Why do you love being a nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

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.

Great coworkers, only working 3 days a week, flying in a helicopter when I do have to work...

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

Egad, Cleback, what do you have against candy corn?! It's a childhood favorite of mine and totally worth the ten cavities I've gotten!

In all seriousness, I love my job because while some of my patients don't appreciate what I do I can see that I'm making a difference. A young adult comes in dehydrated and after a couple of fluid boluses feels well enough to eat and can go home. An extremely ill child stabilizes after being intubated and medicated and is given a high chance of recovery after all the care provided by the nursing and medical team. Parents yelling about me not doing my job while their child runs amok? Clearly that child is not my immediate priority as he is not dying like my other four patients. They can yell all they want, it won't change the situation.

On those really hard days when I'm all wrung out and have reached my limit, I try to remember the effort I put in to get my first nursing job during the year I was unemployed. I used public transportation and my own two feet to travel throughout the tristate area in all forms of weather only to have many tell me they don't take resumes submitted in person... Yeah, it's hard sometimes to do my job but it sure is better than what my life was like before.

Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

I only skimmed your post, but re: patients 'never being happy', that hasn't been my experience at all, but I've only worked at an LTC/Rehab and now at a Rehab.

Sure, I've had some unhappy patients, and some unhappy and (at times) incredibly unreasonable family members (you know, the My Patient Is Your Only Patient And Don't You Forget It types).

But I've also had many patients and family members who are complimentary and appreciative, occasionally to almost ridiculous levels. Not every day, but now and then. Just the other day a guy said I did 'miracles' (but ok, he's not quite all there). More relevant was a guy who said he'd never forget me, I was a great guy, that he was going to pray for all of us (other nurses, aides, therapy) ... it was almost embarrassing. I said hey, it's *all* of us that helped you, not just me, and he did agree.

My point isn't to brag on me at all; it's just to say that I get quite a bit of appreciation and satisfaction, and it makes up for the ones who are angry. Most of the time. :^). Maybe it's the type of nursing.

Specializes in Pediatric.

I have worked in the pediatric field for many years now. My first 10 years was spent at a group home for disabled kids. I got asked the same question nearly every day. "How do you work here?".

I loved it!! Could not see myself anywhere else. Yes there was the daily poops, parents screaming, pharmacy mess ups. But there was also smiles, giggles, and thank yous as well. (Just not as many).

Now I work at my children's school as the nurse. Again I love it. I get peed on, pooped on, puked on. I see lice a lot!! I get yelled at by parents for stupid stuff that does not pertain to me. BUT I have kids that come here just to see me. Hugs everyday!! I took a 40,000 (no exaggerating) yearly pay cut to do this??? Yes!! Everyday is not gravey!! But those small parts within each day when a little one says "dank you nurse". Makes it all good for me.

Point being! This field is not for everyone. But every job has bad days and good days. Does the good out weigh the bad for you??

Specializes in CVICU, MICU, Burn ICU.
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.

This response wins. Hands down. Ahhhh perspective. and elastic waist pants. :up:

Specializes in Critical care, Trauma.

There are a lot of things that I love about being a nurse. I like having fun stories, the adrenaline rush on days when my patients are very sick, and the mental exercise of putting all the puzzle pieces together. I like getting to know my patients' patterns and noticing that first little time when their pattern changes (i.e. Mr Smith is always NSR 70s, now for the last hour he's been ST 120s while still intubated, sedated and not being stimulated) and feeling the wheels start turning on whether this is just a little blip on the radar screen, or the start of something. I like the feeling of teamwork when half a dozen of my fellow nurses are working on the same crashing patient.

But the biggest thing for me is in the relationships I develop. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't connect with every patient or family member. Some people rub me the wrong way and it makes them a bit of a chore. But the vast majority are someone I can at least understand where they're coming from, even if I don't necessarily agree with the way their feelings manifest externally. A huge part of what makes me feel like what I'm doing is worthwhile, comes from the ability to remove unnecessary suffering. Suffering can take so many different forms (physical pain, the fear of the unknown, the feeling that you're being dismissed and/or misunderstood, worrying about loved ones, etc) and we can do a lot to reduce or eliminate all of them. I feel particularly passionate about this because I spent a lot of my early life dealing with my own particular brand of suffering (abusive family, depression) and feeling like I had no advocate to help me navigate through the muck and find hope for a better existence, so I'm very sensitive to others' pain. We can't take away the pain of a terminal diagnosis, but we have a lot of power to help people maximize their remaining time, to make sure they're surrounded by loved ones and free from pain, anxiety, dypsnea, etc.

Having those moments helps to put into perspective those times when I constantly have to reinforce boundaries with inappropriate patients or I feel like I'm spending the entire day cleaning up incontinent GI bleed poop.

Specializes in Ortho, CMSRN.

I enjoy getting to know different people, and as much as I hate seeing them back in the hospital, it's nice to take care of someone I've met before. I'd rather see them out and about at Walmart! I have met some of the most interesting and amazing people while taking care of them! If/when I go back for a masters, I will probably be a Clinical Nurse Leader so that I can continue working directly with patients.

Specializes in CPN.
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.

This is one of my favorite parts of being a nurse - those small victories! Like when you catch suuuuuper faint streaking from a moderately red finger up an arm all the way to the axilla. No fever, no other symptoms. Went home 2pm on a Friday afternoon, was admitted that afternoon for 24hours of IV ABX and sent home on oral meds. Back at school Monday. No rushing to the hospital with sepsis. Crisis averted.

Luckyyou

What do you do to earn 90k???

I need in on that!!!

Overcome fear by seeing the ridiculous yet the funny side of every experience.

-Edgar Cayce

Just "discovered" Cayce! Wow.

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.

Great post, would love to hear some follow up, and wondering what you might think is different at your institution than at those responders who don't (always) feel the same way.

My initial thought was, if management was put under as much scrutiny as nurses, we would have better run hospitals.

Specializes in ICU.
Luckyyou

What do you do to earn 90k???

I need in on that!!!

Haha nothing special! ICU staff nurse across four different units. I get paid extra for some ECMO expertise and my hospital pays a generous amount to experienced ICU nurses to keep us at the bedside. I pick up a little overtime here and there.

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