Scaring nursing students
Poor Chloe happened upon my post Cost of Nursing School and got creeped:
I just happened to luck upon your post and now I can say that you made me scared. I’m starting nursing school on Monday!
This is the kind of thing that makes me wonder whether to write things “how it is” or not. We need nurses on the floor, and I don’t want to scare any of them off; however, nursing school does suck unbelievably, and I might have been better prepared had I known that. Might. I can’t say. I also might have ignored everyone’s advice and done what I wanted anyway.
This profession in general seems extremely, well, extreme. My bad times are very, very bad. Sob in the car bad. The good times are very, very good. Fist-pump good. I don’t have a lot of shifts that are mediocre. Management changed some stuff at work lately that made it intolerable, but they seem to be working with us to change that, so I’m trying to keep an open mind and remember my favorite slogan (semper gumby, baby). It’s hard. But there are still patients who need a nurse who cares about their welfare, and I’m one, so I’m trying to do what I do for any “situation” at work: focus on the patient and not blaming, fault-finding, and excuses. (Plus I’m a hopeless cardiology devotee.)
I have been terribly depressed and wondering if I made a terrible career decision, but I don’t think so. Nursing has plunged me brute-force into the most raw and real triumphs and defeats of the human condition from which we modern folks are normally protected. I may sob with frustration and grief or cry with strange joy, neither of which I did much before I entered the health care field. I have now seen people come into this world and people leave it (in nursing school, btw, Chloe). I’ve shared the lowest and most painful moments of people’s lives with them, and it’s been a dignified honor and privilege. I’ve learned from patients how to handle adversity and pain (in theory, anyway) with grace and fortitude. You get the point. None of that is particularly a goal I had, and I don’t have a masochistic desire to suffer along with people in order to reach nirvana or anything like that. But as a side effect of my chosen profession, I feel more real. Sometimes it backfires and numbs me up. Sometimes it makes me more raw. But it always changes me.
To the nursing students I’m scaring with my blog: toughen up. I am STILL developing the emotional maturity necessary to remain sane in this field, and much of that is simply toughening up. My dean told me to buck up when I wanted to quit school, and it pissed me off and then made me hysterical, but she pretty much had it right. You want to help people? That doesn’t even SOUND easy, really, and it isn’t. It’s a hard job. A tough job. Nurses have to be kind, compassionate…and tough.
I agree with you–I am also starting nursing school (second degree) on August 31, and while your list is slightly disheartening, it is not discouraging. I think to go into nursing, you HAVE to anticipate that it will be a long, hard, exhausting journey, and still want to proceed. Thank you for sharing your experiences, we all appreciate them, but just because you may have had a bad day, or several, does not mean that they’re all going to be like that. Don’t let the changes with management discourage you-I’m sure your a fantastic nurse, just concentrate on your patients and providing the best care for them, and try to let the stupid bureaucratic stuff fall to the wayside.
Thanks for sharing your experiences and telling it like it is. I don’t want watered down stories, I want to know what it is really like. I just graduated and will be starting a new grad program in September in the ER, I can’t wait.
I again echo what others have said; in fact, I am hoping to go to nursing school in the full knowledge that I will do a whole bunch of toughening up through the school and the actual job. It’s what I want for myself, which I guess sounds crazy when I read the posts about how hard it can be, but it’s what I feel I have to do. What I’m doing now is OK, but it’s not living my life to the fullest of my ability.
I guess that all sounds cliched but it’s how I feel!
I think having days which are extremely happy or extremely sad are preferable to those days which only run the gamut of same-old, same-old. And you do get those days, occasionally, in nursing. A lot depends on where you’re working.
I’ve been a nurse now for more than 13 years and finished graduate work as a nurse practitioner and clinical nurse specialist in 2005. I went into graduate school thinking, “How hard can it be? I’m ALREADY a nurse.” Well, as I discovered, it can be pretty gosh-darn difficult.
