The Effects of Nursing on Nurses
Hi, welcome to my blog post. I have never had a blog post get more than 50 comments, so I am a bit overwhelmed. After responding to many comments, here is a note:
Note: I wrote this blog entry at the end of my 3rd 12 hour shift in three days. I was tired and I was emotional. It is a blog post, not an “article.” It is not researched or sourced, it is purely opinion.
The point of this post is that nurses (and many other professions) need to take the time to practice self care and to encourage one another to practice self care.
My biggest mistake in this post (and there are many) was to use “her” or “she” when I should have used “they” or them.” I ignored my male coworkers, and I should not have. You have my apologies, and I have corrected the post. I have left “she” and “her” in place in the portion where I talk about my coworker.
I have read every comment posted and deleted some very nasty comments that were not helpful to conversation. If you feel this is the place to spew your vitriol, it is not.
August 11, 2013
This morning, while I was giving report to the day shift nurse taking over my patients, she burst into tears.
She’s going to miss her children’s hockey play offs due to our strictly enforced every other weekend schedules. You work every other weekend, no more, no less, unless you are going to college (I work every weekend because I’m in college). She’s their hockey coach, and inevitably, each year, their last game falls on a day their mother has to work. I’ve come in early for her before.
So I offered to come in on my night off for an hour and a half so she could get to the game. I’m coming in that early because I know she won’t be done charting.
She turned me down until another day RN got involved. I reminded my coworker I only live a mile from the hospital, and it really wasn’t a big sacrifice for me. She finally agreed, and calmed down. We got permission from the charge nurse.
Nursing is one of the largest professions in the world. If you don’t know a nurse, I’m really surprised. Nurses talk a lot about the rewards of nursing. Catching that vital sign, saving lives, providing comfort, but nurses, by nature, are taught to martyr themselves on the altar of nursing.
When I was a new grad, I hated coming to work so much that I would wish I’d get hit by a car on my way to work just to get out of work. One night, while checking medication sheets, I confessed this to some experienced nurses and found out some of them still felt the same way.
In nursing, it is NORMAL to have days where you wake up and just can’t mentally and emotionally face the day at work. I swear, the only other people who can understand this are nurses.
Nursing is emotionally, physically and mentally taxing, and some days you run too low on what you can give emotionally, physically and mentally. That minor back injury you don’t want to report to HR because you don’t want it on your record. Having a patient with constant diarrhea who can’t get out of bed and needs to be physically rolled and cleaned several times an hour. The cold you got from the two-year old someone brought in. The sorrow that comes from supporting someone who has just found out they were dying, holding in your own tears so you could wipe theirs. In one day, all of those patients could be yours.
I don’t know a nurse who hasn’t taken a mental health day. Some do it by requesting more vacation than others. Some do it by calling in sick, but it’s all time off because we are too drained to give anymore.
So if you know a nurse, and that nurse mentions to you that they feel like calling in because they just can’t take it another day, don’t give them a hard time. Especially if you have an 8-5 job with weekends off or some other really great schedule. The 12 hour shifts nurses work mean we miss the entire holiday we work with our families. Night shift nurses have to choose between holiday dinners or sleep. Often, if a nurse chooses to sleep rather than go to the holiday dinner, guilt ensues. Even though I’ve told my mother-in-law repeatedly that every nurse has to work holidays, she makes a point to say how horrible it is my husband has to be alone for a few hours. What about me? Working my ass off while everyone else celebrates?
We work hard. We are intentionally understaffed by our hospitals to improve profit, even if the hospital is a non-profit. We help people at the worst times of their lives, and often have no way to debrief, to get it off our chests. We don’t just bring warm blankets and pills. We are college educated, degreed professionals who are often treated like uneducated, lazy servants. We get sexually harassed by our patients. We get groped, punched, cut, I even know of a nurse on my floor being strangled (she survived).
Nursing can be rewarding. But nursing is a fucking hard job. If you are afraid of healthcare rationing, you should know it is already happening. Nurses are unable to give everyone the care they need, so patients with smaller problems may not get the same level of care. A nurse may be pressed to only give the minimum amount of care to a patient if they have 5 or more very sick patients. If you don’t want healthcare rationing, talk to your local hospitals about their nurse to patient ratios. Talk to your doctors. If you hear of legislation to support nurse to patient ratios, vote for it. Support it.
So if a nurse needs a day off, you support them. If you’re in a position to help like I was this morning, do so. If you are a nurse, go easier on yourself when you think about the things you didn’t finish, or the things you should have said. It’s a 24-hour a day job and you don’t have to do it alone.
