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You've been a nurse for a year and a half- that tells me everything right there. You will feel differently in a few years.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Unregistered
You've been a nurse for a year and a half- that tells me everything right there. You will feel differently in a few years.

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Wow I think youre the first person Ive seen on this site that has something positive to say about nursing. Im in highschool and Im thinking of becoming a nurse, but reading a lot of these negative comments from nurses kind of made me have a second thought on my decision. Reading your story made me stick with it. Thanks

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rabbit

You haven't been a nurse long enough to make that conclusion. I've been a nurse for 10 years. IT SUCKS!!!

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I agree that nursing is a terrific career. You can do so much with the degree.

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[ rabbit
You haven't been a nurse long enough to make that conclusion. I've been a nurse for 10 years. IT SUCKS!!!]



Stop whinning....get out of the profession at once! You don't fit in the nursing profession with that kind of attitude.LOSER!!!!

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Right, been a nurse for a year and a half, just you wait. It does suck the life out of you.

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I think that everyone on here posting negative comments about nursing is probably right in many of there opinions. Sure, youre a nurse, you hate your job, you dont find satisfaction in your work, it sucks. But, if you dont look for something good in what you do, you will never find it.

For instance, I am a custodian, and I have been for over a year now. I make just over 7$ an hour, not enough to even support myself, so I have to live w/others. When i started doing it I felt horrible every day I came home from work. Everyone is always bitter and mad at the world for their job at work, but i look at that as an opportunity for me to make the work environment better. I may just be stupid or something, but I just do the best i can with what I have. I may not like everything I do, but I know that if I always have a negative attitude about my job my days go by a hell of alot slower.

Personally, I am hoping to become an RN. Many of these negative comments got me to think "Will I be the same way when i become a nurse"? But, realizing that there are so many people that hate being a nurse, I feel i have to push even harder to become an RN, so that I can make some kind of an impact/difference. I know its not all about helping people, b/c people will die unexpectedly, probably daily right in front of you. But, I also know that there may be a time when I can help someone, even if its only 1 person, and THAT is the reason I want to be a nurse.

I just want all of you to think of something... If there is truly absolutely no way that you can be satisfied w/the work of a nurse, then what in the world is going to happen to the Healthcare we have today? Nurses are needed, plain and simple. Find a way to appreciate the fact that the job is hard, and you are sticking with it, b/c someone has to do the job...

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To miss year and a half,you are the new grad that comes in and has all the ?,and answers.We have all done that.Here is the hint :when you start your new nursing job (after you quit this one-and you will) notice how many nurses on the new job have no ?'s or comments. these are your older seasoned nurses.It does not help to complain or have a new idea (that does not cause more paper work).The cycle just keeps going.write back in 10 years.Even a new car with high payments is nice the first year.

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To the nurse who loves her job; God Bless.
To the janitor who wants to become a nurse; it's wonderful that you take pride in doing a good job. At least you are out there working, keeping our facilities clean and seem to have an ounce of pride in the work you do, as you should.
I am not a nurse. I am a secretary working for an oilfield company. I have had a small number of jobs in the past and have discovered it is not what you do or how much you make. True, there needs to be some amount of satisfaction in the work that you do, but I love my boss and co-workers; I find that makes all the difference.
Since I have not worked in the medical field I cannot comment from the inside, but I can from the aspect of someone who has been cared for by nurses. Let me say to anyone who is in nursing now with any of the awful attitudes I have read so far today: please consider moving on in your career, it shows in the treatment of your patients.
To those of you out there who truly find it a Blessing to care for those who cannot care for themselves: I pray for your strength.
Just a note (does it matter?): I am 27 years old, I make <$32k and I do not have a degree. I was an engineering student, but decided not to continue with the degree. No regrets. I enjoy reading. learning new languages, traveling and I am amused by people who say you cannot accomplish much in life without a degree. Jesus was educated, but not a scholar, and he is known by just about everyone in the world.
Good luck...wishing you the best!

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Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Nevada
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In my experience, the work is great, and the working conditions in facilities (along with about a third of the people with whom I've worked) suck to high heaven. It's cool and rewarding to do the warm fuzzy stuff, but the frequent attacks on my intelligence and identity far outweigh the warm fuzzy. It has gradually come to bother me more and more over the years so that now I won't work in hospitals or nursing facilities. That's not a crappy attitude, that's acknowledgement that there is a lot of exploitation and abuse in the field. Fortunately there are also jobs outside of hospitals. . .

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The attacks on personal intelligence happens in every field, unfortunately. I find there is not much use in "defending" it with a copy of our resumes (though I have thought of it) or with telling people that we are, indeed, not imbeciles. Honestly, it bothers me too, but I have not found a better way to handle it than to try and think beyond what the person is saying; try to understand WHY they say it.
POINT: they say I'm stupid and heartless, but really they are upset that no one seems willing to help them and they have been given the run-around. I find that insults fly when a person a) really DOES want to personally attack you (rare) or b) when a person has lost their cool and does not know what else to say.
The only way I know how to handle it is to focus back on the issue at hand and try to deal with IT, not with the defense.

