Why do you love being a nurse?

[FNPStudentLife, BSN, RN]

I worked on Med Surg for few years, and started in ER half a year ago. I just don't get how anyone can love this profession. I just don't see it. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, it's never enough. Nobody is ever happy. The patients see you as "just running back and forth not doing your job" because you're treating more sick patients first so it looks like you're ignoring them. But you don't mean to...you're just trying to make sure the patient who was just intubated doesn't crash again. Million, million, million things to do at the same time. Trying to multitask and prioritize, often ending up with doing several things at the same time. Haven't peed or had lunch and it's almost the end of your 12 hour shift, and yet you hear a patient behind a curtain say angrily "these people need to do their jobs!" Are you kidding me?? They don't care that you're trying to keep them alive, but god forbid you don't bring them a blanket or a lunch tray, they'll eat you alive. They think they're in a hotel and demand to have food that tastes good (I had lunch trays thrown at me more than once because "they wouldn't even feed that to their dog"). I work in the ER, it's stressful, but it was even worse on Med Surg. I can't even begin to count how many times I got yelled at by patients over things that were not my fault. Lab results not back yet? My fault. Doctor hasn't seen the patient yet? Again, my fault. Pharmacy is taking too long to mix the antibiotic, guess whose fault that is? Yep, my fault. Patients are never ever happy. I'm not even gonna go into pain meds, that's a separate story. I just don't get how anyone can love this profession. We're supposed to be compassionate, caring, and empathetic while all we get in return is **** and depreciation. No manner how hard you try, it's never good enough and you never stop getting yelled at by patients over things that are not your fault. I guess I just needed to vent.

[Sour Lemon]

Well, I'm not one to be emotionally involved at work. I'm more of an observer, and people's behavior generally amuses me. I've always dealt with difficult people and situations at work, but sometimes it was while picking up trash on the fairgrounds for minimum wage. It's nice to be able to pay the bills and live a somewhat comfortable life.

I admit that patients occasionally get to me, but it's not an every day thing. I also love the people I work with, or at least, I like them and have fun with them at work.

[cleback]

Well, I don't see how anyone could love candy corn yet I see it on the store shelves every Halloween.

That aside, I never loved bedside per se, but it was more meaningful than fast food and never had to freeze my fingers while dealing with rude customers in a drive through window as a nurse.... and it paid much better too.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

It's a job and pays the bills. I didn't get into nursing because "it's my calling" and because I love it; rather, I enjoy it most days but some days ... well, everyone has their bad days where you just can't wait to run out that door (preferably not yelling out obscenities).

It helps that I enjoy working with my coworkers and we each hold a great deal of respect for each other. In that regard, we make certain we each get a break (even if only for 15 minutes on those really bad, full moon "someone said the word 'quiet'" days). My NM is also supportive and doesn't tolerate abuse toward her employees.

You'll never be good enough for some people. Just keep being the best nurse you can be; you won't be perfect and won't please everyone, nor should you try to.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I love being a Rehab Nurse. We get pts that on admission are a 2 persons heavy transfer, or even a Boyer lift. But we work with them, encourage them, and on discharge they are walking in their own. It is so rewarding to work with someone and help them get their life back.

so yes, I love being a nurse

[Davey Do]

I just don't get how anyone can love this profession. I just don't see it.

I guess I just needed to vent.

I love being a nurse, what the title stands for, what the work entails, and what satisfaction I get feeling like a contributing member of society.

I am by no means, a religious person. However, the basic principles behind Christianity are worth following. Doing techy things like working in surgery, or administrative things like being a nursing supervisor were great and I feel blessed to have been able to work in those areas. But when I stoop down to help a geriatric psych patient put on their footies, I think of how Jesus washed the feet of his Disciples. Here this great man (or whatever else you may believe), humbled himself. He made himself equal to them by making himself less than them, but in reality, he was above them.

That doesn't sound the way I wanted to convey about how I think and feel bout nursing, but maybe you can get the gist. We are servants to those with which we provide care, but we are esteemed professionals in a respected field. So, whether I was first scrub on a lumbar laminectomy with a second scrub, two surgeons, three back tables and a mayo stand, or wiping the butt of an incontinent geriatric psych patient, I was doing a job that I love: providing comfort and care to another human being

And that's what I love about nursing.

[Luckyyou, BSN, RN]

I make $90k working three days a week while wearing elastic waist pants. I leave my job at the door when I leave. I can do pretty much anything for 12 hours and then it's done. I get to be an expert at some awesome technology.

