What do you hate most about your job?

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Hey lovely (or studly) nurses,

Upcoming strong word advisory.

What do you *hate* the most about your job? Like over the past week or so --

what have you been most stressed, angry, hurt, or annoyed about?

I'm doing some informal research to help me understand the needs of nurses….and would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!

Being forced to basically lie. Idk about anyone else but in the LTC facilities I've worked in it's the norm to be given unreasonable assignments; with every patients medication due at the same time and an impossible list of wound/fall prevention/skin barrier creams/cath care/Trach care/random care treatments to be completed. Oh and don't forget to get your charting done; also chart the way management asks or else you'll be asked to edit your progress notes! For example: 3 patients have neb treatments at the same times 2x a shift. I'm supposed to stay in the room with the patient for the entire 15-20 min treatment. Riiiggghhhhtttt;) I have 2 hours to devote to breathing treatments... When I have a demented patient who requires direct supervision and don't forget that family member who requires a 20 minute conversation about the same thing I told them yesterday. Ohhhh, but my manager needs me to back date a skin assessment from a month ago that I, "forgot," to document. Also someone's wound vac is beeping and there's 4 call lights going off; the unit manager/DON has the time to text me or personally find me on the unit to tell me what so-and-so needs when it would have been more effective time management to do it themselves. That's if you can even find management. They've probably left for the day, an hour before an admission with discharge orders so complex and inappropriate for the level of care provided that you want to cry- ESP when you get a look at the new admit's skin:(

But don't forget to chart interventions on all of your patients who're on day 3 of not having a BM!

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Mandatory overtime, low morale because of how nursing is treated and management not keeping staff informed about even the most basic things.

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It's amazing to read back at some of these comments. Read recently, that nursing is rated high of the list of most stressful jobs in the US. It also mentioned that nurses retiring or leaving after many stressful years (didn't say those from ICUs or ED), were showing S/Sx of PTSD.

Why if they expect us to be more knowledgeable, work smarter, safer, longer, and harder... that the healthcare system look for ways to help the nursing process with more friendly EMRs. I still find it hard to believe we have to scan an armband and a blister packet, before you can give the medication to the patient. I never worked in a grocery store. I think of myself as more than a head of lettuce. And just because there is a computer information system in use, it's the person that cares to get it right. (garbage in-- garbage out). Had one patient that while attending, did have two ER visits and one 23Obs. Pt's mother tired to update next of kin, address,... info. Still came home with papers showing deceased (18mos/ago) father as emergency contact and a misspelled address. That's ridiculous.

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Specializes in Care Coordination, Care Management.

Patients who go to the ER for non-emergent medical issues. :bored:

Especially multiple ER visits for non-emergent medical issues.

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I hate that my job is based more on profits, and patient satisfaction than true patient care. I'm a nurse, but I feel like I run a hotel

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Electronic medical records !!! The program we use is horrible. Most EMR is written to produce coding and billing. Their is little margin for medical documentation. I'm stuck with check boxes and truncated to so many characters. It times me out in the middle of a record if I get called away to triage a patient. The. It goes down for updates at the most inconvient times. Trying to work with IT support has been very frustrating. Plus they don't communicate well in English. Before EMR I could see twice as many patients and give them great care. Now I'm relegated to making sure the record meets meaningful use and a tab run created by the manager for biling purposes. Yuck.

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Specializes in Care Coordination, Care Management.

Sorry, I lied. The thing I hate most about my job is this one MA we have. I CANNOT STAND the sound of their voice, or their laugh. Most obnoxious voice/laugh EVER. I know this is terrible, but it's the truth. :facepalm:

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Specializes in Critical Care.

First the never ending alarms that grate on my nerves, every time I turn around they keep adding more, the latest phones that alarm constantly linked to all the tele. Try talking to a Dr with the alarms blaring in the background! Just stupid! Don't be so cheap and get some tele techs!

Second the big brother micromanaging computer systems that ask you a million questions just to be able to give meds or chart!

Third the lazy CNA's that actually mouth off and tell you to do their job for them when you gently prod them to do their duties such as stocking! Then management doesn't stand up to their insubordination, but tells you to be a team player and get along. Hell no I'm not going to do their job on top of mine! I have enough work on my plate already! I'm actually happy to get agency CNA's because the majority of them do a better job without the attitude of the regular staff CNA's that do the bare minimum!

Lastly the foley free environment and the lack of safe lifting equipment like ceiling lifts to move the extremely obese patients 300 to 500 pounds and up!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
It's amazing to read back at some of these comments. Read recently, that nursing is rated high of the list of most stressful jobs in the US. It also mentioned that nurses retiring or leaving after many stressful years (didn't say those from ICUs or ED), were showing S/Sx of PTSD.

Why if they expect us to be more knowledgeable, work smarter, safer, longer, and harder... that the healthcare system look for ways to help the nursing process with more friendly EMRs. I still find it hard to believe we have to scan an armband and a blister packet, before you can give the medication to the patient. I never worked in a grocery store. I think of myself as more than a head of lettuce. And just because there is a computer information system in use, it's the person that cares to get it right. (garbage in-- garbage out). Had one patient that while attending, did have two ER visits and one 23Obs. Pt's mother tired to update next of kin, address,... info. Still came home with papers showing deceased (18mos/ago) father as emergency contact and a misspelled address. That's ridiculous.

I'm sure many of us have PTSD and are burned out! Frankly I think nurses deserve a 25 years and out paid early retirement with health insurance just like many govt workers have! Instead many nurses struggle to make it to retirement with their back, body and mind intact! I've seen too many nurses struggling with chronic pain from this job, but too poor to retire. Also so many coworkers that may be nice people but not great nurses or coworkers. I wonder how much of this is related to the stress of the job! I think its sad that we are treated like replaceable warm bodies who must be able to move immense amounts of weight. Why don't they get the lift equipment to move people. We are expected to move insane amounts of weight whereas most factory workers have machines to protect their back and body. We certainly deserve the same!

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Electronic medical records !!! The program we use is horrible. Most EMR is written to produce coding and billing. Their is little margin for medical documentation. I'm stuck with check boxes and truncated to so many characters. It times me out in the middle of a record if I get called away to triage a patient. The. It goes down for updates at the most inconvient times. Trying to work with IT support has been very frustrating. Plus they don't communicate well in English. Before EMR I could see twice as many patients and give them great care. Now I'm relegated to making sure the record meets meaningful use and a tab run created by the manager for biling purposes. Yuck.

I currently use EPIC an it's not terrible, but oh my word, the character limits in those little boxes. If they would educate on sound legal documentation it might be easier, but my preceptors felt like they (and therefore I) needed to double and triple chart every box that had a relevant option. I know they had a left knee surgery and have some limb weakness and pain. Why do I have to chart that under "neuromuscular" when it's ALL already charted somewhere else? GAH.

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Half of my floor's day and night crew has quit in the past 2 months, and yet, I still can't pick up an extra shift and be reassured that I will not be called off for that shift. The float pool has too much autonomy and is too big. They pick the days they want to work, they cannot be called off, and they make it impossible for anybody else to pick up overtime. I'm sure that's exactly what administration wanted, since then they can pay the extra float rate instead of paying a normal floor nurse time and a half. They're actually adding 2 more nurses to it in the coming months. Seems like the only way to protect my shifts would be joining them, but I don't have the years of experience they'd like yet. Just another disappointment at the hands of administration.

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Every freaking thing except the paycheck.

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