The Cons of Nursing

trekker76 · May 21, 2004

These experiences do suck. Even more so if you take them personally. Work with your co-workers if they are taking advantage of you. Set solid boundaries. Set boundaries with the patients as well. Did you take psych nursing in school? I did and it helped immensely. As a person, I haven't been good at drawing boundaries in the past. LOTS of people who become nurses have this problem--that whole caring for strangers thing. Phych nursing clinical and a great prof. taught me more than I could say about boundaries. It may seem harsh and uncaring, but drawing boundaries with those who are taking advantage is best for everyone. As for the mean patients--do they know better? Are they responsible for their behavior? If so, draw boundaries and don't take it personally. If not, draw boundaries and don't take it personally.

Seriously, you will come up agianst this kind of stuff almost everywhere. Here's a good book to start with:

The Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense by Suzette Haden Elgin

Good luck and take care.

warhawk · May 22, 2004

NOT being able 2 physically B in 7 or 8 different places in ONE time. SOOO many patients and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO little time!!!!

WARHAWK320

nekhismom · May 22, 2004

I hate my current position as a nurse. This hospital I'm at has convinced me that I no longer want to be a nurse. I was lied to, intentionally tricked, etc. to be brought into this position. The items covered in my contract have not been fulfilled, my verbally contracted items are even MORE of a joke, and my mgr. is a person from h***.

I hate this place, I hate my hospital, and right now, I hate nursing. My previous job had issues, but it sure was better than this. At least I liked being a nurse then. I could sleep through the day when I was off. I could spend time with my family despite a 2.5 hour round trip commute.

Now, I can't sleep unless I take something to help me sleep. Even then I have nightmares and wake up frequently. I feel like I never see my family, and when I do, I am so miserable that our time together is worthless. My days off are spent as days trying to lower my BP, since it has skyrocketed since moving here. I cry when I think about all that I gave up to move here, and how I was lied to and purposfully deceived to be convinced to come here. I cry because I don't want to go to work. I cry because the standard of care here is a joke, and pts. get treated poorly, and nurses even worse. It's like a throwback to the 1950's here.

I'm going to med school. At least then I can effect change, rather than just meet constant resistance and ridicule for having different opinions.

Your first year as a nurse is very important. make sure you make the right choice, and don't be fooled by contracts. Go to a hospital and a floor that has a good reputation for treating nurses well, and one that offers a nice, long orientation.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · May 22, 2004

(((((((((((((nekhismom)))))))))))))

I'm so sorry. I have been in your position in the past, more than once, and I was never so miserable. I became clinically depressed because of the job and wanted to leave nursing altogether. I probably would not be a nurse any longer, if I had not found my current position. It is far from a dream job, but it is doable, and I know I am valued there.

Can you find another job, another area of nursing?

You can't live in that kind of misery.

Hugs and love to you. :kiss

Hopegirl · May 22, 2004

I hate my current position as a nurse. This hospital I'm at has convinced me that I no longer want to be a nurse. I was lied to, intentionally tricked, etc. to be brought into this position. The items covered in my contract have not been fulfilled, my verbally contracted items are even MORE of a joke, and my mgr. is a person from h***.
I hate this place, I hate my hospital, and right now, I hate nursing. My previous job had issues, but it sure was better than this. At least I liked being a nurse then. I could sleep through the day when I was off. I could spend time with my family despite a 2.5 hour round trip commute.
Now, I can't sleep unless I take something to help me sleep. Even then I have nightmares and wake up frequently. I feel like I never see my family, and when I do, I am so miserable that our time together is worthless. My days off are spent as days trying to lower my BP, since it has skyrocketed since moving here. I cry when I think about all that I gave up to move here, and how I was lied to and purposfully deceived to be convinced to come here. I cry because I don't want to go to work. I cry because the standard of care here is a joke, and pts. get treated poorly, and nurses even worse. It's like a throwback to the 1950's here.
I'm going to med school. At least then I can effect change, rather than just meet constant resistance and ridicule for having different opinions.
Your first year as a nurse is very important. make sure you make the right choice, and don't be fooled by contracts. Go to a hospital and a floor that has a good reputation for treating nurses well, and one that offers a nice, long orientation.

Yet another post that makes me shiver. Please tell me, why are you going to go to med school, rather than becoming an NP? I would love an honest answer... if you would rather PM me, please, please do! TIA! :)

-J

PCGrad06 · May 23, 2004

new nursing student here! you have me ready to hide. :chair: but now i am hooked tell me more, tell me more. :eek:

nekhismom · May 24, 2004

Yet another post that makes me shiver. Please tell me, why are you going to go to med school, rather than becoming an NP? I would love an honest answer... if you would rather PM me, please, please do! TIA! :)
-J

Well, because here NP's have NO authority, and do not really have hospital priviledges. They can come see pts. on the weekends, but can't really do anything else. They don't admit pts, we don't take orders from them, they are basically as useless as we are. Your first year as a nurse sets the tone, so it's very important to get a GOOD job. WIth GOOD training, and lots of support. Not just a job that talks the talk. Be sure to check with people outside of the place about their perception of it. If you can get ahold of people who work on the unit you want to work on, do it.

Also, like I said, this job has me ready to leave nursing. I'm a relatively new nurse myself, and this place is SOOO not the way to go. My job is in the area that I always wanted, and it is hell, pure and simple. Med/surg (which I hated all through school) is suddenly looking pretty sweet.

Let me stress that not all places are like this. My first job was a lot better than this, even though it did have some serious issues. But this job is beyond unbelievable.

I am feeling better today, though, because I have found other relatively new people who feel the same way I do. We were all hoodwinked. LOL

Soonstudent · May 24, 2004

I'm getting older.

I've had those thoughts a lot lately, That's one of the reasons I decided to quit my current job and start over. Something great happened along the way, that sense of time is running out, I'm getting older, changed to I have my whole life ahead of me. I know I'm still young, but I believe we all have our whole lives ahead of us, wether we're 19 or 80. Its never to late for change.

sorry I don't have any cons yet, I'll let you know in three years.

studentnurse74, LPN, LVN · May 25, 2004

I live in a pretty rural area. Out of the three local facilities two are owned by the same company (one of which I work at) and they both have the same policies and managerial tenets. SO changing to the other one wouldn't change anything for me. The other facility is in MAJOR turmoil and has been for over a year now. It's a very unhappy place and has been in the process of being sold for over a year. Having worked there as a tech I knew it wasn't a supportive or safe environement. The nurses who've managed to keep their jobs during the crisis managed that through a ruthless CYA and back stabbing philosophy.
My husband is currently finishing his own degree and has a little over a year to go. Once he graduates we're getting the heck out of here. I keep telling myself that it will be different somewhere else. I just have to stick it out untill he's done with school. There isn't anywhere in commuting distance besides those 3 hospitals that will take a new grad. There are less acute places like long term care and rehab. But they all require a minimum of one year experience in an acute care facility.
I just keep telling myself I can survive anything for a year. I just need to keep sane and safe while I do it. Thank you for the supportive words. I needed them.

I don't blame you for moving! You should not have to endure that during your shift. I've worked several medical jobs, and none have been like that. Mostly nice patients, with a few bad apples. In the meantime, just stick it out. If you got through nursing school, you can get through this!

Dixiedi · May 26, 2004

For me I feel like I wasn't emotionally prepared for what I was getting into. I tend to get the "problem patients" because I'm the new girl (graduated in December). So I get the super high acuity patients and frequently admit high acuity patients too. On any given shift I can assume that at least one of my patients will be in some sort of restraint (or should be for their own safety), at least half of my patients will be confused (as in screaming cursing biting), and that anyone who doesn't fall into that category is going to be swinging from the call light at least once an hour thinking that I'm their personal slave. Oh, and also at least half of them are incontinent.
I work nights and it's a smaller facility, which means I'm often down the hall all by myself with no other nurse in yelling range and administration has decided in their infinite wisdom that night shift doesn't need any techs or support personell.
So I spend my entire shift up to my elbows in feces, I don't have any help no matter how acute my patients are, and my hospital keeps insituiting new "customer sevice" policies that eat up huge amounts of my time and make me feel like a fast food worker. I'm now supposed to check and document every hour on every one of my patients about pain. And I'm no longer allowed to leave the room without saying "Here at (my hospitals name) we want you to be very satisfied with your experience. I have plenty of time right now. Is there anything I can do for you?"
I knew that being a nurse was going to be hard work. I'm ok with that. What I didn't expect is that I was going to have to fill every roll just because I work nights. Nor did I realize I would be required to work an entire 12 and a half hours without any breaks or a lunch, but be required to sign out for a half hour unpaid lunch that I never actually go on because my hospital wont pay for a break relief nurse. I actually got in trouble the other day for going to the bathroom.
And I didn't expect the nightmares. I didn't expect to wake up screaming because I can hear my patients in my head. "I hate you." "You're a terrible nurse" "You're trying to kill me. You just want me to be in pain" "I don't want you. You're too fat to be a nurse" "I want one of the pretty girls, not this fat cow" "Get out of my house you lazy *****" "It's your fault I'm sick" That's just a small sample from last nights shift.
I didn't realize that no matter what I do or how hard I try it's never going to be good enough. Nursing school was hard. Often I felt I was being emotionally abused by my teachers. To be perfectly honest, if I knew how miserable I would be I would never have become a nurse. But now I feel like I can't let down all the people who supported me through school. I'm getting older. I can't afford to go back to school and try again. I'm so desperatly unhappy and overwhelmed. But I'm stuck for it now.

Oh dear! You should run faster than any of the previous posts told you to run! At no time should any nurse ever be on the floor alone. What if you should walk into a code? Who's gonna start CPR and who's gonna call for help? What if some crazy little old confused guy gets rowdy? Oh so many things can go wrong besides the wrong things you have already experienced. At the very least you should have a CNA with you. Go, go now!