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 a nurse, 15 years and am tired of all the complaining I see on Facebook about our job. Most jobs have a negative side, or two or ten, we’re not unique!
Here’s my perspective:
1. I’m not sitting on my butt all day getting deconditioned, most days are a workout. I like coming home physically tired.
2. In addition to the physical workout, many days (in the ICU) are a huge mental challenge. When I catch a problem and act on it, there’s that “A ha!” moment, and we get lots of those in the ICU.
3. I get to wear scrubs to work, no heels, no nylons. I’m as comfortable as if I wore jeans but scrubs look professional.
4.Three 12 hour shifts in a week, four days off. Weekends, weekdays off, it varies all the time. I can go skiing every week and NEVER on a weekend. I have time to volunteer with a volunteer FD.
5. My schedule is what I make it–several days in a row, or separated.
6. Tons of variety, I never get bored. If I do, I’ll transfer to the ED, GI lab, cath lab or IR if I want to.
7. Not a lot of professions give you the opportunity to travel somewhere for several months to work, then travel somewhere else. I wish I were a traveler!
8. I do my best then pass it on to the next shift, walk out and don’t take it home mentally. It is now the next shift’s job to worry about the patient.
9. Still learning new and exciting things.
10. I’m easily entertained. Who doesn’t like giving Lasix to someone with a foley, or giving an antiarrhythmic to convert a rhythm, or dropping an NGT and watching a liter of gross stuff come flowing out? So satisfying!
11. Security guards. So great when you have a hostile visitor who begins to get threatening, and you can call for a show of force.
I could go on but you get my point. Oh yes, I’m happy about my pay too.
Gretchen, I think it’s great that you love your job and have no serious gripes about it. But you do understand, don’t you, that not everyone has the same experience or perception, and that those who feel differently about theirs are not necessarily wrong?
I’m sure that you, as a critical care nurse are aware that two different patients can have the same diagnosis, but that one may have a much harder time with it, or more complications, than another. It’s the same with job experiences. And, just as (I’m sure) you understand why patients sometimes need to verbalize their pain and frustration and fears, nurses sometimes need that, too.
I have been an RN for almost 24 yrs.I know and feel everything you said…been there..done that.Almost gave it up 4 yrs ago due to burn out but went to work in homecare and I will never work on a floor ever again.To answer some of the asses comments about “Just get out if you don’t like it” or ” Why do you still do it if you are so unhappy ” This is where “If you have never been a nurse,you just don’t understand ” really comes into play. #1 – Nursing is an HAPPY UNHAPPY job.And if you don’t know what I mean,then you have never been a nurse. #2 – I BUSTED MY ASS for my degree. #3 – Even though nurses as a whole are totally underpaid,after 17 yrs with the same company,I have reached a level of pay that is not easy to let go and go work where ???? For what kind of money??? There is not a whole lot of jobs out there for a nursing degree that is not nursing.And if I wanted to top out at $10 an hour somewhere,I wouldn’t have gone to nursing school. #4 – There are SO MANY more rewards in nursing than problems,issues.Esp. if you can find your niche as I did after almost 20 yrs of floor nursing. I am joyful to go to work MOST days.BUT I,just as this blogger,have every right to vent every now and then. We are allowed to have crappy days and need some time out/off and just let it go verbally.Most of the loud mouths on here can’t convince me they have never complained about their jobs.That they are perfectly content to go to work everyday,see lots of wrongs,feel like they are getting stepped on and used and NOT say a word about it. No way…they have complained at one time or another…and guess what ??? It’s OKAY to vent and let go verbally.This helps a lot of people get some stress relief…just talking about it…sharing ideas…laugh and cry at the same time.And if you have never had an experience in your job that makes you cry and 2 hours later you are crying with laughter about it or ever had a “truth is better than fiction ” moment or “if there is a possibility of something happening,it’s gonna happen to you” kind of job then you have never been a nurse. Most nurses could write a book about the dumb and funny stuff sick humans could do. Something else I want to mention is the fact that there is nobody harder on nurses than OTHER NURSES. Why??? Why are nurses this way to each other?? Esp. to new nurses.THier learning experience with you,the experienced nurse can make or break their career.You can personally influence what kind of nurse they turn out to be. I have heard some people say “you can’t make someone do the right thing” that is so not true.You can make them,motivate them to do the right thing in nursing,even if it is the harder thing to do. We have to stop being this way to one another.Why can’t we be more supportive of each other instead of trying to take someone down for an error ??? I don’t get it….and yes I understand that we have a lot of males in nursing the fact remains it is still and always will be a “woman’s job” and we as hard working nurses,wives,mothers,caregivers to our parents need each other to be supportive to one another. We need to stand behind each other and stop the pecking order in nursing. I love what I do but I hate what I have to do some days in nursing.And if you don’t understand that then you have never been a nurse……
Ann,
Going to turn this around on you and assume you couldn’t make it in whatever ” challenging ” field you chose, so you have become bitter and instead spend your time being nasty on the internet. Don’t want to do the unpaid internship or can’t get through it because you are not bright enough ? I think it is obvious. Do you know how dumb you sound claiming to have any idea what nurses do because you volunteered in a clinic ? My advice ? Grow up. Let go of the bitterness. Make yourself useful, get off the net, and get to work.
