THE 10 THINGS

Sometimes I have to ask myself if I made the right decision upon taking nursing whenever I would realize these top 10 reasons among the many to hate it.

The top 10 reasons for me to hate nursing:

1. NO ROOM FOR ERRORS

It may sounds like having a good impression or much becoming like a perfectionist and at first, this motto may sounds not so good to hear at, very much unacceptable and impossible to workout but this is just one way or another to remind nurses or any personnel in medical field that we are dealing with the lives of people…and every patient under our care is our main responsibility. And a single mistake in any procedure may cost someone’s life at stake. Though mistake is inevitable at times and through mistake there are lessons which can be learned, but as much a possible it should be avoided because we’ll never know what will happen next. We don’t have to wait to kill anybody by mistake for us to learn a lesson and say “…ooopppsss, I’m sorry!

2. SCHEDULE SUCKS

Nurses don’t have fixed schedules and so we are very much flexible with our time. We can be on a 3-shift (an 8 –hour duty) or 2-shift a 12-hour duty). In the institution where I am currently connected, we have a 3 shifting schedules. We can be AM shift (6am-2pm), PM shift (2PM-10PM) or Night shift (10PM-6AM). We can also be on a straight PM-NIGHT shift (2PM-6AM). And we change our shifts everyday.

Nurses miss a lot of celebrations particularly when we are on duty like on special holidays. We can be away from the family during Christmas’ Eve or New Year’s Eve.

Nurses can’t get together completely. Whenever there is a celebration or gatherings, there must be at least 4 or 5 nurses who must be left behind to be on duty.

3. TOO MUCH EXPOSURE

I won’t wonder why nursing is considered as “dirty job.” Having been exposed everyday to different patients with different illnesses or diseases made our work really scary or just by being in contact with a lot of microorganism whether it is viral or bacterial, thus, nurses and other hospital personnel are very much prone to acquire any diseases or can be a carrier of such different microorganism which can be transferred through direct or indirect contact, by air or by droplets. The only defense that we can use is the knowledge about universal precautions. Good thing we do have mask, gowns and gloves to protect ourselves particularly in dealing with our patients and in handling their fluids, secretions and discharges. And of course it is also good that we are able to practice proper sanitation and proper hand washing technique.

4. DEMANDING PATIENTS and S.O

We assists and approaches patient and even relative of patients in a gentle way while giving them the best care that we can give but we cannot attend to their needs immediately at the same time when there is another patient arresting. I mean, we prioritize based on the emergency room protocols. It depends on the given situation. I mean if all patients who came in just for consultation then that would be on the first come first serve basis. But then if one patient came in with the chief complaint of difficulty of breathing then that particular patient requires immediate or urgent attention regardless whether the patient came in later than the others. However, there are relatives of patient who do not understand and get so much frustrated when they are not given immediate attention though the case of their patient is not that critical. And there are some patients and relatives who get so much demanding to get what they want becoming so insensitive that they are not the only patient that we have… And they require so much patience coming from us nurses, thus, we learn how to deal with them.

5. DEMANDING ATTENDING PHYSICIANS

There are some attending physicians who came in the Emergency Room after we notify them on the phone and respond immediately. It is a good thing that they come to see and examine their patient and respond rapidly but it became so much frustrating on our part when they are making lots of orders to a patient who is NOT that CRITICAL when they can actually do it in the ward, knowing for a fact that there are other patients who needs urgent medical assistance as well other than their patient…

6. PATIENT OVERLOAD VS. TIME PRESSURE

We are receiving lots of patient everyday both for admission and for consultations. We do have the protocol that patient must be transferred to ward within 30 minutes after receiving the patient ’s consent for admission. And sometimes it depends upon whether the patient is already stabilized or not. It is just frustrating when nurses from wards do not received the patient immediately upon arriving and settling down the room. They would let us wait until they are ready to receive the patient which I do believe not right when there are still a lot of patients waiting in the ER.

And in the situation when we are being pulled out from the ER to ward, patient overload vs. time pressure seems to be very much applicable as well when we have to handle 8-12 patients only for 8 hours and we have to carry out all the orders upon doctor’s round while providing the utmost care that we can give to the patient. There is really time pressure when all of the procedure must be done within that period.

7. FACING HOSPITAL DRAMAS

We encounter different people having their loved ones confined in the hospital and we met them initially in the Emergency Room. And we even got carried away when we are somewhat related to the person involved. One of the worst scenarios I encountered in all the hospital dramas I face is the encounter with the dead on arrival or DOA patients. Of course, initially we have to provide all the urgent intervention we can give like CPR, intubations, or even defibrillation depending on the patient’s situation or condition. There are those we are able to revive and there are those we failed to revive despite all the intervention we provide.  I have seen and observe teardrops falling from different people’s eyes. There’s nothing we can do if it’s already time. What’s worst is we should learn how to control our emotions and not to be affecetd by what we can see in the hospital that sometimes I get so numb when I get used to it.

8. DOCTOR’S CALLIGRAPHY

I hate it whenever I would encounter those doctors with their worst penmanship. They are like VIPs that we have to adjust and to learn the way they write their orders. It’s just frustrating when they get so mad when you try to verify their orders over the phone. Thus, we, nurses are very much prone to commit errors and make Incident Report due to their ugly penmanship.

9. TOO MUCH PHYCIAL WORKOUT

Receiving a lot of patient, sometimes we forgot to sit down and relax just to attend the patient needs. We walk and we run all the time from ward to ward and from ER to ward just to do our job. That’s too much physical workout, I should say. No wonder nurses are prone to have varicous veins due to prolonged standing.

10. SKIPPING MEALS

Too much number of patients, thus, we tend to skip meals. This is how we are very much flexible with our time. We do not allow our patient to wait for a long time in the ER to be transferred in the ward. Patient first before self and that’s what nursing is all about.

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