As of January 27, 2014, this post is no longer accepting comments. I am doing this as a practice of self care. Tending to this blog post, several times a day, has become a burden. It has had over 2 million hits, and I am tired. The post has become a platform for people who want to propel their own agendas and are using my space to do so. Thanks to all who said such nice things, and to everyone else, go write your own blog.
Posted on August 11, 2013, in Nursing and tagged Health care, Nursing, registered nurse. Bookmark the permalink. 2,612 Comments.
ofcourseitsaboutyou 
I’m currently a nursing student. From what I have read, I’m a bit scared of all the madness I’m going to face but what keeps me going is the fact that I’ll be able to care for and heal several patients and that’s very rewarding to me.
Well said!
Okay everyone, Nursing is not a perfect career, never has been never will be. Every career/job has had and will have its good points and bad points. The problem I have with nursing is I chose nursing to bring my compassion, organization, intelligence and every other well meaning thing I could bring to the profession and found this was impossible due to under-staffing to save a buck. Healthcare, like every other service, has become a multi-billion dollar industry. People should realize the fact that most states have the employment-at-will-doctrine, meaning, employers can terminate a person for any reason other then a reason violating anti-discrimination. Until nurses band together and formulate a plan against management it will continue the way it has been going. All of the complaining and whining will never be addressed until a law is put into place. Hospitals and facilities will never give up a penny and change the staffing ratios until nurses do something about it, period!!!!! Nursing needs to have good NURSING UNIONS, yes, I said unions, in place to protect not only the nurses and other staff but the patients. It is a very dangerous place to be in a hospital when nurses are running around stressed out, not able to give the care they were trained to give. Yes, not every nurse should be a nurse. There are good and bad nurses. I am speaking to the good, well-educated, wonderful nurses who want to give the care and just can not do it due to under-staffing. If anyone needs to know of a good union please look into The NNU, National Nurses United….and no, I am not an employee of this union. I have seen them in action against the hospitals and facilities. Nothing will change until nurses band together for not only themselves but also their patients.
Right on
Last thing nursing need is unions. Ratios in hospitals are actually down. Nurses years ago had 10+ patients nightly. We are not even close to that now!
It is kind of hard to equate the stress of nursing to an auto salesman, a lab technician, or even a nursing assistant. Do NOT get me wrong…each of them is badly needed and without them we could not make this world a better place…but as the registered nurse responsible for her/himself and all those touching that patient during the course of a 12 hr shift, there are those moments of overwhelming responsibility that you carry. I have many times finished with a trauma or some other emergency that did not turn out well and had to go into the bathroom and cry to relieve the tension. I live in a small town so many of my patients were people I knew or who had family I knew. I remember a 13 yo who fell from a hay wagon onto his head. He died from multiple skull fractures. We did all that we could but there was nothing to be to done. The stress level was high….very high. …and I cried.
I am pleased as nurses your able to talk about your feelings a good nurse knows her / his limitations and having a forum like this to talk about it is great. I been nursing for over 18 yrs and started as an assistant in nursing and over the yrs worked my way through and studying doing my Diploma in Nursing and then Bachelor of Nursing, everyone works so hard and we do let burnt out but the reason we go back is we do love doing what we do …. Happy new year
Nurse to Patient ratios are a problem definitely. Where I work, I am a Charge RN. We are expected to cover med-surg, OB, and ER during our shift. We are a 25 bed acute care facility and staff 2-3 nurses and 1 CNA. There are nights where it could be the ChargeRN and an LPN and no CNA depending on census. You never know what will come in to the ER or OB but are expected to cover all three areas successfully. This is a problem and a threat to patient safety and outcomes. All we hear at nurses meeting is that we need to cut costs when we are already stretched too thin.Then we receive patient surveys back and get scolded. I am not in administration but it doesn’t take rocket science to know that short staffing doesn’t allow for excellent quality care and high patient satisfaction. We need do need to be advocates for our patients and we need to be advocates for the nursing profession.
I’m an ex-home health aide with about 6 years experience turned new grad RN. I’ve been working a med surg floor for about 8 months now and the staffing is horrible. On average we have 6-7 patients. Most are total care patients. We’ve all expressed concerns before, but no matter how many nurses leave the floor crying at the end of their shifts, no one seems to do anything. All for profit.
please support nurses. We need you as much as you need us.
This is such a great truth.
I was an RN for almost 10 years, I left the field to run a full-time business – I think the saddest thing of all, having worked as a nurse, is how some (not all) fellow nurses treat each other. The saying “nurses eat their young” is true, but it is basically the same for all ages.