I left bedside nursing because I had given all I could in that genre of nursing. I am now a Family Nurse Practitioner and a Professor of Nursing. Believe me, I traded one set of troubles for several more. I’ve been in nursing for 30 years and can tell you it just gets harder, even with technology. Especially with technology. I see nurses caring for computers, not patients. I understand why, too. I see healthcare corporations becoming less and less caring, despite the mission statements hanging in the hospital lobbies and on every unit. I am a nurse. Always will be. I just define it differently than most these days. It is about the patient and not the payday. It is about the caring and not the cost. It is one of the most brutal, demanding, emotionally gut-wrenching jobs ever, and always will be. If you care. If you don’t, you’re in the wrong profession. I remember having to explain to my mother-in-law why I couldn’t come down at noon when I didn’t get home from night shift until 10am. Was always told I could sleep later, to which I replied I had to work that night. Never did get it. Most people don’t. The article sums it up. Nurses, if we don’t care for each other, no one else will. Kudos to this lady for coming in early for her co-worker. I hope someone will do the same for you someday.
Some valid points, but hey, this is a “volunteer army”, right? Nobody drafted us into nursing, and nobody is forcing us to stay…and just my opinion, while I use swear words in my private conversations from time to time, when I’m reading something on the internet by a nurse representing our profession to the worldwide web, I think we could do without the F-bomb. Thanks.
I’m a CNA 2 and work with nurses on the night shift at a local hospital. I just worked my 2nd 12 hr NOC shift last night and came home to take care of my 2 young kids (9 & 5) today with 1 hour of interrupted sleep. I’m applying for nursing school and as crazy as it sounds, I can’t picture myself in any other career. Nurses are a rare breed and have grace under fire, caring and compassionate qualities. May not seem like it down in the trenches, but it’s a noble career.
Very well said! I had a fellow nurse text me the link to his blog with a following text that’s says….don’t be so hard on yourself. Everything you said has gone through my head one say or another. I knew I wanted to be a nurse when I was in the 2nd grade and didn’t complete the task until I was in my 20s. I’ve done other work…CNA, EMT ( volunteer squad), ran a bar, bartender, waitress, cook, telemarketing… Many things. I am very proud to say that I am a nurse! We love it and often times think ” whybthe hell did I want to do this”. It is mentally, physically, and emotionally challenging. We are not only hard on ourselves, we are hard on those around us in the same profession. We have crazy guilt if we miss something or do something wrong and a crazy amount of accountability.We do make decent to great money, but that doesn’t account for the schooling, the price of alcohol after a particularly trying shift, the bills from drs due to injuries, and the meds to keep us sane!!! We work very hard for our money! We care for people like they are our family members! We hold people’s hands as they are dying, give countless words of encouragement, explain things to people that drs don’t, and love and hate what we do all in the same day. Those of you that are commenting the shitty things, please remember that we take care of you when you are sick and your loved ones! And, we do it without any bias, without judgement, and without hate. In one shift, I can cry, laugh, and scream. At the end of the day, we love what we do, we just need to vent about the crap that gets under our skin. Majority of the time other people don’t understand, because they don’t do what we do!
in my opinion. nurses are angels,,,,,, along with the staff that helps them get through their day,Thank You for wanting to be a nurse in the first place, your kindness and compassion for your patients even when you feel you cannot get through the day,God Bless u all……..
And to Donna Chambless….There is no such thing as “just a CNA” I could never do my job everyday if it weren’t for CNAs.Don’t do that to yourself or your co-workers.There is no such thing as just a CNA.I am immensely appreciative and thankful for the jobs CNAs do….
All true! So nice to know I’m not alone. I have a new job as a RN and I must say I do not think of being hit by a car or dieing on my way to work to get out of doing my shift any longer! I am a visiting nurse Now, I will never go back to the floors! They were hell on wheels.
