When I used to tell people that I worked in the NICU, their faces would light up because they thought I sat around and held babies all day.
Now that I'm back in the PICU, when I tell people what I do, I get these horrified looks and people(nurses too) will say "I could never do that!". Whats even better is when they say it's because they like kids too much!
So my question to my fellow nurses is ..... what could you never do?
I'll start.... I have a great admiration for Burn nurses! I admit that I do not know much about burn care because it has always been a fear of mine, but I have always thought you have to have a very special talent for this area!
A friend of mine is a surgical RN for an ocular surgeon. Yeah - eyeballs out on the table.....no thank you.
Eyeballs for me too. In all my years as a paramedic and my almost year as an ER RN, I can confidently say that the only time I have ever gone pale and woozy was on a particularly nasty eye injury call. Just the other night, I paid one of my coworkers $20 out of my pocket to go do the Morgan Lens thing to get a patient's contacts out for me. I have an iron stomach, but eyes just wig me out. :imbar
There's lots of fields I wouldn't want to work in...but that's really the only one that's a definate no-go.
ER - I know its silly for me to be a nurse and not like the sight of blood lol I can handle blood that is intentional (i.e. surgeries), but I can't can't can't handle TrAuMa :imbar
Peds - during clinicals I saw so many child abuse cases. It disturbed me so much, I get so angry and sad. New life off to such a rough start and knowing that the rest of their lives will probably not be happy ones. Also the sickies....tugs at my heartstrings too much because all you want to do is wish away their pain or take it in so they don't have to suffer. I just couldn't imagine my kids in that situation or me as their parent having to go through that with a child. Too too much.
Probably nothing at this point, because so many times I've found myself DOING what I thought I'd never do! I lost the word "never" awhile back, it seems.
That said, I'd prefer to avoid OB. Between the insanely young and stupid teen babymamas and the "too posh to push" divas I've managed to get stuck with each time I float there, I'd be ok skipping it altogether. Hard not to judge when it's so in your face (much like the drug seekers in med-surg....yeah, not judging them either....!)
Interesting seeing the nearly alternating posts of "I could never work peds: infants and children, no way!" and "adults! Can't deal with them", LOL!
A friend of mine is a surgical RN for an ocular surgeon. Yeah - eyeballs out on the table.....no thank you.
Thats realllly interesting though!! I think I'm probably the only one here(seemingly) to consider doing that. I used to be an opthalmic technician before nursing school and I loved it so much, assisted in the OR for Lasik surgery..:loveya:
zamboni
189 Posts
Eyeballs for me too. In all my years as a paramedic and my almost year as an ER RN, I can confidently say that the only time I have ever gone pale and woozy was on a particularly nasty eye injury call. Just the other night, I paid one of my coworkers $20 out of my pocket to go do the Morgan Lens thing to get a patient's contacts out for me. I have an iron stomach, but eyes just wig me out. :imbar
There's lots of fields I wouldn't want to work in...but that's really the only one that's a definate no-go.