If something happens to a patient, or a minor error is made, a nurse will throw you under the bus in a matter of seconds so they can either get off, or look good. It’s like wearing the cone of shame when even the smallest or minute error is made.
I left the field for a number of reasons, one being that I wanted to have the flexibility of having my own home business, and be able to spend more time with my family.
I will say this – hospital nursing isn’t for everyone, and there are other options out there. You don’t have to be stuck working weekends and holidays – you can get a job at an outpatient center or clinic – the pay may not be as great, but you have weekends and holidays off, and normal hours.
A lot of nurses that I had worked with were complacent, and scared to move on to another hospital, job, or take another opportunity. They were convinced that the place they were at, as hellish as it was, couldn’t be worse than anywhere else, and this couldn’t be further from the truth!!
If you don’t like your position, you aren’t happy with the hospital, administration, the doctors, your co-workers, and the staffing regulations, get out, and find another position, and don’t look back.
There are so many other opportunities to practice nursing in a field you enjoy. Let the cut-throat RN’s stay at the hospital, and find enjoyment elsewhere in your career.
You are absolutely right! We don’t take care of ourselves and when we need that mental health day, we are so afraid to take it for fear of being written up! I have been a nurse for 25 years and although I am no longer a bedside nurse, I still feel as exhausted as I did when I worked 12 shifts. We are a “dying” profession, in more than just the literal sense! Hang in there nurses, we need to support each other!
I feel your pain. I work 3-11 shift and miss out on a lot of social activities. My friends have stopped inviting me because the answer is usually “I wish I could but I’m working”. If anyone lives near a VA hospital please apply. We have a union and it really makes a big difference in working conditions. We have the OIG (Office of the Inspector General) who investigates complaints about staffing issues that affect patient care. I know some people who are going into nursing because of the salary, but have little idea how hard Nursing is. We must stick up for ourselves, stop infighting, like RN vs LPN, and elevate the profession of Nursing. Too many Nurses leave Nursing rather than work to make it better. We have more power as a group than we have individually. Support legislation that supports nursing and patient care and get the word out to friends and relatives. Like you said, everyone knows a nurse.
This is a so “need to read” article for everyone!! I know my nurse daughter -in- law works very hard and has been told she is an excellent nurse by doctors – and that is rare. As a retired teacher I know how on some days I came home exhausted from young ones -but that is NOTHING like the responsibility of nursing. They have to chart everything, plus react instantly to a patient ‘s care and needs. Then they have patients family to constantly contend with -yes they DO need a mental day and more CREDIT for all they do!! Some charge nurses and schedulers are so unflexible to the nurses own family needs. Lets LOVE and understand our nurses more!!
I have worked as an STNA, LPN and now a RN. And I don’t like when other healthcare professionals put each other down. As one of the other posts stated, we all have to support each other, because most lay people ( and even our administrators) have no idea how difficult and wearing our jobs are. It is ok to “complain” about your job, as long as you are still putting in 100% effort, which most of us do. It is human nature to vent, and that is the only way we are able to get our frustrations out, as we would NEVER state these opinions to our patients or their families. I personally feel I couldn’t be as effective in my job without my LPN and STNA’s. It is a very scary feeling sometimes knowing that another persons life is in your hands, and the decisions you make regarding their care could make the difference. I am fortunate to have a great support system, but even with that you still need “mental health days”!
Your lack of compassion is shocking – look up disenfranchised grief and educate yourself – nurses suffer from PTSD from their jobs you heartless B
I agree with everything you said. I did med/surg for 5 years and OR for 5. It especially holds true for med/surg. I called in from work a few times even when I wasn’t physically ill, I was just sick and tired of work. Nursing is hard in so many ways and levels. I would have 8 patients on med/surg. Some people did not get the care that others got because of their acuity level. I cried a lot on my way home from work.
Nurses do need to support each other more often. We tend to “eat our own”. Why do we do this? Help each other out. What goes around comes around.
Thanks for sharing your true, our truth.
Mary
Awesome! Thank you for this!
Amen. I couldn’t have said any of it better myself!!! You took the thoughts and feelings right out of my head/heart.
This
I thank God for nurses and their hard work with out a doubt I would not be able to do their job… But you chose to take that job knowing of the long hours, mental, physical and emotional taxing, schooling to pay back, and weekends to be worked. I chose my 8-5 career and lesser pay job knowing I would not be working many hours in a row, weekends free, and to not have the emotional job as a nurse.
