What Being a Nurse is Really Like

I am training to be a nurse and it’s been 4 months now since I have started university and about 2 months since I have been on placements and I am going to express how I feel about the whole situation.
First of all when I went into the placements I had an open mind and I was ready to give nursing a good go but each day I grow to dislike it more and more and I really do believe that it is one of the worst jobs ever. I am just going to go in on the affects it has had on my body and health. Nurses are busy caring for other people’s health whilst they’re healthy gets worse. My knees hurt it’s only been two months…I stretch every morning to try and easy the damage. My back is also feeling worse and that’s with the manual handling being done. Also I am not even registered but I am quite stressed out.

The staff are nice and I really like some of the patients. I think the ward that I am on is really good and compared to the other wards that I have been to, it’s up there with the best. But even though the patients are lovely and all that I still feel down every time I have to go back to the hospital, it’s like you are in school and sometimes you don’t want to go but you get used to it and you just get on with it because you know that in x amount of years you will move on to doing something better. But as a nurse this is it……you will be a nurse for many many years.


One thing that I can’t get out of my head that I am actually doing this for the rest of my life, is that all my hard work, getting A grades and sleepless nights was all in order to end up cleaning someone’s poop, cleaning balls and vags……Like really, I have stopped and thought to myself “God, was this really your plan for me?”

Moving on, on the ward I am on its 12 hour shifts day and night and day shifts are ok but when you get home you are tired and you sleep wake up in the morning and you are back. Nights are even worse because after you are done you are like do I go to sleep or eat breakfast and it’s not even healthy or good for your body. You wake up feeling out of place. Digestive system is ruined….Sleep patterns not going on.

Also, they say if you work 12 hour shifts you will get more days off…But in reality you will be tooooo tired to even feel that you are getting more days off because you’re day off you might be sleeping or catching up with the house work and the days will go so quickly and you are back at work. A lot of the nurses with children complain that they hardly ever see their children and family for days because they will be working.

You actually don’t have time to yourself, if you went to the gym, had a hobby, I don’t even have time to sleep how can I find time to read a book, I had to lose sleep to make time to go to the cinema, to socialise you have to suck in the pain to have a good time….Even time to write on here has been unknown...Work really does take over you’re entire life.

On the plus side why most people become nurses now is because of the job security to get a decent pay. But is it worth it….Is the money worth the back-pain the moments missed with the family and friends…..

I truly believe that nurses do a lot of work and they give up their lives to do the job they do but I am young and I still have dreams but if I am honest I don’t think nursing is for me because it’s a career choice, something you will do 30 or more years of your life and I would rather be with my children when I have them…..But it’s still a hard thing to decide to leave because of the unemployment going on at the moment.

At the moment I cannot see myself finishing the three years and graduating to become a nurse, I think I will try to finish this year and you never know something might happen and I will end up graduating but I am just thinking about my future at the moment and nursing is not looking to promising.

I thought I should share some of my experiences with anyone in my situation or thinking about being a nurse because of job security and the pay…..I would suggest you really think about it and even work as a health care assistant in a hospital for a few weeks to see what the nurses do….It’s not all rosy and wonderful as some people might think. But then again they are some people who genuinely enjoy being nurses and I think that’s fantastic.