Things noane told you about nursing

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Hi everyone. This question is mainly for already licensed and working RN's but students are welcome to answer as well. I like hearing "inside" info from those with experience so my question is what are some things that you found out along the way that you didn't know and weren't told about working as an RN.

Thanks in advance for any insight. :o

Specializes in tele, oncology.

Another LPN here...and I'm gonna answer too whether you want it or not! :)

My program made it sound like nursing was all sunshine and roses. So not true! You get worked to the bone some shifts.

Noone told me there were little goblins who go around stealing and hiding equipment. Sometimes it takes me an hour to find an IV pump just to hang an IVPB that infuses in 15 min. Crazy.

Noone told me how a great group of co-workers can make even the worst shift imaginable run smoother. Or how important it is to treat your techs well...a great tech can make your shift go so much better.

Noone told me how cool my kids would think my job is...I've had to miss phone calls from home b/c we were coding or RRing a pt, and my 12 year old thinks that "fixing a dead person" is uber epic. Of course, he got to be the cool kid at school one day b/c of all the stories he hears, so that helps. One of the teachers coded during lunch and the kids got to see her being taken care of until the ambulance got there...he was telling everyone about how the AED works and the principles of CPR. He ever so modestly told me that it helped keep other kids from getting scared b/c he could tell them what was happening.

Noone told me how absolutely disgusting some of the things we deal with would be. Stage 4 decubes that look like week old cheese pizza, maggots in wounds, GI bleed or cdiff poop, getting spewed on while dropping a NG in an obstructed pt, the list goes on.

Noone told me how much of a bonding experience it would be dealing with the above with co-workers. Or how morbid our sense of humor would get.

Lastly, noone ever told me how rewarding it would be to be the person holding someone's hand and crying with them when they found out that they'd be dead in a few hours at most. I was dreading working oncology when I found out that our floor was going to be becoming that floor, but I have come to love our cancer pts.

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Specializes in Medicine.

Hey don't forget the wonderful rpns too...I'm sure they have enough to say!!

No one told me I would be yelled at by family, for respecting DNR wishes. Being yelled at from every possible direction (doctors especially).

No one told me I would have lower back pain starting as soon as my nursing career begins!

But then again no one told me to pick nursing. I like it most days.

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How everything is about the bottom line (money) and how much more money can be made with less. Sadly, it's not about the patients - even though Administration states repeatedly that it's always about the patients. Oh and getting a job, ya right as a new grad. And then when you do get a job it's all about fitting in with the cliques that already work there....nevermind if you can do the job. I sure hope I can last at my current place : ) because the cliques are killing me.

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That ***** Noane didn't tell me a damn thing. I feel cheated.

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Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.
Well you are going to hear from an LPN whether you wanted my answer or not because I have a response to your question.

Nobody told me that I would be leaving work crying some nights. That its ok to not know something, and its even better to ask for help. Also the first year on the job is one long unoffical "orientation". Theres no way you can possible jam in everything you need to know in your facilitys so called "orientation period". There are still things I'm learning and things I still need to learn or become more proficient in.

And I totally agree on the bathing issue. This one resident refuses her shower. It goes something like this. Every Shower Night.

Betty: Hi, my aide told me that I'm taking a shower a tonight. Well I'm not taking one. I wash up in my room every night. Thats good enough.

Me: No, you are taking a shower tonight. You need to take a shower.

Betty: But I'm going to get pneumonia. I'm not. taking. a shower.

Me. You have to take a shower tonight. (Mind you, this woman reeks. So I'm not letting her refuse her shower.)

Betty: Well, if I get pneumonia, you are going to foot the bill!"

Loved your post, but you can't force her to have a shower. She has a right to refuse. If you check her care plan, it is probably addressed. If not, you should address it. Peace!

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Specializes in LTC.
Loved your post, but you can't force her to have a shower. She has a right to refuse. If you check her care plan, it is probably addressed. If not, you should address it. Peace!

Shes stinking up the place! She does take a shower but she has to be talked into taking a shower. I'm trying to ask if her shower night can be changed because Friday she gets her hair done and they have one of her shower nights Friday.

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I didn't realize how many patients one nurse gets. Even when some are acute, some hospitals still keep piling on the patients on a regular basis rather than hiring extra staff. In the search for short-term profits, the hospitals ignore the studies showing higher rate of errors & even moralities when staff is overwhelmed.

I also did not realize how little time the nurse did what I considered was nursing care. At least half the time the nurse is at the desk, doing documentation, calling doctors, straightening out pharmacy mistakes, calling family, doing more documentation, and trying to keep track of aids. When in the room with the pt, some shifts the nurse only has enough time to do a quick assessment, ask pain level, and hand out meds because she has 6 patients to see in that hour. I don't understand why in nursing school they bother to train us on communication, alternative pain management, the psych variable, educating family, and other things -- when some nurses on the med-surge floor don't even have time to pee before having to zoom into the next room to give out meds. (And can someone tell me why ALL patients have their meds due right at 8am? Wouldn't it make more sense to schedule half at 8 and half at 9 or 10, when pt load is 6+ per nurse?)

It's also frustrating to have to listen to the corporate B.S. about top quality care at their facility, how they're magnet status, blah blah blah -- and walk onto a floor where the first THREE dinemapp machines are broken, two of the computer terminals are down, the single pulse-ox unit was lost weeks ago, and there is absolutely nobody assigned to equipment maintenance. They want us to be "customer service reps" to meet any need our pt or pt family has, but they give us 5 high-maintenance patients and a nurse's aide who hides in the closet to TXT her friends. How can we take the time to really show each patient is special if you're treating us like cogs in a giant machine, geared to run as fast as possible?

And a personal pet peeve: school trains us on proper nutrition. But then we work in facilities where they think it's ok to serve over-processed, over-salted, inappropriate foods. Fresh vegetables are unavailable and most dishes are full of fat (esp saturated fat). Why are we serving diabetics a meal of Wonder (white) bread, instant white rice, and a deep fried hunk of factory-farmed high-fat meat? And patients learn from this bad example how to eat.

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no one told me that being a waitress was great training for being a nurse. instead of delivering food, you're delivering medications. the similarities are creepy.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

I can't believe that taking care of the da**ed computer takes precedence over patient care. Yet a former NM put "charting" in the number one spot on our To Do lists.

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"Codependency" was all the rage in the pop psychology world in the 80's.

Noone ever told you that a lot of people with those traits tend to gravitate towards nursing. In fact, the more codependent you were, the more likely it was that administration viewed you as the perfect little compliant nurse. Hospitals fostered it and played that trait in nurses to their advantage beautifully.

That's just my opinion and is based only on anecdotal evidence.

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no one told me that being a waitress was great training for being a nurse. instead of delivering food, you're delivering medications. the similarities are creepy.

You are so right! I was a waitress in training for nursing for 5 years. Love it.

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Specializes in LTC, office.

No one told me that for every overly anxious patient there would be one in complete denial of their serious health condition.

The 21 year old man with lymphoma who was angry with the surgeon for making an oncology appointment for him.

The 45 year old intelligent, well-dressed, woman with breast cancer literally growing out of her chest. She came in because of a "sore on her breast" and then cancelled all follow-up and treatment plans we scheduled. She was going to take some vitamins instead.

A morbidly obese, uncontrolled DM who smokes and can't figure out why both lower extremities have huge wounds that will not heal. She is so upset that she "has such bad luck".

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