Related: Attitude, Caring, Compassion Fatigue, Patients

"What are they doing here?" asked Shannon. "They shouldn't be here. It's an emergency room, for goodness’ sake."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, can't they see we're too busy?" I added. At the time I had only been working in the emergency room for six months, and like all good junior staff, I was mimicking my seniors.

You see, the problem was that we were ridiculously busy, [...]

Related: Boundaries, Confidentiality, Patients, Truth

It began with a simple hello and went down hill from there.

“Ah. Hi,” I stammered, as my mind frantically went into overdrive trying to figure out where I’d seen this pretty blond woman before. “Can I buy you a drink? It’s the least I can do,” she offered.

Something definitely was amiss because attractive young women didn’t generally offer to buy me drinks. I peered closer [...]

Related: Boundaries, Caregivers, Complaints, Conflict, Inappropriate Relationships, Patients, Professionalism

About a month ago I took care of a female patient on my unit who was post-op. She was relatively young (in her early 40s) and healthy.

I took care of her for two days in a row. At first she seemed pleasant, and we got along well. We have daughters the same age and live in the same city.

At the end of the [...]

Related: Anxiety, Confidence, Death, Emotions, Fear, Feelings, Mistake, New Grad, Quitting

My first nursing job was as a camp nurse the summer I graduated. It seemed like a great way to spend my last free summer while studying for boards. Lots of sun, water, and friends. A week or so after boards (the whole country took a two-day written test on the same days) was the first time I considered quitting nursing. [...]

Related: Attitude, Gossip, Nurse Relationships, Professionalism, Respect

Schools are teaching it across the country: Character Counts. And traits like trustworthiness, caring, responsibility, and respect continue to count—and have far-reaching implications—when you become a professional.

Yet, we hear repeatedly from nurses on this site that nurses are bereft of respect.

Guess what? You need to stop pointing fingers. Creating a respectful working environment starts with you.

If I don’t act respectful towards other people, or if [...]

Related: Confidentiality, Gossip, Patients

I grew up in this town. I go to church here. I work here. My kids go to school here. My extended family lives here. I am well connected. These facts are all wonderful to me most of the time. It does occasionally cause me some difficulties, though. I work at a doctor's office that lots of [...]

Related: Assertiveness, Attitude, Authority, Conflict, Expectations, Feelings, New Nurse, Preceptor

When I first started as a new nurse, I had 2-3 patients on my own for the first week. I was given 7 patients after the first week, and then the next day 8!

My preceptor told me to handle all the patients, and if I needed her, to come ask any questions. I handled it the best way I knew how.

But when I asked [...]

Related: Career, Expectations, Second Career Nursing, Truth

Why did you become a nurse? Why would you recommend the profession to someone else? Was the schooling harder than the actual job?

We've had lots of posts from people thinking about getting into the nursing profession, but uncertain about whether it's really for them or not. They wonder if they're too old. Or smart enough. Or have a strong [...]

Related: Attitude, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Fear, Learning, Teamwork

We’ve heard about them—and maybe even worked with them: the cranky, power-trippy docs. The ones who don’t want to associate with nurses at all, and see them as sub-par professionals.

I work in Labor and Delivery--we do a lot of waiting for people to deliver, and the tendency is for nurses and doctors to segregate in two different areas. This seems to promote the idea that [...]

Related: Caring, New Nurse, Nurse Relationships, Patients, Stress, Support, Teamwork, Time

I often struggle to remember the good days at work. But the good outweighs the bad, otherwise I wouldn't still be a nurse. One of the more memorable, feel-good stories goes like this:

At 41, Mr. Jones was too young to need vascular surgery, especially since he wasn't diabetic, and as far as he was aware, he didn’t have a family history of circulation problems. But [...]