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 
While everything you say is absolutely true, nothing will change until NURSES stop it with the Florence Nightingale martyr shit. One has to lie down to be treated like a door mat. Stand up for yourselves for chrissake!
AMEN
It’s not just nursing that suffer, the allied staff(Respiratory Therapist) suffer also. The standards are absurd. I’ve been a therapist for 20 yrs. I use to think being a parent was a thankless job, but healthcare is by far the worst. I’ve been sicker than some of the patients I’ve taken care of because of sick policy’s and not wanting to call in. I can’t be 1 minute late but I can stay over for hours to finish the work I didn’t have time to complete in the first place. There’s a pecking order in the hospital. Try putting up with all that on top of your thankless job. If I had it to do all over I definitely would NOT but 4 yrs in college 20k in student loans( yes folks we do more than breathing treatments, doesn’t take 4 yrs to learn how to do those) you just get stuck. I haven’t worked in the hospital for a year now because I just couldn’t stand it anymore, I’d rather flip burgers. I’m done. The ratios will only change for the worse, we have to support all the CEO, CFO, all the Os at the the top. Lord knows the hospital couldn’t survive a full day without them present at the Helm( in my best sarcastic voice)
I completely agree with you. While my post was focused on nursing because that was where my mind was, having helped my fellow nurse, I know many others in different healthcare positions suffer the same level of stress, put themselves under the same amount of pressure, and deal with difficult people (not necessarily talking about patients here) on a daily basis. I really hope you are able to practice some self care.
I’ve been an RPN( Psych Nurse) for over 31 years. I finally retired from 7 day/ evening work week. 7 on, 3 off, 7 on, 4 off. I loved my job BUT ! I’ve missed Christmasses with my family, as well as weekends. I’ve worked sick, injured, and stressed. I’ve done night shift but I could not sleep more than 3 hours during the day. The opportunity came up to retire, and I did. I did NOT retire from Nursing, as I now work casual, I merely retired from the insanity of my schedule. I now work when I want to, and, I am once again enjoying my Career.
To all those saying that we know what we are getting into when we start our profession: I’m glad not everyone thinks like you. Otherwise we’d have no cops,soldiers,teachers,firefighters, nurses or other important public employees. These wonderful people go into these fields because they chose to, yes, but were we aware that the public takes us for granted and we’d get treated like shit on the job? No, not really. I dont want to be glorified by any means, but someone not screaming at me once in awhile would be nice…
AMEN.
Your words spoke my heart. I have been a nurse for 10 years and I understood and have felt exactly what your words have captured so eloquently. Nursing is an F. ing hard job but it is more than that, it is also who we are. You ROCK!!
Great Article …but why the “f” bomb.? No real need for it!!!! Grow Up!
I TYPE IN CAPS AND SWEAR A LOT. If I want to say “fuck” in my BLOG, I will. This is not a carefully crafted magazine article. This is a personal blog.
I have participated in direct patient care since 1974: first as a Candy Striper, the a Nurse’s Aide, LPN, Navy Corpsman, and Respiratory Therapist. I find the article less about complaining and more about commiserating with peers about the sacrifices involved with being a nurse. I, too, have a license and advanced education. I, too do jobs others are sickened by, work holidays, sacrificed family time….and loved and hated it at different times. Who else but fellow caregivers do I have to vent to?! Who else, though, can really understand the triumphs fully as well?
I give great thanks for those who are Nurses. We all have our jobs to do and make up a team. I will say, though, I wish RTs had the same lobbying power as RNs. I am not sure why we do not have “Safe Harbor” protection, but I am envious.
You all have a very noble profession. I can’t imagine anyone would become an RN without an idea of the 24/7 nature of the job. I imagine most people conjur up the vision of Florence Nightingale with glistening white dress quite easily. Thank goodness that is not the measure of a “good nurse”! I think part of problem is that people also conjure a vision of someone at their beck and call, and that is just not practical or doable in today’s health care reform climate.
Too bad we don’t still have open bay units where people can actually see how busy you all are, and where, if a person could get up and make his or her bed, get water, go to the bathroom, bathe, etc and didn’t, other patients would chastise them.
lol
I have been a nurse now for 5 years. While this is still the “honeymoon period” to most nurses, I have gained so much knowledge and done so much in this short time that it would take hours for me to tell about. I am a long term care and rehabilitation nurse. I find it very rewarding to be able to send some one home after months of rehab, and to be able to be the one to hold a hand in the last moments. I love hearing the stories, even if they are told to me 1000 times over. I love what I do. But there are days that it is mentally and physically exhausting. I can’t count how many times I have gone home feeling like I have just been hit by a truck. But I get up the next morning and I put a smile on my face and go back and do it all again. “Today is a new day” is my motto.
To all the CNA’s who have commented, and said negativity. I have been there, did it for years before becoming a nurse. I too loved this job (maybe not all aspects, but most of them yes). The one thing I have always said and live by is my CNA’s are everything. There wouldn’t be a nursing home without the CNA’s. I have never degraded or demeaned my CNA’s. I have never made them feel less important (at least I hope not). You are not just a CNA, you are the one the residents look to when they need a hand, an ear, a heart, or maybe just a word. For a nurse to degrade a CNA makes me angry and upset and actually hurts my feelings for the CNA’s. I cannot do my job without you. My job involves more intense care and more training and more attention yes, but if it weren’t for you recognizing that a resident needs that attention, then my attention would be on the meds, and the charting. I have no problem with doing the CNA job, I will answer the call light that has been on for awhile, or go to the call light that comes on every two minutes, I will do the work that is expected to be done. Please remember that it takes special people to be a CNA, and a good one at that.
To the person who commented “try being a cook” I am at a loss of words. Go ahead a flip your burger while I am caring for a human. There is no comparison there.
Haha. Talk to a firefighter, EMT paramedic, or any first responders. Nurses make twice sometimes three times more then us. We work 24 hour shifts. Nights, weekends, and holidays. So stop complaining about working in a controlled environment like a hospital. Don’t let a first responder hear you bitch about a stressful job. Because I am sure they will laugh like I did.
Your job is as crappy as ours. Don’t discredit that.
Been there done that and no way that a first responders job is more difficult. Mind you I’m talking about being a first responder in East L.A. Where you have to wear a bullet proof vest. Come to nursing and spew that shit after you walk a mile in a nurses shoes. Controlled environment get the fuck outta here with that you make me laugh!
nurses work in all types of settings, not just in hospitals with controlled settings. there are community health nurses, public health nurses, school nurses, visiting nurses who visit patients independently in the homes- they are often in these settings without any support, team, equipment, or first aid type of equipment. in the community, it is not a ‘controlled environment.’
indeed, i do think first responders as those you listed, do deserve more pay and respect. but please don’t discredit or discount the valid concerns of us nurses. to do so is unfair and doesn’t show willingness to understand one another or willingness to work as a team as we care for patients, regardless of the setting, and regardless of the type of badge you wear.
At no time did I say that first responders do not work as hard as nurses or that first responders should not practice self care to deal with the things they see every day. My post was about the tendency of nurses to ignore our own needs to the point where we wish we would get hit by a car rather than go to work.
I once stopped at a brutal car wreck in the mountains. I held the man’s chest together with my knees so he could breath while I held his airway open. He had an arterial bleed. None of the people standing around would help me. I was incredibly grateful when EMS showed up because I was literally at the end of things I could do to save that man. I am grateful for first responders, police officers, firefighters (I am a burn survivor) and so many others.
I just want to tell you that I am so empressed with this post. I love every single word of it. I have felt this was so many times. I have hated the thought of going back to work so bad that I would stay up for three days after working midnights because I was so sick I couldn’t sleep. There was times I called in sick because I had cried so much and not slept there was no way I could make the hour drive to even get there. My husband would look at me and say ” you have to go you can’t just quit.” He had absolutely no idea how I felt until he became a corrections officer and then his tune changed when he felt like I did about going to work. I just want to say that I now how have a different job and am content and very satisfied with my profession now but it took a lot of tears and throwing up and not eating and biting my nails and praying none of my patients would die because I don’t know how I would find the time to deal with it. Or hope no one pooped because everyone was so busy there was no way that you could find help during med pass time to get someone to help you clean them up. Now I have a job I enjoy. Change is ok move on find your happy place don’t stop being a nurse give it all the chances you can!!! I love all my fellow nurses and I have so much respect for nurses there is no words to ever express it. Thank you nurses for the sacrifices you and your family give for mine and others!!
Wow, you PEGGED IT! This is how I have felt for my 20+ years of nursing! Thank you for sharing!
OMG! Just finished a 14hr shift with no breaks or lunch. I pee’d once. My brain is fried and my head is throbbing and my charting sucked!
My daughter are both nurses. Have worked in many different areas of hospitals, surgical centers and psych units. They became nurses at my constant urging when they were decided on career choices. Now, after reading this, I’m sick with guilt as a Mother. I’m ashamed of myself for thinking that nursing would be rewarding and pay well enough to provide them and their family a good living. Now, I want to apologize to them for expecting my daughters to take on the burdens of the world. I am sorry for expecting them to shoulder the sorrows of every tragedy and loss of life that patients and families feel.
Please forgive a foolish Mother for thinking she was doing what was best for her daughters. I am so sorry but the patients and families that have crossed paths with my daughters are, were and always will be the most blessed for having known them. Even through their own losses and personal heartbreaks and the time their own family misses them, they are sincere in caring for you and your family.
Nice article, too bad everything is her, she, her, still perpetuating the stereotype that all nurses are women
I apologize for this because it really is something I should have watched more carefully. I wrote this post in a hurry and then went to bed. I should have made it more inclusive, and will add an edit.
