Whats to Enjoy about Nursing?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I'm a student and have been reading up on some of these forums and many, many nurses would leave their jobs if they didn't need the money. Everyone continually talks about how stressful their jobs are based on scheduling, continuing education, pay scales, nurse/patient ratio...etc. I was wondering..why do nurses even bother with work? Why don't they switch professions into something less demanding and as good of pay? What makes you get up in the morning (or evening or night!) to go to work?

Where else do you get to see the human body in all it's wonder and fraility?

And you get to collect really gross stories to freak your family/ friends out :wink2:

Oh and you learn the ability to eat 5mins after someones just puked/ spat/ pooed on your shoes.....................

Up Vote Up Vote ×

And you get to meet some of the weirdest most wonderful people ever (and thats just the nurses)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Where else do you get to see the human body in all it's wonder and fraility?

...

And you get to see previews of what's in store for you if you live long enough...crusty falling off toenails, thinning hair, rotten/no teeth, incontinence "briefs" (ha, ha, I've never had a patient who didn't call them what they are [/i]), you can't see, can't smell, can't taste, can't walk and if you can it takes you 10 minutes to get from one street corner to the next...old age is cruel and unusual punishment for sure.

Sorry, know it is off topic, I just couldn't resist.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I enjoy being able to make a difference in someones life. I enjoy taking all that knowledege and careplan stuff from school and actually applying it in a clinical setting and seeing and making a difference. I love to take a very sick patient on the vent-say a post code patient- and actually seeing a difference in them over the course of the 3 days that I work with them. I enjoy it when one of the doctors says to me "They are doing so much better..what are you doing that the others aren't?" I enjoy the respect that I get from the doctors because I have earned it. I enjoy the look of surprise when new nurses ask me "How did you know that." Most of my patients may not remember me being there but that is ok..they are still there. No I am not playing God but I do pray to him to use my hands to do his work and so far I have not been disappointed.

Oh by the way I have been an ICU nurse for 22 years and worked in the hospital for a total of 30.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks for all the posts everyone...keep'em comming! I realize there is no clear cut answer as EVERYONES jobs (even non-nursing ones) are what we make of them.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in floor to ICU.

I enjoy nursing when we have adequate staff and time to care for those patients. I leave with a warm fuzzy feeling and a sense of pride after these days. You get to read the patient's H&P, sit and talk with the patient and families, make sure the have their a.m. care, linens changed, pain meds administered promptly. You have time to do a thorough chart check at the beginning of your shift. You have time to help with the bath- great way to assess for skin breakdown. You have time pop in and see if they need anything (not just because their call light is on). You have time address their needs as far as teaching is concerned. You have time to ask if your coworkers need any help. You have time for bathroom breaks and a decent 30 min lunch without 6 interruptions. You have time to chart as the day progresses and the events happen. I enjoy these nursing days.

The flip side is this doesn't happen often. Many times you are off running like a horse out of a starting gate the minute report is over and you don't stop until the next horse is there to take your place 12 hrs later!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, CCU, Trauma, neuro, Geriatrics.

I like the adrenaline rush when something goes bad..I was a paramedic prior to nursing. I love working with the tough customers, I was a horse trainer/breeder/farrier prior to nursing school. I am fascinated with what the human mind can do and learning what each individual mind is thinking. Each person I encounter is a new and enlightening experience, not always a positive experience for me but enlightening just the same.

Being happy with your personal life helps also, I went to nursing school knowing I would soon have 3 children to care for as my marriage was crumbling. My kids are normal and I am happy...not sure about the ex as he was always unhappy with everything.

Nursing rules as a career, get your initial degree and many places will train your further as you expand your interests. If you want to achieve a higher degree, the number of areas available are awesome.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CT ,ICU,CCU,Tele,ED,Hospice.
Geez! Well, I can say that too. I've been a nurse for 27 years, plus the time as an aide and a candystriper.

I like nursing.

I like going to work, and being challenged, and using my brain.

I like the adrenaline of a trauma stat. (I don't want you to get hurt, I just want to be there if you do).

I like the people I work with, even most of the docs. I outlast the ones I don't.

I like getting paid extra for working odd hours which fit my life and personality. Can't stand getting up at 5:30 AM.

My work has a significant purpose to it.

Had one family member ask how I could stand all the depressing things I had to see daily, as she stood by helplessly. I'm not helpless. :pumpiron: I do something, even if only manage pain at end of life, hug the family, etc.

I don't wait for the patient/family thank yous. Appreciate them yes, but that's not my real reward. That comes from the well done by people at my side who really know that we all just did something really great together, good teamwork.

Are there bad times? Is there a profession or a burger flipping job that doesn't have them? ANYBODY have a life with no bad times? This is the work world I choose to live in.