Thank you for writing this, when I was a New grad I felt really alone and crazy for thinking terrible things to get out of work… Lol. Also guilty bc I was hired into a floor that had 800 applications and they hired 3 people. One of them was me! Nursing is mother flipping hard!
I’m also a RN and work in an Emergency department. Nursing is a very taxing job both mentally and physically. I totally understand where you are coming from with this post. If you are not a nurse then you don’t understand, it’s just a given with every profession. I don’t presume to understand law, engineering or any other profession or the way they feel because its not what I spend half of my life doing each year. I do know that most professions probably do not get verbally, physically and emotionally abused as much as nurses. I also know that the most valued and regarded thing to mankind is human life. We hold the lives of many sick patients in our hands everyday. Sure doctors write orders and do assessments that could take 15 minutes while carrying out the actual care takes hours. Meanwhile, you could have 4-6 patients who all need something now, not in 5 minutes …now! So what do you choose? The pain medication for a broken hip… the nitro spray for the chest pain.. the mask for the person who is gasping for breath… Or the tissues and support for the family who just lost someone? These are big decisions and should not taken lightly hence the stress. I’m sure being a waitress could be stressful and busy but you serve an over cooked steak, the fries are cold… big deal. However, you serve the wrong med, you do not act soon enough to correct a blood pressure or give oxygen and someone is harmed or dies then that is quite a big deal. Nursing is central to patient care and it is our role to ensure everything runs smoothly and that everyone is cared for. However, if the doctor orders the wrong dose and the nurse gives it, it’s essentially the nurses fault because they should have known better. If the pharmacy Is late the the patient do not get their med its the nurses fault again because it should have been anticipated. Being central means all of the responsibility comes back to you and that can be a large burden to bear. It is all about perspective.. nursing is stressful, other jobs are stressful and life is stressful… All in vary degrees ..perception is perspective.
When I was promoted to management I still worked holidays so my nurses had to work less hours and have some family time
Ann, I see why you are unemployed in your career field. Why is an oh so obviously intelligent engineer wasting her time being an instigator on this blog ? Because you are either A ) crazy, or B ) not smart enough to keep up with your fellow engineers. If you put that negative energy into being the best you could be in engineering, maybe you would have a great paying job by now, like some of my husband’s friends who chose engineering and were smart enough and hard working enough to succeed. Sounds like you don’t measure up at all. Must suck for you. I love my job.
Well said young lady, my wife is a nurse and I respect her and all the others sacrificing time with their families to help others. Let’s not forget about police officers, fire fighters, and the military personal. God bless you
NURSING IS NOT A PROFESSION, IT IS A CALLING. I WOULDN’T GIVE ANY OF THE MOMENTS I HAVE EXPERIENCED BACK, BUT IT DOES TAKE A STRONG INDIVIDUAL TO HANDLE THIS TYPE OF WORK. IT TAKES LOVE, COMPASSION, SKILL AND MOTIVATION TO STAY IN TUNED WITH WHAT GOD HAS CHOSEN YOU TO DO FOR OTHERS. THIS POST BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES AND MEMORIES (GOOD AND BAD TO MY THOUGHTS). THANK YOU FOR EMPHASISING THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR JOBS.
This is so true. I used to work in an ICU and thought those things would never bother me. After over 10 years it finally got to me, I changed jobs. No I didn’t get out of nursing, I switched to different area of nursing. Hopefully you can find an area where you can enjoy your work more. I have found that and yes it is a lot of work but it is still rewarding. Look around, find that niche and stay in the profession and the most rewarding job you will ever find.
I have been an LPN for 18 years and decided to go back for my ADN 2 years ago and will be finished in about 2 weeks. I have worked for Hospice for 10 years and love my job, that is the reason I went back to school. The Hospice I work for let the LPN’s go in March of this year and I was able to stay because I was in school for my ADN. We lost a lot of good nurses because they did not have the letters “RN” behind their name. Do I understand that? No, I don’t. Have I vented about that? Yes, everyday I vent because it was a stupid decision to let LPN’s go after they had been with Hospice for years and understood the death and dying process. Then hired RN’s that don’t want to come to work and don’t have a clue about death and dying. Do I ever get frustrated? Well, hello. Yes, I get frustrated….nursing is not a cake job and not all of us make decent money. I actually took a pay cut coming to a Hospice and don’t regret it one bit. After working 12 hr shifts in the same Nursing Home for 8 years and coming home crying every night because there was not enough hrs in a 12 hr shift to properly take care of my patients. I had enough of the politics and bull crap and left.