I’ve been a nurse for 42 years. Most of my friends are nurses and one daughter is. We are all such hard working women, sick sense of humor , rough dry hands, we assess people and situations in all of life not just work in seconds. At 61 I’m realizing how poorly I planned for retirement. I’ ve worked many different nursing positions, I’m very well rounded in many specialties of nursing but didn’t worry about the future because that was left to my husband. He died suddenly @ 47. I put the kids through teen and college years. Always working 2 jobs. Now I’m sooo tired, I have relatives all retired @ 55,NYState workers, sitting @ a desk. True I would not have done well @ a desk job but they don’t have varicose veins like I do either. So now I’ve spent my whole like caring for patients and now I’m old, tired can’t retire and feel foolish for not worrying about me. Take heed and plan for yourself.
Wow. I thought I was the only one who had wished to be hit by a car just so I could have gotten out of going to work.
Being a nurse is hard. Thanks for putting it out there and keeping it real.
Ok..so no amount of people in your family who are dying of cancer..can make you understand how these people feel and need to be treated? I don’t know what it is like to be a nurse, but do you know what it is like to be the patient and the family!!!! Even if you are surrounded by sweet caring nurses and experienced selfish uncaring ones…we have no credibility???? While you focus on your own hardships, the patients you are suppose to be caring for …need your care not attitudes about being pissed on. don’t know what it is like to be a nurse, but know nurses who don’t talk mainly about themselves as they are concerned mainly about helping their patience have a better atmosphere and attitude, whether it be in their life, home, and work.
I have to disagree. You may have had a bad experience, and I’m sorry for that. It’s what you DON’T see from good nurses that you can never appreciate. We deal with all the same personal crisis as everyone else and put on a cheery, selfless face for our patients. You wouldn’t have the slightest clue anything was happening. I took ONE personal day the day I learned of my mother’s cancer diagnosis and returned to work as if it was any other day the following day. Ask anyone I work with or my patients if they knew. Sorry, but you can’t group everyone together.
I have been on both sides and I think this post was a nurse venting not down playing anyone. I worked in the ER all day and went to take care of my father dying of cancer at night not once did what I was dealing with in my personal life affect what I did for my patients during my shift nor did I talk about it I also cared for my dying mother and worked and did not focus on my hardships nor when my 23 yo sister was dying or when my husband was ill. I dealt and fell apart when my time off came. So before you judge the nurse who in your impression has an attitude try some of the empathy you are demanding
You are absolutely right. My post was a call for nurses to support each other, and to not be so hard on ourselves when we need help. I was discussing what I did for my coworker to make her life easier. I don’t think a lot of people got that.
I dealt with one of your comments in a later place but I think you are not realizing… THIS IS A BLOG. A JOURNAL. IT IS A RECORD OF MY EXPERIENCES AND OPINIONS. If you are looking for a glossy nurse who does everything perfectly and never complains, I suggest you read the “Cherry Ames, RN” series of books by Helen Wells.
I would love to work in the Medical Field again….I would just have to challenge the Missouri State CNA Exam, or possibly,retake the course…(I had my original licensure back in July,2000….) I find it very gratifying,to work with the Seniors,It’s a gratification,that you cannot get just anywhere!!!!
I don’t like the people on their high horses being “saddened” or “disappointed” by the “attitude” of this article. It’s honest. If you aren’t a nurse, you don’t get to judge. If you are and you’ve been in such a selfless profession for upwards of 20 years, you haven’t been without complaint or negative experience, so pipe down! If someone vents in an article on the internet it doesn’t mean they are a bad person or nurse. It also most definitely doesn’t mean that they do it at the bedside. To put it plainly… YOU DON’T KNOW ME! Relax… That was a joke. Stop taking yourselves so seriously and bottling everything up. Venting helps keep us from becoming psych patients ourselves, so I’ll allow it… Heck, I sure am guilty of it! Always know that you make a difference in this job. It’s much more than a job in many ways, but it’s also a means to earn a living, to support your life outside of work. Sometimes you should think of it that way to disconnect, decompress and enjoy your life. Being a nurse is part of your life, not your sole identity. Again, stop taking yourself so seriously. The job is serious, but if you’re on the internet, you’re not working. Chill.
well put
You’re right There are others that have jobs that require them to work less than desirable hours .And in which of those jobs do they have to wrap up dead babies on Christmas day?
