What is Your Biggest Challenge as a Nurse or a Nursing Student?

Nurses General Nursing

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Take a brief survey here : What is your biggest nursing challenge?

We've had several articles and threads recently dealing with many problems and challenges that nurses are facing today. We get so caught up in caring for others that many times we forget about taking care of ourselves. So many issues nurses face on a daily basis can lead to emotional and physical burnout, job dissatisfaction, anxiety, illness, and more, unless we learn how to cope with the stresses that won't go away. Although the root of many of these challenges seem unsurmountable, there are things that can be done for how we react under the stresses many of you are experiencing.

This got me to thinking…...what can we do about this? I know many of you come here to vent about the challenges you are facing. And that is good. But how can allnurses be more supportive to you than just offering a sounding board?

I'd like to know: What is your biggest personal challenge as a nurse or nursing student? What's keeping you from enjoying your job or your preparations to be a nurse? What is taking the joy out of your life?

I'm really curious and I want to know. In order to help, we need to know more about those stresses you are facing at work or in school. So please take a few minutes to answer some questions.

Click here to answer a few questions.

Your feedback by participating in this short survey will be instrumental in helping us as we develop things that we hope will help you with your challenges....before you reach the state of burnout. This is your chance to have an impact on our plans for future developments and offerings through allnurses.

To express our appreciation for you taking time to answer a few questions, we will be having a random drawing of (4) $50 gift cards to those who complete the questionnaire.

I look forward to hearing from you!

After taking the survey, please feel free to share your feedback in this thread. Go ahead and vent. Sometimes talking about it is very therapeutic.

Thanks

Apt.

(And this answers my next question, "Where the hell have you been?")

Full time job, full time school. Not much play time anymore!

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Full time job, full time school. Not much play time anymore!

Miss ya. :sorry:

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Specializes in OB.

I think my biggest challenge is trying to do everything myself. I've been a nurse on my unit for about 20 years. We are cross-trained in all areas of OB - labor & delivery, triage, post-partum and nursery. I am one of the charge nurses on day shift and sometimes a preceptor. When things are busy I have a tendency to just do it all myself rather than to delegate, partially because of co-workers who will whine or are just not capable of doing what needs to be done, despite the fact that we are all cross-trained. About a year & a half ago we went to computerized charting, so now that has lead to even more problems. I was one of the "super users" who went to classes before everyone else did (we didn't get extra classes, we just went sooner so that we had more time to practice in the playground). Some people still think that we know more about the system than they do, but we really don't. It's just a matter of figuring out where to look for the information. There are times when I'm in charge that I have to worry about relieving the triage nurse and the nursery nurse for their lunch breaks before I get one; I might have to be at every delivery that day; I might have to tell the doctors that we can't bring their patient in that day for induction, so they will yell that we do that all the time; every nurse that has any issue will call me, even if it's just something simple (can you take my patient some motrin?) Some days it's just not worth the $1/hour.

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My biggest challenge is gaining confidence. But that, unfortunately, comes with time and experience. Guess I'll just sit here and twiddle my thumbs in the mean time :)

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

You would be surprised how many people suffer from anxiety/panic attacks. Please get a diagnosis and treatment! You will feel so much better.

If you had diabetes, you would seek treatment, right? {{{Hugs}}} and get thee to a doctor! :), friend!

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

My biggest personal challenge as a nursing student is navigating my professional development while I am in school. I chose nursing because I am passionate about medicine and this was my second chance start at making a go of a passion I have been fixated on (but didn't necessarily know how to go about pursuing) for as long as I can remember. The difficulty however, is the conundrum of the "nursing shortage." Yes, staffing is short on the floor but the market? Not so much. To really get somewhere in my program and make a name for yourself, you have to go above and beyond in as many extracurricular activities as possible. Be an officer in your program's organization, represent for them at NSNA conferences, take on special projects given to you by the department chair (projects tantamount to herding cats), volunteer, volunteer, volunteer AND get a student nurse/CNA job. I work full time along with a health coaching volunteer position plus officer duties that do not end when the summer starts. I know I have accomplished a lot but I still have a nagging feeling that I will be 6 months out after graduation with nary an interview, let alone a job offer, in sight, all because I have yet to get that CNA/student nurse job. It's terrifying. Sometimes I wonder if I was simply better off going and getting a degree in water science. :confused:

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I think I might pick the water science degree at this point. I'm nearly 8 months out from graduating with a BSN and I have gotten only one interview, and I didn't get that job. Compared to many others, I haven't even submitted that many applications (30). If I had known how hard it would be to get a job, I probably would have stayed at my old job. Right now I'm staring down a massive amount of debt and thinking about changing my job-hunting approach from applying online to going door to door with my paper resume in hand. This is not what I thought I would be doing as a Registered Nurse.

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.
I am 38 so I my time for advancement is limited. Thank god for my supporting husband. :)

You are young with PLENTY of room for advancement :) Find the right spot for you and you will bloom. Best wishes

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Specializes in public health, women's health, reproductive health.

My biggest challenge is accepting the reality of bedside hospital nursing and deciding what to do from here. I knew it would be very hard. But it is beyond anything I could have imagined and, too often, contrary to the reasons I became a nurse.

I am just starting out and have some hard decisions to make...

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I completed it.

I'll post some of it here:

I struggle greatly with anxiety (I mean full blown anxiety attacks sometimes). It's never triggered by anything in particular (such as stress at school or work, etc), it's just something I can feel is going to happen. I can wake up in the morning and think to myself, "Today is going to be bad." and I can mentally prepare myself for a meltdown later. This is somewhat new; I never had issues with this until the past year and it has gradually gotten worse.

I'm afraid to speak to a doctor because I don't want to be put on medication, but I'm getting closer and closer to it every day.

Talk to a doctor. After you get help you are going to wonder why you waited so long. Trust me on this one. Been there, done that.

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Specializes in Trauma, Cardiac.

My biggest nursing challenge has been the unwillingness of hospital administrators to see nurses as their most important asset. Instead of spending more money on PR, spend it on the things the nurses ask for to be able to do their jobs better. Increasing staffing noticeably instead of just increasing salaries would make a world of difference!

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Specializes in Case Management, Public Health, Psych, Medsurg.

Biggest challenge for me as a RN is working in an environment where the administration doesn't value their nurses. We have pay freezes, our 401k gotten rid of, and constant understaffing. It seems like no matter where I work, (on my 3rd job in a year) this is an issue. It's not about patient care or keeping the patients safe. It's all about money. They admit as many people as possible, even though they may be inappropriate for our unit, without providing enough staff to handle it without having to stay over.

So I've been struggling with the idea to go back to school to be a NP. I don't want to deal with the same stresses. I've highly considered going back to school in a completely different field and just say bye to nursing altogether.

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