Never read so many idiot blogs from people who criticized someone for venting about their job.Wake up America, aren’t we already screwed up enough??
And don’t forget you can not talk to anybody about any of it because you might violate confidentiality so you just stuff until you quit or it kills you.
Thank you for writing this! It is real and raw. Your patients are lucky to have you taking care of them. We have a job that people do not understand unless they do it themselves. Thanks for your honesty!
I am not an RN but I can agree with all you have stated. My husband was one of the patients that was dying and the nursing staff at Barnes became our family, I admire all the nurses who cared for him. His L-VAD nurse who’s name is Natalie, was the best, on the Christmas eve night when I called her at 3 in the morning, she listened to me and tried to do all should could for me to help me handle the the alarms going off on my husband L-VAD and to just listen to me tell her he was dead and to listen to me cry and she cried with me. Nurses have a very hard job and it takes a special person to do that job and to care for not only the patient but the family as well. Thank you all for the job you do & I for one would like to say a special thanks to Natlie.
I have been a nurse for almost 45 years. My mother tells me that I was born wanting to be a nurse and can not imagine doing anything else. It is a truly rewarding profession with opportunities for personal and professional growth. With the constant change in technology, equipment, and evidence-based practice, we are always learning, always being challenged.
That being said, I recently left my job as a step down critical care nurse. So many good points have been raised and many so accurate. Those who are not nurses really have no concept of the knowledge and skill that many nurses possess. Each and every nurse, no matter they may work, have a role. I have often stated “if I could only write, I would write a book. People would not believe what we see and experience”. People do not realize that in certain situations, we literally make life and death decisions in a matter of seconds. We all have held a patient or family’s hand upon death. We have had to deal with families when one minute their loved one was awake and the did not survive a code. We have missed dinners, holidays, etc. as previously stated however, that is who and what we are.
One of the biggest change I have seen in all my years is how nurses are perceived. When I started, we wore white dress uniforms, white hose, caps, and the famous “clinics”. Now it is scrubs and sneakers or the like. That is OK, more practical. However, nurses were respected, now we are treated more like servants. I have had a patient’s families ask me to get them ice so they can drink their soft drink. They do not realize that maybe down the hall you have someone in afib needing assistance, or someone returning from cath lab or recovery etc. Families often try to not only us but the physicians how to do the care because they are more informed now. Yes patients and families should be involved, it is their right but—
With the advent of electronic charting, more time is spent “documenting” rather than being able to do patient care and spend time with the patient; more and more responsibility is being placed on the nurse.
All that being ventilated, it is a truly rewarding job. There are so many moments when patient and families have expressed their appreciation for all of your efforts, or the times that you have saved a life. It is a good feeling and I continue to encourage young people to consider nursing. I do not regret at all becoming a nurse because the positives certainly make up for the negatives.
LM, you brought up another good point! Nowadays, with the internet just a few clicks away, we see more and more patients (and families) who think they know more than the nurses because they just checked out the patient’s symptoms on WebMD. As a result, they come in to the ER barking orders at the nurse, which might or might not even be appropriate for what’s going on.
Then there are the people who think the nurse is basically a waitress, there to take orders from them, whether or not they know what they’re doing. So a patient comes in doubled over with abdominal pain, and while I’m trying to get him triaged, a family member keeps interrupting with, “Can’t you see he’s in pain? Go get the doctor NOW!” or “Get him a glass of water, will you?” or “Don’t you have a better pillow than this one?”
I try to be tactful in return, because I realize they’re just trying to show the patient they care about his comfort. But it really can get on your last nerve, when you want to get the patient feeling better as much as they do, but you can’t get to it because they won’t get out of the way.
I have been a Special Care Aide for 37 years.i said 15 years ago I told my Night nurse I do the best job with the time I have and when I walk out the door in the morning I have 2 b happy with what I did. These cutbacks having been happening and the Nurses I worked with had power struggles amongst themselves and ran us til we could not run any more. Welcome 2 my world. Nursing has a nice salary but if that’s why u r there u should quit now. I stayed 4 my Residents as they were the Love of my life . It’s rewarding and take the good with the bad. Sandy
After spending an average of 25 hours a week for the last 4 years visiting my Mom in a nursing home, reading the article and all the comments only validates my perspective…That most nurses have an exaggerated sense of their importance and ability.
