My name is Beth Anderson. I'm a nurse, and I like to make websites. I'm also 
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The Anger is Coming From Within
By Beth | March 27, 2008
I read this post last night and realized it could have been written about me. I certainly have been doing a lot of complaining lately. A nursing student reading my blog might think twice before continuing with their nursing degree. My question is, what’s wrong with thinking twice about something?
I’ve seen a lot of angry nurse blogs and it concerns me too, but I don’t think the answer is to discourage angry nurses from blogging. To me, angry nurse bloggers = angry nurses, and so there are a lot of unresolved issues within the profession.
John says: “By presenting such a negative picture of our lives, aren’t we, as nurses, beating up those who read our blogs who may be just starting in the profession, or worse, considering joining the profession?”
To me, this couldn’t be further from the truth. When I voice my complaints about the profession, I feel I am doing a service to my readers who are thinking about entering it. I am telling the real story of what it’s like to be a nurse in the hospital. My BSN program did their best to fill my mind with nursing theory, nursing politics, and nursing lingo, but they did very little in explaining what it is actually like to be a nurse, and for that I feel a little cheated at times.
Another thought. The majority of these “angry nurse bloggers” work in hospitals, and hospitals are where the nursing shortage exists. To suggest that all nurses who are unhappy should simply find another specialty, is not really going to do much in the way solving the nursing shortage. There are some very real problems with hospital nursing, and within our health care system in general, and these things issues need to be addressed, not hushed up.
Yes, working as a nurse is frustrating, even infuriating at times. But it’s also exciting, meaningful, and extremely rewarding. And you can find all of these points of view by reading nurse blogs.
Nursing students and novice nurses, take these angry nurse blogs with a grain of salt. People will always complain about their jobs, no matter what profession they are in. On the same token, I would encourage you to take these complaints very seriously because they are real and legitimate. Perhaps a new generation of nurses is needed to actually change things, and to create an environment where nurses aren’t so angry all the time.
Topics: Blog |
March 29th, 2008 at 11:27 am
There is some truth to what you say.
My concern is with the blogs that are not balanced. Your blog is certainly more balanced than the blogs that got the post started in my mind.
The one in particular was a newer blog where every post was “I hate this person”, then, “You wouldn’t believe today in triage, every patient was an idiot”
Surely there is something you enjoy about the job; are you really that miserable? was my first thought.
And, as I said, I realize blogging is not the real world, many people use their blog as cheap therapy (as I have done) and get things off their chest…
Anyway, thanks for joining the debate…
John
March 29th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Thanks for responding! I was hoping that my blog was not one of the ones that you were referring to.
And yes, I am guilty of using my blog as cheap therapy as well. In fact, these days I am kind of using it to solicit advice as in, “I am getting kind of burned out on nursing - what should I do?”
March 30th, 2008 at 4:10 am
hi! i’m a nurse too and i just have to say this. i am currently here in the philippines and has been waiting for almost 2 years for deployment to US. it’s not just me. a lot of us here are still waiting. we already passed all of the required exams and have been actively volunteering in hospitals just to keep ourselves busy. the problem actually lies at how fast your immigration can grant us our visas. the process seems to take a really long time.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Being a nurse is like being in an abusive relationship. If you don’t know anything else, you put up with it and act as if the environment is normal.
As a former hospital RN in ICU, I found that the “satisfied” nurses, majority speaking, had never had significant jobs outside of healthcare. That is they didn’t know anything else.
Having come to nursing after a former career in the business world, I found nursing horrible - the conditions, the way “professionals” treated each other, etc.
Nursing as a whole has serious problems. The blogs that reveal the inside story may help to correct the problems. Keep up the great blog sites, including this one!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:50 am
Beth, you sound like me when I was just starting off in this profession 17 years ago. After the first six months of a crappy job and going home more frustrated day by day, I was ready to flip burgers, fly the friendly skies, even (blech!!!) reconsider going back to teach Junior high school! You have to find your niche. Your groove. I did after a while, and as my life progressed and my situation changed (marriage, kids, relocation) so did my niche. After 17 years, I’ve done ER, ICU, PACU, staff work, agency work, travel nursing, and now I’m getting ready to go back and become a practitioner.
Being a nurse is hard work. But you’d be amazed the amount of knowledge you obtain without even knowing it. Yes, we rant on our blogs sometimes. Some places are better than others to work. Some are safe. Some are HELL. Some are fun. Many times, your co-workers make the difference either way.
I know the state of healthcare is deeply messed up. But it’s not my mission in life to worry about it, obsess about it or lose my lunch about it. I’m there to provide good patient care regardless of the crappy hospital, the indifferent MD, the crazy family members. Some days are better than others.
When nurses blog, we’re speaking from experience. It was an eye opener to realize that the world isn’t composed of families with Mom, Dad and 2.2 children in a little house with a white picket fence and family values such as truth, trustworthiness and being kind to small animals. We deal with a cross-section of people that would take away anyone’s faith in the human race quickly. That’s not cynicism, its the plain truth. But nurses do it day in and day out.
So a little ranting to let off steam keeps our sanity it check. At least mine…..
April 11th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Beth,
I think the topic is a good one. There are good points made by the other commentors, in terms of the “why” nurses tend to blog so vehemently. I think that is also due to the culture of nursing which is more focused on what’s wrong as opposed to organizing and correcting.
I’m still new to the biz, so I could change my tune, but I think it’s up to each of us to keep the negative in context and not get stuck pigeonholing each patient in a negative light.