Anyone else have a better idea of how to receive respect in the workplace? I understand the psychology behind it (seem deserving of the respect and it will come), but the implementation of such a concept is much more difficult to execute. (Especially when confronted with ugliness).

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Registered: Aug 2004
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The only other field in which I've experienced such silliness was the restaurant industry when I did a brief stint waiting tables in college. I've worked too many other fields to agree that it's the same in every job. It truly is not.

Nursing has the same problems as most other female dominated professions, except that the pay is better. I see it primarily as a gender issue. As soon as the field is 40-50% male the treatment of all nurses will improve greatly, just as it did with teaching a few decades ago. (yes, teachers, I know your gig isn't perfect either -- but it's better than in the 1950's.) Just don't hold your breath.

I suspect that Title 9 is starting to have an impact as well; The younger female nurses seem to have attitudes toward work more similar to mens' views, but I don't see enough of a change yet to fix anything.

The point is that the problems with nursing are a lot more complex than most people want to consider. Until the status of the field is elevated, few men will be interested in being nurses. The status won't increase before you get more men in the field.

In the meantime, the licensing process serves as de facto protectionism while the powers that be keep expecting the best and brightest of the female population to come back to nursing. That cohort has better options now. So do most men who have the ability to get through nursing school. The end result is that I don't expect my pay to go down any time soon, or at least not until immigration is thrown wide open for nurses again.

The second something I would rather do starts paying significantly more, I won't be a working nurse anymore. In the meantime I'll keep doing quality work and shovelling the BS with a big shovel.

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you sound like an infomercial

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i am

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quote:

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Originally posted by Unregistered
I think that everyone on here posting negative comments about nursing is probably right in many of there opinions. Sure, youre a nurse, you hate your job, you dont find satisfaction in your work, it sucks. But, if you dont look for something good in what you do, you will never find it.

For instance, I am a custodian, and I have been for over a year now. I make just over 7$ an hour, not enough to even support myself, so I have to live w/others. When i started doing it I felt horrible every day I came home from work. Everyone is always bitter and mad at the world for their job at work, but i look at that as an opportunity for me to make the work environment better. I may just be stupid or something, but I just do the best i can with what I have. I may not like everything I do, but I know that if I always have a negative attitude about my job my days go by a hell of alot slower.

Personally, I am hoping to become an RN. Many of these negative comments got me to think "Will I be the same way when i become a nurse"? But, realizing that there are so many people that hate being a nurse, I feel i have to push even harder to become an RN, so that I can make some kind of an impact/difference. I know its not all about helping people, b/c people will die unexpectedly, probably daily right in front of you. But, I also know that there may be a time when I can help someone, even if its only 1 person, and THAT is the reason I want to be a nurse.

I just want all of you to think of something... If there is truly absolutely no way that you can be satisfied w/the work of a nurse, then what in the world is going to happen to the Healthcare we have today? Nurses are needed, plain and simple. Find a way to appreciate the fact that the job is hard, and you are sticking with it, b/c someone has to do the job...

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I've been a nurse in a very busy Trauma Unit for 5 years. When I started out, I was very excited about the whole idea of 'helping people'. What I found out was that 90% of the pts and family memebers treat nurses like garbage. You get spit on cussed out, things thrown at you, there was even a nurse that was beat up by a family memeber...... etc. The doctors also treat you like dirt as well as other burned out nurses. I have never had a job where I was treated so bad.... (and I've worked construction with people that were on work release from prison. ) In order not to be a total downer, I can say some positive things: Job security, Pay is decent, and your helping people. The fact that you are constantly being verbally, physically, mentally, abused is just something that people need to know. I would not go into this field if you want to 'feel good' about your job. Unless you like being treated with dissrespect. I wouldn't have gone into this field if I knew it was this bad. I am currently looking for a way out.... and lucky for me.... I have a good lead. This has got to be the worse profession that I've ever been in. To all the students..... please do yourself a favor.... get a job as an aide in a nursing home before you decide to go to school. Do this for a good year or two, and don't tell yourself "this sucks, and it will get better once I'm a nurse"...... The only difference between and aide and a nurse is the fact that nurses can pass meds. Nurses clean up peoples crap everyday, dump urinals, and are belittled by all. If you do this for a couple years, and still think it's great..... then you are either a very special person, or you need a head CT. Just because I think it SUCKS and HATE it, doesn't mean you will. Also.... don't get advice from new nurses..... I was once that gung-ho nurse that ragged on the old bitter nurses for their bad attitudes. I can honestly say now...... they were RIGHT, and I wish I could appologize to them for ragging on them, when they were only trying to open my eyes.
Don't ruin your life! Go to ultrasound school or X-ray school....because NURSING SUCKS.

