Experiences You Are Likely to Have as a Nurse

Being a nurse is a challenging, varied, and rewarding experience that not everybody can handle. Providing care to a great number of patients takes commitment, hard work, and heaps of compassion. In the world of nursing, there are certain experiences that only nurses will have, and here are some of the most memorable.

Experiences You Are Likely to Have as a Nurse
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Too Much Work in One Day

Like many jobs, working as a nurse can result in far too much to do in a single day. The problem with nursing, however, is you must put the patients' needs first, and you cannot leave them too long. This results in a lot of stress. Any nurse will tell you that there have been several days where it seems simply impossible to fit everything in, but somehow, they ended up managing. That’s one of the great features of working in a team—if you’re in need, there’ll be someone else there to give you a helping hand.

Making a Wonderful Friend

Nursing is a breeding ground for brilliant friendships. As a nurse, you will never find someone as understanding and as loyal as another nursing friend. You will be able to talk about your day knowing exactly what the other has been through, which will create a bond like no other. At times, your nursing friends will be the only comfort to get you through the day. You’ll cry together, laugh together, and lose your minds together—but you’ll never let the other go.

A Patient Who Will Make You Cry

Unfortunately, not every patient is appreciative of a nurse’s best efforts. A nursing job can be stressful, and even more so when a patient is being particularly difficult. For whatever reason, there will come a time as a nurse when a patient will make you cry. Maybe they’ll be critical of you, or simply not respond to you, but whatever it is, it’s completely OK to let it all out. For each person who doesn’t understand a nurse’s trials and efforts, there are plenty more who do.

A Patient Who Will Make You Cry With Laughter

Yes, there will be patients who will upset you, but there are far more who will give you a heartfelt “thank you,” make you smile, and even make you laugh so hard you end up crying! One of the most rewarding parts about being a nurse is looking after the wonderful patients. Some of them will be hilarious, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself excusing yourself to have a good, long giggle! It can be enough to shift the clouds away on an otherwise morbid day.

Receiving Harsh Criticism

As a nurse, you will be subject to a lot of criticism. This makes sense—nursing is one of the most important jobs, so you need to be held to a high standard. This criticism may make you feel low, but over time, you may just come to appreciate the hard-to-hear words. Remember, you only grow through knowing your errors. Thankfully, there will also be times when you receive positive assurance that you are doing a fantastic job.

A Patient Death That Breaks You

Death is a part of life. At one point or another, it affects everybody, and it can be one of the most painful experiences to cope with. This doesn’t change if you are a nurse. Despite dealing with a lot more deaths than the average individual, witnessing it certainly never gets any easier. More than likely, there’ll come a time as a nurse when you grow to like a patient, and once they succumb to their illness, it will absolutely break you. Don’t try to hide the emotion—it is completely natural, so accept that you feel the way you do and move on. After all, you will have provided that person with some brilliant last memories, and looked after them when they were most vulnerable. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

A Patient Recovery That Fills You With Hope

Sometimes, recovery will happen where you don’t expect it, and it will fill you with an abundance of hope. Seeing the faces of the families thank you when their loved one is doing much better is enough to make your whole week! Knowing that your care contributed to the extension of a person’s health is one of the most rewarding feelings in the world.

A Day Where You Forget to Eat

It is no secret how busy nurses are. They are basically superheroes running around looking after as many people as they can. This makes it very important to have very light and comfortable hoka shoes for nurses and it is no surprise, then, that some days they completely forget to look after themselves. As a nurse, you will more than likely go a whole day without eating, only to finish your late shift and wonder, why is my belly rumbling so much? It’s important to look after yourself as a nurse, but there will be times where you will neglect your own body while you are looking after others! Follow this link for some self-care tips for nurses.

A Day Where You Want to Quit

Nursing is extremely stressful. There will come a day when you want to pack it all in and leave the job for another career. It could be for a variety of reasons, from a lack of care from others to too much stress without enough time to yourself. Whatever the reason, you’ll convince yourself that you are quitting, and mentally prepare for the next journey of your career. Come the end of the day, however, you will realize that you are more capable than you gave yourself credit for, and will laugh at the idea of leaving.

Clarity That You Are Exactly Where You Should Be

Being a nurse isn’t for the faint of heart. You will go through trials and errors, sad days and happy ones, but at the end of it, you will understand that helping others in their time of need was always what you were meant to do.