The Best thing about Being a Nurse
Nursing is one tough job. It’s never for the weak-willed. One day, you’ll just find yourself crying in bed at home after a long shift out of exhaustion or frustration. However, though, it still has its perks and there are certain things about our job that keep us coming back. No matter how some things keep pushing us to give up, there are still aspects in our profession that makes every hardship, every long tiring shift worth it. And that despite all the heavy workload and toxic duty shifts, there are still parts of our job that leave us smiling all day and all night.
Let’s find out some of the best things of being a nurse and hear from our nurses, themselves.
You get to take care of people
Taking care of people. That’s the best part of being a nurse. The rest supports this. As a nurse practitioner I combine the best of care and science for patients. I like the teaching we get to do with patients, our students (RN & NP) and the community. – Robert Smithing, APRN, FAANP
Opportunity of learning
Always learning, opportunities to educate others, pays pretty well, able to set my own schedule, warm fuzzies from helping people get well (or not get well in the best way available, if that makes sense…like easing death for our end stage cancer patients), most of the other floor nurses I work with are awesome–mama_d
Watching the progress of your patient
Watching a patient progress from being really sick until they are stable enough to go to a general practice unit. I work in ICU and I’ve had some very, very sick patients and I’ve had the ones that look like they are not going to make it but do.–RN1982
Making a positive impact on the lives of others
There are so many things that I love about being a nurse but my favorite thing has to be my ability to make a positive impact on the lives of others. I work as an informatics nurse now and get to help nurses deliver better patient care by ensuring that the medical record system functions. When I was on the floor it would always break my heart when some of the other nurses would get annoyed when a patient would ask for something that wasn’t “critical.” It an extra juice or towel makes someone feel better when they are sick then I am more than happy to deliver. Many who go into nursing forget that it’s a service profession and we are meant to serve others. If you enjoy this aspect of nursing, then you will have a long and happy career. –Brittney Wilson, RN, BSN
“It fulfills my need to help better situations”
Hi! I love being a nurse! It fulfills my need to help better situations. Some of which maybe only holding a hand and crying with them. Then there are days where you know that you really made a difference in a person or family’s life. I advocate for the patients and their families.There are days that are frustrating, sad, and all I want to do is go home and cry. Then the next day it will be totally different and you go home knowing that you have touched a life and helped someone have a better day. I’m a Oncology Nurse and have been for over 27 years and love it. Many years ago someone told me that a cure for cancer would put me out of a job. I said ” great! I hope so”. I do bedside nursing and love it! I work with the patients and their families. I educate them about what their choices are and how they can do what they feel is right for them. I hope that before I retire from nursing I will work in Hospice care and help people have the comfortable, peaceful death; surrounded by their family and friends. There are many types of nursing; travel nursing, doctors office, corp heath dept, and school nursing are just a few and it’s changing all the time. I hope that this helps! (Entering this answer for a friend who is a nurse). –Cynthia Aigeltinger
Making a difference
Helping people, patient/family teaching, knowing I made a difference in someone’s life or situation. –mondkmondk
Feeling needed in someone’s life
For me it’s knowing that for a day I was needed in someone’s life. I made a difference.But usually it’s all the free medical supplies. I never run out of band aids! –chicookie
Being able to support and guide someone through a medical crisis
My favorite thing about being a nurse (and at the same time, my most-feared thing) is the fact that most of the people in your life (friends, relatives, and patients alike) have a deep respect for your knowledge and depend on your advice. It is a rewarding and sacred thing to be able to guide someone through a medical crisis and be the support that they lean on, whether they be patient or family member. –roser13, ASN
Seeing my patients smile
The best part for me is seeing a smile on their face after I’ve given them care. I love to serve and I love to give compassion. I love being a nurse. –NurseLoveJoy88
Saving a life
You can save a life and ease someone’s transition to death on the same day at times multiple times a day and sometimes on the same patient. You will touch patients and families lives in a way that is hard to articulate. You become intimately involved in their lives at times of deep despair and surging hope of recovery. You can hold your patients hand while he is dying and the family isn’t there yet. You make a difference in the quality of life of your coworkers and your patients and families. Your job options are vast and opportunity for growth is almost unlimited. It will change you, make you stronger and more compassionate than you think possible. You will always be able to find a job, maybe not the shift, specialty or location you choose but there is always something somewhere. -springfieldrn.
What about you? What’s the best thing about being in this profession for you?
Sources:
- https://www.careervillage.org/questions/1603/what-do-nurses-enjoy-most-about-their-job
- http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/your-favorite-thing-335448.html
- http://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/best-thing-about-426115.html
- https://www.quora.com/Why-do-you-love-being-a-nurse
Liane Clores, RN MAN
Currently an Intensive Care Unit nurse, pursuing a degree in Master of Arts in Nursing Major in Nursing Service Administration. Has been a contributor of Student Nurses Quarterly, Vox Populi, The Hillside Echo and the Voice of Nightingale publications. Other experience include: Medical-Surgical, Pediatric, Obstetric, Emergency and Recovery Room Nursing.
