WHY do so many people hate nursing? Sigh.

[RachealAnne]

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

[Farawyn]

How about inspiring stories?

You first.

[SmilingBluEyes]

How about inspiring stories?

That's another thread.

And there are other threads with those. Try a search.

[canigraduate]

For me I am burntout due to staffing issues and general lack of support from administration. Those two things are a recipe for disaster no matter what field you're in. It's a vicious cycle that just feeds itself.

Plain and simple, I'm tired. I've only been a nurse for 4 years and desperately want OUT of healthcare at all costs. I should not be tired after only 4 years. I'm still just beginning to grow and mature as a nurse but already I'm wanting and willing to throw in the towel at the first glimpse of a opportunity to do so.

You sound just like me. I received my first license in Jan '12, and I was all excited.

Now, I'm all about "F-bomb it."

I take care of the patients, I try to keep my coworkers from drowning, I try to stay legal in my charting, and I try not to piss off management to the point they fire me.

Then I go home and try not to dread the next shift.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

try not to dread the next shift.

Too late.

LOL

Sorry, I dread each shift too now. To the point it makes me want to puke before going in. Oh,I mean makes me want to have emesis .

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

Too late.

LOL

Sorry, I dread each shift too now. To the point it makes me want to puke before going in. Oh,I mean makes me want to have emesis .

No, "puke" is actually the technical term.

I know that jobs are sometimes hard to find, but when you start having those visceral reactions at the thought of going in for another shift, it's either time for a vacation, or time to explore other opportunities.

We as nurses spend so much time taking care of others and making them healthy, we often forget about our own health, physical and emotional.

I don't think as many of us hate nursing as it sometimes seems. What we hate are the things we have no control over: staffing (or the lack of), incompetent management, micromanagement by people who have NO clue what is going on, etc, etc.

I love being a nurse. Do I always love my job? Hell no. Sometimes I wish I had become a CPA, or a dog walker, or just about anything else. But then I get a hug from a patient, or a "we couldn't have done it without you" from a family member, or a "good job" when you get a dying cancer patient comfortable and pain free (from the Hospice medical director who doesn't throw out compliments freely), and I remember why I chose to throw myself into the crazy whirlwind of nursing.

[beltows]

It use to be awesome to be a nurse but now it's all about money and profit. Burn out is getting really high. In the last 5 to 8 years hospitals and most of health care has been taken over by Wall Street investment firms and their only focus is profit so patient loads have gone way up, and staff has been cut way back. The largest hospital chain in the world is owned by Bain Capitol (Mitt Romney's company) and the link cost cuts to their administrators bonuses not mortality rates or readmission rates or even those stupid satisfaction surveys. We are becoming sweat shop workers.

[No Stars In My Eyes]

The problem is, we are no longer allowed the time we need ....to be the nurse we all want to be.

Health care is now a corporate money maker. Nurses are the commodity that make money for big business.

I never hated nursing, I hate that the corporate masters have taken it over.

Truer words were never spoken.

I started in the days when we had a good amount of staffing, fair assignments, the time to practice our ART. It was about people. That was why I went into nursing in the first place. To make life a little easier for my patients as they go through tough times.

When a DON told me I spent too much time talking with the patients, it flipped me out! Her reply was "Well that's the way it is NOW.So get used to it."

Nope, I won't, and I don't have to.

I'm back doing Private Duty where it is okay to talk with your patient!

[MedChica]

I don't hate nursing. I just dislike these 'lord of the flies' environments in which I must work. (laugh) I don't feel like clarifying. It's just too much to get into. I'll just say - it isn't my coworkers. It's management and corporate philosophy that's killing the floor.

Most times, I feel as though my ability to really care for my patients and little residents is compromised by a system that I'm powerless to do a thing about. Makes me feel angry. When I become an RN, I'm going to work to do something about it, too.

I was a "passion nurse" but I've had to adapt. Jaded is what you become after a while. Most nurses that I've worked with feel as I do. I'm jumping specialties hoping for better, though.

For now? Being a nurse has just made me more of an opportunist. I make do. I have several jobs and work PT/PRN for two reasons:

1. I like money. Okay, THREE reasons.

2. I'm no stranger to demanding work. I'm prior service military. So, I figure, if I'm going to work short, not take breaks, run about like a headless chicken putting out fires? I'm not going to do it for pennies. That's fair. SNF/LTC/Rehab? I'm not getting out of bed for less than $21. Before I came here I read that such a thing couldn't be done in Fl. The market can bear much. If you're an RN complaining about earning $20-21/hr? SMH I've observed as much since I've been here. At every facility, I like to get an idea of the going RN rates so I know what to push for, who to settle with, etc.... More surprising than the low wage was the fact that the RNs were so blase about earning less than an LPN. Maybe I just don't have the right 'grin and bear it/long suffering' attitude for this profession but beyond advanced knowledge, degrees, certs, designations - if you're responsible for more, you should earn more. No way in hell would I be paid below an LPN/VN. I don't care if we are doing the same job.

3. These facilities do not deserve loyalty or guarantees. I treat them as they attempt to treat nurses: like they're expendable and I can get a job anywhere BECAUSE I can and they are. Whether orchestrated or not, there is a shortage (of experienced nurses). You can do float status and pull OT at a single facility. People would do well to stop falling for the okey-doke. These facilities need US, not the other way around.

[becksterc]

If we used our collective numbers - which are enormous - we could change healthcare for the good. It would take something like a one day job shortage or other extreme measures; that would put the fear in healthcare corporatocracy. How could they run hospitals, LTC's, you name it without us? But no, we won't do that because we're too easily manipulated by "caring." So they step on us and make lots of money in the process.

[becksterc]

True, true, true. Couldn't agree more.

[becksterc]

Sounds alike like what I tell my post-colonoscopy patients! Don't have to be dying to do this!

[becksterc]

And just to make it easier, i'll pop a whip-it or two before I hit the floor. Just like propfol - fast on, fast off, and makes you forget about everything.

Oh God, I remember those!...How I miss disco!!...