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 have 2 daughters who are nurses {LPN”s} they both work 3 shift When they work a holiday they also miss more then most because there holiday is the night before So they have to come home and sleep because they work the next night as well but they Love their jobs Also they travel a distance to work and during bad weather we do not see them for days I give a lot of respect to them My youngest daughter has also been also and came home with bruised ribs from being kicked by a patient so there job is not so easy
I left nursing to go sailing with my husband when he retired. I just wanted to say AMEN sister!
Are you kidding me…! I dated a nurse and she had nothing but time! She worked 4/10hour shifts a week when she was in the Pacu which meant she got 3 days off a week. When she moved to the ED she worked 3/12 hour shifts so now 4 days off a week and makes 85K a year. While she was at work she was constantly sending me stuff over the internet and got any day off she wanted. And if she didn’t feel like going to work that day (which she did frequently) she called into an automated service. She didn’t even have to fake being sick then live with the guild of lying! I also know a bunch of resident physicians at different hospitals who constantly complain that the nurses are always shopping on the internet and if they don’t want to do something or don’t now how they get somebody else to do it rather than see it through. And speaking of resident physicians they work ridiculous hours that puts you all to shame. I know that 90% of doctors are socially retarded jackasses (that could be because they’re tiered) and dealing with the public is psychotically challenging especially under those circumstances but like the residents, you chose this.
You chicks want to be treated like delicate flowers, expecting everyone else to pull your weight, the whole time bitching that you don’t make as much as a man…77 cents for every dollar…shouldn’t it be 50 cents…I don’t know a women who pulls he own weight or cant get out of work whenever she wants. Even the female residents get special treatment, 2 of them in my buddies program didn’t show up for work because they broke-up with there boyfriends. One of them happened to do it on the day of a flight shift…so a 4 million dollar helicopter that’s there to save lives sat on the tarmac because their doctor didn’t feel like showing up. A man would have been kicked-out of the highly sawt after program. Also the flight nurse on the helicopter is a awesome guy who kicks ass at his job and doesn’t complain about stupid shit like this.
77cents…really? MAN UP!
thank you for posting this. I have been a nurse for 25+ years. I was burnt out from almost day 1 and thought it was ‘just me’. I like this posting as a validation for ALL nurses-that it is the hardest job there is-besides being a mother or father.
I have had about 15 jobs over these years as I thought moving to a new job would help-they all turn out horrid. And I mean that!
I am a great person and nurse-just not cut out for how terrible nursing is/was/will continue to be…I tell everyone not to go into nursing.
Donna: I have been there and done that. After 40 years of nursing in the hospitals all over town I realized that after you have worked 22 years in some hospital and are nearing 65, they will do anything to get rid of you. you cost to much. Don’t work enough over time and remember when the place was a hospital, and not a damn cooperation ran by others that are not in the health care profession. I actually remember the staff from all the floors lending me one or two people who loved to sing to carol the patients all over the hospital. these were the days that we were not short staffed just because the numbers of patients were down. We had the blessing of the house supervisor and the chief Nun.
Today, although I really loved the hospital setting I should have gone to the community to nurse. I wish you well. I have two daughters who are nurses and should have been home more. It can be done.
I have been a nurse for thirty years and knew the schedule going into it. Holidays and weekends were no surprise. I have done nights for all of those thirty years to be able to spend more time with my children and when we went to 12hr shifts i was only gone 3 days a week. I love the job, always have. Of course there are days when you are tired and frustrated. Of course there are days when you are emotionally drained. Of course there are days when the patients and their families just treat you like dirt and you have to smile and care anyway, but there are places to go and other positions to take if you are unhappy. You can do other things. Whether you are a nurse or any other position, get out and do something else. The rationale for nurse to pt ratio is a sound one.. until your family member is that extra patient. The bottom line is, if you feel that you are in an unsafe situation or that you are unhappy with your job, leave. trust me there are other people that want you.
Very well said, I’m reading this several hours before I start my 4of4. This is every bit the truth.
Thank you for sharing your opinion. I am also a nurse and have not been nursing very long and I can 100 percent relate. You are helping nurses that question whether or not they should stay in nursing feel like they are not alone and that it is “normal” to feel all the emotions you have expressed feeling.
I feel this so much. There have been days I would have rather been hit by a semi than go to work. Death is preferable to work at times. I’m an LVN currently in college for PTA. After 25 years of this, I simply can’t even think about being an RN without crying. I can’t nurse for another 20. It’s a life sentence at this point, no longer a profession.