:yeahthat: well said.i have to agree i have beeen a nurse 20 yrs not including aide work ,candystriper and unit secretary ,for the most part i love nursing .i have worked a variety of settings tele ,open heart transplant icu/ccu er and i am glad come end of day i have helped people and accomplished something important.do i have bad days where i hate it sure but i can't imagine what else i'd do .i am a nurse and proud of it .i have learned and worked hard all these years .yes i like the money .but at the heart of it i do it because i have always wanted to help people .being a caretaker and nurterer comes naturally to me.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CT ,ICU,CCU,Tele,ED,Hospice.
I like nursing because I truely believe this is what I'm meant to do, my heart is in it...yes the paycheck & job security is nice, but not my main goal. I enjoy seeing really sick people progress to going home & knowing I had a part in that makes me feel good about what I do. Direct pt care is the main thing I enjoy. I've had too many jobs that left me feeling empty & nursing isn't that way for me. Yes it is hard, demanding, stressful, dirty work, but you can learn & grow. It's always changing & there's never a dead end in nursing. It's a diverse profession with endless possibilities. I'll be honest & admit I don't like my first job, but I can learn things there that can't be learned just anywhere & I can take that knowledge with me where ever I go...which is why I chose it. I believe it will make me a better nurse so that I can give my best to my pts. For me nursing also gives a sense of accomplishment in the fact that I waited many years & worked very hard to get to the point I'm at...even through all the BS, yeah, I like being a nurse!!!

also extremely well said .:wink2: :yeahthat:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU.

Wow guys! Thank you all so much for those who posted the positives to nursing! This is great! :) I am a nursing student and I may have on "rose colored glasses", but guess what, I think I'll keep them. :)

I have one of those jobs that lots of people want (I have a nice, cushy office job and work for the government) and you want to know something, it's awful too! People in this area constantly tell me how lucky I am to have this job and it is way too depressing for me, even with good co-workers and a good boss. I think that most jobs look good from an outsider point of view, so you have to discard all of that and search your soul for what you actually want to do for the rest of your life. When you find that, then you can make of it what you want. Perhaps I have a too fluffy opinion of nursing, but I work for the government now and have to deal with low wages, no raises, HIPPA regulations, no appreciation, etc., etc. so I know I can deal with that regardless of where I work.

What I want to have at the end of every day is not perfect working conditions because that doesn't exist anywhere (otherwise everyone would work there), but I want to know that I have done something good to help someone else. I want to feel like my work is for a reason and I find that in nursing (even as a student who is barely allowed to do anything yet, I find that). Nursing is about compassion as well as healing. Nursing encompases what I want to do . . . I want to make someone's life less painful, or to help heal someone, or to help someone die with dignity. I don't want to spend my life pushing pencils and doing menial desk work. I want to do direct patient care and help people. And if I am naieve for thinking that I can do that, so be it, but I will be happy while I am naieve. Maybe some of you will be right and new nurses will hate their jobs after X amount of years working there, but somehow I don't think I will be one of them (if I am, y'all can say I told 'ya so then).

Nursing isn't about making a living or getting raises or not being stepped on by administration for me (I already deal with all that), it's about compassion and healing and caring. It's about things like calming a distressed soul or simply listening or touching someone's heart. It's about saving lives, but it's also about touching them even when they cannot be saved. It's one of those things I would do as a volunteer, but thanks to the wonders of nursing school, one day I will get to do it as a career.

I am so happy to know that there are some of you out there that still love your jobs and I am sorry to hear others of you are so unhappy. I know what it is like to be in a position you don't like and all I can say is, please do what you can to get out of it. Don't do it for anybody except yourself because there is no sense in being miserable. I know it is hard to pursue a degree while you are working and raising a family, but it is not impossible. If you truly are sick of nursing, then don't make yourself miserable if you can help it. I hope all of you that are tired of it or just plain don't like it find something that you love. I would hate to be as miserable as I am in my current job for the rest of my life, to me that would be worse than a death sentence.

I wish all of you joy in your lifetime. Please let me stay naieve as long as possible if that is what you think of me, otherwise wish me luck. I can't wait until that wonderful day that I can call myself a nurse! ;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PICU, surgical post-op.
Please let me stay naieve as long as possible

My sentiments exactly. As long as I'm loving it, let me wallow in my innocence. I know it's a mean old nursing world out there, but I'm hard pressed to believe it. Especially after almost losing my stethoscope to a fiercely teething baby.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Maybe I wear rose-colored glasses, but I love nursing. I love being able to say I am a Registered Nurse because I EARNED that right. I love getting a new admission and working with them all day. I love the responsibility that I carry, and the professionalism that I am responsible to show. I love that I get to wear scrubs and that I don't have to wear dresses, skirts, stockings and heels anymore. I love my patients and feeling at the end of the day that maybe, just maybe, I've made a difference for someone. I love when sometimes I am in the middle of hanging an IV or drawing up meds or some other technical thing, I will stop for a minute and still marvel "Wow, I am really doing this. I am really qualified for this". I feel like I am truly living my dream and answering my call to healing. Sure it gets tiring and sure, sometimes there are assignments that make me nervous, scared, or otherwise upset. But its all a state of mind. I am positive in my career choice, positive in my outlook, and I totally love what I do. This is the first job that I don't get an upset, nervous stomach before work. I love this whole experience. I have no problem getting up to go to work in the morning.

Your post was really positive and inspiring. Thank you.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment