Why did you if you hate it ?

[johnny depp23]

I keep reading over and over how everybody (not really everybody) hates their job as a nurse and are soooo miserable. My question to you guys is why did you decide to become a nurse in the first place ? Also, what is it that you really hate in nursing?

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

Nurses are called professionals, expected to act like professionals, but are treated like a commodity. More like factory workers than professionals.

[healthstar, BSN, RN]

You don't know what you hate until you experience it. I am guessing that those people who are nurses now and hate their job probably pictured nursing differently.

[Asystole RN]

I have never met a Nurse that hated Nursing.

I know many Nurses that hate their work however.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

let me say- as a former factory worker I was treated better.maybe cause there were lower expectations, but whatever.

became a nurse because I thought I liked human physiology. I liked volunteering waaaaay back when as a candystriper. Actually felt good about helping others. Heard somewhere( lol) that it was a decent paying job considering it was only an AAS. NOBODY told me about the liability and abuse, and "customer service" that nursing really is. That there are days that you are forced to be unsafe and risk that license " oh sorry, we're short staffed,but with the customer service -Disney land Model, you best not be telling any patient, oops, i mean customer/client that you were too busy titrating IV meds , to fluff their pillow and serve them and their families sandwiches and drinks.

Also, no one told me in NS that I would only find a job in a hospital, and that i would be rotating shifts , and weekends, etc, til the end of time( well as long as I chose to stay there- afterall, cant afford to take a 50 percent cut in pay for a "nice dr's office" after having re- pay loans for nursing school.

Im sure there are other views on this.

[bewitched]

Clearly no one would do it if they thought it was something they were going to hate. Only after investing time and money in nursing school do they find out it's not for them.

On the other hand, I don't think there are many--if any--nurses on AllNurses who literally hate nursing and utterly regret going into it. They may hate their working conditions, their coworkers, the customer service mentality, the impossible expectations... but I've never heard anyone on here say "oh, I hate taking care of patients!"

[loriangel14, RN]

Remember too that usually if someone is venting it doesn't mean they hate nursing or even their job for that matter. We come on here to vent to others that understand where we are coming from.Everyone gets frustrated at times or has a bad day but it doesn't mean we hate what we do.

[coolpeach]

I don't hate nursing, but its not what I expected. I always wanted to be a nurse, but thought it was about helping people. I found out that a lot of times its about the bottom $. I was also told that nursing was a great field because you can have a flexible schedule. What was meant by this is that its flexible for the hospital not for you (unless it means you must bend to what they need). I was not even able to get off to take my son for surgery, you must work weekends, you must work holidays (Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving etc). Most places around here only have 12 hour shifts end of story. I leave my house before the at 5:30am, and don't get home until almost 9pm. I never even see my son on days I work at all. You may say its only 3 days a week, but thats almost half of every week, half of every month, half of every year that I go whole days without even speaking to him, seeing him at all etc. Then it takes a least a day or two to get yourself to the point that your human again. When I worked in the business world I got an hour for lunch and two 15 minute breaks during an 8 hour shift. Now at least 12 1/2 hours and at least another 30 minutes to an hour on top of that for a whopping 13 + hours with 0 breaks, and a 30 minute lunch which I do not get paid for. They also dont tell you that you have to get there 15 min early, and stay 15 minutes late to make up for that 30 minutes, and that you will get off when you get off and its NEVER on time. Some people stay hours later so forget having to be home to take kids to school, or have plans or take care of kids etc even after you 13 hours. Other than my 30 minutes I take 3 sips of fluid the entire day, and nobody cares if I die of dehydration. Any time you miss is unacceptable and will count against you regardless of the reason (wreck car broke, kid died, your sick, in the hospital,house burned down etc). There is no excused acceptable reason to call out even with proof of your circumstances. After you miss too many days (usually 5-8 a year) your gone. Forget that your job is working with sick people and your exposed to everything. Your not allowed to get sick or be human. I could go on forever.

[pedicurn, LPN, RN]

I still love nursing, after all these years.

Nothing has changed ...it's a real privilege to have our role ...to be so instrumental in peoples lives.

However, I now dislike the job. I dislike:

- increasingly impossible workload

- increasingly disrespectful public

- having to work weekends and nights just to earn a decent wage

- managers without real professional skill ...only clinical competence

- significant minority of RN coworkers who lack real professional aptitude. Along with

ignorance factor which is illustrated by adults who have jealousy issues and related silly behaviour, lack of social skills and poor professional image.

Note to sloppy coworkers ... please come to work with clean hair ... remember to iron your uniform ....and please ...your visible underwear is just trashy (or bogan, as we say down here)

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

I was enamoured with nursing while a CNA and throughout school. I thought to myself "Surely, this is the place, if any, where good outcomes/performance takes priority over the bottom line and administrative bonuses."

W-R-O-N-G

I hate the version of nursing going on in hospitals and other facilities right now, not nursing. 10:1 pt. rations and we are somehow expected to make these people feel like they are the number one priority. Not gonna happen. I resent that out of one side of the mouth admin./management will talk about cutbacks and how "this is what we have to work with it, too bad if anyone doesn't like it" and at the same time, out of the other side of the mouth recants with "We are comitted to complete, holistic, compassionate care and strive for a good experience with all patients." OK. Left side of the mouth please might right side of mouth.

[AprilRNurse]

I think it's ALL about where you work and your co-workers. I absolutely LOVE my job. I left and took a job elsewhere for 6 months (12 miles from home vs 55) and was miserable. I couldn;t give the care I wanted to my patients, and the co-workers were aweful.

Now I'm back, happy, and fully understand why so many nurses quit.

[I RN A]

I love nursing, but I hate politics that come with the job. I hate being treated like it is a high school, I hate gossip and cattiness, I hate backstabbing and competitiveness. I hate that nurses eat their young and forget that they were new nurses at some point. I hate intolerance and impatience of preceptors and managers toward new nurses. I hate being nervous and affraid to make a mistake and a feeling that if I make a mistake I could kill someone, get fired or lose my license. I love being a nurse and taking care of pts. It all well worth it to me when a pt is happy, and on the way to recovery. It all well worth it to me when a pt tells you:"Thank you, you really helped me"