I’m an RRT. This blog entry is truth. Someone can read all about our jobs (healthcare workers as a whole), read all of pur thoughts and opinions we choose to share, and still have no clue what we are subjected to daily. You better be in this field for the right- altruistic- reasons, because you will never earn what you are worth. Never. Props to the writer of this, and to all my comrades in healthcare.
One thing you forgot was the night you sit with your dying patient. In my case someone’s baby, I work in a neonatal icu and some die. Then you come home and listen to how difficult it is to keep the kitchen clean for one night! Unfortunately nothing will ever change
Amazing. This was just what I needed after my crazy, run-ragged shift last night. We were so understaffed that our charge nurse almost passed out because she didn’t have time to eat…there simply were not enough nurses for the high acuity assignments that were given. Thank you so much for this.
Seriously, is that all you can do is whine about your job? If you don’t like it… find another job, better yet… maybe McDonalds can give you the shift and days off you want. Geeezzee….
To the whining nurses… here is a good web site for you to check out. http://jobs.walmart.com/
Well written, well said. No one understands the emotional side of our profession. The ups and downs…. Unfortunately more downs then ups..that feelings we hold in and suppress to help those in need, Our SACRIFICES, our time away from family that we will NEVER get back. Constantly told we need to do this better, improve on that..with no support and no staff….and then we are left to find our own outlet to cope with our emotions. From one nurse to another…we need to stand together and support each other!! Again…WELL written, WELL said!
Both my parents had health crises this year. My Dad was in emergency, ICU, neurological and then in rehab over six weeks. My Mom was in emerg over night. The nurses were the people who took care of my parents. Other staff played important roles, but the nurses were the people I asked questions of every day. They were the people who helped me cope with what was happening to my parents. I often could see that nurses had too much to do. I certainly am now an advocate for nurses: for proper staffing and for a HR system that considers the importance of nurses’ quality of life outside the workplace.
I’m a military nurse and I’ve been gone for 8 months already from my family, missing birthdays, my anniversary, Christmas, and all the other holidays. I don’t whine and complain about it because, you know what, I signed up to be in the military. And you signed up to be a nurse. It’s part of the deal when you sign up for your profession. So either quit or find another job. Just don’t whine about it.
Jay, I would like to commend you for your service in the military and all the other men and woman who also serve our country. My dad and brothers were “lifers” in the military and my husband served too. I have a deep respect and commitment for all our military people.
I believe people are misunderstanding what one nurse felt after a bad shift. We all (in honesty) have had bad shifts and have vented to each other how we felt and sometimes not using the best words. It is kinda like letting the lid off of a pressure cooker so there will not be a big explosion by keeping how we feel inside. As long as it is not in an area where the public can hear you, there is no harm.
I agree we (nurses) knew we would be working holidays and week-ends. I personally like working week-ends and holidays because for the most part there seems to be less chaos, although sometimes not.
I signed up to be a nurse in 1982 and a nurse could spend time with her patients and actually give the love,care and compassion each of them needed. Now-a-days it is more high tech and a much higher level of pt. acuity. There is more emphasis on documentation, getting patients in and out of the hospital as quick as possible whether they are ready or not (more money to the hospital), electronic charting, etc etc. instead feeling as though you have done all you could for your patients when your shift is over. Yes my work was done and I did not leave anything (seldom) for the next shift, yet as years went by I started not having a sense of satisfaction of doing the best job I could. I did resign in 2009 for this reason and because of the wear and tear on my body causing bulging and herniated disks. I strongly suggest nurses use the lifting equipment that is provided. Years back we nurses did not have any lifting equipment at all. I tried to go back to nursing this year… and the place I worked at.. the staff not just nurses.. morale was low and they were “writing up” each other for silly things. No teamwork and ultimately I resigned. I still think about returning then I talk with my nurse friends and it stops me from entering the nursing field again.
When I started nursing I believed I had the “calling”, in fact I knew I was “called” to be a nurse. Now the “calling is gone. I did not go into nursing for the money. If anyone does it for the money, they will not last as a nurse.
I have no problem with any nurse venting to me at all. In fact, I encourage it. It is a stress reliever. I would rather someone having negative feelings tell me how their feeling vs showing the negativity in body language or with a negative tone in their voice with patients. I believe some people have made what the original post was conveying into a negative “article” and it was not. It was a nurse who is on her own blog saying how she felt about one night and how to help each other out when you could. I believe each and every nurse has vented at some time..and I will take it a step farther.. every person in every field of life has vented when they have had a bad day.
Oh and btw I used the term “her” because I am a her. 🙂 It is to be read from a him/her viewpoint. No offense intended.