I went through a personal crisis with my husband, still had to look after my 4 pre-teen children and aging mother who ives with us, convert to fulltime for the hours and benefits when my husband lost his job and driving licence, I felt so robotic, going through the motions of getting up, going into work with dread and forboding, but as soon as I met my patients, i was glad I was there. I felt so fortunate where I could meet such wonderful and interesting people, asnd felt so gratified and grateful that i could look after them, advocate more than just delivering treatment for the admitting diagnosis. I ahve endured a period of stress leave, suffered at the hands of a cruel, indifferent manager and occupational health dept. And a couple of my peers (not all nurses are nice people) have made my working life hell, but still thank God for my vocation. How lucky I am to be exposed to others who have it so much harder than me. It keeps me grounded, forever appreciative, and always makes me feel grateful for what I do have! Thankyou to all of my patients, you have indeed saved my life from self centredness and self pity. I loved looking after each and everyone of you…. I can’t imagine doing anything else.<3
I have been a RN since 1978, and a nurse practitioner since 2001. In my early years as a RN, things were different because the insurance companies were not raping the health care facilities and the public by skimming off a large part of the profit, so hospitals could afford to pay nurses without going out of business and etc. However, I have experienced the very busy/crazy days of being understaffed and overworked. My neck and back will never be the same. However, I would not change my chosen profession nor past experiences for anything. I have had the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives at their most vulnerable moments and it has been worth the hard work. There have been times in my nursing career when I said “I’m going back to being a waitress because the worst thing I can do is spill spaghetti on someone”. However, I will always be grateful for the work I am doing. I have been burned out a few times in my career, but the great thing about nursing is the opportunity to do something different. The first step is recognizing that one is burnt out and doing something about it. To the author: Take control of your life. Stop whining and do something about it. Go back to school or change specialties. Being a nurse who can heal is a great gift. I hope we don’t lose you.
Everyone who has played a role in the health system knows exactly what this is like. I’ve been an EMT as well as a patient transporter and it is absolutely a mental grind to keep working and staying positive and professional when you know your department is intentionally understaffing. Running 35 bed-ridden patients a day for a never ending stream of tests eventually starts to take its toll on you physically and mentally. Healthcare is a tough tough field and everyone eventually gets burned out from it. The key is to find the right balance of work, rest, and family. Not an easy task.
Nursing is a hard job. But when you are going for that college degree, you have to know what you’re getting into. 365 days, holidays, overtime, not spending enough time with family. That’s what nurses sign up for. This blog made me
Feel like it was a lot of complaining. Every person getting into nursing should have expected all of it.
You missed the point of my blog. The point was for nurses to practice better self care and to encourage and enable each other to practice self care, and to not beat ourselves up when the stresses of the job get to be severe. Yes, I complained about the stresses of my job. I don’t know a nurse who doesn’t. Funny how we are expected to shove it inside.
A blog is a good place to deal with the stresses of the job because it does NOT affect my patients. I am not complaining to them. In fact, when I wrote this, I was practically complaining to the air.
I wish the CEO of every hospital group had to read this chain of comments. I think there are a lot more career fields that work as hard and as long and their job includes patient care. Art therapists or any kind of therapist faces these same emotional drains and I agree that service members should be at the top of the list for job suckiness. Her message is excellent. We have to take care of each other and it’s nice to see that she takes care of her fellow nurses.
Dead on. I laughed hard a few times. Perfect well written!!
I’ve been a nurse 16 years. I love the patients and we aren’t complaining about caring for people. It’s parts of the job that are difficult, like being short handed, nothing worse than being 3 hours behind and the patient of family does not realize what goes on behind the scenes
PS: Find a more encouraging, positive site to help you with the hardships of work…we all have them! Whether it is shifts, money, missing family, the physical and mental stresses..you don’t have to be a nurse to have these…but you don’t need this sympathy path here either…pull up your socks and get a better place, attitude to guide you!!! Good luck!
How’s the view from up there? I’m sure you’ve complained once or twice… In, fact, you’re sort of doing it here. Leave the author alone and live your life. Sorry, but I still don’t think you get to tell someone else that their words in reaction to stress, which you don’t understand or empathize with, are wrong in some way. You also come off condescending, which is never a good thing…
Pearl, I don’t know what your original comment was. Please know, I was not referring to your comments/situations, I was referring generally to a few comments that I had read while skimming them. I never intended to speak as a nurse VERSUS patients. My whole point all along is- I want to be able to provide my patients the best care POSSIBLE (as a patient, thats what I’d want). NOT to provide my patients the best care that I can, under dangerous circumstances. (Which is the main part that I respectfully believe that even in spending lots of time as a pt/pt loved one, one cannot speak from a place of UNDERSTANDING of a nurse’s situation (nobody can really credibly judge anything until they first understand it), bc even our patients that we get to know well, we don’t let in on EVERYTHING… It would be unprofessional of me to share any of this with you while I take care of you in the hospital. I have to make you feel like you are as safe as possible, regardless of my confidence level in that, because knowing how I really feel isn’t going to help you recover. While I am at work, that IS always my #1 priority. And I will never make you feel like you have to present a case to me while I am your nurse. Even if I didn’t understand your concerns, I would make them MY concerns and honestly advocate for you to the absolute best of my ability). I sincerely apologize if I insulted you or any situation you have found yourself in as a patient. I of course know and care what its like to be a patient. We all have or will be one eventually. And I assure you, if you were ever my patient, as with any of my patients I’ve ever had, you would have NO idea that I feel this way about my job. We’d get along great, I promise. And I would never make you feel the need to defend yourself. I hope that hearing my feelings about the current state of nursing working conditions (which is not the fault of the patients’) does not negatively effect the way you view, or the relationship that you have, with any of your nurses in the future.