I don’t think that is true of the majority of nurses-until you have done my job as an RN for 25 years you should not judge us so harshly.
Sorry Steve, until you can spend a full week in the shoes of those nurses, you are being very unfair and shouldn’t comment on what you perceive. Do you see the double shifts, missed lunch/dinner breaks or the wait to go to the loo because a patient needs something…probably not! Am still nursing after 46 years. Ingrid
Steve, what do you mean whe you say that “most nurses have an exaggerated sense of their importance and ability”? Can you give a few examples?
You do realize, don’t you, that even 25 hours a week of visiting a nursing home resident usually won’t give you a full picture of a nurse’s responsibilities? Any more than eating all your meals in restaurants will show you what it’s like to work as a restaurant chef?
I know very well my ability and importance. I am sorry you had a bad experience . I have been an RN 26 years . I have missed my childrens birthdays,holidays with my family, to spend my days with families such as you and your mother. I have sat by the bedsides of the dying holding their hands when no family was there for them. I have held the hands of mothers,fathers ,sisters,brothers,children of my patients and shared their tears. I have spent countless hours on the phone trying to reach a physician to get an order for pain medication for a patient to relieve suffering. I have stood up against many physicians in advocacy for my patients and their family members. I have fought for my patients to have the best care available for them. I have walked thousands of miles on aching feet, spent many a sleepless night , cried rivers of tears for those I have been privileged to care for. I hope for your sake that when you are in need of a nurses expertise and compassion you realize the importance and ability of a nurse.
I have been a nurse for in England and here in the USA. in Great Britain Nurses are looked upon with great respect and adoration. .. they understand the importance of having a caring and knowledgeable person caring for the sick in their most vulnerable situations. I have several Certifications in Psychiatry, Med Surge, Midwifery etc,etc. I have met comparable folks here in the USA folks who have been very grateful to me for the care I have given them…they show respect and gratitude. Yet at times I feel so humbled to be able to be the hands and feet of our Saviour Jesus Christ in caring for His children who are ill and at times dying. I have delivered wonderful little babies who show me the wonders of birth…I have seen deep love and tenderness as well as pain and sorrow. I was always for the patient…and I have had my share of Supervisors who goes out of their way to be totally unkind and disagreeable…… yet in all of that I consider myself blessed to be a nurse… it is a hard job, at times thankless but I could not have been happy in any other profession.
Perusing my BSN was a challenge. I learned so much ….on top of all I already knew!! ad a report ..not done by Nursing or Health care and it stated the education for NURSING…..BSN MSN on and on is harder than most other professions!!!
So madam…to try to build up your self in attempting to belittle our NOBLE PROFESSION….. has made you look small….nothing else. I exhort you to get the facts so you will know ..when you speak.
And, Josi, before you attack me as well, and inquire how I can know anything…YES, I am a nurse….and yes, I have worked on a telemetry floor, and in a locked tertiary care psych unit, and in home health, and now in the O.R. (which, I know, I know, means I don’t really DO anything anymore, I’m just a glorified handmaiden, a gopher…and I get to sit in the corner and file my nails…yeah, I’ve heard)
All this vitriol about who works hardest is really bewildering, but it is something that has been part of this “profession” since forever…floor nurses think OR nurses aren’t REAL nurses, day shift thinks night shift is a bunch of slackers in ALL areas of nursing, night shift thinks day shift is a bunch of uptight holier-than-thou wanna-be’s, the ER nurses are a bunch of adrenaline junkies, psych nurses can’t be distinguished from the patients without nametags…we’ve all heard the stereotypes, and what’s more, if we’re honest…we’ve perpetuated them from time to time.Let’s just be real here…the best AND worst thing about nursing is US.
I want to first say that I am not a nurse. I have worked in the medical profession but it was on the financial services side. I would like to thank you all for all that you do. I know you don’t hear that enough and are not shown it enough. The experiences that I have had in the hospital on the most part have been good but there are a few people that just should not be nurses. When they complain to the patient about their job and them being rude to the patient from the very beginning just shouldn’t be. The patient is in their to heal to to feel worse. But again to the largest majority of you a big THANK YOU. JOB WELL DONE.
Phew! Did you get that off my chest!
Nurses ROCK – for the most part. The hard working, caring ones that is. My SIL is a nurse in a cty hospital & agree wholeheartedly with you. It is a thankless job with little daily reward. The times where it is mean the world! Thank a nurse every time you see one.
I have been a nurse for 12 years and you are the first person to acknowledge the truth… our job is hard and we love it but sometimes we just need a break.
