Would you be a nurse if you knew then, what you know now?

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Good morning! May I ask you all a question?

If you had it to do over again, would you still be a nurse?

Specializes in Gyn Onc, OB, L&D, HH/Hospice/Palliative.

Not now. I absolutely loved nursing for the first 15 years or so, then things really began to change, unsupportive management, customer service,the pace and acuity became too much, burnout began to creep in and now I fear I am totally burn't out. I would love to take care pts, but at this point nursing is computer/charting focused rather than focused on pt care. I would definitely consider something new, with better hours and less stress leaving me with a better quality of life and time with my family. I definitely would not recommend any of my children enter the nursing profession as it exists today.

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Some of these posts really illustrate the polarized mindset of many Americans today. "You're either with us or against us". You either hate nursing and need to get the bleep out for the sake of all mankind, or nursing has been your calling since in the womb, you love it more than life, and will till you die... no... beyond!

Truth is there are many great things about nursing and then some really awful things. To acknowledge the things that are bad is ok. I can be a good nurse and co-worker and still not embrace all that is nursing today. In fact I owe it to myself and my profession NOT to accept all that is. I really would like to see those bad things change and feel like the only way it will happen is from within nursing. I try to be a positive influence and I've been looking at ways to get involved.

I'll stay to see another day, but realistically, for my mind and body, owe it to myself to keep my options open.

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Specializes in ED.

Yeah, I would go the same route I took even. Unless I were to go back in time and do much better in high school so I could have gotten that BSN first. But as it was a 4 year university wouldn't touch me with a 20 foot pole. So I'm glad I did what I did and would do it over again.

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I just wish that administrators and managers would GET that if they started treating us with respect, allowed us our breaks, saw to it that we were treated like valued professionals -- applied the same respect and consideration to us that they force us to display to patients --that I wonder how things would change?

Why do physicians get to take their breaks in a beautiful new facility and get fed free sandwiches and food all day, while I, the nurse that is beside the patient for 12+ hours a day has to squeeze in a 10 minute gulp down lunch in a filty dirty lunchroom I share w/ techs who act like they own the place???

I know that if I was actually treated like an intelligent professional, that I'd be far more motivated to study deeper into cases, would put more energy into the job, would be far more likely to go that extra mile and would probably not make as many errors. I"d probably be motivated to do the research, join that committee, or lobby for those causes. I just don't know how they get away with treating us, especially those of us w/ BSN's with so little respect. Because it spreads. I truly believe that fellow nurses also treat each other w/ a lack of respect due to this very thing -- nurses are not valued by superiors, so, in turn, nurses are not valued by each other either -- and so the profession continues to lose motivated, intelliegent workers who could have made a huge difference.

I've worked other careers and the treatment I see nurses receive, including myself, is ABYSMAL. We just seem to have no rights, no power, yet receive all of the blame and are given all the responsibility. It's honestly pitiful and I can't believe it goes on in this supposed equal rights environment we have today. It seems that we're supposed to be so happy that we're being paid a little bit higher than the average worker, so we should just "shut up."

Nurses just seem to take it and almost take pride in doing so. "Welcome to nursing," they sigh, "this is just how it is." Pathetic.

I also have to say -- I earned the BSN -- yet all the people who are selected for management positions on our unit have only associates degrees. They get by because they've just been on the floors for so long. I suppose none of our education is really valued, because where I work, we're not in charge. To me, there is a lot wrong w/ that picture. I believe experience is invaluable, but so is education -- there should be a balance.

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NO WAY, I've been a nurse for 25 years, just an l.p.n. but for me that was quite an big deal . coming from a dirt poor back ground and headed for more of the same if I didn't do something. But the amount of abuse I've had to endure both,from employers and staff, to patients to family members. I would have put up with ditch digging first. maybe it was just me but, yes some parts of it was okay. But for the most part the worst possible option for me. if it wasn't for the four children I had to raise, I would have quit it years ago!

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Spoke with a porter today saying i was due to finish at 3.30 but unlikely to as no writing done on my pts. he reports that this is normal for most wards the nurses never get off on time due to poor staffing. a although i multi task i can#t toliet a pt and write a careplan etc, or take a pt to xray so i get behind what are nurses meant to do choose between providing care and our legally obligations? Find me a soluntion to that and i'd love my job more.

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Specializes in psychiatric nursing, med/surg adult care.

Practicing the nursing profession is, for me, among the greatest privileges in life because I get to take care of other people. I am given entrance to people's lives and minds. Another priceless thing I get to experience by being a nurse is the feeling that at the end of the day I know I have done something great because I have made someone feel better.

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Specializes in Psych nursing.

Sound of music I do not agree that because one holds a BSN it makes them more entitled to respect or jobs..Experience in nursing is the most important when it comes to managing patient care..

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No. I have found nursing school didn't prepare me for the reality of the field. Many 20+ yr veterans of nursing also have told me they wouldn't enter the current climate of nursing.

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No I would not...I would of went to Pharmacy school or teaching...better hours, no heavy lifting.

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Specializes in Mental Health/School Nursing/Corrections.

No, think I would prefer "Special Diagnostics". Although I'm a Designer of Interior Homes and Landscape by Heart :redbeathe Don't ya wish we could all be profitable at what we love and have a passion for? Work would be FUN!

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I just wish that administrators and managers would GET that if they started treating us with respect, allowed us our breaks, saw to it that we were treated like valued professionals -- applied the same respect and consideration to us that they force us to display to patients --that I wonder how things would change?

This entire blog sums up the unpalatable truths behind this shortage. We have turned on each other for self preservation. Those who do not live out the frustration of the current work environment are not compelled to fix it and those living out the daily grind have no power.

adapted from C.S. Lewis

In a country governed by an oligarchy, huge numbers of people, and among them some very stirring spirits, know they can never hope to get into that oligarchy; it may therefore be worth their while to attempt a revolution. Within the Nursing profession the lowest social class of all is the new graduate Nurses, therefore too weak or inexperienced, to dream of revolt. The experienced nurses 5-10 years are no longer new graduates but not yet part of the good ol' boy system. These Nurses had popularity enough to qualify them as leaders of a revolution were already beginning to hope for internal promotions themselves (preceptor, charge, education). It suited the mid-level Nurses better to accelerate their professional and social progress by courting the existing administration. Why would these Nurses (5-10 years exp) risk a revolt which, in the unlikely event of succeeding, would destroy the very prize they were longing to share? And the prize (for which nobody openly acknowledges) is a reprieve from the harsh realities of actually caring for the patient the very aspect that should have inclined them to become a Nurse in the first place.

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