Well said. I will share one of my stories. I was LPN, married , 3 boys. I had moved out with my one son and working night shift. My husband was drinking heavy and using meth. I recieved a phone while getting ready for a night shift the he was in the field in front of their house attempting to commit suicide, he had left a suicide letter at their house for me. In our state attemptin suicide is against the law. I met sherrif deputies on the road by his truck in the field. After he was secure in the back of the deputy car I continued to work. I knew he was safer in jail than at home. I showed up on time, work my shift not letting my coworker know the stress and worry I was under. We all had heavy patient loads, at least 5-7 patients each was normal. This was only one of several attempts he made on his life. He died Sept 2 2007 while I was working a 16 hour shift. I came home and found him with GSW to the head. I was only working weekends and attending RN school during the week.
I am still a nurse..yes I suck it up when I go to work..but I have learned to share with coworkers whats going on. My support from coworkers has gotten me thru alot in just the past years and I love them for that.
Thank you for the self-care reminder, I appreciate fellow RN’s who remind us of this. To the DEFENSIVE responses- YES, a lot of people have stressful jobs-she’s not discounting that. I think this is great message to think of what your co-workers (in any work environment) are going through and offer to help them whenever possible: even if they’re cranky and miserable-we don’ t have to know why they’re like that (chances are they’re burnt out from feeling like they’re the only one that cares any more). Don’t judge them, just help them so they have a better chance at relaxing and making your day better! The world is a round place.
I’m a nurse and have been for 35 years. There are a few exceptions, but no matter what adm does it will never please Nurses…..Noone talks about the fact that nurses WANTED 12 hr shifts to get more time off and haven’t stopped whining about the since they started. Thins nurse gets EVERY second weekend off? Wow that’s a pretty great schedule in my opinion. Noone talks about 8 am report, 10 am (1/2 hr coffee break and a hurricane can blow through but everything revolves around coffee and meal breaks.), Noon, another 45 mins meal break, 1500, yet another break that I have rarely take, 1700, yup another 45 min meal break and if you actually stay til 2000hrs. (if your shift is 08-20) you can fit a break in there also, tho most ppl relieve a little early! i’m a maternity nurse, so there are times when I don’t get a break, but I can…we’re relieved by other staff to fit them in.! Nurses wanted LPN’s duties pared back, although they can do soooo much that we do, nurses didn’t want them doing “their” work b/c they didn’t want more layoffs. For goodness sakes, in some hospitals LPNs don’t even do vitals, dressings etc, catheters…you get my drift. Well we got what we wanted but now we really don’t want it. I’ve always valued LPN’s help and in some nursing homes now they are actually encouraged to do the things that they too trained for. They are the ones underappreciated in my opinion. I’ve always worked my every other Xmas when my babies were small, and accpeted it as a part of my work.My family made adjustments. I’m sorry if the nurse was in tears because she couldn’t be at her kid’s games. I’ve also been a patient and in the hospitals that I worked and stayed in are not fit to be called health care institutions. Come on nurses, we all know where we congregate to chat…and right at the nursing stations, where bells are ringing only to be answered from the desk, and the waiting patient that has a full bladder, is just not considered important and are made to wait until we are done our chat about something quite unimportant. We have the audacity to get angry at our patients that ring too much. Get over yourselves! Our job isn’t anymore difficult than many others and we are well paid, work in warm environments, not in the freezing cold)…! Oh I could go on but I think we have it pretty damned good. What I have witnessed over and over are new grads that really look to do a good job and like it, are soon brow beaten by older nurses that will NOT have them doing things outside what is absolutely necessary, lest we all be expected to do the same and in short order these new grads are as disgruntled as their older, more “experienced” co workers, just to be able to have some peace at their work place.
I have been a nurse for 36 years and loved most of it. I specialized in geriatrics for most of my career. I have been hit, bitten, kicked, spit on, you name it. This post and the mention of short staffing to save money made me think about the difference in working a 3-11 shift in the early 80’s compared to now. In the 80’s there was a charge nurse and a med nurse who could just concentrate on meds while the charge nurse did treatments and dealt with anything else going on such as labs, MD calls/visits, families, etc. You had enough time to do your documentation, and if an emergency arose there were two of you to pitch in and you got it done. Now, one nurse works that shift. There is barely enough time to get everything done. And forget about helping the CNAs turn or change a patient, you don’t have time. Any change in your routine can throw a monkey wrench in your whole shift. Getting out by midnight is a good shift. If you have an emergency your whole shift turns to shit, meds are late, treatments might not get done…you are completely stressed out! You finish at 2 or 3 am and then get yelled at for working overtime. You tell people above you over and over that it’s not safe, mistakes are bound to happen, things get overlooked. Nobody listens. 😦
This article shows that there is no perfect nor easy job.
