WHY do so many people hate nursing? Sigh.

Nurses General Nursing

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I feel like everywhere I go people are expressing their hate for nursing rather than their love. I want to go into nursing, and I want to love it. WHY does everyone (almost) hate it so much? Is it really that bad? Can someone express their love for it? I would really enjoy hearing why you love your nursing job.

Personally I could never work in a nursing home, but my goal is to work in the OB/NICU or the ER.

Thanks!

- Super desperate pre-nursing student venting

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Nursing is an amazing calling, but it is just that--a calling!

When those who are not called to nursing choose to take this career path, they are miserable and negative and it rubs off on those around them.

As a nursing student graduating in exactly 3 months, I can honestly say that I have had some wonderful days and some not so wonderful ones, but I never question my choice to become a nurse. Obviously, I am lacking a lot of experience, but don't let the negative people make you question your choice.

Also, depending on where you live, new grads are able to get NICU/OB jobs, in fact, I did a summer student nurse externship where I live, and have a NICU job already in the works. People will tell you that you should take a med-surg or floor nursing job as a new grad and while that does offer many great skills and learning experiences, if in clinical you learn that you hate floor nursing, don't choose it!

You just have to find you passion, and in nursing there are so many different opportunities, so don't let those who are burnt out, deal with understaffing, bad management, or whatever other reason, deter you from nursing! It's hard work, but it is great work.

Might I suggest you read this thread? It is perfectly fine for you to believe that nursing is a calling for you. The same is not true of everyone else, nor is it a requirement. I am a nurse who was not "called" and I am certainly not "miserable" and "negative".

You are a student. I think you will have quite the eye-opening experience when you start that first job.

Specializes in Med/Surg crit care, coronary care, PACU,.

Nursing is consistently in the top 10 list of ethical/most trusted professions...what's not to love? Going home after my shift knowing I did my best to care for many at their worst, somehow keeps me going. Keep your chin up, eyes on the goal you set, and work towards it. You will kick yourself later if you don't at least try.

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/LDRP/Ortho ASC.
Taken in the entirety of *my* experience, I like nursing... which means that there are aspects that I find very rewarding and fulfilling but also aspects that I detest as well as a whole spectrum of things in between but that, blended together multiplying severity by frequency and summing them up, it's generally positive... and capped off by an excellent wage in a very stable job.

In the ED I get to see a bit of everything, and sometimes a bit more than I'd like to. I'm rarely bored and the time goes by quickly. I work with some excellent people in whose number I consider myself privileged to be counted. I'm sometimes able to make a tangible difference in the lives of some people, either through my competence or through my personality. On occasion I've felt that having me specifically as the nurse has made a difference for a patient.

I've also been threatened, kicked, spat upon, insulted and otherwise belittled. I have had my character challenged as well as my competence. I have been overworked and undersupported. I have been held accountable for things that were far out of my control. I've had my livelihood threatened as well as my life. I have been grossly undercompensated and over qualified for a job.

Some good, some bad. On average, though, the scale in this neck of the woods tilts solidly in the "like" region.

Love? Nope. That's a word that I use to describe my spouse, my kid, my siblings, my dog... flying, reading, and hiking... wonderful music and beautiful art... stunning seascapes and awesome mountain views... singing songs around the campfire and the view of the stars from the pitch-black mountains.

Nursing is my job... better than many and worse than some, but one which I choose to do in exchange for a fair wage and one which I am very thankful to have.

this. All day long. I have been assaulted by numerous patients as well as a physician, tossed under the bus by physicians and managers alike, had patients threaten to follow me to my car and slit my tires/come to my house and kill me, cussed up and down because the patient didn't get a Percocet when I've just left a deceased child in the room next door after a long and violent code. I've been a nurse right at three years and all of these things have already happened. Nursing is my job, I do it well and I provide excellent and empathetic care to my patients. On the same token, I don't think there's anything wrong with not "loving" a job that has induced the entire gamut of emotions to me in just a few short years.

Specializes in Nursing Home / Prison / Hospital.

Why do so many people hate nursing?

Oh this answer is easy. Because people, that's why.

VT247

Specializes in Hospice.
No offence, but the term "princess" is pretty ridiculous... I wasn't aware that trying to save a life or help a life of a newborn baby go home healthy to a worried family in the NICU was a "princess" job. I have highly considered the emergency room as well, I don't think its right to judge a person on which field they have interest in let alone calling them princesses. :)

Because there is definitely a class system in nursing, with very high acuity/high tech (critical care, emergency, L&D) and the more sentimental (peds, NICU) specialties having the most prestige and public exposure - hence the perception of "princesses". Many aspirants to nursing are really responding to a public image as opposed to the day-to-day realities of a given specialty.

Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

Honestly, there are some days where is does suck so bad that all you can do is laugh. People do need to vent but nursing is not so horrible as some people make it out to be, especially if you have the honor of working with amazing people. :)

I graduated in may 2015 and began working LTC in July 2015. While I'm still new, I absolutely love my job. Sure there are some parts that I don't love, the good totally outweighs the bad. I've been there during some residents last moments here on earth and am truly blessed to have held their hand and helped calm their spirits as they passed. Nothing can take those moments away from me.

Specializes in Registered Nurse.
No offence, but the term "princess" is pretty ridiculous... I wasn't aware that trying to save a life or help a life of a newborn baby go home healthy to a worried family in the NICU was a "princess" job. I have highly considered the emergency room as well, I don't think its right to judge a person on which field they have interest in let alone calling them princesses. :)

I think it's a joke, an exaggeration. I don't think there are any princesses in nursing! :D

Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..

I think one of the reasons nurses now hate it is not due to the nursing per-se, but is due to the regulations required by HIPPA, and management

Specializes in LTC, Medical, Rehab, Psych.

If you get some control over your work, such as working per diem (work/life balance), you'll enjoy what you do a little more. The problem with most nursing jobs is that they have rigid scheduling, long hours and little flexibility. Add that to more patients than you can manage and some pretty critical decision-making responsibility for not-so-great pay and you've got a recipe for unhappiness. My solution is to work per diem, 8 hour shifts only, take off as many days as I want every single month, and work in a sub-acute environment (it's sooooooo much less stressful). To each his own but we can all find something to make it work.........or we can just leave and find something else.

We are the only ones who have the power to change our lives. No one is ever going to fix it for us.

You are right, I should never say never. I guess I could say I have a goal set, a dream job in mind. It's not that I would hate working with older people, it is just not something I ever have dreamed of doing.I want to do something I love for the rest of my life.

I totally understand the venting side of this website, I just wish I witnessed more "I like" posts (about nursing itself not events) rather than "I hate" or "I would never do nursing over again". I feel like I run across more of the negativity side or nursing rather than the positive side. I know nursing is anything but easy, but I feel like if you are truly passionate about it, it should at least be enjoyable. Nursing isn't for everyone, I am just in the slumps about deciding what I want to do for 30+ years of my life. Thank you for your replies though :) it is appreciated.

Your "dream job" right now may very well change after you've been a nurse for 5 years, and then change again after you've been a nurse for 10 years, and change again when you've been a nurse for 20 years. Working in an ED as an older nurse is pretty tough on an older body. And the cold, hard truth is that the majority of medical care is rendered for older people who develop problems as they age. Sure, there are jobs in units like NICU and PICU, but those poor kids are really sick and nurses there don't tend to last more than 5 years because it is really difficult to last in a high stress job for more than that.

Just taking the population in general, not just nursing, I would have to say that less than 10% of people really love their jobs. Most people tolerate their jobs because it is a means to an end---a way to pay your bills. Nursing is no different.

New grads aren't clueless. They know how crazy med-surg can be.

Specialty orientations are way more supportive and thorough than med-surg.

My NICU orientation is 12 weeks. My med-surg orientation? Barely six. I get numerous educational classes related to NICU. Med-surg? Good luck. My nicu orientation is very structured. Med-surg? The orientation was just out of control and one time my preceptor(who clearly didn't want to precept) was given eleven patients. They figured since she had an orientee she could handle that many patients.

Med-surg throws new grads in charge all the time without any training. New grads shouldn't be in charge of ****. More specialized units? That would never fly.

It isn't that new grads think they are above med-surg. I would have stayed longer but throwing me into charge nurse with nothing but new grads and no further training was not something I was comfortable with along with many other things that were going on.

My unit has lost almost a third of its staff with more to leave. Its sister unit has lost fifty nurses in a span of two years.

And so here is a perfect example of hospitals spending money to orient & train new nurses, only to see them walk out there door shortly thereafter. Why?

To be perfectly honest, after you graduate from nursing school, the only place you're really qualified to work in is med surg. You don't have enough knowledge to work in critical care, peds or NICU. The only difference is with the OR, because no matter where you've worked or how much experience you have, you need a rather extensive orientation period because the OR is unlike anything else.

In nursing, as in many other professions, "from the frying pan into the fire" is how it sometimes works. As a CRNA, when I went to school it was "See one, do one, teach one". We didn't get our hands held for a long time before we HAD TO do things. That's the only way you learn, by doing. There is only so much time that can be granted for someone to "feel comfortable"----sometimes you get thrown into a situation & you have to find a way to make it work. I'm not sure if new nurses have a need for these extended orientations because that's how their schooling was(as far as I'm concerned, a 6 week orientation for a med surg unit is WAAAYYYYY more than necessary) and why they feel they need such long orientations. When you're a new nurse, sometimes you're uncomfortable with things, but you have to get over it. I think my orientation on med surg was about 2 weeks----that's it. Then I was on my own, and I made it work. You can only have somebody walk you around while holding your hand for so long, and then it's time to do it on your own.

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