People Told Us Their Worst Experiences Working in Nursing
Credit to Author: Chris D’Alessandro| Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2019 19:43:04 +0000
In a Student Life Network survey of about 1,400 students from across Canada, the second most desired job for high school and post-secondary students was “nurse” (second only to “teacher,” which was the number choice). This surprised me. Personally, I would rank “nurse” somewhere just below “prison guard” and just above “cobra pit sweeper” as jobs I would want to have because it seems like a lot of pressure and responsibility.
But there are people who put fear aside and genuinely want to spend their lives helping others. They see nursing as a calling.
And that’s what nursing should feel like if you’re considering it as a career. If you want to be a nurse because you assume it’s safe, steady, respectable work that could net you a salary in the triple digits, you might want to think again. The average annual salary is between $65,000-85,000 CAD. And even though employment prospects are pretty good, according to nurses, it’s thankless work.
When I asked nurses what the worst parts of their jobs were, it went well beyond just cleaning up piss and blood. According to them, it’s an exhausting job where dealing with life-and-death scenarios, and experiencing sexual assault comes with the territory. Here is what they shared about their working conditions.
Jean, 28, Cardiovascular Nurse, Mississauga, ON
Verbal, physical, and sexual assault are serious issues for nurses. Nurses get verbally assaulted every day. I get “fuck you” or “fuck off” from patients on the regular. Most of the time we’re screamed at.
On physical abuse, we get hit, kicked, punched, and spit on. Things get thrown at us and we’re even bitten sometimes. But what really affects me are the sexual assaults.
You’ll get the occasional family member who will try to corner you during night shifts, but to be honest, the patients are worse than the family members. Patients grabbing my breasts, or my ass, occurs on a daily basis. This happens all the time. Women do it too. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been helping people out bed or the chair to the bathroom, and their hands have grazed my ass, my hip, my breast.
Yes, sometimes it’s an accident. But most of the time it’s not. And it can get worse.
In one instance, I had a 45-year-old white male (who was cognitively intact), call me into his bathroom. He was stark naked, standing in the middle of the bathroom with fecal matter ALL over the place. He explained he had an accident. Well, yes. Clearly. Fine. I got him a new gown, some washed clothes, and started cleaning up the floor.
As I was cleaning the floor, he moved in front of the door to block it and said, “Aren’t you going to wipe me?” I looked him dead in the eye and said, “No. I gave you what you need to clean yourself up. You are more than capable of cleaning yourself. Call me when you are done.”
He didn’t move from the door and glared at me. I had to ask him to move away from the door. He eventually did, I left, and for the rest of the shift he was rude to me. All because I refused to wipe a 45-year-old man’s privates.
Regina, 27, Pediatric Nurse, Toronto, ON
Nurses are incredibly undervalued. And there are a lot of negative stereotypes. It’s really insulting when people think that all I do is change TV channels, get patients water, or just play cards all day.
The reality is we’re the ones who stop death or severe harm. I have to be ‘on’ for the entire day and be able to catch those things that I know need intervention immediately. And I absolutely can’t mess a single thing up.
For example, in my position, I have to give a lot of narcotics to children. If by chance I didn’t check my medication dose, there’s a real possibility of causing serious harm to a child.
If I don’t assess them after I give them a medication—let’s say it’s morphine—that could cause respiratory depression. If I don’t check that the kid is breathing OK after I give it, because I’m too busy, that could cause serious harm.
And we’re really busy. A few weeks ago, I didn’t get a single break on any of my shifts. There have been shifts where I won’t eat from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. We always joke about our bladders—that we’re camels. Sometimes you’re running around so much you don’t get to use the washroom.
It makes me feel even more unappreciated and undervalued as a healthcare professional when patients or families question my advice, but immediately respond to the doctor without question when they give the exact same advice I just gave.
Sexism is also an issue on that level. I’ve seen male nurses enter patient rooms and immediately be addressed as “doctor” because they’re male. Especially from older patients and family members.
John, 25, Cardiovascular Nurse, Mississauga, ON
It’s not worth getting into nursing. The amount of bullshit you deal with for what you get paid is depressing. Especially when you consider the effort it takes to keep people alive.
For example, a week ago, my patient had a code blue. That’s when there’s an unexpected cardiac emergency with a patient waiting for surgery. It’s a life-or-death situation. When a code blue happens, you drop everything and do what you can to save them.
In this situation, the patient’s blood circulation wasn’t enough to keep up her blood pressure. She had no pulse.
So I transferred her to the ICU for a team to go to work on her. We gave her drugs, did chest compressions, helped her with her breathing and we got her back. The patient survived.
You never get recognition for things like that. But if there’s a very minor responsibility that we miss, it’s suddenly the end of the world. They sit us down and tell us what we “did wrong.”
In another incident, I had finished my shift and I was transferring accountability to another nurse when suddenly a patient began complaining about chest pain. I told this nurse that I could help him out with a procedure, but that he should follow up with the patient’s doctor when they get the chance.
Afterwards, I was sat down by someone from management who said that the patient had blamed me for their chest pains. They argued I hadn’t done my job properly. It was relentless. I’ve never felt so attacked in my whole life.
Turns out, the other nurse hadn’t done the follow up and had thrown me under the bus. It was easier for them to put my license on the line rather than take responsibility.
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