I am currently in the process of pursuing a degree in Nursing (ADN). I read this article and I understand what you guys are going through. I’m leaving my career as a Certfied Athletic Trainer/Sports Med Teacher for Nursing. So I am one who thinks this career has an upside. In my career, I would work 70 hours in 5 days and that’s if we didn’t have tournaments. I think Nursing is where I belong, or I hope it is. We in healthcare, no matter the field or setting, give so much of ourselves and our time. You Nurses aren’t alone! We feel you pain also.
Excellent !
All interesting comments about life on the wards. I am a nurse… I work in a private hospital in Australia…I have also worked in a public/ government hospital. I have experienced busy medical wards and, presently, work on a busy orthopaedic ward. We do not have the luxury of nursing assistants to help with showers, bed changes, general dirty work. All this is done by the nurses, together with all the other duties of medication rounds, wound management, assisting physios, mentoring students plus the never ending completion of required documentation. Yes..we sacrifice things and moments in our lives…but that is what we agree to when we choose this vocation. I love my job. I get tired and drained like most of us in this profession and in many other professions. On the whole, the gratitude and relief shown by the majority of those who pass through our wards, is enough for me to continue to do what I do until it is time for me to retire.
your comments are straight from my own mind. I was recently terminated and have been home for 5 months licking my wounds. I’ve told my husband I he cannot do it anymore and will not go back to nursing. I am not young anymore but not “old” he tells me but still I am for the third time am burned out. Like a fall, I do not bounce back as easily. I sold real estate for 3 years once and came back. then worked at target for a year and came back. I have seen the rationed care first hand and am sad at the poor quality of care and blame spewed at nurses for the upper Escalon’s decisions. I have no more tears left. I worked hard for that degree and my family also deserves to be credited for their sacrifice but I still can’t raise the flag one more time.
Well said. I will share one of my stories. I was LPN, married , 3 boys. I had moved out with my one son and working night shift. My husband was drinking heavy and using meth. I recieved a phone while getting ready for a night shift the he was in the field in front of the nieghbors house attempting to commit suicide, he had left a suicide letter at our neighbors house for me. In our state attemptin suicide is against the law. I met sherrif deputies on the road by his truck in the field. After he was secure in the back of the deputy car I continued to work. I knew he was safer in jail than at home. I showed up on time, work my shift not letting my coworker know the stress and worry I was under. We all had heavy patient loads, at least 5-7 patients each was normal. This was only one of several attempts he made on his life. He died Sept 2 2007 while I was working a 16 hour shift. I came home and found him with GSW to the head. I was only working weekends and attending RN school during the week.
I loved reading this blog and it is funny how I could read and know before they say who my fellow nurses were. We didn’t go into nursing for someone to praise us or to be acknowledged for our hard work. We went into it knowing that probably wasn’t going to happen. Yes being a nurse is a very hard profession and yes I am sure there are other very hard professions too not that the blogger was implying that nursing is the only hard profession as she is being accused. I can say aside from being a doctor I don’t know many professions that you would possibly lose your license for admitting to being depressed and in need of help. This is why so many go untreated and and are only self diagnosed and self treating. It is also why I have lost a few friend in the medical field to suicide as well( not a good choice so if you need help get it!!) I myself love being a nurse and yes at points in my career over the past I could relate to this post as well, but nursing is a very flexible career!! The first 7 years I worked at a hospital as a student nurse/PCA graduated and moved on to be a floor RN and then promoted to charge nurse. When I started my family I quickly found that this job wasn’t going to work for me physically or mentally so I changed jobs. The last 13-1/2 years I worked at a home health company and worked my way all the way up to a very high paid supervisor. This job was very flexible at first ,but I realized last year my youngest daughter needed more of my time and more than I could provide in that position….so I left that position to take a job as a school nurse. I stayed on with the home health in case I wanted to make extra money on my time off….It was a huge cut in pay and a huge leap of faith which has been extremely rewarding! I love my career choice and if you are struggling in one area of nursing move on to another there are so many options out there! Family and your health come first and if you trust in The Lord he will provide no matter where you end up! Lol sorry for such a long post!!
With all do respect, yes the system benefits from over working nurses. However, I strongly believe that patients benefit the most. I am a terminal cancer patient, and I’m not sure what I would have done without the nurses that helped me, and my family cope with all of it. It may be a thankless job on appearance, but rest assured that patients appreciate it more than they express. I remember bringing flowers to my nurse just because she was there, and not at home. She stayed by my side even after her shift. I’ll never forget. Perhaps, we, patients, don’t say it enough, but my Lord, you do make a difference. My daughter wants to go into nursing and I will never discourage her. It’s hard but I know it is her calling.
