What do you hate most about your job?

[PancakeSaturdays]

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!

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

I have seen the same vacation/time off issues in other hospitals also. It seems to be a corporate issue as it is not uncommon. I worked at one place that also wouldn't allow the nurses to switch shifts with each other. As long as it is the same skill mix, why not? This is the kind of crap that makes nurses crazy. Such responsibility without common...I said common respectful treatment. Everything is a no.

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

Thank you for the compliment. Any nurse would agree and yet nothing changes....

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

I didn't read the whole thread, so skip me if I'm repeating somebody else's thought.

I hate the feeling of being powerless. I'm under the thumb of Drs, administration, patients, and ancillary staff. I have enormous amounts of responsibility, but no real power to change the course of my patient's condition, or my own.

[NotAllWhoWandeRN, ASN, RN]

i'm a little weirded out by the fact her responses sound like cringe-worthy corporate training manual 'empathetic scripting', but hey.

Tell me more about how that makes you feel.

[BonnieArlene]

Negative attitudes and gossip!

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

Imintrouble!

i can relate to how you feel and have felt this way in the past. However, I want you to know something....you ABSOLUTELY have power to change the course of your patients' condition. You may not have the cure for their disease. You may not change the fact that they will die. You may not have the influence you would like in their treatment plans overall, but you most certainly can effect the course of their treatment. You have no idea how you may be making a difference in how they feel nor how important what you do is to them. You don't need to be the super CPR responder, algorithms perfectly memorized with nerves of steel who catches the near death arrhythmia no one else saw, who can start an IV on a hummingbird, and catches the near miss lethal dose ordered of a medication no one else has heard of...to be IMPORTANT...As long as you treat your patients with compassion, respect, kindness and provide competant Nursing care, then no matter what happens in the end, you have helped them. I don't know if you have ever been a patient. I have many times and often have had experiences with my nurses that, in some cases, were profound. We don't always react outwardly in the moment...sometimes we are too ill, in pain, worried, or just preoccupied. Sometimes it takes years before we even realize what a significant difference someone had made for us.

Here is an example most can relate to...Have you ever say, been walking down the street, preoccupied with something on your mind and a person who passes by gives you a sweet, genuine, loving smile? And by the time it registers in your mind, they have already passed and you didn't have a chance to respond? That smile may have lifted your spirit, taken your mind off something troubling, or simply just felt good in the moment. That good feeling in you carries through and may effect how you treat someone that day, or how you handle something potentially negative.

There is NO way ANY nurse does NOT make a difference for their patients. Hopefully, it is a positive one, but a difference just the same. With the stress of our work and frustrations we endure, we often forget how important our work is....even when we are not enjoying it. You as a nurse are impacting a person's life when they are vulnerable, sometimes helpless and hopeless, fearful, sad, and sometimes all alone. Our patients are not things. They are not "the task". Even when comatose or sedated they are sensate beings who we effect in sometimes the simplest ways. We are responsible for the energy we bring to them. Please never forget this. And I do so hope you realize how important and special you are to so many...even if you feel insignificant or powerless, you actually are much more powerful than you know.

[uniqueguy34, BSN, MSN]

I hate the fact that I feel overwhelmed, always in a rush to finish charting.. Which geoperdizes patient care.. Does nursing in hospital has to be this way?

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

I just read through all the posts since my last one and wow! I've gotta say, even the things I hate the most (and that I have in common with a lot of other nurses) are just one more thing on the list of grievances by healthcare providers, social workers, etc. I know a doctor (a hospitalist) who's thinking of going to trade school to be a plumber with his brother-in-law because the pay would be at least as good and he wouldn't have all the grief of being a doctor. There is so much wrong with the system from insurance companies, to the new "customer satisfaction" model, staffing, charting, etc and I don't know how anyone will go about fixing these issues in my life time.

I know what irritates me (both rationally and irrationally:wacky:), but, especially in reading through these posts, I know there are always people who have it worse. I've never worked in a place where there was mandatory on-call, mandatory OT, etc so I can't even imagine that and I feel for those of you who do. However, I do identify with the posts where people talk about the lack of training (which, especially as a traveler is nearly and sometimes completely, non-existant), the computer charting nightmares, poor management, and people treating us unfairly in general, etc.

This thread has been good for me because, even though I've always "known" it, I don't feel like I'm the only one with these annoying issues. Sometimes it has made me feel grateful for the problems I DO have because some of you have issues I've never had to deal with.

While things like short staffing and what people think about how much we get paid (I have people tell me frequently that nurses get paid a lot for what they do) will always be an issue, at least we can virtually lean on each other/vent and that's a beautiful thing.

Now to go about changing things.....

xo

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

Your post is very well written and I can really relate to what you said.

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

oh, one more thing...

I especially relate to your point on comments people make about our salary. They speak out of ignorance because most lay people have no idea how much responsibility and knowledge we have. They don't realize that when we walk in to take VS's signs for example, that we are actually assessing approximately 20 other things at the same time. They don't know what goes on in the "background" , and think we are simply collecting numbers. But what about understanding what those numbers mean and what needs to be done or not done in relation to them? What about the fact that we are noting breathing patterns and effort, skin color and temperature and relative moisture, emotional affect, cognitive state, mobility, tolerance and response to a new medication or dose change, answering questions and teaching both the patient and their family member(s), noting safety issues, hydration, elimination, nutrition, wound status, IV site, monitor alarm settings, and....do I need to go on? Then they say, "A CNA can do what you do."

Sorry for being so wordy today...LOL". I guess I have a lot to say.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Your post is very well written and I can really relate to what you said.

Please use the "Quote" button so we know to whom you're responding.

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

Please use the "Quote" button so we know to whom you're responding.

Will do! New to this site.