My post was a call for nurses to practice better self care and to encourage and enable each other to practice self care, and to not beat ourselves up when the stresses of the job get to be severe. I wasn’t asking for sympathy in my personal blog post, I was calling for action. Perhaps you need to reread what I wrote.
Nursing is a calling of service, not a regular job. Those going into the field need to be aware of that and agree to accept it, not complain about the inevitability of being overlooked or mistreated. It WILL happen, but it does not diminish the importance and necessity of the work.
Thank you for putting my thoughts into words. When my boyfriend and I first started dating 2 yyears ago, I told him I got off at 730. He soon came to realize that 730 meant “I get off when my patients are stable to some degree, patients and family’s questions are answered, and finally when report is finished after 50th interruption of the phone, visitor, patient needing to use the restroom, IV pumps,
callbells, or bed alarms sounding. So my boyfriend found out that I get off at 730 meant “I get off when I feel comfortable that my patients, family’s, and my releif nurse feel comfortable.” We as nurses may have a set time to get off, but very rarely does it occur, especially when you have plans after work. Then you know you will be leaving late…just part of Murphys Law.
It always looks good on paper. Work three 12 hour shifts in a row, have four days off. But when those 36 hours involve being on your feet the whole time, making sure that your patient, the sickest in the hospital, doesn’t die, you find yourself wishing you had a 9-5 desk job.
I really like being a nurse but sometimes I wish I was a librarian.
Sometimes….you call in sick 😉
Was going to repost because this nurses need to be credited but couldn’t because of the language. 😦
This isn’t just nursing- it is how everyone feels in the medical field. I was a respiratory therapist and felt the same way as I’m sure the nurses aides, technicians, doctors, and even the hospital cleaning staff etc.
I suggest this writer is burnt out.
I would suggest you re read my post and realize I am calling on nurses to practice better self care, support each other, and recognize the signs of compassion fatigue, which are different than the signs of nurse burn out.
I would hope that when choosing the profession of nursing, one would be aware of the hours and work involved. If you are in a profession that YOU chose and don’t like now, maybe choose something else. It is not your patients fault you are not happy. They deserve your best care as that is what you get paid to do. There are many difficult, tiring and long hours in a lot of professions. One example is the military. Nurses need to quit whining and trying to get sympathy because they have long hours, work holidays etc. Tell all that to the dying child or person with cancer and or their families. Sorry no sympathy here. Do a job, get paid or do something else that will make you happy. In the many hospitals I have been in as a patient and or visitor, I have seen just the opposite. Nurses sitting and chatting or on their personal cell phones.
perhaps because that is waht you are looking for and talk about “quit whining” read your own post perhaps you never heard of decompressing, you know after you work for hours to revive a baby who stopped breathing, only to lose the baby and then have to wrap the baby and handing it to the grieving mother, then wrap the baby and bring it to the morgue, oh no thats right you don’t know, you just know that nurse is “chatting” on their personal cell phones.. Do you eavesdrop as well? or maybe you would be just fine working on a teenager, shot in the head while in the wrong place at the wrong time, loosing that teen or better yet putting that teen on life support to keep him “alive” until the family can come and say good bye. No one asked for sympathy, it was venting, a form of decompression, but how could some one who cannot see beyond their own nose, and form shallow judgements understand something as complex as that????????
Please shut your mouth because you have no clue! She wasn’t complaining about the patients! She was simply stating that because of poor staffing etc… She can’t give the care she wants to give. When you go into the field of nursing you can’t even begin to know what your getting into no matter how prepared you think you are. You have no clue what is going on behind the scenes and when you see nurses “sitting around and talking” God forbid they get a moment out of their 12-14 hour day to relax for a minute. Once again, please stop being ignorant and shut your mouth about something you have NO CLUE ABOUT!!
One is aware of the hours and the work of nursing, but people are often not aware of the increased emotional turmoil nursing may cause. My blog post is a call for nurses to be more self aware, practice better self care, and for other nurses to encourage this. I have seen so many new graduate nurses leave the profession. Funny thing about nursing school. Once you’re done, you’re probably in debt and ONLY qualified to be a nurse. Many new nurses have too much debt when they learn they are in the wrong profession to leave.
Too tired to say more than just, “BRAVO”. Thank you. –Kathleen, working on my 28th year of nursing
I am 81 years old and have been a patient so many times.from tonsil removabl,to having my back broken 3 times ,twice having parts of my intestines removed, pace maker installed, hip replaced,brocken arm.there is more .I have been in hospitals In Israel, Ireland ,usa &Van.canada.Iwrked in logging camps ,under ground jn mines ,traffic cop on a motor cycle and a lineman building 400 ft. high towers .I have unconditional love for every nurse I have been so fortunate to have been cared for. with the truest of love thank you ALL Paddy Hatch VAN. Canada
its not very often that we get a thank you or a hug before you go i tred to do evevything for my pts iam their advocate i wish i had one while i spent time for 7 surguries but any way thank you from all of us nurses who just needed that
I just got off an 8.5 hr shift. On Sat I normally work 17-18. You have no idea how much I needed this. Thank you.