Some days I don't even get pooped on.

[RNperdiem, RN]

Sometimes on those kinds of days, I look back and remember what it was like to make $4/hr.

The bright side to having ever worked a bad job, is having something to compare it with.

Personally, I don't think most of us need to "love" nursing to be sucessful, but there does need to be some satisfaction.

[CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN]

Sometimes on those kinds of days, I look back and remember what it was like to make $4/hr.

The bright side to having ever worked a bad job, is having something to compare it with.

Personally, I don't think most of us need to "love" nursing to be sucessful, but there does need to be some satisfaction.

I was just discussing one of my first jobs earning $4.50/hr and how excited I was that it was over the $4.25 minimum wage. My first salary job was $27,500, which was like $2,500 more than I expected. Now, in float pool, I am a crybaby if I only work 1 shift a week because no "workee, no payee".

I do mostly med-surg. Things I like is when a patient gets discharged and really seems to have appreciated the care they received. I've had a few "good" nights recently, and I feel like I can be on top of things, getting great response from physicians/pharmacy/lab. I swear, every time I call for something and it gets fixed quickly, it feels like magic.

Sure, it doesn't always happen. I gotta page people a few times, or it takes a little while to troubleshoot something.. or the anesthesiologist came as I was prepping the patient to go down to OR (and I'm trying to figure out how to get a chlorhexedine bath done while he's getting consented by the doc). But, when patients seem truly sad that I won't be back that night.. Makes me happy.

I've had bad days, too. Unexpected deaths. Falls. Almost falls from people just deteriorating. But, bad things happened when I worked in research (and test was contaminated or didn't work), in waitressing (well every shift, I sucked), in restaurant work where there's a million tickets to do and I can't figure out where to start (though I did use a fire extinguisher in the kitchen once, that was fun, not to clean up though).

What do I love about nursing? Tonight, hand holding. My patient said I had a good squeezing hand when he was getting his blood drawn.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

I absolutely adore these comments. Elastic waist pants! Not getting pooped on! Good coworkers who get my weird sense of humor!

Ally, with all your excellent experience, you are a catch!! I know you're just venting but you have skills and you don't have to stay in a place that exhausts you. Come to the school nurse side...occasionally I really make a difference (a 5th grader is getting her scoliosis brace because of what I saw, and I provide genuine comfort sometimes). Hang in there, friend. You don't have to love the job but if you really hate the job, the best thing about nursing is you can find something else.

[BrisketRN, BSN, RN]

I'm a school nurse. I love seeing the kids grow. I love having a 1st grader come in and BLOW INTO his inhaler and within 2 months I've got him starting to administer on his own (with very close supervision) and telling me the difference between a bronchodilator and a steroid inhaler. I love walking into the preschool room and having 10 kids run at me full speed yelling "IT'S THE NURSE!" I love when I find a symptom of a larger problem early, call a parent, and get a call a day later that I was right and the doctor was shocked we found something early. Those are my mini victories.

I have to remind myself of what I do love sometimes because there are days when I get vomited on, a kid with a 103F fever coughs right on my face, I'm stuck with wiping up a little one who had massive diarrhea in their pants, or I get screamed at by a parent for something that is out of my control (or worse...when it's something that I WAS in control of but missed). I didn't love bedside. I cried a lot during my car rides home. I still looked for my mini victories, but at some point the bad outweighed the good for me. Maybe it's time for you to explore other areas of nursing. That's the beautiful thing about having a nursing degree--the options are endless.

[Aliens05, ASN]

If worst comes to worst there are always jobs out there that are FAR from a bedside job especially if you have bedside experience. Just for one example there are several companies in my medium sized city that have are group homes, each have about 3-6 permanent residents. These are like people with intellectual and physical disabilities. Most have 24 hour cna staff. Most also have either 8 hour nursing or 12 hour nursing. The job is about the least stressful nursing job can possibly imagine.

Most days you just hang out with the residents and watch tv or play games with them, take them to movies and baseball games, take them to holiday parties. Sometimes you have to help a cna assist with toileting them but not typically. You mostly just do your assessments and chart, rarely if ever help with passing medications, and monitor the residents for changes in health. Most of these residents are very stable. This is just one example of the many jobs out there that people may not think of right off if you are looking for something less stressful. I can honestly say I really do enjoy my job, you get to know them very well and can have amazing interactions. Also typically they are extremely grateful for you, they count on you to help them live their best life and they are generally appreciative of even the smallest things.