So thank you and keep up the good work!
Well said and encouraging.
I was touched by your post! I agree with you and although I am not a nurse, I am an Enrollment Advisor for Nursing and Healthcare for one of the top universities. I am well aware of the amount of emotional support, care and dedication a nurse puts in her job, working nights, spending little time with her own family. Nurses are the most reliable and consciescious students. Nurses are also the most trusted of all professions. Saving lives every day is not an easy job at all! You are the true heroes! You rock!
Hi Everyone; great blog I enjoyed reading it. This is my opinion and only mine. I’ve been a nurse 27+ I started as a CNA and quickly found out I loved the job and wanted to become a nurse. I came from a family of nurses. I believe it takes a different breed to be a nurse. You have to love what you do, to be really good at it. While I agree with most of your comments there are some I don’t.! Nursing is a noble profession, but so are police officers, social workers, etc just to mention a few. we are under apprieated a lot of the time. However when I leave work and can say to myself I’ve done the very best I could do today to save lives, be compassionate, teach a patient something. Hold a loved ones hand during their lose. Or assist with a new life entering this world. Then I’ve had a good day. Many get into nursing believing it’s an easy highly paid job. That’s so far from the truth it isn’t even funny. I’ve worked just about every floor or unit in a acute facility until I found my love. The Emergency Room. After working different floors and evaluating all my likes and dislikes. As many know it’s feast or faman in the ED. The busy times are just that fast and the slow time is my downtime. To breath, eat something, pee, as we all know nurses don’t get a lot if down time during there shifts. I love what I do and I’m good at it. I’ve never felt like I didn’t want to go to work. It is emotionally physically, taxing on your mind body and spirit. You do work weekends, Holidays, and overtime. I believe the nursing problems with staffing and patient ratios among others things u talked about will only get worse. The upper managment and Jacco make some very unpleasant decisions. I feel if they bring back the many qualified LVN’S to do primary nursing with a RN team leader this would help our staffing problems greatly. You see I’m an LVN when I began my career as such it was different. The LVNs did primary care passed pills, inserted IVs, Ngts, we did It all except IV pushes and piggy backs. We did our own assessments however the RN charted them. We were utilized as part of the team and most Of them I’ve worked with were sharper and more qualified then some of the RNs. Over the years of fighting the system I’ve come to accept that most if not all hospital don’t use LVNs anymore. The LVNs are being used as nursing assistants now. Which is sad and in my opinion not very effective with the knowledge and training they have and can offer their patients & co workers. Now before you get your panties in a bunch. Let me just say there are some awesome Knowlegdable RNs that I’ve had the pleasure to work with. Every profession has it’s good and bad. But if we all worked as a team for the greater good for our patients because after all we are all advocates for them. I believe we would be better off. The RNs would get the much needed help they need and deserve. The LVNs will feel usefull after spending all that money for schooling and being held to the same standards as RNs regarding our patients. Nurses back stab each other, talk negatively about LVNs because they don’t have an RN title behind there name and assume we are useless. The old nurses eat their young. It’s a vigious circle and needs much evaluating to make the profession better. After all we are all there for the same outcome. To help teach, heal, advocate, lead by our experience hope and strength for the greater good of our patients. I’m not bitter and have accepted my place.! I don’t like it and believe its a waste of vast knowledge and wealth. But it is what it is. I don’t see it changing in the near future. That saddenes me. When the higher ups finally realize that we all have something to offer only then will there be change. I love nursing and couldn’t image every doing anything else. I will strive to make a difference in my patients lives as well as assist my co-workers to the best of my ability. Don’t get into nursing for the money, hours or glory of the title. It’s a hard profession. You must love what you do to be any good at it.
Thanks for this. I am a nurse and can relate to many of the feelings stated. I am also CEO of a non-profit hospice/palliative care agency in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We give 3 wellness days each year to any regular FT employee (pro-rated for part-time). These days are in addition to vacation and personal days and do not require prior notice. They are meant to be used for the purpose of wellness and practicing good mental health. Supervisors sometimes complain about them but as long as I’m in charge (and I hope long after I leave) they will remain as an important benefit. It’s true — we cannot take good care of others if we’re not taking good care of ourselves.