Male nurses too! If you meet a male who says he’s a nurse, pat him on the back and thank him, don’t ask why he’s not a doctor. He may have been like me who chose nursing to be closer to the patients.
Definitely male nurses, who I think feel they cannot express when they are desperately in need of relief. I love my male coworkers. And you hit on a big thing. Being a nurse does NOT mean you are not smart enough to be a doctor. It means you wanted to be a nurse.
I have had several patients, friends, and famil members (my own included) ask when I was going to become a doctor. I always enjoy the look on their faces when I tell them I switched from pre-med to nursing because I hate how little the doctor is actually in the room. Some understand, others look at me as if I just started speaking in tongue.
I’ve had two separate relationships end because my job was too hard on the other person. Getting off work later than expected. Going in earlier than scheduled because census suddenly jumps up. Needing to vent once you get home. Not going out because you can’t mentally deal with anything else. You just need sleep.
It’s something that many people will understand when they are overworked, but unfortunately the nurse is a unique kind of masochistic creature. We know all of these things coming in, but arrogantly believe we can handle our stressors and those of our patients and their family members. I love my job. I love helping others. I love beig able to give my patient the strength they need to fight just a bit more. I don’t think it’s selfish to ask for a little more support from others to pay it forward.
I have been a Nurse for 25 years.I have worked in Canada, the USA and Australia. I have worked in public hospitals, private hospitals, an IVF clinic, a termination clinic, corporate world, aged care and family practice clinics.
I wanted to be a nurse since the age of 5 years so my mother tells me. I could not see myself doing anything else and will never do anything else. I may not look forward to the paperwork and the politics of nursing but I look forward to providing the best care to every patient I come in contact with. I watched my step-father and my sister die of cancer in a beautiful palliative care unit where the nurses could not be more caring and understanding. I know that those nurses had the same stress on them as every other nurse, every job has it’s bad points and nursing is no different.
People may over time get stuck in the lull of job and get burnt out. This is one of the reasons I have learnt new things and explored new areas of nursing. I have been the manager and the pleb. I love being a nurse on all levels. The negative comments in this piece is not about the work itself it is about the working conditions provided by the employer, spread to thin, short staffed and quantity (not quality) of care provided.
All that aside, I do think if you are dreaming about getting hit by a car on your way to your work, (as a new grad) you are in the wrong profession.
good luck with everything
Angela
we are killing ourselves with the stressful 12 hour shifts, lifting of overweight patients, meals on the run or none, no potty breaks. What physician would ever put up with that, and the pay has gone backwards.
Yes we are. Why do they force us to work 12 hour shifts? Nobody else does. It’s also very difficult to work in ICU and have the visitors at your side for the ENTIRE 12 hours scrutinizing every move you make and commenting on everything the RN does. How would someone like me to go to their jobs and constantly ask questions of them? You can’t get ANYTHING accomplished properly. The stupid hospitals allow this behavior. Nursing could be so much better… and all would benefit.
Are you kidding me…what about the police officer or firefighter who misses theyre kids games and might not return home? The death and dispare they see? The long physically mentally and emotionally draining days…where is the artical for them?
I’m sure there is a police officer with their own blog that says the exact same thing as this blog.
rob there are nurses that do not come home also, don’t you read the news?
They don’t run their asses off all day.
This is not an “article.” This is a blog post. I am writing about my personal experience. I am not a police officer or firefighter, although I admire their professions deeply. I could not write about them.
Wow! Let’s not forget the reason this lady was crying was most likely due to in the hospital setting you are often given low census or put on call. And during this time your PTO time is used up so that when you want to request time off the hours aren’t available with pay. And no I don’t believe anyone other than a nurse would understand this article. Nursing is not always hard but when you get kicked in the gut and then all the regulations that go with it. And when you are always taking on someone else’s load d/ t sickness or someone put their notice in. I find most nurses complain because the patients are who are neglected in these scenarios and don’t even realize it. Some patients or family members just see the nurse as incompetent or lazy because we aren’t allowed to say we are short staffed that will get you fired in a New York minute. And also we are not machines when someone is dying we feel it and internalize it. Sometimes we have to put on fronts and be matter of fact because you can’t fall apart emotionally while caring for a patient. There have been MANY nights or days that I’ve gone home and cried myself to sleep over a patient. Just this past Christmas Eve I was on call from 1 pm until 8 am on Christmas morning. Did I get to celebrate the only family gathering that we have on Christmas Eve ? No.. Did I get a lunch break today at 5 months pregnant and a diabetic? No ..Although,I believe that cops and ems workers are the only other profession who could even begin to understand a nurses frustrations.
AMEN sister. well put.
