here's a link to a nine page thread --- Edit [Moderator]: Link removed

I say....graduate, pass your boards, find a job you think you would most enjoy and get the most out of being a new grad and form your own opinion. Get some experience under your belt and know that the wonderful thing about a nursing career is that you have so many choices as a nurse. Being a nurse is not all bed side nursing. So..look forward to doing what you have chosen as career choice...with a positve attitude. You will see that your lessons in nursing are not over as the medical field is everchanging... and remember nothing is perfect. Doesn;t matter what "job" you have there are always down falls.

Do most nurses share these opinions
Believe it all honey, and more. its like working with a bunch of sneaky cats. And if the staff doesn't get you, the administration will. You aren't allowed to have any feelings if you want to be a good nurse. When I went to school, nursing was concerned with how good you did your job, not how well you played politics, all that has changed. See my posting on why I became a nurse. If I had more time now, I'd take a class in something like legal nurse consulting, and stay away from the healthcare setting. As it is I'm just trying to make it the few more years until retirement.

Nursing is not all bad- it just depends on where you work. If you can keep out of the clicks and politics of a place you are better off. I just quit and doctors office and there were some back stabbing people there. But the less info you give people about your personal life the less they have to gossip about you. You can be friendly without being personal. Besides most people would rather tell you about their business than hear about yours- let em talk. Remember anyplace is going to have conflict, politics and backstabbers, some are just worse than others, find what works for you and stay out of the junk in the places. Let your work prove your worth as a nurse.

Nursing is very much stab in the back in this day and age. As a for instance: I have been working a dual dx unit for 3 years. The nurse manger (excelland, calming, caring, wonderous amounts of knowledge) was "punished" for not writing up enough RN on his unit. He was sent to a sister hospital on an adult unit which all of the management knew he hated straight psych. Lo and behold, the next nurse manager is a young female who I had trained on our unit, worked weekends with and who would never take the charge role. Well, 6 months ago she put in for nurse manger of the Adolescent Dual dx unit. It made no difference on a unit that is chaotic, out of control, often has riots requiring police intervention. She applied for and got our old manager's job. We alll supported her coming up. She has many "isms" of alcoholism but is not an alcoholic herself. Just very demanding, blalck and white, dictatorial in her management style. Has started putting down the nurses and making comments that the MHA's keep the unit together. (she has a long hx of being partial to these folks and has several children by one (doesn't work here). She is having an afffair with one who does work here. Has played games with allowing them to call out after having partied with them the night before. To make a long story short. I am 58, old enough to be her mother, didn't get in my way, or she says her way. I had a very tough day on the job about 8 weeks ago, ended up in tears, requested to be let to go home. There was the nurse mangager (who technically doesn't count on the staff census) and a med nurse who was leaving in 1/2 an hour. The nurse mgr did not come to talk with me, did not try to help me regain some sort of control to see if we could make it through the day. She instead got on the phone and immmediately called the supervisor and stated "<> is walking off the unit". I then took the phone and requested permission to lealve the unit as I was to upset to continue. The supervisosr said why dont we talk about it? I said, >< it doesn't change anything. everytime we talk nothing changes. We are short staffed and have been for most of the 3 years I have been here. No one cares or does anything to change the status. It is unsafe on this unit and I have been threatened with death by one 6'3" male who stated "inside or out, I'll find you". I told her talking with her would not help and requested again to leave. She replied "Well, um, I guess so.". In the meantime, I also requested from my nurse mgr if I could please leave, Her commment was "you know I don't take these things personnally, do what you need to do". Foolishly (in hindsight) I took both these comments to mean that I could leave the unit, which I did.

2 days later I was fired for abandonment. The phoney letter states " <> paged supervisor at (time) to state (me) was walking of the unit. Supervisor states she did speak with (me) on the phone and offered to come over and meet with her to discuss the reason why she had to leave and to offer support. (Me) replied "No, I can't talk with you. I have to leave right now." Supervisor replied I will be right over. She walked overto the unit immediately and when got ther (me) had left. DON (acting) was notified that (me) had walked off the unit.

I don't see it that way at all, I left with what I heard to be permission to leave the unit from vboth people that I had to get the permission from.

Now they are blocking my unemployment status. Refusing me to collect.
This I believe all happened because the temporary DON was angry with me for a comment i made a week before: "It's too bad but it seens that alll the RN's who go into management forget what it's like in the trenches."
Her reply: I am HIGHLY INSULTED BY THE COMMENT! I feel this is sthe real reason for my being fired, for their not allowing unemployment to be given, even though I have earned the right for it. I value my license and would never have left a unit with permission granted. Never, never. However they have hired a firm with a 96% success rate at stopping benefits of unemployment. And now it is my word against everyone elses. I am so angry and so frustrated. With all this crap going on, they have never notified the BON, which in my mind shows how weak their real actions are. However, I have no proof as I know the peers around when this happened are going to side with management just to save their own jobs. I can't believe but they will be lieing under oath.

Yep, sadly this is nursing in the real world.

opinion of nursing
Erin, I feel for you, I too am 58 and seen it all. I was a supervisor in a nursing home until recently, 3-11. I had a male patient follow me around the building in his wheelchair, and every chance he got to get close to me, he rubbed my butt. He also would sit in the doorway of ladies rooms and watch them. That night, I was coming down with Flu, caught there by the way,and he was particularly aggressive. I was tripping over hiim, he was running into me and feeling my butt. I leaned down to talk to him because he is hard of hearing as I am, so I wanted him to see me talk, and said," No! you don't go around touching ladies" This was seen as an oportunity by some of the CNA's who didn't like me because I made them work. They went to the DON and she decided I was "in his face" and that was abuse. She readily admits she wasn't there to see it. I had verbally reported the problems with him over the months, and documented in my daily reports when he was really aggressive. I was not just worried because he was sexually harassing me, but what would he do to the ladies he was watching? What is the stopping point for abuse to us now? Nursing was never like this when we started in it. I have been biten, spit on,kicked,and punched, but that's ok, I'm just the nurse. So she fires me, while I have the flu caught there, taking my health insurance, then I get reactive airway disorder from the flu, I was put on advair, so now I have thrush, all without any insurance. I don't have a husband to support me, so I've got some real problems. By the way, looking at references I've had in the past, I'm an excellent nurse, but that doesn't matter any more.