Probably the Most Obvious Answer. Ever.

Humor me and let's play the question and answer game for this post.

Q: OK, so there are hoards of people around the world who aspire to become nurses... for some reason. Fine. It's good to have goals. And apparently, there's a nursing shortage. So with all these bright-eyed and bushy-tailed "save the world" types going into and graduating from nursing school, why, I ask you WHY, is there a nursing shortage?

A: Yes, I will be the first to say that there are a hell of a lot of reasons why there is a shortage. Too few faculty and so on and so forth. However, if you get down to the bottom of it all, I'm talking the lowest, blackest point of the abyss, you'll find that the reason is that NURSING SUCKS. And all those who have left the practice are testaments to it.

Let me revisit the tale of the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed nursing student. She's/he's breezing through clinicals and actually enjoying it. She/he did an internship and it went swimmingly as well. Uh-oh, here comes graduation (assuming she/he does make it through) and after a stint in an orientation, she/he is responsible for a hell of a lot.
She/he soon grows disillusioned by the realities of the business of health care. The bureaucratic shit that they don't concentrate on in nursing school for a reason; the burnout from all the emotional, physical, spiritual, and literal shit you have to clean up q shift; ridiculously catty co-workers; families that annoy the hell out of you; the list goes on and on. Remember Maslow? Well, replace the top of the pyramid with "realization of the suckiness of nursing" and that's where you'll find this nurse.

Time and time again, I've heard many a nurse, senior and fesh meat alike, voice their desire to leave the profession. And hey, who can blame them? So they leave for work that is more fulfulling and much more enjoyable. Ergo a drop in the nursing workforce. A drop in numbers faster than can be replaced by the naiive, albeit well meaning (mostly), nursing schoolers. And finally, an answer to the original question.

The fact is, you can't pay most people to do the shit that nurses do. It's a dirty job.

Why are nurses so mean?

Nursing........... most nurses are pressed for time.......stressed with trying to give correct meds and procedures...........after time nurses get stressed out and pissed off. After working in a hospital for a little over a year I found myself getting annoyed more easily than usually.......why? Is it the patients??? Hitting the bell every five minutes for no reason??? Or is it the nurses we work with??? Getting pissy and critical of your every move???? Perhaps it is the environment itself?? Maybe it is a combo of all those three?? Getting annoyed more quickly can be because of the patients and because of the bitchy nurses around us...... The question still remains....... why are nurses so mean?

A Manifesto

I've been thinking a lot. How do I hate nursing? Let me count the ways.

1. So what if there are other avenues. When I think of nursing, I equate the role to being a GLORIFIED DIAPER CHANGER and PAPER PUSHER. Mostly the former. And to be quite honest, so do a majority of people.

2. So what if nurses make relatively more money than those with other jobs. Are performing dirty and quite quite honestly, downright degrading things really worth it? I think not.

3. This profession sucks the life out of people. Even though there is a push for healthy lifestyles and prophylaxis so that more people don't come beating on their doctor and local hospital's doors, health care is a business that has death and dying as fodder. You're freaking surrounded by death! Does that not take a toll on you?
3a. Continuing on the nursing sucks the life out of people note, nurses give, give, give, and then what do you have left? BURNOUT. Nothing but negative emotions. Mostly regret. Regret that we didn't follow our real dreams.
3b. I'll let you in on a dirty little secret. A surprising number of nurses are on mood-regualting substances as coping mechanisms. Let your imaginations run wild. I'm sure it has been done.

To be continued.

Where have you been my whole life?

Check it out. http://www.ihatenursing.com/.

AHEM, AHEM...

Now this is not an insult to the nursing profession per se (maybe only slightly). Nor is this an insult to the nurses out there (okay, only to the really pissy ones and the ones that think they know EVERYTHING). This is more of a declaration of disgust to our choice of a career. What the hell, I mean really, what the hell were we thinking?!