I agree! My mom was a nurse, my sister in law is a nurse and i STILL don’t fully understand what they go through. JUST like they cannot fully understand what i go through as a teacher. Yes, every job is hard, every job has stress, and every job has specific situations, stressors, issues etc that ONLY other people with those same situations, stressors etc can understand. Cudos to you, and thanks for being a care giver!!
Kudos to the author of this blog!! I couldn’t agree with you more. Nursing is a very physical and demanding job to say the least. As a Board Certified Registered Nurse, I can say for every nurse I know, the mental stress in this profession is like no other. We are expected to turn on a dime !!! We administer medicines that could potentially kill a patient if given in a wrong dose in one instant, then we are cleaning up poop and/or vomit 10 seconds later. Then we chart, for literally hours, for fear of being sued for malpractice. We are abused by doctors, co-workers, patients, and family members. We are professionals that work hard for our degrees, but are often times treated like servants. With the new Affordable Healthcare Act, the hospitals are being forced to cut back on support staff such as CNA’s, who are instrumental in basic patient care and enable us to concentrate on the details that could potentially save a patient’s life. To everyone who objects or finds fault with this blog, think about how important a nurse is while he/she is pushing medications through your loved ones blood veins and all the medications given. Think about the stress it places to try and concentrate, to prepare that medication, calculate the dosage, checking for allergies, while the call bells are going off, phones are ringing, and constantly being interrupted. At the end of the day, it is emotionally and mentally exhausting. I have always enjoyed being a nurse, but in all honesty, it is becoming more difficult to “nurse” and take care of patients the way it should be intended. It places a tremendous burden on our profession mentally always thinking, long after our shifts are over, “Did I properly give all my meds,” “Did I chart correctly,” “What did I miss?” I am being realistic not pessimistic when saying it is only going to get worse, and I am terrified the risks it places on our patients.
Thankyou so much for putting into words that reasonate with me about the love /hate feelings I have about being a nurse. Mental health days are so important but we are made to feel guilty when we do this for our own self and well being
I work for a wonderful hospice in Michigan. We actually get 4 mental health days a year to take . . just to take a break.
I’m a fairly new nurse and have had MANY of those days. You’re right, only fellow nurses can relate. Thank you for saying what so many of us feel. I hope your next shift is a great one!
I’m have been an RN for eight years, and I’ve worked Trauma ICU and ER. My marriage began to fall apart and so did I, although no one but me realized it. My brother died in a horrific car crash along with four other boys. After that every patients loss became my own. Nursing is emotionally draining, even as a faithful Christian who believes death brings more joy than this life! I totally relate to this post. Nursing is addicting, the difference you make in someone’s life is a blessing. However the toll of that emotional roller coaster is sometimes difficult to bear!
Thank you for everything you do!!! Good nurses make ALL the difference during a hospital stay and I’m so grateful to nurses like you!!
I just wanted to let you know how much my family does appreciate what dr and nurses sacrifice for the rest of us. To show it, Christmas morning before anyone in my house got to open a single present…we visited the hospital and local nursing homes and delivered hundreds of thank you goodies and and carols to the staff working. My 8 year old said it was the best Christmas ever as we were walking through the halls. And we hadn’t even opened presents yet. Thank you for what you do.
I have been an RN for 15 years. At first I was terrified, but the money was good, and every once in a while, I would find a patient I couldn’t forget, or I would do something that would make someone feel so good and happy, that I would think it was worth my while.
I am sensitive there is no doubt about that, I am very kind, and empathetic. I am also smart, detail oriented and focused. I have been told I am a great nurse, But NO AMOUNT OF TRAINING PREPARED ME FOR HOW BADLY NURSES TREAT EACH OTHER.
In one job I was harassed by a manager who took away ⅓ of my hours when I cam back from an emergency when my child was lying in a bed in a foreign country with a broken back. Later her boss discovered this and reinstated my hours, and got rid of the manager. NO-one asked how my child was doing, or how I felt dealing with doctors in a foreign hospital where no English was spoken.
When I broke my ankle, No one cared to make my work load lighter, they only said “ If you can’t work 100% You can’t work” Even after disability was over I was in so much pain standing all day. I would go to my car and cry out of pain, No-one asked me how I was.
