4 Painful Parts of Being a Nurse

Parts of being a nurse involve the things ordinary people don’t do. Yes, nursing is exciting, but as exciting as it is, many nurses have seen and experienced things at work but have not discussed them.

It is also true that it’s one of the most stressful jobs in the world. While nursing is rewarding, there are also many life-and-death situations and patient care challenges.

Nursing is one of the most underappreciated professions, yet, the most regulated. It is because nurses are handling the lives of people every day. Not only their patients but the lives of other nurses too.

It is why there are also the worst parts of nursing. What are the painful parts of nursing? And what can nurses do?

We Can’t Save All Lives

The sad reality is nurses deal with death and dying patients every day. It doesn’t matter what kind of area they specialize in; nurses deal with death. The worst part is that nurses are human beings, and it’s not easy each time they lose a patient.

Many nurses wish they could cry with patients’ families, comfort them, hold their hands, hug them, and grieve with these families, but they can’t. Nurses refrain from crying not because we can’t but because we must stay professional. We need to stay strong for the families left behind.

Nursing is not for the faint of heart. You will see many things that make an ordinary person queasy or heartbroken. Patients’ suffering is part of our daily lives; whether we like it or not, we deal with losing them the best way we know how.

We Handle All the Gross Stuff

Handling the things no one else will touch is part of a nurse’s daily life. From body fluids, mucus, blood, sputum, and phlegm – we handle them. Lucky for us, we were taught earlier about these things in nursing school.

And you must provide nursing care for patients suffering from all kinds of conditions, including those that secrete the grossest things. We don’t shy away from these things because it’s part of the job.

Seeing the Bad and Sad Side of Life

It is a known fact that medical work can expose you to some horrific things that can take an emotional toll on you. And a nurse is one of those healthcare workers that sees these things up close and personal.

As nurses, we see the terrible things that would make you question life. How can a 5-year-old go through multiple heart operations? A 20-year-old who needs a heart transplant because of drug abuse?

We’ve seen a young mother of four battling cancer. We’ve seen healthy people robbed of a good life because of a botched medical procedure. Let’s not forget those who said goodbye to their loved ones who’ve gone too soon—all of these and more.

Being exposed to these things and seeing them unfold in your eyes makes you wonder why life is unfair to those who need it the most. It can be hard to deal with and sometimes affect your mental health.

You’ll feel unappreciated and overworked

Sometimes, you feel burned out from working too much. As nurses, we work endlessly, and sometimes we feel unappreciated. Long shifts, understaffed units, increased patient ratio, and Covid-19 made this job more demanding than it used to be.

Our sacrifices and compassion go unseen by the public and administrators. Sum all that, and you have an exhausted nurse who is on the brink of giving up. And we cannot avoid this.

It’s there, an ever-present occurrence that many nurses experience. It’s a problem that nurses face, but at the same time, something that we cannot resolve entirely.

In Closing

While we experienced many losses, touched many gross things, and did many overtime hours, nursing is still one of the most rewarding jobs. It is an honor to be called to be a nurse.

And while many nurses are made, only a few are born to be one. If you are one of them, stand up and be proud. Nurses are heaven-sent!

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