What do you absolutely LOVE and absolutely HATE about your job as a nurse

labrador4122, RN · Aug 12, 2010

I love helping people & I love when I can make my pediatric patients happy & I love when the family thanks me for taking good care of their children.

what I hate is that even when I try my best to do the best job I can do in any situation, the nurse who I give report to- smiles at my face- then talks BS about me behind my back & when I ask her about it she says "ah don't worry about it". I hate that some nurses just nitpick and go out of their way to make you look bad and lecture you for things that they think you did wrong without actually having done nothing wrong. I hate that if you honestly 'forgot' something lets say get a consent after you get admissions at 2am or 3am for a procedure that is done only during the day shift (and you are night shift) the next nurse looks at you with a nasty face as if you didn't want to do your job. And I just hate when you ask the secretary to page a doctor for you or order a lab for you, they give you this look/attitude that they really don't want to do that for you even though it's their job.

thats my love and hate!! lol

borinick1492 · Aug 12, 2010

I love helping people & I love when I can make my pediatric patients happy & I love when the family thanks me for taking good care of their children.
what I hate is that even when I try my best to do the best job I can do in any situation, the nurse who I give report to- smiles at my face- then talks BS about me behind my back & when I ask her about it she says "ah don't worry about it". I hate that some nurses just nitpick and go out of their way to make you look bad and lecture you for things that they think you did wrong without actually having done nothing wrong. I hate that if you honestly 'forgot' something lets say get a consent after you get admissions at 2am or 3am for a procedure that is done only during the day shift (and you are night shift) the next nurse looks at you with a nasty face as if you didn't want to do your job. And I just hate when you ask the secretary to page a doctor for you or order a lab for you, they give you this look/attitude that they really don't want to do that for you even though it's their job.
thats my love and hate!! lol

Wow! LOL That's a lot of hate! But hopefully it's worth it.

secretlovers · Aug 12, 2010

I work in an ER. I Love saving lives, and knowing that I am making "a difference" in my patients & families lives.

I hate seeing patients code or die, or when family members become emotional when there loved ones are sick or hurting (that makes me emotional and all choked up). But the thing i hate the most is having to do "nursing tasks" on children, like shots, stitches, caths etc....

lkwashington · Aug 12, 2010

I love my job since I changed my position, before I just didnt want to go to work. Now, I am able to breathe again.

Maria Lenore,RN · Aug 12, 2010

I am a geriatric nurse and I love my work so much......

carol34 · Aug 12, 2010

I am a geriatric nurse and I love my work so much......

What in particular do you love about it so much....I am just curious. :yeah:

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2010

I love and am honored that I am allowed to take care of people at their most vulnerable time. I love that I make a small difference at this time, and I know that I am able to use my skill and my education to calm a patient's fears.

I love learning new things, new technologies and new procedures.

I love the new residents that I am able to give little "pearls of wisdom" to in order to make their first year bearable.

I love most of my co-workers. We are all in the same boat and can relate to one another and vent when we need to.

I love the fact that nursing has so many different specialties; it will never become boring to me.

I love teaching.

I love being challenged everyday. It makes me think on an entirely different plane.

I love the job security.

I love the way my surgeons teach me what they know-free education!

I love the fact that anywhere I go in the world, bodies are basically the same. I can do nursing anywhere.

I hate that administration and changing legislation has basically bound me in a way that I feel I must do my job with limited resources-kinda like "You must do your job well, without error and without complaint, but you must do it with your hands tied behind your back."

Although I don't HATE it, I don't exactly love having to take call.

That about sums it up. Not a whole lot to hate, but sooooo much about this profession I am in love with!

allnurses Guide · Aug 12, 2010

I was your age when I started to think seriously about nursing as a career, and lucky for me my high school had a program partnering with local businesses and other facilities including the hospital next door to "shadow" or spend time following that person around.

I happened to be teamed up with someone who by her behavior showed me what the good "could" be and what I should strive to like about nursing. She was just a master at being so clinically (skills wise) good that her compassionate nature was moved to the front burner, which is what the patient usually notices. I try to be that way, too note: try (there is no perfect!)and when I am appreciated for that, that's what I like.

I like to think of nursing as both science and art. I love science and art, so I guess it's pretty perfect for me! Also I knew office work would drive me insane very quickly. You don't spend very much time sitting in a chair as a nurse.

What I don't like: many times there is no "done" as other jobs have. You don't always see the results of your work in concrete terms. A success is a result of a collaborative effort. Not all members of the team have equal levels of motivation.

I did not like encountering abused children. I wasn't too keen on working holidays. There are some difficult personalities just as there are everywhere, but when the topic is patient care, it's more intense than it would be in the typical office politics scenario.

That's all I can think of at the moment! Best wishes to you!

Lola77 · Aug 12, 2010

LOVE: Providing care to patients. I do this for about 10% of my day.

HATE: Administrative work; phone calls; running to different floors for supplies; looking for a BSC/working pulse ox/IV pole; attending meetings; charting the same information in 85 different places; hunting down doctors; hunting down charts; hunting down a computer that will let me log in; hunting down the one and only accu-check machine that works; changing the battery in my spectralink for the 10th time; faxing lab results; refaxing lab results; getting yelled at by the doctor who states he never received the faxed lab results. . .I could go on here, but you get the idea. This is the other 90% of my day.

Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN · Aug 12, 2010

I loved the residents.

I hated the management and their games they played on the staff.

LACA, BSN, LPN, RN · Aug 12, 2010

I'm an elementary school nurse, so my loves and hates are a little different!!

I love the school I'm in, the great family and community environment and involvement, I love the friendly, warm staff that I work with, I love each and every one of the kids here and their genuine curiousity for life, I love being the "medical person" in the building, I love the ability to run my clinic and my office the way I wish to, and I love the hours and schedule!

I hate fighting to get paperwork back from parents, I hate that they expect me to give their kids prescription medication without a signed physician consent, I hate the craziness of health screening times, I hate that any school nurse association is only open to RNs (I'm an LPN), and I hate that as far as my current career, I'm as far as I can go, there's no level of advancing.

But overall, I absolutely adore my job...I get up in the mornings excited to go to work----how crazy is that!