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By far nursing is a tough job. Nursing forces you to use every skill a human being has, on a daily basis. It is physically, emotionally, and mentally challenging. When I listen to the "near retirement" nurses, I have learned that at one time, nursing really was rewarding. We have been starved of all our resources. You enter nursing with a wonderful attitude and an eagerness to help people. That is taken away from you early on. When you discover that it is humanly impossible to do your job the way you expect it to be done. It is extrememly difficult to give quality care when you a missing a couple nurses, equipment that works, and no respect from co-workers (including physicians). Yes, there are alot of whiners out there, but it honestly is not a great job when you don't have the tools to do it. And the whiners, and the one's who love to eat their own, are miserable because they are stuck in nursing. They won't leave because what other job can you make that amount of money and they are all just coasting until the day they can retire. They are miserable to their co-workers, miserable to their patients and families. They like to see the young enthusiastic nurses run their butts off while they hibernate on their chairs. Nursing will probably stay this way for a long time. I have been in nursing for 5 years and I have made many attempts to try and make my career better. I have tried further educating myself, working in three different specialty areas...all in hopes that things would get better, and so far they haven't. I am still deciding on what other career is for me. Now mind you if we had staff & respect I would LOVE NURSING. It's all your choice.

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What so many don't understand about nurses griping, is that we are above all griping because we get sick from what we are made to do. The US medical systems mistreatment of the sick and elderly is soul draining to be a part of. And it is draining of our own phusical and mental health, too.

This is the point that Americans seem so hesitant to come to grips with. Trillions of dollars are being spent so that giant corporations can get rich off delivering as shoddy of care as they can get away with. And nurses are the ones stuck in between these vampires and the blood they suck from the sick, elderly, and dying.

There is little care or health in the healthcare business. Americans are getting fatter, more depressed, and more stressed out all around from it all. The medical delivery system is an integral part of what is doing this to us.

So wake up, and stop blaming the nurses for being down on it all. We have a system that makes its own caregivers sick, let alone helging the ill get better, or the healthy from becoming ill.

The Drug Pusher

Last edited by gojack10 on 01-25-2005 at 04:11 PM

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Nursing sucks. There is no job satisfaction. It is a black hole of a job. To all those people who are chirping "I love nursing...it's great! Stop whining...I'm supernurse! You really gotta be friggin' nuts. I mean honestly...open your eyes. It's amazing how many looney tunes and boxes O' rocks-for-brains manage to make it through nursing school. You honestly can't tell when someone's taking a giant whiz on your leg? As for me, I'm still doing this for the money until I figure out my next move. I put my blinders on each shift, push my pills, shovel some $#!T and extend as much dignity to my patients as possible.

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It is the most THANKLESS job ever!!!!!!I have been a nurse for 30 years and ABSOLUTELY HATE IT and I didn't start feeling like this yesterday. When I am able to retire(I am only working to get the health insurance) I will BURNNNNNNNNN my license and savor the aroma!!!!!!!!!
Lets see what YOU have to say in 30 years Ms. NAVIEity gift wrapped with a bow for every hospital/nursing home administrators dream. ( That wasn't a compliment in case you didn't realize that!!!)
P.S.
You really MUST take Birth Control PIlls.

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come on now...

Some of you all are ridiculous....i mean really.

I've been a nurse for 13 years and even though some of the politics and beauracracy are sometimes frustrating, I've never thought that nursing was a crappy profession. Your attitude has a lot to do with it and one day when you "nursing haters" are in the hospital, i hope you end up with a nurse who has the same attitude you do.

If you don't like it, do us a favor and go find something else to do with your life.

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No really, nnnnurse -- you come on now. I've assessed the nursing situation thoroughly and have found consistently that the nurses who find this profession dysfunctional are the introspective, compassionate, empathetic and intelligent people that have their act together. It's the masochistic/mentally ill/baggage ridden people that think that this abusive job is "normal". I'm in my 40's and I've never seen so many miserable, back-biting, immature, no common sense people in one place as I have in the nurses station. My 15 yr old is much more mature than most nurses I work with in their 50's. It's insanity and an insult to the mature, intelligent, compassionate person with a heart and soul.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Bumbed out RN
No really, nnnnurse -- you come on now. I've assessed the nursing situation thoroughly and have found consistently that the nurses who find this profession dysfunctional are the introspective, compassionate, empathetic and intelligent people that have their act together. It's the masochistic/mentally ill/baggage ridden people that think that this abusive job is "normal". I'm in my 40's and I've never seen so many miserable, back-biting, immature, no common sense people in one place as I have in the nurses station. My 15 yr old is much more mature than most nurses I work with in their 50's. It's insanity and an insult to the mature, intelligent, compassionate person with a heart and soul.

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Last edited by nnnnurse on 07-23-2006 at 10:49 PM

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Registered: Jun 2006
Location: New Berlin, Wisconsin
Posts: 16

I think some of the posters (I first typo'ed "posers") are responding to an opinion by putting down a complete stranger they happen to violently disagree with. One's "truth" hinges on one's experience. All of us went into the profession. All of us cope in one way or another with the circumstances thrust upon us and have formed some strong opinions about it.
Have you ever cried at work? Do you feel empowered at work? Have you ever had a physician, patient or other person lie about what you said or did? Have you ever been fired without a legitimate reason? The longer the nurse works, the higher the odds of something happening, and it can be traumatic. Nurses take alot of abuse on the job; 90% of it could be avoided! We helped create this experience. No one is gonna fix it for us, are they?

__________________
NJ girl

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