I love being a nurse! I think nursing is the only profession where you can be with someone during the best of times and the worst of times. However, there are something’s that I’m not too crazy about and many nurses I think would agree with me on these 5 things (and I’m sure they could add more). Just like any other profession, there are things you are going to love about your job, and things you are going to hate about your job.
I wanted to write this article for nursing students, new nurses, and nurses reading this article out there. Furthermore, I wanted to let nursing students and new nurses know it is okay to get annoyed by these things, and let nurses laugh and say, “yep, that drives me crazy too!”
After you are done reading this article, I would love to hear about what you get annoyed about in the comment section below or on the comment section on YouTube.
Here is a video I made discussing this topic! Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos!
5 Things Nurses Hate!
5. Abusing the Call Light! The call light is a great thing because it allows our patients to access us in a time of need. However, there is a difference between a genuine need versus a 5-star concierge request. Let me explain: I’ve had extended family member use the call light to request for the nurse to bring them a snack and coffee. The annoying part is that the coffee and snack machine are usually just down the hall for them to access.
4. Full Moons ! There is no scientific evidence (not yet anyways) to back up the claims that when a full moon happens patients are a little crazier, but if you ask most nurses you will find out that things go crazy during a full moon. I’ve experience crazy situations with patients, co-workers, admissions, code blues etc. Many nurses dread a full moon, especially a super moon.
3. Patients Abusing Pain Medications! In nursing, we want to meet all of your needs to the best of our ability and taking of care pain is definitely one of them. We are taught in nursing school that pain is what the patient says it is. However, many patients have used our pain philosophy as a manipulation tool to gain more pain medication when it is not needed.
I’ve had certain patients who will be on their call light every 4 hours (to the minute) requesting their pain medication because they know the exact minute it is due. This is frustrating because many times you have a patient who is extremely sick and you are tied up in their room. Then when you finally get to go into their room to give it to them, they will be talking on the phone, laughing, eating food, and texting. I will ask them to rate their pain on a 1-10 scale and without hesitation they will say “oh it’s a 10”. However, as the nurse you start to catch on with what they are doing. Nurses are not dumb!
2. Dealing with ego! Healthcare is a team effort and we are there to care for our patients. However, as a nurse you will work with co-workers who hold higher degrees than you and are in a higher position than you. Sometimes these people have trouble being respectful or listening to your opinions, and treat you with disrespect because they have an ego the size of the universe. This can definitely be frustrating sometimes!
1. Being Short-staffed! I had to list this as number one because I think this is one of the hardest things about nursing. When you are short-staffed everything is harder and takes longer to do. When you are short-staffed not only does the nurse suffer but so does the patient.
I would always hate coming in for my shift and hearing those dreaded words “you all are two nurses short today” or “you all won’t have any nursing assistants”. Those words usually meant I would have more patients and limited breaks. In other words, my co-workers and I were in for a long 12 hour shift.
Please share your experience in the comment section below 🙂
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