I work 8 hour shifts at a nursing home that does not have sick days. We get written up for one call off no matter what the case is. We have earned time off or ETO, but that time has to be approved in months advanced. You don’t get it if there is enough staff to cover your shift. We are unable to take our work home to work on (everything is computerized now) so a lot of the time we are staying late to finish up. (sometimes the computers do go down which doesn’t help.) We also could get disiplined for working late. (too much overtime) Some have been sent home early, but have to complete their work for the night, but that’s when teamwork comes in handy and remaining staff helps out. Understaffing is definitely a problem that is getting more and more dangerous. Many jobs are stressful, yes, but we hold too many titles to name. (Waitress/waitor, “pill lady,” plumbers, cable/tv guys, you name it we do it) No maintinance staff and housekeeping staff during my 3-11 or 11-7 shift. Everyone at some point complains about their job. There is no perfect job. I’m not saying that one is easier or harder than another either. Just pointing out the many harder points of being a nurse which is what I think this blog is for. It really all depends on the person and everyone is different. Any public service job is difficult and also rewarding: EMS, Firefighting, Police, Teaching, etc. Not everyone can do those types of jobs where people are more dependent on you to do something they need. Not everyone has as much patience as the next to deal with someone yelling at them because they didn’t bring them the right kind of soda while grandpa is walking down the hall naked with his body alarm going off and you got a family member on the phone threatening to sue. Also your new admission is on it’s way, you still haven’t started passing meds to 20-30 people and charting yet to do. A lot of time management skills and coping skills to learn haha. Nursing isn’t for everyone. I wouldn’t want my life in a nurse’s hands that absolutely hates what they are doing. They aren’t going to work to their full potential. I’ve seen those kind of nurses too. They need to slow down and imagine if it was their family member or even them.
I am a Nurse and while I agree with this article to some degree, we chose this. If you aren’t in love with it then look into a different career. There are taxing days and some moments where it becomes too much. That’s our price though, and the World needs more of us who continue to do this for the “team” with a smile on our face. Sick patients need compassion, dedication, and care. If that’s consistently too much for some Nurses than perhaps look into a low stress career with Banker hours?
I work sixteen hour shifts every week in pediatrics. If we aren’t their educated voice, and advocate then who is? Keep strong and remember why we became Nurses ladies!
I would not say I am “in love” with nursing. I love working with people. I love most of my coworkers. I really like what I do and I find it more fulfilling than my previous career in tech. What I was really writing about here was that nurses need to support each other and help each other if we are able. We also need to recognize that we are not perfect, that we do get mentally and emotionally fatigued, and we need to take care of ourselves at those times. Practicing self care is vital.
I agree Nurses need to be a team as much as it is possible given the sittuation. I work alone in Pediatric Homecare so we only have ourselves much of the time and when we get sick or it snows we basically need to come in and wear a mask or call out and deal with the clinical manager after the fact. I guess I don’t see a lot of teamwork in my position so it’s difficult to relate. I think all Nurses deserve a break here and there though. Thats why I chose a schedule of three 16 hour days and four days off. 🙂 lol
Aren’t you being unprofessional and screwing someone else over when you take a “mental health day”? I understand that it sucks, and it’s only going to get worse, but it seems like you are making it hard on other nurses? I didn’t think people in medical professions typically took days off because they were tired of dealing with sick people, so this was enlightening.
If you’d like to be further enlightened, try shadowing a nurse for a day. Then, go ahead and imagine that full time year round. Some days better, many worse. Imagine a string of those worse days in a row and add in personal stressors such as moving, illness in the family or your own… Finding a fellow employee to cover your shift, so you’re not “rude” as others have complained about doesn’t seem irresponsible at all to me. We aren’t superhuman… We’re just humans who are doing super jobs. Please don’t judge so harshly that which you clearly do not understand.
It is not “typical” for a nurse or medical health professional to need time off. I would like to suggest you google the term “compassion fatigue.” It is very common in caregivers, both professional, and at home. The results of compassion fatigue include increase patient falls, increased medical errors, and increased rates of infections (in hospitals). The ‘treatment’ for compassion fatigue is time away from the source of the fatigue, in this case, time away from work. Because a nurse suffering from compassion fatigue can actually harm patients, I do think nurses who are at their wits end should be able to take a “mental health day.” Many of us do this by signing up to have our shifts cancelled if census is low, or by taking vacation time, if we can, but there are some situations, like my coworker faced, when the thought of a shift sent her into hysterics. In that situation, she really shouldn’t have been at work at all. I volunteered to come in on my day off and help her in order for her to have one of these breaks we need.
I am not talking about abuse of calling in or calling in frequently. Those are signs of nurse burnout, which is different from compassion fatigue. Nurses suffering from compassion fatigue often DON’T call out. And yes, this does cause a need to cover a shift. Hospitals have float pools and part time staff and in most circumstances, the shift can be covered.
Nurses do know we are getting into long hours – as pointed out by many nurses in the comments, a day of recovery is often needed after 3 12 hour shifts in a row. We know we will have to work at least every other weekend and holidays. Our families know this. But the reality is that sometimes “sucking it up” isn’t good for you and it isn’t good for your patient.