This last year was a disaster. I had to have 2 surgeries 6 weeks apart. I urged the doctors and managers to please staff appropriately for my small department, so nurses wouldn’t feel the burden. They didn’t, When I returned the first time. they barely acknowledged me. After the second surgery, NO-ONE ASKED ME HOW I WAS OR said ‘Welcome Back’ No-one made eye contact, people wouldn’t greet you, My coworker would turn the other way when I walked in. FOr months every day, I dragged myself to work, and cried every day when I came home. I worked every other weekend, I missed out on so many family gatherings, I would go to work with a migraine, for fear of upsetting the cart. Then a coworker who I worked in close quarters with, who swore constantly, chewed gum constantly, and put down just about every nurse who was vaguely nice, charming, intelligent, attractive, suddenly called in the managers because she felt I had ‘faked a sick day’ when I had a raging infection related to my surgery. I was so upset I couldn’t’ work. I asked to go home. That night, I was visibly upset, so my husband begged me to quit. So I did. i met some lovely people, but I was severely mistreated as well. People do not smile at each other, do not care about each other, People look right through you. It is like on a certain level the medical profession attracts the lowest common denominator of people. I know my husband’s office people are so kind, caring, charming, and interested in you. Nurses don’t want to know how their coworkers are doing
I will still be a nurse, but I will do it on my terms. I am taking a break to re-group, but after that. I am going to be very clear that I only want to work around nice, happy, positive caring, warm people. We do a good job caring for our patients, but NOT each other…
I’ve been a nurse for nearly 20 years, although I have worked in other professions as well. I will re-iterate; if you are not a nurse or similar health-care professional, you cannot understand what it is to be a nurse. How many of you go home at night from your jobs wondering if you might have killed someone because the facility or hospital short-staffed you (as usual), and you may have missed something important? Or woken up out of a dead sleep wondering if you forgot to give that med? Or chart a symptom?
I just finished two new degrees so I can get out of nursing. I love taking care of people and helping to get them as healthy as possible or to ease them out of the world with as much love and dignity as possible, but the long hours, heavy physical work, emotional toll, not to mention the politics and lack of caring by the industry, the back-biting amongst nurses, have cause too much damage. My pay has been cut in half, my benefits suck, but I sleep better at night and my health (mental and physical) is slowly improving. I don’t recommend anyone go into nursing. Too many changes need to be made in the industry to make it better for the patient and nurse. And geeze…I just realized I didn’t even mention mandatory overtime. How many of you are comfortable having a nurse care for you when they’ve been running their behinds off for 12 hours, and then mandated to do more hours? Several times a week? How on top of things do you think they’ll be?
I think a point that may be overlooked is the intimacy of nursing. People may try to compare their occupations in some sense of validity, but with exceptions of social workers, etc. I’ve yet myself to know others including my wife that experience such intimacy with their patients and their families. Many may know of the challenging work environments and stressors of modern nursing, but think of the emotional and physical interactions…really think about it, it is like a mother and child. Wiping tears and asses, do you do that at your job?…in addition to being held responsible for being a smidge off a dosage, or a letter off of a medicaid report even with long hours?
I volunteer as an EMT, and my wife is a home care nurse. People often ask how I can do that, how I can see those horrific things etc. But reality is that most of our calls are short, and we dump them off onto the nurses in the ER, and ultimately home care nurses, who see their family pictures, witness family struggles, etc etc. My wife loves her job, but she also cries at seeing her patient’s obituaries. It is one of those true intimate professions that only a truly caring person can endure…and they are treated less than great. Yes there are some decent salaries, but I know of people at my company paid a lot more who do a hell of a lot less for society, and they think their daily work life is soooo urgent, when in reality their jobs could be eliminated with impact on only their own little worlds.
I’ve worked in a lot of professions, and have friends who work in a lot of professions, but something about nursing that is special and often misunderstood, even by those who think they understand.
Hug a nurse today!
Thank u for this post. I just finished a 12 hr. (turned out to be a 14 hr.) shift on the stroke telemetry floor, & I AM EXHAUSTED!! didn’t pee or drink all day. @ the end, felt as though I missed so many things that needed to be done. Sometimes I wish there were more hrs left in my shift, although I am tired & ready to go home. I am fairly new as a nurse & sometimes wonder if I made the right career decision. But when I get hugs & love from my patients that says “thank you for being an awesome nurse” wow!! is all I can say. I worked Christmas, 7a to 7p. But just as I missed my kids that day, so did my patients who had tears in their eyes missing their children too…We cried together!! In the end, I’m reminded why I do what I do! 🙂
So well said, thank you.
Our daughter has cancer. Truer is that our family has cancer specific to our daughter. The nurses define our hospital/clinic time. We have had some nurses that we sent directly from heaven to help us. I am forever indebted to them. They have fought doctors for us! I know how hard they work, how hard all nurses work. Please know how much my family and I appreciate all that you do!
