I have such a love/hate relationship with nursing. On one hand it’s who I am, one of my defining traits and core aspects of my life. The thing that makes sense to me and fuels my passion for leaving the world a little better then how I found it … But it makes me absolutely insane at times.
Between the mounds of orders, the family members all wanting a piece of your time, sanity or advice, and the patients of course wanting their attention (test results, the channel changed and oops I didn’t know I pressed the call light), it’s enough to make you crazy … and that folks is a good day!
On a night where a patient decides to take a nose dive, while another chokes on his “mechanical” soft diet and a family member is screaming at the station about the MD not giving them a status update on their loved one, you want to rip your hair out … strand by strand!! But that’s not what good nurses do! We somehow dig down deep, to the depths of our souls, muster up every single ounce of sanity, diplomacy, and professionalism before fixing, solving, and demolishing every problem thrown at us … with a “no problem”, “your welcome”, “no I have the time” and don’t forget the smile on top!
See nursing at its core is hard and messy. This isn’t television or a movie, there is no way to really have all the answers but guess what, you’re expected too! People want you to reassure them, comfort them, sit with them and heal them. They want miracles from you, but you haven’t even had time to pee yet and it’s 10hrs into your 12 hr shift! That is nursing my friend … real life nursing. So If you scare easy this isn’t the gig for you!
The good news is for every bad shift, there are numerous good ones, even a few great ones thrown in. Those are the shifts that push you to follow your passion, to keep you motivated, to continue learning along side your coworkers. Every once in awhile you will have a patient that will touch your soul and stay with you forever. They will teach you something about yourself that you didn’t know existed. The ones that touch your soul will be your driving force to compassionately care for the ones who make you question your sanity and your nursing career. So stay with it, stay strong, always leave compassion when your gone. You will meet people on the worst days of their lives, so try to leave them a little bit better then how you found them.