I worked as a nursing assistant (CNA) for years before deciding to become an LPN. I didn’t want to be a nurse who just went to school to make more money, so I thought it through. I now work on a transitional care unit. I enjoy my job when I am able to spend more than a few minutes with each patient. Unfortunately, each nurse now cares for 10-15 patients each, which includes passing meds, physical & skin assessments, dressing changes, starting & hanging IVs, and of course, the charting. We are also obligated to answer the call lights that our nursing assistants can’t get to. I knew that I would be working hard, but no one can predict the budget cuts that come into play after you’ve become a nurse. And despite the stress, I speak to all of my patients & family members with respect. It really upsets me to hear that other nurses don’t do the same.
I’ve had three hospital admissions in the last few months and the nursing care was exceptional. What really concerned me was the number of times I heard nurses being abused by patients (mostly in the private hospitals) and that when they finished their shifts the security guard escorted them to their cars – and this was in ‘good’ areas. That a nurse could be attacked getting into her/his car at the end of a long shift horrifies me.
try long term care we are abused on a daily basis they take pt that should be in pysch wards i was attacked last yr i now have no job no insurance fused from t12 to l5 ,l4 to s1 t7 to t8 c5toc6 all because they took him off his meds so now here iam disabled at 44 my career over why we dont have secuity guards they cost money and we should be able to handle all our pt.
I’m on Day 5 of 12 and I work in the hotel-casino industry. i can say the exact same things. I don’t get OT or holiday pay or even sick days. I have seen people die at my hotel. I am in nursing school because the schedule for nursing is better. I suggest going into another speciality.
My blog post was written with the intent that nurses support one another. I have no intention of leaving the field of nursing. I love my job, but I especially love most of my coworkers. Even when my floor is balls to the walls busy and I haven’t peed in 10 hours, my coworkers are kicking ass. It’s when we do not support one another we have problems. As you will find out, nurses can be especially mean to one another at times and this was a call for support for each other during times of difficulty caused by the job. While I do plan to study for my NP and leave floor nursing in about 7 years, I have no current plans to leave my job.
Good luck in school, Joan. Now when you graduate and get a job as an RN, you can worry that those people you saw die died because of something you did! And even if it wasn’t, you can worry you will be sued for everything you own! Is it still the exact same thing?
I don’t think you really got the point of my blog post. The point was that nurses need to practice self-care and that we need to support each other in doing so. Nursing is a very rewarding profession, much more than my previous career in tech. I really hope you find a rewarding field in nursing. At the least, you should find better pay, vacation time, and paid sick days.
If there is ever anything I can do for you while you are in nursing school, please let me know.
Thank you for the great, honest article! I was sorry to read so many unsympathetic replies. Yes most jobs are hard but nursing is one of the few that demands 24/7 coverage. You miss many Christmas, New Year, family birthdays and other celebrations. Most of the time we are able to cope and do it very well, but there are days! After 40 years I ended up with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which is not easy or comfortable to live with. Lets hope that before many more of us get something like that, those who run the “business” recognize that a hospital cannot and should not be run as a business. Thank you to ALL who are in the health care field.
Elaiine, you hit the nail on the head! I have been venting to all my family and friends since I started nursing, that hospitals cannot be run like all other businesses, where everything is ab $$. Executives need to accept the fact that someday they WILL be patients, and at that time, they will wish pt ratios and nursing conditions were better. This is the most dangerous place to be obsessed with budget. There is no substitute for good care. The hardest/worst part of nursing is feeling like you are put in impossible situations where something bad could happen to one of your patients and you might not have even been able to help it.
I have been a nurse for 32 years. I knew all this going in. My family understood I would be expected to work holidays-other professionals do too. My worst times were because of other nurses who would make my life.miserable because they didn’t like administration. Usually because of staffing. I quit my supervisor job because the constant complaining and downright mean ways made me physically ill and mentally drained. Even when staffing was good most of the staff would prefer to sit at the nurse’s station and goof around. It’s especially bad now because of social media. I still love being a nurse. I was hired to do a job and will continue to do the best I can. Should I ever grow to dislike it I know it will be time to leave.
I could never be a nurse administrator. I’ve seen the things my boss and administration has to handle and I’ve gotten enough flack just being charge nurse. I want you to know, I don’t dislike nursing. What I dislike is the lack of support we give to one another when we are having trouble.
Absolutely agree!
I have no idea where you work but no nurse I work with just sits at the nurses station…if they’re sitting it’s to document, which we have to do at nauseam, calling physicians to report changes or question an incorrectly or illegibly written order, calling another hospital department to make sure or find out why their patient hasn’t received the care they should have…& I could go on…..
I am a respiratory therapist and I work just as hard if not twice as hard. And I totally agree they sit at the nurses station on fb, pintress ect…. And call me from floors over to answer the call light when it was something simple like turning out the light. I have 60 patients compared to the 5 and most of them requires me to do the same assessment that a nurse does for 5. I had this convo with a nurse just last week. She told me what we do doesn’t even compare. I work 12 hour shifts holidays and weekends. And as soon as they think I’m charting they need something.