Ok, to whom ever is saying that nursing is not hard, I want to see you try it for one day. I have had to do over 200 hours of ER clinicals for my different EMT training courses. I work along side them every day also when I bring in my patients, a lot of what we do is the same, we both have to make split second decisions that can cause a person to live or die ” EMT’s do it going 70mph and with 1/8 of the room, and two sets of hands if your lucky ” little side note that is not meant to be offensive at all its just a joke; but its pretty much the same. Where I work EMT’s do 24 hour shifts with 48 hours off, but we have beds and TV’s that we can enjoy when we arent on a call. There are days when I may only get out of the chair 2 or 3 times, and there are others where I never see the inside of the station for my entire shift. It can be hard some days but also easy others. But nurses on the other hand do not have the luxury of sitting down and watching TV for hours and getting paid for it. My feet have never hurt so bad as when I have done clinicals in the ER, and thats saying alot I also work in the a lumber yard on my days off. Yes nurses do make more then anyone usually does in the EMS field, but I say they deserve every penny and a lot more for what they do. I get to pick up the patient and start an IV give a few drugs then drop them off at the ER and im done. The nurses will have them for hours if not days some times. I have had people tell me to just become a nurse, there is not that much more training once you have your paramedic license and the pay is better. But for me I could never do it, it takes a very special person to be a nurse. I would like to say thankyou to all the nurses/CNA’s or anyone that works along side them, I know they never get the thanks that they deserve. I am proud of what I do and im very proud to get to work along side with the men and women who are in any nursing field, and for people saying its not mental thats just ignorance, holding someone’s hand as they die trying to comfort them is not easy, then add the stress of thinking to yourself, did I do everything that I could have to save this person, did I do something wrong that may have just ended their life, what if I would have given this drug instead of that would that have changed the outcome, those are just a few of the things we have to deal with every day. I’m not saying others careers arent hard or stressful but until you have held someones life in your hands you will never know what its like. Forgive me im not the most well spoken person ever and im writing this on a phone, please excuse the errors.
This post is great and as a med/surg floor nurse for the last 28 years it really resonates with me.
I’ve been really fortunate to work part-time for the last 18 years, generally three 8 hour shifts a week. This has definately made the stress easier to manage. If this is an option for any nurse, especially one experiencing symptoms of burn out, I encourage you to explore it as an option. Being able to do this has made me a much better nurse/mom/wife/person/potter.
I currently work as a nurse in an emergency department and have done for the last 10 years prior to this I was a high school teacher and a police officer. I love nursing but it is the hardest and most physically and emotionally challenging job I have ever done. Teaching and the police force whilst challenging didn’t even come close to the stressors placed on nurses on public hospitals today. So yes to understand you really have to walk a mile in a nurses shoes
I have 55 yrs in as a nurse, volunteering the last 15 on line because nursing ruined my body. I understand what you are saying, have seen it, feel it, and know it will continue as we ratchet down costs to provide more care more cheaply.
Nurses are there to save your life, not to kiss your ass!
show the respect, and appreciation they deserve.
just sayin…
Hi, i’d love to say great blog, i’d actually mean ” i am sohhhh sorry thst i am part of a society that values important people so little.” I have a great job that some people would hate because of the travel and stress. It’s really well paid and perked too. I shamefully admit i could never do a nursing job, squeamish, emotional, cowardly in the face of illness, i’d be broken before i got to the hospital door. if it was 500k a year to do it i simply couldn’t.
The realy sad bit is that i can’t see ithe situation you describe ever changing in the Uk. We strive for the top by driving everyone we can to the resource bottom, we pretend it’s about efficiency when we mean it’s about cost and votes.
Bring grateful for the nurses vocation snd reliant on your dedication, thanks is as much as we can give today but lobbying needs to be the future
Nurses, PLEASE don’t forget those x-ray and lab techs who are experiencing the same situations as yourself. I worked for 30 years doing xrays, CTs, and MRIs. I spent many holidays and weekends away from my family. I have performed CTs on toddlers who have fallen from 2nd story windows, been run over by a car, and have been physically abused. I have had to call in the Radiologist so that he can inform parents that their child has a brain tumor. We have bowed down to nurses who have been verbally abusive. We too have been attacked by patients. Our tears are shed in the dark room where no one can see us. We all need remember that we are a team and our ultimate concern is the patient.
Well said. Very, very well said, all of it.