVE IN THAT WORLD

-to be honest if you make decent money as an engineer stay in your field or unhappy just bc your bored or want to help people, again stay in your field, first you need to shadow a nurse before you make any career moves or volunteer and if you still feel like you want to help people then make the decision. but to be honest 90% of nurses don't like their jobs, why do i do it? b/c hopefully one day things will change, i make descent money, i truely want to help people. but this career is not for the week hearted their is so much BULLSH..T. Like i tell most of my co-workers its the ILLUSION of great care. i've had managers tell me, just check the box or make my numbers look good. :down: the public has no idea how much bull their is healthcare for instance right now in my unit we have patient here b/c if we let the patient go to rehab(LTAC) today the hospital will not be reimbursed the full amount so the patient will sit here for two more days. :down: what a F..Kup system. hospitals should be reimbursed at a better rate if they can get patients out sooner....

spacemom1 · Jun 8, 2010

Wow. I thunk u have officially changed my mind and broken my dream. First of all my dream was to not necessarily work in a hospital but maybe a obgyn office or a birthing center or something of the like so all the hospital crap didn't really worry me. But now I don't know. Can anyone tell me if it's different at a clinic than a hospital?

RN1298 · Jun 9, 2010

I work at a clinic. The work environment is much better--I get an hour for lunch!!--but I also get very little respect from patients and parents (it's a peds clinic). I feel like they view me more as an obstacle they have to get around before they can see the doctor than someone who is helping their child. The doctors I work for are nice, but sometimes I feel like I'm really just a hostess or I'm just there to do their dirty work...give the shots and do the other things that make the kids cry. Some days are fun/nice and I love working with kids, but ultimately I think I'm going to get my NP degree... would love to get a little more respect. :)

Fiona59 · Jun 9, 2010

I've worked in clinics, hospitals, LTC. Sure I'm in a different system (Canada, universal care) but patients and their families are the same the world over.

The sense of entitlement is huge. They have to wait to see the Doctor at the Clinic? The nurse is responsible in their eyes for the Dr. running late, booking too many patients an hour, etc. It's the nurse's fault when the patient runs out of meds and "forgot" to come in for a refill visit.

Postpartum can be good but it can suck big time. Everyone thinks happy families, cute babies. Can you deal with an apprehension? The babe taken by the province for safety reasons? Babies with urine catchers because they are detoxing from Mum's use? Ticked off women who's birth plans didn't work like clockwork and they wound up having an emergency section? Trust me, it can be all about them, not the safe arrival of a baby. Then if you work the other women's units you get the mothers of stillbirths, they can be so sad and withdrawn or incredibly angry at the world. Gynie cancers are heartbreaking. Termination patients can be so sad when their child is not viable.

Heart break happens in every unit and specialty. It's not all sugar and cuddles.

wowdudeee · Jun 9, 2010

Hi, Fiona:

Just a question, I was staying at the 10 th floor at Foothills medical center this January. It seems that nurses know a lot of info about us. Do they know our address, phone number, date of birth and marital status ÉÉ Are this info all on the patient info sheet or what. Thanks in advance.

Fiona59 · Jun 9, 2010

Hi, Fiona:
Just a question, I was staying at the 10 th floor at Foothills medical center this January. It seems that nurses know a lot of info about us. Do they know our address, phone number, date of birth and marital status ÉÉ Are this info all on the patient info sheet or what. Thanks in advance.

Yes. All that info is on the admissions sheet which is somewhere on the chart. I have no idea what is on the 10th floor at Foothills down in Calgary. The average floor nurse doesn't have the time to search the chart for those details. If it's a postpartum unit, they need to access the info for the home visit from the health unit. If it's general surgery, nobody has time to go hunting for it.

If you have concerns about a particular staff member caring for you, you need to speak to the unit manager or consider using Rockyview or the Lougheed.

RNTwin · Jun 9, 2010

Wow. I thunk u have officially changed my mind and broken my dream. First of all my dream was to not necessarily work in a hospital but maybe a obgyn office or a birthing center or something of the like so all the hospital crap didn't really worry me. But now I don't know. Can anyone tell me if it's different at a clinic than a hospital?

sorry...but as people mentioned before you need to shadow someone for a while and especially the area that you want to end up in...unfortunately our healthcare sux and people think they have the right to healthcare(but it's a privileg, a whole different topic) and have it done NOW...b/c they are the only pt out there.

Music in My Heart · Jun 9, 2010

Wow. I thunk u have officially changed my mind and broken my dream.

Better now, while you're still employed and your engineering career is still intact, than after you've gone through a few years and many thousands of dollars to get your RN license.

It's best to have your eyes wide open. You should definitely seek to network with nurses (in real life, not anonymously over the web) to get a better picture of what nursing is like in your area and whether your "dream" correlates at all with reality.

shoegalRN, RN · Jun 9, 2010

Wow. I thunk u have officially changed my mind and broken my dream. First of all my dream was to not necessarily work in a hospital but maybe a obgyn office or a birthing center or something of the like so all the hospital crap didn't really worry me. But now I don't know. Can anyone tell me if it's different at a clinic than a hospital?

Sorry to bust your "dream", but you may not even be able to get a job in a clinic fresh out of nursing school. For one, most clinics required at least one year of hospital or inpatient experience, for two, those positions go quick and usually to the nurses who have been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and just buying time until retirement.

So, you will most likely have to start in a hospital, probably a med-surg floor like many RN's have had to.

It's best to have a very realistic view of nursing before you quit your engineering job, spend 2+ years completing pre-reqs, another 2+ years getting on waitlists for nursing schools, another 2+ years in actual nursing school, spending thousands of dollars, and then graduating, passing boards, and THEN realizing nursing is not for you, or what you THOUGHT it would be.

If I were you, I will investigate and do as much shadowing as possible so you can see the good, the bad, and the ugly when things don't go as planned.

And if you are used to structure, you can forget that when you go into nursing. You never know what you are gonna get as soon as you walk through the hospital doors. Don't matter what area of nursing you work in.