The best thing is, I never have to wake up in the morning, wondering if what I’m doing is making a difference because it is (and we won’t discuss the non-compliant patient, because there is no such thing, no matter what your school teaches you—it’s healthcare workers not listening to the patient) and not making a persuasive sales pitch. Because that’s what you are: a healthcare salesman and marketer.
You might benefit from checking out Studer Group (http://www.studergroup.com) and reading an excerpt from the book, “Eat That Cookie,” about negativity and change: http://www.studergroup.com/books/eat_that_cookie/CookieBlad_08-19-09.pdf
Well, I thank you for keeping it real. I’m in nursing school now and it does incredibly suck, but I’m glad that I was prepared going in from stories of nurses who told all the nitty-gritty. I appreciate it!
PS- I stumbled on your blog today and love it!
In my experience, nursing school was without question one of the best times I’ve ever had…not the pre-req’s, but the people in my nursing class were good, fun, strong people and I’m so grateful for having known them all…they made nursing school absolutely fun despite the stressors. We were united in pursuit of a common goal and it was great!
No, it’s actual nursing that I have a hard time encouraging people to do. My one piece of advice is, if you’re doing it because it’s a secure job that pays well….you’ll probably hate it. If you’re choosing nursing as a career because you’re motivation is to be doing productive work that helps others, then you’ll probably like it, if not love it. I stress that it’s still a job, one you’ll have to force yourself to get up and go to somedays, albeit one with great rewards. It’s an opportunity to touch people’s lives in ways you may never really know.
But, it’s dangerous to a good night’s sleep….often. It can be dangerous to the patient if you’re not conscientious….and sometimes even if you are. Just go in with eyes wide open, that’s all.
(I also always say that if you like waitressing, you’ll probably like nursing. There’s a lot of similarities, not least of which is dealing with the public in all it’s wonderful wackiness. I did like being a waitress, and that’s one reason I thought I’d like nursing. I wasn’t wrong).
My favorite dig is “you’re such a b*6ch”. And I’m proud to say, I sure am! I am a second career nurse, who had been out of dealing directly with people for a while, so it was an adjustment.
Nurses have to be strong people. You have to be strong not only physically but mentally because you have to deal with so many different things. You have to use your mind to keep people from using their fists, sometimes. That’s not the highlight of my day, but when people trust you, they will work with you.
Other nurses, used to constantly defending themselves from invaders and disrupters on the unit, sometimes forget that they’re human and to be nice to others. Remind yourself daily, or more often if needed. Be nice to others and chances are, they’ll be nice in return.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. If you are strong and really want to be a nurse, do it for yourself. Don’t do it for anyone else. Be confident and kind and a b*&tch when you need to do so and you will get wherever you need to go.
hi! I applied to an accelerated BSN program (second degree) and found your blog….I love the way you write. You capture the humanity of medicine and the privilege we have when we’re let into the patients’ lives.
I’ve been a student long enough to say WELL SAID. Great post. Again.
You have no idea what bad is. I’m a paramedic/RN and i can promise you that if you walked a mile in one of those medic’s boots you’d be thanking your lucky stars that we’re in a society that believes wiping butts and mindlessly following whatever 12 year old new doc in the ER orders, and getting paid 30 bucks an hour to do it. Go crawl underneath a car and move the dead baby out of the way to get to the drunken mother while gas is pouring all over you and some idiot volunteer firemen is cutting you both out of some car, then put them in the unit, RSI them, decomp a chest, etc all for about 11 bucks an hour and tell me how that feels instead. I thank my lucky stars I’m a silly ass nurse and i don’t have to do that stuff anymore. Dry it up
Shane, there are better ways to make your point. Perhaps if you rethink how you present your point of view, people will take you more seriously.
beautifully written post and touche! gracious rebuttal
I agree with every word, Not Ratched. Well said. The same cannot be said of the meatheaded, cliched comment left by Shane, but I suppose we can’t all be emotionally capable, eloquent bloggers. Guess I should just dry it up!
It’s a tough job, but think of the difference you are making. People count on you and you can go home every night knowing that you made a difference in people’s lives.