As a nurse of 23 years, a nursing instructor, a clinical specialist, and now a doctoral candidate, I empathize with all your posts. Truly from this blog we continue to see mixed emotions on how we look at nursing–as a science, an art, a profession, etc. The culmination of ideas and trends of what defines us in nursing is diverse albeit complicated. Created and innate in all of us in this profession, is the drive and passion to make a difference. As we move towards the future of evidence-based practice with improved outcomes, nurses will make a mark and impact in this process and our definition of who we are and what we are will be clearer and brighter.
as a retired nurse, I’m not sure WHY we tolerate the BS that we do. Nurses need to band together and get better working conditions. Let the hospitals try to run their facilities w/o working nurses. Nurses are professionals and need to be treated as such, not as children that have to be structured in everything they do.
I have been a RRT for 35years. We go though the same as our nursing buds. I got the same for years from family. They never get it. Sorry I got to go home and shower first to get to brains and puck off.
If it was easy, anyone could be a nurse. Its supposed to be hard.
There’s a lot of negative and positive feedback. Love your nurse because everyone’s struggle is different than your own. If your a super champ as a single mom with 3 kids and can handle a demanding job as a nurse good for you, but don’t discredit another nurse who you know nothing of her personal life. It’s not a compition to better your own ego for being a great nurse that can handle a lot. Support everyone and show thanks, that’s what betters this world. It’s anoying that every blog/opinion/article/ on the internet is debated!!!!! Just be supportive and greatful for one another. Enough said:)
Yes we can. Police officer’s, correctional officers, ambulance drivers, EMT’s… We are all right there doing thankless job’s for low pay, forced weekends and holidays and over-time. We get it, and we sympathize, and empathize with you.
I “retired” from nursing after 35 years at the same hospital. I felt the calling of nursing from the time I started as a candystriper when I was 14 yrs. old. I loved my job most days but the new nursing roles being forced on us by the “corporate” health care policies have destroyed nursing as I know it and I am afraid to be part of it. My employer was a nonprofit local 550 bed medical center that merged with the UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) network of hospitals 3 years ago. Prior to the merger, a new Women’s Hospital was being built and as an experienced RN in OB for 28 years, I was one of the nurses on the planning and transition team. But then we merged. New management came in and those of us who had put so much time, heart, and soul into the project were suddenly not included. The new management people were including nurses who had 1-2 years total experience in nursing. Suddenly, these inexperienced nurses were being the charge nurses and making decisions that they should not have been making. One of the biggest problems with this was that patient safety was being compromised. When I voiced my concerns, I was brought into the office and told I wasn’t being a team player. If the charge nurse made a poor decision, I was brought into the office and told I wasn’t being a team player because I didn’t mentor her and assist her in making a better choice. By the way, this wasn’t just me having these issues with management…..it was every nurse with my level of experience and we were all also certified in our specialty. If a postpartum woman or newborn had a complication or an emergency, the newer charge nurses could not handle it. Of course, I didn’t hesitate to jump in then. The result of all this was that I HAD to retire for my mental health state was affecting my physical and emotional health. I am loving life again, yet I still mourn the loss of my professional life. My psychologist says I have PTSD and has been working with me for a long while.
I have 3 adult daughters and like other commenters, I discouraged them from becoming a nurse. Luckily, they all listened and are very happy in their respective careers.
You described bedside nursing VERY well. TOTALLY can relate. . .was an ER/crit care nurse for over 30 years, now have a clinic job (x 13 yr.) – every nurse’s dream job – like it so much I don’t want to retire fully. One of my non nurse friends emailed me your blog AND thanked me & my daughter (who is finishing her BSN in 5 months) for our service to humankind.
This hits the nail on the head! No one would understand the struggles a nurse faces except a fellow nurse! Being a night shift nurse, sadly I have to sacrifice family time in exchange for sleep, and many days I end my days in tears…sad for the time I’ve taken away from my family and also from pure exhaustion from the shift. Great article!
Connie, that is quite a harsh and rude comment to make. Hope you don’t carry that attitude into the hospital room you may end up in eventually….
Well said. I have been an LPN since 2006 and know the stress of the job can olay a toll on your physical and emotional staus.