You think nurses are the only profession that work long hard hours, holidays and weekends? Get over yourself and recognize that there are a lot of other people (different kinds of technologists, cleaners, wards clerks) that also have to miss kids activities and holidays. There is a lot more to the medical profession then doctors and nurses.
You have all the options in the world to be happy in what you do. ‘Hating’ work sometimes comes in every job. You’re not the only one missing out on shit. So toughen up and if you really hate it, don’t complain and make a change. Life is what you make it and it doesn’t have to be as depressing as your story.
Thank you for writing this. I only worked as an MA for one year. I worked in pediatrics and I remember having to catheterize a 3 year old girl. It was the worst experience. I didn’t last long. I was constantly sick and drained and I know now that I wasn’t cut out for the job. I applaud you and all nurses for all of your hard work. I promise to always be a kind and understanding patient if/when I need any medical attention. That you all for all you do as I know my experience was very little, so I can just imagine what all you have to do. It takes a certain type of person to do that job!
Everything you said resignated with me. Patients are getting sicker while hospitals go “leaner”. The care is getting more difficult and nurses are being worked too hard. Healthcare reform isn’t helping nursing care, it’s hurting it!
Thank you so much for your post. I have been in nursing in one form or another since 1965. Started as nurses aide, then LPN, then BSN RN, and now family nurse practitioner. I have worked hard and continue to do so because I love my profession and it is a part of who I am as a human being. But there have been times when I would have given my first born to not go to work or not be a nurse just because of the physical, mental and emotional overload. Thanks so much for a heartfelt, needed post.
This is why there are CNAs. I work a a CNA in a hospital and I see how hard the nurses work. Overworked and underpaid. CNAs get the load of it, cuz the nurses don’t have time. It’s tough. for nurses and aides. CNAs end up comforting patients because we have some time, on occasion. Its all about money anymore.
I am not a nurse, but was very thankful for the nurses and CNA’s who assisted me for a year while caring for my elderly and very ill parents and trying to work full time. They were phenomenal. My daughter is currently a newly minted physician with 500 K in loans and I doubt she’s had more than 8 hours a day off in the last 6 months, and nearly starved to death in medical school. I’m convinced any job in the health care field is tremendously difficult, draining, and yet, rewarding in it’s own way. My hat is off to all of you. God bless…..
Well well well spoken. I worked 134 hours in the last pay period and all I got from my boss was a congratulations on how my “killing myself” helped our productivity report. I love nursing but there are times we don’t have any more to give.
Thank you for posting. Finally a real view in the life of a nurse .
Considering you are a nurse, it makes sense that you refer these issues to nursing. Yes, there are many other professions that have similar issues, however, this is your blog and you can write whatever you want. It’s interesting that you have a preface to this post as you obviously got some attitude from others for who you did include and mostly, for who you didn’t. As a nurse, you probably took responsibility to try to make it all better when you didn’t have to. I fully respect your post for what it was and there is no reason you had to change a thing. This is your blog. Not an article, not a research paper, not a paper article. Your thoughts, experiences and opinions are yours and you shouldn’t have to feel that you’ve done anybody a disservice my not being fully inclusive to all professions/genders. Keep on keeping on. I too am a nurse and what you’ve written resonates in so many ways. Coming in for a few hours for a fellow colleague sets the tone of paying it forward and a healthy work environment. I applaud your post.
This is one of the most powerful post I have ever read. It’s very real and very honest. I’ve shared it with all my friends and family. Thank you sooo much for writing this peice.
Whine, whine, whine, bitch, bitch, bitch. All I hear nurses say is how hard their job is and how they are so selfless and sacrificial, blah, blah, blah. GET OVER YOURSELVES!!! Every single fucking time I have to go to the hospital they treat people like absolute shit. They probably have a goal they have to meet everyday of how awful they can be to the patients who come in there who are sick, scared, in pain, etc. My birth experience was completely ruined because I was so mistreated by the nursing staff at the hospital. I’m considering a home birth simply so I don’t have to face the nursing staff again. I want it to be beautiful, not filled with horrible memories. Ironically nurses, who are supposed to be caring, compassionate, patient, and soothing, are some of the most selfish, condescending, rude, and ignorant people I have ever met. Most are just in it for the money; they don’t give a shit about the people they are supposed to be taking care of. You want to give someone praise? Give it to personal care aides; they do the most selfless jobs on earth and I have never seen a negative attitude on any of them (my grandpa had cancer so I was around a lot of them). You want to see someone who (literally) deals with all the shit and has compassion and patience to boot? Look at a PCA, never a nurse.
