Is Being a Nurse Hard?
Most people realize that clinicians work long hours and are no strangers to death, but nurses would agree that most people simply cannot fathom the true extent of the challenges of working in healthcare. From impossibly long shifts – that often go overtime – to understaffing, code blues, and mental health struggles, it is no surprise that there are never enough people to brave this profession.
In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the US needs 11 million additional nurses to bridge the supply-demand gap. This great demand explains why the nursing profession is projected to grow at a faster rate than any other occupation over the next five years.
Hopefully, lawmakers and hospital administrators will understand that if additional nurses are what the country most needs, then it behooves them to take greater care of this too-often-undervalued human capital.
The following healthcare stories shed a light on what it means to be a nurse – jumpers and all.
Jumpers: One of the Often-Ignored Challenges of Being a Nurse
“They are one of the top reasons I want to leave bedside ASAP. I am 5 months into nursing. 6 patients a night with one aid to 12 patients if we have one. I have a jumper or two almost every shift. It is impossible for me to get anything done. If I call a supervisor or try to get a sitter (which is a joke because we have zero help as it is) then the only lna on the floor will be the sitter. The other night I had a lady out of her bed every 5 minutes. No exaggeration. I don’t understand how everyone else on the floor goes about life without talking about this issue?” – Minimum_Knowledge433 – Reddit
Who Puts Up with Patients Lashing Out? You Guessed Right: Nurses
“Patient called me the “C” word three times on my long shift. #Female #nurses & all #HCWs try not to internalize the verbal abuse, to look away, but it is so hard. It hurts, is demoralizing & dehumanizing. It’s been several days since & it lingers #mentalhealth” – Tweet by Deb Lefebvre
When Patients – or Their Families – Won’t Let You Help
“Welp, it finally happened. I have heard stories of people refusing blood product because the donor may have been vaccinated. But I finally saw this happen myself. Patient was unable to make their own decisions. Asked POA if the patient would be ok receiving blood product if needed prior to a very invasive abdominal surgery where transfusion would be almost eminent. POA asked if the blood comes from people who have been vaccinated against COVID. I naively thought she was concerned about infected blood. “They test blood product for everything including COVID.” I say. “I know,” she says “but do they test to make sure it isn’t blood from a vaccinated person? I don’t want nano chips injected into my sister.” I thought she was kidding. But she wasn’t. She was absolutely serious. I didn’t get into the political debate about this misinformation. Just explained that there is no way for us to know who the actual donor is or if they are vaccinated. That they just test for diseases before we can use them. She ended up refusing all blood products on her sister’s behalf. Never found out the result of her surgery. But damn.” – krandrn11 – Reddit
#NursesAreNotOk
“No, nurses are not ok when they have been working so hard since March 2020, without proper appreciation, or, remuneration. #NursesAreNotOk” – Tweet by Arun Mukherjee
“I've been in health care for 11 years but only 0.5 as a nurse. Yes... I have bad timing… Yesterday was the first day someone asked me if I was ok. I didn't know how to respond. This job requires a certain degree of numbness and a hard shell that I really didn't realize how the day was affecting me. This was my 3/3 and I have been verbally accosted. Have had things thrown at me management knew and let it happen. all while being the emotional support for a family who needed it. I'm exhausted I don't see how people don't get burnt out. I still want to be a nurse which might be insanity but this pcu life isn't fun. Sorry for my complaining.” – kynjalco – Reddit
“It was a very hard shift. I lost my patient after 4hrs of non-stop interventions. I did not step out of the room for 4hrs - geared in full PPE, ran out of saliva, my legs could no longer hold me. My colleagues were beyond amazing - admirable team spirit, nurses taking turns to do chest compressions. We were all drenched in sweat underneath our n95 masks, gowns, and face shields. We gave it all we had. I wish the outcome was different! It was heartwarming to hear the nurses, RTs, doctors, psw, social worker ask me if I was okay I pretended to be okay but drove home in tears after my shift ended. I needed to let those tears out. I'm only human. I never envisioned this type of nursing, where wrapping dead bodies & sending them to the morgue happens every shift. I will be okay. RIP dear patient 🙏🏿.” – Tweet by Birgit Umaigba RN, Med
What's the Scariest Part of Being a Nurse?
Many nurses agree that the scariest part of their jobs is losing patients. The death of a fellow human is simply not something you get used to no matter how often you witness it. Another aspect of healthcare workers' lives that many overlook is that clinicians not only see death, but they also have to call it – not only do they begin resuscitation, but they also have to decide when to stop and let the inevitable happen.
“My first code blue and I am not ok…Experienced a code blue the other day. As is often the case, the patient did not make it…When the code was very clearly over, the resident asked if we objected and I internally objected with every ounce of my being because this was so unfathomably wrong. He was 40. But we all knew he was gone…Our manager told us to close the curtain, as we wait to hear what his family wants to do. Go check on your other patients, after all. The work continues…I didn’t know before I became a nurse that codes would fail far more often than they would be successful. I didn’t know that they’d be violent. I didn’t know that despite the initial chaos, a calm would take its place as we all silently did our jobs. I didn’t know that I wouldn’t be ok and feel so much shame in what feels like a critical weakness as a nurse.” – xSilverSpringx – Reddit
If Being a Nurse Is So Hard, Why Do It?
The difficulties of being a nurse are proportional to the importance and nobility of the profession. Nurses burn out, but they also love what they do and are fulfilled by their work. This is the reflection of a hospice nurse after a post about hating to give “the last dose”:
“Update: after taking a day off from the post to decompress, I didn’t realize how much this would blow up. Thank you fellow nurses, patient’s loved ones, and just the overall human species for all of your kind words, it reassures me not to second guess my actions in this profession. I just want my patients to have a fulfilled life and spend every lucid moment possible with their family. And I don’t want to rob that of anyone, so I guess that’s where the guilt comes in of “the last dose”. When life is born it’s a whole new journey and adventure that awaits but when life ends, in a way it’s a whole new beginning, and I hope we all find peace along the way.” theokayduck – Reddit
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