I agree with what you stated. I have worked the med-surg floor where you have 6 patients and you want to cry because you cannot possibly get everything done that needs to be done. I now work in an ICU where I love what I do and sometimes get days where I have a 1:1 assignment. Those 1:1 patient’s are busy but I love the ability to be able to focus on one patient and to have time to meet one patient’s needs and not be torn between 6 patients needs. Don’t get me wrong though, it is not easy. I just worked a night shift where I had 2 busy admissions that both came in on ventilators. I didn’t have time to eat, time for a break, or time to use the bathroom. I got off of work almost 2 hours late trying to catch up on paperwork. I am also required to work weekends (every other) and my schedule is never set, and many times I am scheduled beyond the required because I am one of the newer nurses. Part of the problem is that the older or more experienced nurses are not expected to work every other weekend because they are grandfathered in, they also only have to worry about being floated to a step down floor or a pediatric floor. So the nurse (Paula) that stated that she has been doing this for 20 years…its not about doing something else. I would like to have the same treatment in 10 or more years that you get, but when I was hired, like other newer nurses, we were locked into a system that requires more sacrifices. I want to help people. I also agree with John who worked previously as a firefighter. I was a full-time firefighter for 12 years and have been a firefighter now for close to 21 years (counting volunteer time), and nursing is much more stressful. At the firehouse I had time to eat, time to use the bathroom, and a set schedule. Would I give up nursing? No. Do I have the right to whine a little about the stress? Yes. I think nurses should never receive more than 4 to 5 patients on a med-surg floor and never more than 2 in an ICU. We need to lobby for this in every state and follow after what California did. It is only going to get harder for nurses as Obama care kicks in. More paperwork, more care responsibilities as other positions get cut and more patients. I love being a nurse but wish I could have a set schedule and not have to work holidays, but that is where nursing is. I have worked the past 17 years (including firefighting and ems) in jobs that have required me to work holidays but you never get accustomed to it. I would like to be off with my family. I do agree that nursing is rewarding. I love it when I get to see a patient again who takes the time to come and visit us after they were discharged to say thank you. I work with burn patients and even with the stress, I cannot imagine myself anywhere else. I love nursing, I just hate the stress that come with it. I know that other nurses can understand what I mean by that.
The more I read the posts, the more I realize that indeed everyone is in the same boat. It is NOT a competition as to who has the shittiest shift or family life. As I said before, I am thankful for all the nurses that took care of me and my family, but I too appreciated every other health professional that was put on my path to help.
I just want to add……@Jan, I am a high school teacher and I don’t complain. I love my job in spite of what people think of teachers. Wether they think we have it hard or easy, I don’t care, I loved what I did for 25 years. Cancer forced me to retire way too early. I feel blessed that I, too, touched so many lives. And I am proud that for 25 years, I was able to whistle on my way to work because I loved it that much. Like I said, it’s not a competition. If you look at other professions, police officers, social workers, yes teachers (with classes of 35), radiation technicians, doctors, etc…..we do what we do cause we love what we do. And everyone tries to alleviate stress but let’s face it, budget cuts are everywhere. So remember, it’s not a competition it’s a collaboration.
Think you got it rough?
Imagine waking up at 7 am for work. Your shift was done at 2:30 am, just 4 and a half hours prior. This is day number 252 with that same shift. 19 hours per day (not counting getting to/from your bed), 7 days per week. You have a choice of eating dinner or catching a couple extra winks. Showering or sleeping an extra 10 minutes. Clean clothes, or a couple minutes farther away from insanity.
Now take that same scenario, except you’re getting shot at every other day. It’s 130 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and you’re in pants and long sleeves, trying to protect yourself from dust, pollution, or stray bullets.
You’re so exhausted, so hot, so miserable, that you keep thinking to yourself “Maybe today’s my luck day. Maybe I’ll catch a bullet, and finally I can sleep for a while”. And then one of your buddies catch that bullet, and all you can think is “God, what if that had been me?”
Now imagine, same scenario, you have to renew your certifications. You’re halfway through a 3 hour test and bombs start dropping all around you. The proctor says “You can either keep going, or fail the test now and have to pay to take it again” Meh, might as well keep going. Your job relies on renewing this cert, and the worst that can happen is you get blown up.
Soldiers live like that every day. I worked that schedule, lived that life, for 419 days straight without a day off. I got my 2 weeks of leave and I swear I slept for 36 hours straight.
You have to remember why you do what you do. Did I deploy because I loved the work? No. I deployed to make the world better.
Did you become a nurse for the pay? The benefits? The glamour, the glory, the prestige? Somehow I doubt it. If I had to place a bet, I’d say you became a nurse to help people. To sacrifice for others. To give up a part of yourself to make sure others can live better. Same as a soldier.
So, yea, suck it up and deal with it. Or get another job. Those are your options.
I have been a nurse for almost 20 years now. I can relate to some of what you’re saying, with the exception that I love my job, I love my coworkers. I love working 12 hour shifts so I can have days off during the week, a luxury our 9 to 5 friends don’t have. It’s not all complaints, nursing is a choice if you hate it choose another profession.
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