Welcome back everybody! This is part two
of me debunking these reasons I've found online
that suggest
if they're applicable to you
you shouldn't become a nurse.
Because becoming a nurse has changed my life in so many ways
I want to cover some of the reasons, why these reasons…
just ain't good reasons.
So this is part deux, so we're starting off with number six, and that is:
You shouldn't be a nurse if you have to pee a lot.
Ok, there's something like 3 million registered nurses in the United States alone
you think we all have the same bladder power?
Honestly?
No!
I have worked those shifts where I hadn't peed in eight to twelve hours.
Your body just adapts to learn to pee, "BID" at some point.
But in the meantime, if you can't look to your colleague and say
"Hey can you literally watch my pager for 1 minute while I go into the bathroom and pee?"
"1 minute."
If they say "No."
You need to find a new floor or facility.
OK, let's say worst case scenario:
You drank a gallon of water, you've been holding it in all day
you're just about to go
and your patient stops breathing.
::gasps::
Guess what…
you don't have to pee anymore.
I promise you.
I don't know where it goes…
but it goes somewhere.
It's gone.
You don't have to pee.
Done.
It'll come out someday.
It's just not right now.
I think your bladders like…
and it takes a look at what's going on and is like…
"Ohhh… I'm gonna give him a minute."
Tell me this, how many people do you think become nurses
and quit because they have to pee a lot?
Seriously.
Just a rough estimate.
Ballpark it.
Has this conversation ever gone down?
"Hey where's Brenda, isn't this her shift?"
"Oh you didn't hear?"
"She peed too much…
she's back in school
she had to quit."
No.
And say you got a medical condition that makes ya hit the pot a lot
You get a doctor's note explaining the situation, and when you gotta go ya gotta go.
But that's not even anything to worry about, you'll be able to pee.
The bottom line is you have to take care of yourself before you take care of other patients
and that includes emptying your bladder.
We all pee, whether it's passing the pager, or our bladders adapting... we make it happen.
Not a reason not to become a nurse.
Next up, you shouldn't be a nurse if you don't like to keep learning...
I can kind of understand this one…
I see healthcare workers mindlessly scrolling through these modules all the time
updating information in their brain.
The retention rate definitely correlates with the enthusiasm on their faces.
Nursing school is tough... medical school is tough… and when you're done, ya wanna be done
and that's why there are nurses and doctors that don't want to change their practice
according to the new evidence-based data, like they should.
because they've been "doing it successfully this way forever,"
and they're busy people!
They've got lives outside of healthcare!
I wonder what that's like.
Another module on hazardous waste?
Ain't nobody got time for that.
You get through school your like, "Yay, I'm done," no you're not.
There's continuing education all the time...
but the recognition I'm getting right now on social media and at events is trying to
deliver education is a fun and engaging way
and… influence other nurses to do the same.
Everyone has fun in different ways and once you learn the material and get some experience
under your belt
or if you're a nurse that's just feeling burnt out
Take whatever your passionate about…
incorporate it into helping other people, I promise you, you'll find a way.
If you're into gardening, I hear that's one of the most therapeutic things you can do
for yourself, for your soul
Have a gardening meetup
teach people about vitamins in fruits and vegetables, pesticides, organophosphates.
I don't care. Just make it interesting and fun, right?
Crocheting, big surprise: not my thing.
But it's a lot of people's thing.
Hold a crocheting class
and while people are crocheting, talk about the things that they eat, how they shop at
the grocery store.
Some of the experiences you've had with patients that have had poor nutrition.
Diabetes, hypertension, so many opportunities.
Help people make healthy choices so they stay out of the hospital.
and reach out to other nurses that are burnt out
Invite them over for a movie night, ok…
all nurses…
but each one has to bring one medication that they have to teach the rest of them about.
Sounds like fun?
Hint hint…
Anybody who's interested…
Put a new pep in their step...
and that's precisely what you and I are gonna do from here on out.
Cause we're figuring out ways that everyone's gonna love to learn.
So, you and me both…
scratch that off the list!
Next up: you shouldn't be a nurse if you're in it for the money.
This pretty much applies to any job, right?
Don't do something for the money, do something that you love.
Truth is:
I loved playing video games
and uhhh
partying…
when I was applying for nursing school.
and unfortunately
multi-playing Half-life at 4AM
and, uh
being a beer-pong champion
doesn't pay the bills.
Nursing can pay very well and it varies where you're at.
But the beauty of it is
you can go anywhere.
That's the flexibility.
The hours
the days
the rotations.
It's… all the other wonderful perks.
I know plenty of nurses that will tell you straight up that they got into nursing because it paid well.
Because they've got cell phone bills, they've got rent to pay, and they've got kids to feed.
This is reality.
But right after that, they'll tell you how they had no idea how nursing was gonna change
their life forever
for the better
I'm one of them, and we'll talk more about that.
Doing something because you're only in it for the money, could be implied, but again
that's a blanket statement that shouldn't be applied specifically to nursing
Unless it's playing the lottery, don't do anything for the money.
Ok? You probably shouldn't even do that…
though I haven't bought a scratch ticket in a while…
Next up, is: you shouldn't be a nurse if you don't have people skills.
Now this one kind of got to me. There's no humor involved.
It blatantly states that social competency is a necessity to become a nurse.
Here's a little bit about me that I want you to know.
It's important to me that I'm honest with you and that includes sharing some things
that
might make other people feel kind of uncomfortable sharing.
but I need you to trust me. So here goes…
When I started nursing school, I was a shy, isolated, very insecure person with terrible
people skills.