I think it’s true nurses do work hard this is due a lot of time in. is what you pick in life if you want to become a nurse. I mean every job is hard life especially if you have family. you can’t come in to work and cry about it because it doesn’t make you look professional. I mean come on now are you guys going to act like kids act like grown adults. I mean everybody to text everybody no one to take me and stand up for me I’m just saying watch yourself on what you say and what you do. because sometimes things turn around you find out that nobody has your back nobody will help you out. I know from experience so just make sure you be careful what you do all the work is because it’ll and you in trouble to let you fired and it could ruin your career pS I miss all my holy name nurses at the hospital.
I’m not a nurse either but kudos to u for being able to articulate ur feelinds. Thank you for what you do…to all those who help people during the most vulnerable times in their lives.
Nurses are the backbone of any medical profession. From the doctor’s office to the clinics to hospitals, if there were no nurses, there would be no care. Anybody who has every been in the hospital knows that it is the nurse that runs things. The doctors are wonderful in the things they do but if there were no nurses to take care of the doctors patients then they might as well look for another job. I’am not a nurse but because of severe medical problems, I’ve been in the hospital many, many times and it is the nurse who keeps things running.
Thank you. Beginning in nursing school, nurses are taught to disregard their own needs, rather than the importance of self care. The culture of nursing is one that demands martyrdom. You are expected to deal with staffing issues, patient needs, family demands, poor management, and limited resources. And do it with a smile. I don’t think the rigors of working as a nurse can be understood by the general public. Hospital based nursing, especially in an underfunded urban environment such as the one I worked in for several years, is demoralizing, back breaking work. Healthcare is broken. Patient safety should rise above patient satisfaction as a priority. I think the public would be surprised to learn its not at the top of the list. Nursing is a horrible job. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is full of self loathing.
I am a Nurse myself and prior to that a paramedic with the City. Any healthcare career where you are putting yourself out there for your patients and family can take an emotional toll on you. I had to finally take a 5 year hiatus after being in the field as a paramedic and RN over a 20 year period to take care of myself and my 3 daughters. So I’d you have to and have another half Or significant other to help take the time and take care if yourself or you won’t be any good to the people you love or your patients as well! Burn outs are very high and nursing and should be taken seriously or you and your patients can suffer the consequences.
As I scroll down and read comments, at some I just shake my head. Nursing is a calling and having done it for 34yrs in a hospital, my care and thoughts have never lowered to standards that I see around me today. Yes, I do get my feedback and kudos everyday I work. The patients are the ones we care for and work for. As a nurse, if you are not getting the feedback from your patients ie: where were you yesterday? Thank you for taking the time and being so hands on. You are a life saver. I never could have got through this without you….. Hospitals now are just big business looking to get the bucks from insurances. Nurses are the ones who keep the patients safe and coming back whether it be to have a baby or surgery or illnesses. Sometimes we just have to check ourselves at the time clock before we swipe in… It’s not about us, it’s about the people on the other side of the bed and their families. Nursing is one of the hardest jobs as has been stated in other comments. I feel blessed and honored that I’m allowed to be a part of a new life being brought into this world and share with the family the joy. As well as being with the family and my patient that is leaving this earth and crying with them. I’m also proud that I have done CPR on people and they lived through it to be able to continue on with their loved ones… Yes it is all taxing in many ways. RN/LPN/CT’s who are in it not for themselves but for the sake of making a difference while helping another human being, kudos and God Bless you all.
This is also true of the CNAs
I’m not a nurse, but I’ve worked with and managed nurses for the past 20+years, and I have such high regard for each of you. A HUGE THANKS for all you do!!!!
Thank you for sharing this!
With all due respect, there are plenty of places to practice nursing besides a hospital; if you don’t like working 12 hr shifts, weekends and/or holidays, get a job somewhere else. It is your choice to work in this environment.
As a long term care nurse (RN and soon BSN) I can say that nursing is very hard with almost no breaks at all. Yesterday I worked 12 hours with one break just long enough to gulp a sandwich down and run to the bathroom. I work as a charge nurse with one LPN and 2 Qma’s plus 5 CNA’s and we have 70 residents. I could not ask for better, more skilled or qualified coworkers. We are a team. I NEVER let a shift end without thanking everyone for their help. They truly deserve it. This goes for the LPN as well. In a long term care setting the role of RN’S/LPN’S is almost identical. The only time I am required is; to call a code (this is beyond stupid) or to sign certain paperwork. I often discuss things with my LPN’s and I value their input. As long as I am a nurse everyone I work with WILL be treated respectfully. If something goes awry on my shift I take the blame; the people working under me are disciplined if needed but I do not pass the buck. I certainly do not allow residents or family to threaten or mistreat my staff. I am happy to say that I have staff begging to work with me and the residents as a whole love me as I do them. Bottom line: work as a team and you will get the job
done with satisfaction.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I know there are so many of us who have gone, are going through, or will go through very similar situations!
