Where is the Passion?

RunBabyRN · May 9, 2014

Sounds like where you work is lame. It's not like that everywhere. There's a local hospital where I won't apply because that's the culture. The hospital where I have an offer is very different. There will always be "those" nurses, but there are many places where that sort of behavior is not tolerated.

Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN · May 9, 2014

When you're actually a nurse, you'll be in a better position to understand the nurses you work with (or observe). Just focus on getting through school, first ...and you'll need more than passion to accomplish that :eek:

Josie, RN/LCSW · May 9, 2014

If you ever do get into a Nursing program, and then succeed in obtaining a job, you will realize that Nursing is not all hearts and flowers ("Florence Nightengale Syndrome"). It's tough work, low pay, and very frustrating. Only the strongest and most dedicated survive. One needs, however, to ditch the "idealism" and see Nursing for what it really is. Only then can someone judge, and decide if they can really hack it.

ladyk84 · May 9, 2014

Dedication comes with passion. I know exactly what I'm getting myself into. I know what nursing is, and it's not an "idealism" I need to ditch. If you hate your job for the low pay and what you have to deal with maybe majors should be re-decided. I work as an ER technician and I have seen a lot and I know what nurses go through but it's not a reason to be hateful.

Everline · May 9, 2014

I want to be a great nurse, and I don't want people and their negativity to keep me from it.

So, don't let them. It's up to you.

RunBabyRN · May 9, 2014

Dedication comes with passion. I know exactly what I'm getting myself into. I know what nursing is, and it's not an "idealism" I need to ditch. If you hate your job for the low pay and what you have to deal with maybe majors should be re-decided. I work as an ER technician and I have seen a lot and I know what nurses go through but it's not a reason to be hateful.

Have you worked in health care outside of this one ER? I've worked in several facilities (a family practice/nutrition Naval clinic, a very small rural hospital, a freestanding birth center, and two larger local hospitals), and they each had their own culture. Consider applying to a different ER as a tech and seeing how that is.

Pay varies regionally, of course, but I know here, it's not particularly low. And I still see nurses who have been at it awhile that still have that fire and passion. It does exist, and doesn't have to go away with time if you don't let it. I love seeing the nurses who have been nurses for 40 years and still have that fire!! Not all nurses eat their young. Some are extremely supportive of each other.

There are days when you arrive at the nurse's station, and the negativity and stress are palpable, and those days, I go into tunnel vision and just focus on what I have to get done and on providing the best care possible.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · May 9, 2014

In absolutely any career path you choose, you are going to find unhappy people. I have worked in retail, pharmacy, insurance, and the mortgage industry. Every single job I had there was that certain negative person that complained all day everyday. And negativity is contagious. It spreads to other people unfortunately. I just don't associate myself with those types of people because it can be so draining on you as a person. Negative people tend to suck the life out of you. I know from experience. I just focus on what I am there for whether it is schooling or my job and get it done. I don't concern myself with those people truly and it has helped me immensely.

ladyk84 · May 9, 2014

Thank you for the comments. I've worked in mental health facilities, and home health for elderly. Elderly as in dementia with sundowners plus past ischemic strokes. It wasn't "easy" you learn a lot of patience. As well as working with mentally ill who one moment want to chase you with a knife to wanting to color you a picture. While working at the mental health facility I was taking care of 5 adult woman + a woman with cerebral palsy and after 12 hours of multiple medication rounds, cooking, showering, and stopping fights I was definitely burnt out. It doesn't stop me from wanting to pursue this career though. I left the job because as a government paid facility that doesn't require even a CNA I couldn't take the lack of professionalism. From coworkers throwing away meds they forgot to give patients, forging initials, to them stealing narcotics the nurse in charge of us made me the only one to give out meds and it became exhausting. So I have "some" experience. I know it can be tough. As a new nurse I will have much more responsibility and I want to learn how to take negativity in a more positive, healthy manner. Maybe it comes with maturity and experience. I just don't want to become the burnt out nurse who hates their job.

ShelbyaStar · May 9, 2014

I don't think it's necessarily job hating, but life hating. Negative people find things to be negative about and jobs are a pretty convenient scapegoat, no matter what that job may be.

That said, like others pointed out, nursing is frustrating. A lot of companies create a culture where nurses feel overworked and under appreciated and that very much breeds that behavior.

Honestly, I am never going to be a particularly passionate nurse. I did not dream of being one as a kid. I will get my job done and won't be nasty to people (although people being persistently incompetent can make me snap once in a while), but passion? Meh. Overrated. Dedication? Sure, that's important- and you need it to become and stay a nurse, so I wouldn't be too quick to make snap judgement about people based on what may simply be a particularly bad day for them.

windsurfer8, BSN, RN · May 10, 2014

I doubt there is a career in the world where there are not people who are grumpy and rude at times. Nursing is HARD work. I have been doing it since 2007. Sometimes brutally hard to the point where you get home and have to mentally focus on getting to sleep to go back and do another 12 hours. So yes..nurses are professionals and at times they are very focused and driven and at times it may come across as "rude"....take that as learning and if you don't like that then when you are a nurse don't do it. Learn from the nurses you respect and who you feel are what you want to be. There WILL be hurdles and challenges. There will be rude doctors and nurses at times. You have to adapt and overcome. Or you can quit and do something else. Totally 100% up to you. Neither decision is "wrong" it is just what you decide.

pinkrain94 · May 10, 2014

There will be politics everywhere you go. Part time/Full time jobs that aren't even related to Nursing have that. I've noticed that it is mostly being in a more female environment that this happens. Also, jobs usually see new people as annoying for some reason which I never understood. Just do your work and let time make people accept you in.