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Discussion

Things that make me HATE nursing.

1. Paper work --- For God's sake people!!! I know that we have to cover ourselves, but really. When there is a new piece of f-ing paperwork coming out every week I can't even keep up! Some one needs to stream line the beast and finally get a freaking computer system that works.

2. Education --- I entered the nursing profession well aware that I would need to continue my education. But hospitals (or at least my hospital) seem to have so many types of education that you "must have" but very little of it co-insides with each other. Example? CEUs and CEs are two different things at my hospital and CEs do not cout as CEUs but they take just as much time. Hence I really end up with like 24 education credits instead of 12. Furthermore there is no directory or written instructions as to where I need to go to get this education, nor is there someone to help me figure out when it is due. I find this frustrating because I can barley keep up with my patients in a 12hr shift. I don't find that I really have time to go around asking my managers if there is some sort of education thingie that I need to do! I also hate that these classes are on line and I end up doing them at home on my own time instead of getting paid for it. Furthermore I find that most people cheat to get their education completed in the given time line making the whole idea of continuing education a joke.

3. Snotty nurses who like to tell me how much they can complete and how they can give complete care of their patients while I'm over here drowning. I am glad that there are people out there that are so organized and wonderful that they can do this very demanding job, find pleasure in it, and still dot all their i's and cross all their t's. Please realize that I don't think most nurses can be that way and get the hell off your high horse.

4. Older nurses that get easily frustrated with me becasue I'm asking questions and just get up and do the task I was asking them about instead of teaching me how to do it OR older nurses who get frustrated/***** with me because I'm drowning in my patient load to the point that I'm unsafe and I'm asking for help.

5. Needy family members and patients who won't give me two freakin' seconds to try to get them what they were asking for before they come find me again OR they have real issues understanding that I am taking care of someone sicker than they are at the moment and will deal with their petty issue when I know my other patient isn't going to crash on me. (Please note that I really do empathize that it sucks to be in the hospital and with as much as patients have to pay...or we pay in taxes for the pateint to be there....they should have all of their wants dealt with within a reasonable time. Like 2 mins or less. However that is not the case.)

6. Other nurses telling me I should ask for help when I need it. I find this frustrating because they usually say it when I'm to my eyeballs with orders and issues and I've been trying to get help all day. I mean really if I'm acting like I'm freaking out and really stressed and comming up to you and telling you how much crap I have to do, why wouldn't you think that I need help?! Furthermore, it is easy to say "just ask for help", but really when you need help there is no one around to come to your aid so really it's a waste of breath for you to say "just ask for help."

Okay I think that is all I have to complain about tonight. I get to go back to work tomorrow and torture myself again. Oh, joy.:no:

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You've just summed up my day. No arguement here.

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Here's what I dislike about nursing:

1. The lack of respect from doctors, patients, family members, coworkers, managers, and society

2. The increase in accountability for patient outcomes, without the corresponding increase in salary

3. The fact that new nurses are churned out into the workforce every 6 months, further saturating the job market for nursing

4. The general consensus that nurses are warm bodies who simply fill shifts

5. The low workplace morale that can often be observed at many healthcare facilities

6. The low self-esteems and passive aggression of some nurses

7. The increase in lateral workplace harassment

8. The public's very outdated perception of the nursing profession

9. The fact that there is a myriad of different ways to become a nurse (LPN, ADN, BSN, MSN, Ph.d)

10. The female domination of the nursing profession

11. The desire for hospital administrators to maximize profit margins, without regard to nursing staff or patient safety

12. The practice of recruiting new nurses, rather than the retention of highly experienced nurses

13. The expectation that nurses can "do it all" while working understaffed, and lacking supplies

14. The expectation that the nurse is also the customer service rep, bellhop, concierge, waitress, clerk, messenger, courier, pillow fluffer, and receptionist

I feel your pain. I felt exactly the same way my first year and a half of being an RN and working in a hospital. I got to thinking that I wasn't cut out to be a nurse. I tried working in outpatient same day surgery and then I tried working in home hospice care. Ran into many of the same problems. I took a massage therapy course, but was informed it's almost impossible to make a decent living as a massage therapist. So, here I am with a BSN, and in the current poor economy / recession, about the only thing I can do with my college degree is work as a Registered Nurse in a hospital. And at this point, as I'm in the middle of the job search process, I am hoping and praying that I can find a hospital in my area that will offer me a full time RN job. However, I know full well that once I am back to work full time as a hospital staff nurse, I will feel miserable again, and experiencing the same problems and issues that you are describing.

:o

Amen, Commuter! My thoughts exactly!

I hear you KalipsoRed.

:)

Patients who tell me step by step how to do their dressing change (mind you, nothing complicated, a simple wash up, apply prescribed ointment & wrap up a lower extremity cellulitis) am I sure that they should be getting 500 mg of Cipro (yes, would you like to see the order that I read back and verified?), who follow me out to the desk while I am on the phone taking a T.O. on another patient, & proceed to interrupt me while my supervisor and I are trying to get an IV nurse to come in to declot their PICC so I can hang their abx....

Kind of a long night, glad I had no admissions...

Here's what I dislike about nursing:

2. The increase in accountability for patient outcomes, without the corresponding increase in salary

6. The low self-esteems and passive aggression of some nurses

Amen, amen, amen. Particularly to #2. I feel like I have nearly the responsibility of a physician (since I'm the one at the bedside who will get blamed if I don't catch the tiniest change in status) without the commensurate salary.

Well when a resident takes the biggest dump and you have clean it by yourself everybody else disappears . And they simply just observe because they are above the job.

Here's what I dislike about nursing:

11. The desire for hospital administrators to maximize profit margins, without regard to nursing staff or patient safety

:yeahthat:

i dislike the annoying families. i can't stand when they are constantly back and forth to the desk. sometimes , i feel like i am being stalked.

Kalipsored- I was previewing some of your previous posts and you sound like you have a lot of frustrations. I know that things can be overwhelming at times for all of us but the negativity doesn't get anywhere. We know that sometimes the online education is a pain but JCAHO and OSHA require this training - regardless! Also, if your license requires you to maintain a certain number of continuing education credits per year you must have some resources to finding this. I know we all have rough days but the negativity in your post makes me wonder if there is more going on than it seems. Good luck to you and I suggest you take your co-workers up on any help they are offering.

I'll begin by saying that I am not a nurse and can't completely empathize. I would like to address two themes, though.

One - I find it very dissapointing that the general consensus seems to be against pt families. My mother (a nurse) struggled with cancer for 2 years and during that time we spent A LOT of time in the hospital. There were some absolute angels that offered care and some nurses that seemed frustrated that I was there. As the person who did her home care, when I got the the hospital, I did have some valuable insight into what works for her and what didn't. Most of the time, it was well received and we built a lot of great relationships. But, I always found it frustrating when the nurses didn't see me as part of the "treatment team." When it is my turn to be the nurse, I hope that I can remember being on the other side of it and not see the families as a nuisance. Granted that doesn't mean I will let them walk all over me and cater to their every need and some people are just jerks - with that being said, start off on the right foot and try to incorporate them when I can.

Second - No career is without it's struggles. I could write a long list of "what I hate about the health insurance brokerage business" too. Try to focus on the part that makes you glad you are a nurse. If that doesn't work, maybe you should reconsider your career. I have done that with mine. There is no shame in that.

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