Life as a Nurse

your article makes me feel sad. it seems that you describe classic burn-out. we all feel this way sometimes, i believe. too me this is a strong indicator that you might benefit from a change in specialties.i hope that our profession becomes more gratifying to you in the near future!

From your description it is hard to see what is good about your job. Sounds like it is time for a change. Maybe a different role or specialty. It doesn't sound worth it the way it is now. Take care of yourself and good luck in the future.

For someone who is on a path to enter the nursing field, this is a discouraging post. I hope this is the exception, and not the norm. I'm very excited about my future in this field, feeling I could do a lot of good - I hope I'm not writing a similar post a few years from now.

Unlike others, I will not poo-poo your heartfelt realities. I will embrace them, as they are nursing. Nurses are a special breed. Not everyone can be a nurse and nursing is not for everyone. You have to really love taking care of others to be successful in nursing. What is successful? Feeling as though you've made a difference in a pt's or pt's family's life. No matter how big or small. You keep nursing. Keep loving your career, not just your job, or your paycheck. May the joy of the season show through in all you do!

Quote from budheadFor someone who is on a path to enter the nursing field, this is a discouraging post. I hope this is the exception, and not the norm. I'm very excited about my future in this field, feeling I could do a lot of good - I hope I'm not writing a similar post a few years from now.

This is a nicely written post that acknowledges the writer's love for nursing by pointing out how hard the work is and how the demands it makes on our lives are paid back by one small reward at the end of the day. If the truth of this post is discouraging to you, it is not the writer who should be considering a change of profession. After 34 years in nursing I still find it to be incredibly satisfying and an honor to care for the people of my community. Nursing is hard work and this post just points that out.

I am happy you posted this. I am a future nurse, and will be starting my formal nursing program in fall 2011. I know it is a long road to go, and I am excited to be beginning this journey. It is good to hear the realities of the job and know that, even with all that you posted, I am still excited to become a nurse. I am changing careers, and believe me, every job has its ups and downs. I know that nursing will not be a cake-walk, but I know that I will be in a rewarding job, and at the end of the day when I come home exhausted and covered in who-knows-what that I made a difference that day.

Thanks, mushymash, for putting into print what many, many of us think every day. This is the reality of being a hospital staff nurse.

Mushymash, you have written a very good article which hits home with many nurses who, rather than being 'burned out' as suggested by Heartnursern, are simply working to be the best they can be.Yes, bedside nursing is labor intensive, heart-wrenching and sometimes dangerous (elderly people [B]are[B] often powerful). Families are occasionally a little psychotic & dangerous, also. Reading this made me realize how some days are when I come home and feel I have been left in high gear. I'm just grateful I 'kept 'em alive 'til night shift got there'.However, this is not every day. And happily, more days are ones of feeling I really made a difference in that patient's eventual healthy outcome. Or, if too critical, perhaps I helped the patient in some small way in the passing of life.I don't know how it is in Manila, or in other US settings, but nurses everywhere have to learn to take care of themselves and watch each other's backs. I am 57yrs old and used to be the owner of an 8-12hr bladder. I could hold it with the best of them. I realize now just how stupid it was and not something of which to be proud. There are no awards nor thanks for this except pee pads later in life. You are of no use to your team if you are suffering and not up to full health. Not peeing, eating, or sitting down for five minutes is ridiculous. You have to make it happen.Talk to the nurses working with you and be a team. Watch out for each other's patients for the few minutes it takes to take care of yourselves. Refuse to risk your health for your patients. There will be many more days of going home feeling better about your work when you do.Mushymash, thank you for your dedication. Take care of yourself, though. We need nurses like you.

I can identify with this heartfelt post. It is this way on, I would think, a lot of floors that have critical patients. I worked on a telemetry floor my first year out of nursing school and it was the way this nurse described a lot of the time. Some day I would get home and go to the potty and think I didn't pee today! I guess I maybe paying for this now. LOL. You do have to watch the little old ladies that weigh 80 pounds. They are usually the ones that can be so strong. We had one on our floor that it took usually 4 of us to put her back to bed. One on each extremity. I also could not believe how some patients could get out of restraints and some could just break the straps at times of the Posey vests... I learned a lot on that floor and did feel a sense of pride most days when I left that I had made it through the shift. I had the oppurtunity to leave after the first year and go to my true love in nursing and that was public health nursing. I was so glad to be in a job that I had time to teach my patients and feel like maybe I was making a difference at times. Also, we had so much follow up because we saw the families month after month and year after year. I am so glad that there are nurses that do work in the hospitals as floor nurses and do a good job at it. They are really needed and it does take a special person to work on the floor.

Thank you fMushymash for your post! I also agree with your point of view about nursing being a difficult profession that fosters the "love-hate" relationship. Most of us "REALISTIC" nurses have this feeling too. I have often wondered myself, if I wouldn't be happier, less stressed and have a better quality of life as a wallmart greeter. With that said, just when you feel like nursing isn't for you, something amazing happens where a patient, family member or boss gives you a compliment or a thank you, then it makes it all worth while!For those of you out there suggesting a "change of profession" please be realistic! Nursing is HARD and so is life. We all have our good and bad days and sometimes we just need to vent and feel understood. Please hone into your compassionate side and be a nurse to your fellow nurses! Just listen! OR get off the thread if you dont like it! Either way, you have a choice.

I have to disagree about the people that post about you sounding like you are burnt out. This is, indeed, the realities of nursing! No matter what specialty you work in, unless you work in a clinic 8-5, and some nurses do, you will absolutely have days like this....and not all days are like this. Although, this sounds more like nursing in LTC, rather than an ER! I couldn't work in the ER....never have! I have done agency nursing in sub-acute care, and that isn't as hectic. If you have good managers, they will cover you for a lunch and breaks. The sub acute care hospital I did agency for, the charge nurse assigned times for nurses lunches, and she covered your patients while you were gone....Luckily, they offered me a job as soon as I get my RN, and, man, I am sooooo there!! This shouldn't discourage new grads, but to give them some insight!