I wouldn't look people in the eye
not the cashier at the supermarket
not the receptionist at the gym
not even the people that I worked with.
People were always asking me why I was mad…
I wasn't mad…
I just wasn't uncomfortable in my own skin.
Because it's such a horrible feeling to feel like you're not doing the things you want to be doing
without loving people the way you want to be loving people
without being who you know you are.
It's low self-worth, right?
You don't say anything because you're scared, no one cares what you think or
someone might like you a lot less after you say something.
You don't make eye contact
you don't initiate conversations
you don't accept invites to social outings
…that was me.
And all that stuff. eye contact, conversations, socializing, human interaction
none of that improves on its own.
Well guess what, clinical number one, patient number one.
I paced outside of his room for one hour.
Going up to the nursing station pretending I'm writing something down in my care plan.
I mean who did I think I was? Going into this old man's room and telling him I was gonna
do stuff for him that he couldn't do himself.
My heart was racing, I was sweating… I was terrified.
I finally went in…
I spent four full days with him.
OK. I learned about him, his disease, his limitations
what he can and can't do.
and about myself
and how I could help him
with it all.
Because not only did he talk to me about him
Two to three words at a time because he had really bad COPD
I mean you wanna talk about exercising patience...
and not cardiac rehab style.
I'm talking the waiting for 10 minutes
attentively…
for 2 sentences.
I also talked to him about me.. a lot faster.. but he cared. I also learned he needed me
or someone else there
to help him with the things he couldn't do himself.
He helped me find the self-worth that was in me all along...
but sometimes it takes an eye opener
or an experience
to believe in yourself.
Working in the E.R.
Patient after patient.
I mean your popping into other people's patient's rooms, starting IV's, right?
Running codes in other rooms.
You'll develop people skills real quick if you want to be an effective healer.
Or you won't
and you'll be miserable, and hate your job.
Plenty of people do.
It's not unique to nursing.
Nursing ain't for everyone, I'm not saying that is.
What I'm saying is if you're thinking about nursing, but your apprehensive because
you don't have the people skills right now,
nursing is an excellent way to develop them.
I mean you'll run into people with personalities and attitudes
and families and lives, in situations you didn't even know could exist.
From the one legged IV drug user
to the snobby doctor who's got his whole family in the room…
and they're all doctors...
and they want to know why X, Y, and Z isn't done.
You learn people skills
for all situations.
OK, the last one.
You shouldn't be a nurse if you don't know how to care about the care that you're giving.
and it goes on to say something about how it can't ever be learned or taught.
And that's…
just...
wrong.
Nursing school is a process
and a tough one
but you learn about therapeutic communication
and how to care for someone.
A lot of us
probably most of us
have never cared for a person
the way a nurse cares for a person.
So, how do you know if you care about caring for someone,
if you haven't had the opportunity to practice caring?
So, by practicing in nursing school, residencies, and thereafter...
you're always learning about how to care about caring for someone.
K real talk right now.
When I first started nursing
I did not like cleaning up incontinent patients that had bowel movements.
Don't try to tell me that you did
cause you didn't.
I avoided it the plague, ok?
I did not want to do it.
And then I was cleaning up this elderly gentleman.
He was telling me about some of the things he did in life.
He was like a fighter pilot captain that led like fleets of jets in the air force right?
Something amazing like that.
and it made me think about in his 80+ years of life…
how many accomplishments
how many relationships
how many traumas
how many beauties he's gone through...
and now he needs me, because he can't wipe himself.
Everyone poops. Right?
We try to keep it on the downlow, but everyone knows that everyone does it.
Kylie Jenner, Brad Pitt, doesn't matter who you are.
Sometimes when I get frustrated
that I'm not with Gigi Hadid…
I think about the fact that she poops
and then it makes me f---
no, I still love her.
Point is everyone does it, and when you grow up, you handle it all yourself
It's your own business, you keep it on the downlow
Problem is
he can't…
and now he needs me for this.
So not only is it your job to help them feel clean again
it's to preserve their dignity.
And you learn that as you go.
I'll tell you I made sure he was extra clean...
cause he deserved it...
everyone deserves it...
and that became a part of my practice.
Just like it should yours.
Trust me, I don't wait around for "Code Browns" to happen
but when they do
I don't miss a spot.
And that…
is caring about caring…
and I learned that through that experience.
So, to summarize, nursing isn't for everyone.
If you think it might be for you
shadow a nurse.
Shadow multiple nurses, in different specialties
because they're each incredibly unique of each other.
It's what I did, and it's what solidified my decision to become a nurse.
If you want to care about people
help people heal
help people save lives
don't let reasons like these make you think twice about it.
Cause I could have checked off a lot of these reasons right off the bat and said
"Nope... nursing is not for me"
and not to toot own horn
but I get kudos from other nurses
doctors, patients, the general population.
and that's just concrete examples.
That's not what's important to me.
What's important to me is that nursing has helped me and continues to help me in unbelievable
ways throughout this life.
And I think a lot about people who struggle with finding a purpose in life…
true satisfaction…
fulfillment.
Think about people volunteering, ya know
they're giving back to the world.
Helping someone else out, our fellow people
helping someone heal…
there's nothing that can beat that.
And you get paid to do it
to take care of yourself and your own loved ones.
So, my only hope is these two videos find their way to someone who's considering nursing
or doesn't know what they want to do…
before they find the bogus reasons, they shouldn't be a nurse
and though I'm not getting paid to do this...
I'm still clocking out.