Until recently, I appreciated nurses, but only in that very abstract sense that comes with understanding that someone other than you has dedicated his or her life to helping others. Then, two weeks ago, my father was unexpectedly diagnosed with a brain tumor. In a matter of two days, he went from being a normal — no, highly — functioning person, someone who did physical labor every day, laughed and kept up everyone’s spirits, to being paralyzed on one side of his body. He went from being the strongest, proudest, most independent person I know to being a bed-ridden vegetable who couldn’t control his bladder. It is the most heartbreaking experience I, and my entire family, have ever been forced to endure. And it opened my eyes to the challenges and difficulties faced by nurses. During those first few truly wretched nights, his nurses gave me some hope that there is goodness in the world, that it is not just a sad, empty, messed up place that steals our parents. In my dad’s fog, he still mentioned numerous times the compassion with which his nurses had treated him and his roommates. Their emotional support, along with every tedious physically demanding task they took on for him and the others, made more of a difference to my family than I can explain. I have always heard that, while having the right doctor is infinitely important, having a great team of nurses can make or break you. I can now testify to the truth of that.
To all of the nurses out there, thank you so very much for all you do. I can only imagine enduring the trials and tribulations of your job. I hope you know that you truly make a difference in the lives of your patients, and you are so very appreciated. I don’t know what the world would be like without you.
I read what you had to say and I will say this to you….you have never had a day when you have been down?? never had a day when you feel like crying?? it is easy for a non-nurse to say just suck it up, but for those of us that do this wonderful job everyday, one that we would not trade for any other job, your “suck it up” comment is heartless and is what is going to result in the destruction of healthcare!! wake up!!
This is SO incredibly true. I’ve been in nursing only about 8 years now and have already experienced a burn out I’m not sure I’m over yet. Our job is so incredibly hard on us and I haven’t met anyone but my fellow nurses who truly understand what we go through daily. Well said!
Lots of people have tough jobs. Suggestion put your big people pants on and do it and quit whinning or get another job geez
Until recently, I appreciated nurses, but only in that very abstract sense that comes with understanding that someone other than you has dedicated his or her life to helping others. Then, two weeks ago, my father was unexpectedly diagnosed with a brain tumor. In a matter of two days, he went from being a normal — no, highly — functioning person, someone who did physical labor every day, laughed and kept up everyone’s spirits, to being paralyzed on one side of his body. He went from being the strongest, proudest, most independent person I know to being a bed-ridden vegetable who couldn’t control his bladder. It is the most heartbreaking experience I, and my entire family, have ever been forced to endure. And it opened my eyes to the challenges and difficulties faced by nurses. During those first few truly wretched nights, his nurses gave me some hope that there is goodness in the world, that it is not just a sad, empty, messed up place that steals our parents. In my dad’s fog, he still mentioned numerous times the compassion with which his nurses had treated him and his roommates. Their emotional support, along with every tedious physically demanding task they took on for him and the others, made more of a difference to my family than I can explain. I have always heard that, while having the right doctor is infinitely important, having a great team of nurses can make or break you. I can now testify to the truth of that.
To all of the nurses out there, thank you so very much for all you do. I can only imagine enduring the trials and tribulations of your job. I hope you know that you truly make a difference in the lives of your patients, and you are so very appreciated. I don’t know what the world would be like without you.
Love this… I agree 100% it is the most under appreciated profession I cannot tell you how many times I have cried bc a patient was so amazing or because they were so terrible! I loved this article it is real and raw and all the people who aren’t nurses who comment shut up because you can’t understand. I love my job but as an ER nurse I am pushed hard every day emotionally physically and mentally and sometimes I need to vent and this posting made my day!
Very true. Worked around nurses for five years and will admit I am glad I never went into the profession.
How bout some recognishone for CNAs…we are the backbone of nurses…with. ALOT less pay and benefits…in nurseing homes we do all the physical. Not to mention the stresss of.makeing sure you meet the demands of your nurse. AND your patiants….patiant to cna ratio is rediculous! And the pay is a joke….22yrs of nurseing gives me the rite to bitch…i obviously dont do it for the $ ….things need to change! We should get the respect wr deserve also!!
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