It’s not easy being a nurse. Hospitals have experienced this fact acutely over the last few years as more and more people have left the profession. One of the issues? Incoming nurses don’t always know exactly what they are getting themselves into.
They know the job will have challenges, but they are aware of these hurdles only in an abstract sense. In this article, we take a look at what specific factors make this work hard, and how nurses navigate these challenges.
Read on to learn more about what difficulties you can expect to encounter during your first nursing job.
It’s Lonely Work
Not always. Sometimes, not even noticeably. On the job, you may very well be surrounded by people. Coworkers. Patients. Patients’ family members. Hospitals are busy places, filled constantly at every second. And yet there are aspects of healthcare work that can be very isolating.
Your friends, your family, your partner, will never fully understand your experiences. Nurses deal with death and loss so much more regularly than other people. It’s hard to watch someone die and then go home to a partner who just wants to unwind with Netflix.
It’s not that your friends and family won’t care about your experiences. They simply won’t fully understand them. It’s hard to shake the job off at the end of the day.
No, most nurses aren’t walking around constantly brokenhearted, but they experience things that are decidedly more intense than the average workplace stress.
It’s Very Physical
Nursing may not be a traditional blue-collar job but it involves much more physical labor than many people anticipate. For one thing, many nurses are on their feet for 10-12 hours at a time. This alone is exhausting, even before you take into account all of the heavy lifting.
Many of your patients may be unable to move comfortably or effectively on their own. Guess whose job it will be to adjust their position on the bed, or help them lumber across the room to take a shower?
Invest in a comfortable pair of shoes.
It Can Be Dangerous
Nurses aren’t exactly like police officers or firefighters. They don’t go to work with the expectation that the job will require them to risk their own safety. And yet, there are many ways in which this is a required aspect of the job.
One of them? You’re constantly in contact with sick people. During the pandemic, many nurses and doctors got Covid at work. There are many other transmittable illnesses and diseases that healthcare workers are uniquely positioned to come into contact with.
There are also physical and emotional risks. Nurses have no say in who they treat. While most patient encounters are pleasant, some decidedly are not. The average nurse will experience both physical and emotional abuse while on the job.
Unfortunately, hospitals have historically done very little to subvert this risk. Your setting can make a difference. Nurses working in a psychiatric hospital are much more likely to be assaulted than those on a maternity ward. Still, the job can be dangerous regardless of where you are assigned.
It’s Sad
It is. Nurses know this going in, but they can’t fully prepare for it. While the emotional aspect of the work tends to diminish with experience, it never fully goes away. When you see a patient you care about decline in health, it’s hard to watch. When you regularly interact with grieving family members, it colors your own mood.
Hospitals can be wonderful places where babies are born and lives are saved. However, they are also the setting for many people’s most challenging experiences. Nurses get a front-row seat for the good and the bad.
Your Compassion May Wane
Perhaps because nurses see so much tragedy, some eventually begin to feel jaded. This is a real psychological experience known as “compassion fatigue.” Experienced nurses can’t always relate to patients on an emotional level to the same extent that they did when they were new to the work.
Is this always a bad thing? It really depends on the case. A little bit of emotional distance makes the work easier. Too much can create its own stress.
Work/Life Balance Isn’t Always Possible
Hospitals are always open. While nurses do often have some scheduling flexibility—though not always when staffing is a problem—they can’t avoid inopportune shifts. Their twelve-hour days cover nights, weekends, and holidays.
What’s more, when they are scheduled, it’s hard to do anything else. Teachers work hard, but they are usually home before dinner. This gives them time to unwind with their friends and family.
Nurses usually don’t even get off until 7 (AM or PM). Then, they commute, eat, and go to bed so they will be prepared to do it all again the next day.
Most nurses eventually figure out how to balance their professional and personal responsibilities effectively. However, it may take time to get the balance right.
There Are Good Reasons Nurses Quit
You’ve heard about the high turnover in healthcare. Almost half of all nurses quit within the first few years on the job. These figures sound very abstract when you are in school. Once you start working the job, you’ll probably understand why nursing has such high turnover.
The work is hard. Often, it is thankless. The stress is also corrosive. Not everyone can rest easy knowing that their choices have such a significant influence over someone else’s health.
Fortunately, there is an emerging personal wellness culture that is shaping the way hospitals set their policies. Many healthcare facilities are offering support materials to help new and established nurses navigate their professional stress.
These opportunities may include everything from mentorship programs to counseling services. Nursing is not an easy job, but it is a rewarding one. Take a breath, and relax. While there will be stresses and challenges ahead, there will also be moments that remind you of why you wanted to be a nurse in the first place.
