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Advice from a Seasoned Registered Nurse

If I had it to do over again, I would not become a Registered Nurse.
I have been a Registered Nurse for nearly 20 years now.
Managed care combined with the nursing shortage, have made it extremely
stressful, frustrating and dangerous at times.
Many nurses only work part time and most are women. If more men went into this field, perhaps it would get better as I think they would be less likely to suffer from the martyr complex and would absolutely refuse to tolerate the conditions nurses tolerate on a daily basis.

I work on a Medical Surgical in a urban hospital setting.
Patients are much sicker and go home before they are ready, only to return a day or week later.
I have been hospitalized myself twice; and I do not doubt it is from going without urinating at work for 10 hours at a time. I ended up with pyelonephritis twice in a 12 month period.
Basically, that is a urinary tract infection that has spread to the kidneys.
(Definitely can be caused by not urinating and "holding" it in for 10 hours.)
You never get to take a lunch break or bathroom break as a nurse.
You will feel slight envy when passing the cafeteria on your way out the door
to glance over and see the "suits" that are in administrative positions talking and laughing over a leisurely lunch...
You will be sad when you hear that your co-worker was in a near fatal accident on the way home from a 12 hour shift. Luckily, she is only 24 and the broken hip and other injuries will mend; she may be back to work in as little as 4 months!
You will be scared when an angry patient with full blown aids scratches you hard enough to draw blood and throws his urinal at you.
You will smile through the tears as administration says work smarter not harder, knowing it is not humanly possible.
You will come back the next day out of guilt; realizing that last night the patient who vomited into his oxygen mask when you were down the hall with another patient in distress didn't die because the nursing assistant alerted you in time to run down and suction him.
Occasionally a patient will be grateful. You will get a $5.00 gift from administration on nurses week every year along with a gentle urging from your nurse manager to not request pay for overtime or missed lunches.
I don't know what the answer is, I only know that if you are smart and value your own mental and physical well being, choose another career.
It is not worth it.
You also put in tons of holidays and weekends. I doubt any of us will be thankful for all the sacrifices we made at the expense of our families and our own mental health when all is said and done.
I would definitely not recommend a career in nursing to anyone!

Learn more about this author, Theresa Robel.
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