17 Things All Nurses Know All Too Well
If you’re a nurse — regardless of what your specialty is — I am sure you will be able to relate to some of these! Again, I can’t emphasize how much that I love my job and my patients, but sometimes nursing can be so difficult that we need to have an outlet for little humor to make it all balance out.
1. Having a patient on precautions and feeling convinced that you now have MRSA/C-diff.
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2. The moment that super-overbearing and annoying family member leaves.
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3. The patient is smiling and moving around in bed, but when asked to rate her pain she says 9/10 after pushing on her belly.
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4. Those awkward times when you’re not sure if you actually have free time or you’re just forgetting something.
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5. Whenever a patient says “Well I read on the internet/wedMD…”
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6. When you hear the IV pump start alarming as soon as you get back to the nurses station.
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7. Care plans…
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8. When your rude and verbally abusive patient threatens to sign an AMA.
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9. You finally help to get your patient to fall asleep around 5 am only for them to be woken up by all the med students and residents an hour later… #nightshiftproblems
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10. Your family and friends tell you EVERYTHING (I mean no holding back) about themselves in hopes you can diagnose them. “I know this may be TMI but…”
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11. When someone says, “You’re soooo smart!” then follows up with, “Why you didn’t go to med school and become a doctor?” You’ve got some nerve…
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12. Leaving work and always awkwardly saying, “Have a good night! I mean…sleep.”
I really can’t be sure what day of the week it is….
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13. It doesn’t matter if you are running around sweating for the entire 12 hours, your hands will somehow ALWAYS be ice cold.
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14. When your non-healthcare friends think that you get to take naps/sleep during the night shift…
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15. The patient who is so complicated &needy who monopolizes your time thus making you feel like you didn’t provide optimal care to your other patients (who happen to be nice and normal).
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16. How I feel at the end of my 3 12s…
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17. Me giving report off on all my train-wreck patients…
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But at the end of the day, even on the toughest days, even on the verge of tears, even when I say “I can’t do this, I find the strength inside that I can do it, and I can do it with passion. I wouldn’t trade my job or my experiences for anything in the world.
I love what I do and it is a huge part of my life. Yeah they say we “make decent money,” but are nurses nurses for the money? I like to think it’s deeper than that!
What do you guys think? Would you quit your job if you won the lottery? Can you relate to this blog posting whether or not you are a nurse or work in another field?