Thoughts on being a nurse

TazziRN, RN · Feb 8, 2007

I'm tired of hearing these nurses say that they love their jobs because honestly, on med surg, I don't hear that very often.

Why are you tired of it? I'm sorry you dislike nursing so much but that doesn't mean that everyone else has to. I do love my job and most of my coworkers in the ER do also. I like the feeling I get when, like yesterday, I managed to get two 1:1 critical pts transferred out within an hour of each other and made a 3-yr-old boy with hemorrhagic UTI smile because the "magic stuff" I gave him made it painless for him to void. I like the feeling of satisfaction I felt this morning when I did a follow-up on the four-month-old I transferred out to a pedi PICU and found out he was downgraded this morning because he's doing so much better. I enjoy nursing so much that my daughter sees it and wants to go into nursing.

I dislike the non-urgent pts we get in the ER who get upset because they get bumped to the end of the list in urgency.

kelticwoman · Feb 8, 2007

I am sure I will rediscover what I like about being a nurse when I start

back to work again this Monday for the first time after two years. I have had a tough time with nursing throughout my career of 12 years. Four of those years I didn't work as a nurse, from 20002-2004 and again since 2004-till present. I know that I respect the profession immensely. An enormous knowledge base plus interpersonal, communication, and various other skills are required in addition to physical and emotional stamina. I find nursing challenging in this regard and I enjoy a good challenge. One of the things I liked about med-surg nursing as I remember, was the opportunity

to impart knowledge to another person--technical or medical. I did like that

my interventions made a difference in a person's abilities to cope with illness or surgery. I did like having a job where kindness could be given and appreciated. I did like my co-workers sense of humor when things were stressed. I have been apprehensive about returning to work, but thank you for this question as it clarifies what I love about nursing.