RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Tough, often unpleasant job, depending on which part of the hospital you work in.

To do it well requires a dedication beyond the tolerances of most. Certainly beyond mine.

My sister's a nurse and she's an idiot. That said, they do work hard and pretty much make up for the ineptitude of the doctors they service, as scarey as that thought is.

Those that work in pediatric settings though deserve the highest praise. Nothing's worse than watching a sick and/or teminally ill child deal with pain. Seem to remember a study somewhere that said the average length of work at a burn facility was 6 months or less. Turnover was so high because the nurses couldn't bear watching the kids cry and scream when replacing the bandages, which they had to do regularly. Friggin' tragic...

My girlfriend's a nurse, and I have the deepest respect for what she does. The men and women who choose to enter this profession deserve a lot of credit. It's not an easy job, and it's mentally and physically taxing. They deal a lot more directly with patients than the doctors do, and make a fraction of their salaries. So this is a big thank you to all the nurses out there - you're truly angels!

I don't blame the nurses in any way, shape, or form. Because they are way overworked and underpaid. The nurses hours should be cut down to reasonable hours instead of working 12 to 14 hours, and sometimes more. After all, people's lives are at stake.

One of the best quotes I read regarding the profession:

"Nursing puts us in touch with being human. Nurses are invited to the inner spaces of other people’s existence without even asking, for where there is suffering, loneliness, the tolerable pain of cure, or the solitary pain of permanent change, there is the need for the kind of human service we call nursing." (Diers)

Regardless of the negatives, the positives, surrounding the profession, I think that's nursing at its core. And I think that's pretty damn cool.

My daughter is a RN. She is taking a break now after having a baby and going back to college to get her masters. She worked in the Neo-natal Intensive Care unit at a University Hospital. Nursing can be a very difficult profession as well as being one of the most rewarding careers going.

It's a great profession but it never should be done because of money or trendiness. Only the true Saints should apply.

These people work so hard and get so little respect! They are the gems of the medical profession and have to cover so many areas. Without nurses Doctors would be lost!

As a podiatrist,I think that they are great!Are excellent on wound care issues,are a great source of referrals and do yeoman's work for relatively low pay.

I've done real time in a hospital- top to bottom, these women work harder than any group I've ever seen. . .the job is emotional, physical, and (at times) thankless. . .

nurses are the most underappreciated. they put so much in.

Overworked and most of the time underpaid. They do all the dirty work and get way less recognition than they deserve. Sometimes the last person you see before death but seem to take the responsibility with grace and dignity for the patient. Very difficult profession both mentally and physically.

Having spent many years in the Health Care sector,I must say that a Good Nurse is worth her/his weight in gold many times over.Those who are dedicated to this profession save lives and comfort the ill and injured on a regular basis.That said,there are quite a few who are callous and even negligent in their duties.It's such a hard job and most hospitals are chronically understaffed,so it's hard to get rid of the bad ones.This means that those who truly care about their patients are overworked and subject to burnout.Next time a Nurse does a good job for you or a loved one-be sure to give them some much deserved praise!

Anybody who disrespects nurses are seriously wrong. Yes I'm talking to you!! These individuals work so damn hard with seriously long hours and are the most under-appreciated professionals around. Their wages are crap, they put up with rude patients who don't appreciate what they've just done - HELLO, saving someone's life and the majority of the time their seen as nothing compared to doctors. Just like fireman, policeman and teachers nurses deserve to be treated with more respect for simply having someone else's lives in their hands.

The nursing shortage pretty much means that if you're a qualified nurse, you will always have a job. I wish we could drop this stereotype that nurses have to be women. Some men coming into the occupation might help lessen the shortage some.

It takes a very strong and special woman to do this job. Because so many of these women have to see horrible, horrible things and deal with that. Nurses are an underappreciated group of people.

Nurses are great but the job is grueling. I am a RN. We are understaffed, overworked and underpaid. Doctors reap the rewards of what nurses do. They see the patient for a short time and get paid the most. The patient always thinks they are great when they have very little to do with the healing process. My two girls will NOT be nurses. There will be a massive shortage in about 6-7 years. Maybe then when we retire the greedy hospitals will realize what makes their world spin....NURSES! Our CEO earns 350K per year off the sweat of our backs. If you are considering becoming a nurse, think again.

Overworked, underappreciated and often underpaid, but utterly essential. I wish some of the Fort Knox sized profits going into the pharmaceutical industry could be split out among some of these harried souls.

Nursing requires patience, compassion, strength, creativity, a broad knowledge base and an ability to care for people who may or may not appreciate it at the time. It's very difficult, but for most of us it is rewarding overall. At the end of the day, there is the satisfaction of knowing that lives are better for the decisions you made.

I come from a family of nurses and I see daily what it does to my mother. She works in a nursing home where she gets paid just as much as a McDonald's employee and less than a person who takes care of the monkeys at the zoo, she has to clean up all the messes made by uncontrolled bodily functions, she gets pinched and hit by people with no minds left (and often comes home with bruises as big as half-dollars), and is forced by her employers to work 12 to 14 hour shifts with the threat that she will lose her job if she refuses. No wonder this country has a nursing shortage.

One of the most necessary and one of the most important occupations in the health industry as far as I am concerned. Respect your nurse, she/he deserves it !

Among the most professionals in medicene. When you are in a hospital, it is the nurse you see the most and who gives you the most care. Great nurses are gentle, knowlegeable but can be firm when need to be. They will make your hospitable or doctor's visit as comfortable as can be.

Being a nurse must be a tough and annoying job! You have to give baths to old people who half the time, will hate you. You have to handle human feces and urine. You have to view corpses and lots of blood. You have to put up with a lot of stress!

There's a nursing shortage in America that is likely to worsen as baby boomers age. If you have the energy for potentially long hours, a tolerance for unpleasant tasks, and a caring spirit -- opportunities aplenty. Good nurses are like angels.

While nurses pay is like everyone else’s pay; low for what all is expected of them, it is a very needed line of work to be in. If it’s job security one is after and they have the compassion and willingness it is a wonderful field. It is a hard field however to be in, not only because of the low pay rate, but also because you are dealing with people sometimes at their worse. However the satisfaction of helping has to be added to the equation of pay which does serve to make it a better job. I worked as a nurses aide some years ago and while the pay wasn’t that great, the memories of the times I help patients did make all the difference.

I apologize for before you even read this, but here goes: I work part time in a nursing home in the kitchen. Part of my job is taking the residents' orders in the dining room. One of the residents was Virginia. She was an old woman in a wheel chair. She always wanted to be pushed down to the dining room, or have a pack of ciggarates. She had no friends there, and none of the nurses paid any attention at all to her. They passed by her while she plead to be pushed to her room. Every time I pushed her, she would always thank me and always told me I was going to heaven. Then, one day, the nurses and doctors told me to not push her anymore, that she need her "excersise". So instead of being happy in her last days, she was in absolute misery, because the nurses insisted she had her "excersise". I kept pushing her, though, when the nurses were not looking. During her final days, she requested ciggaretes. The nurses either ignored her, or just told her no, despite that other residents could have them. The nurses there treated her like garbage. Last week, Virginia died. She died in pain, you could see the pain itself on her face, and without having her final smokes. Ever since then, the nurses have been happier than ever, like they got rid of something evil. Like they no longer had to deal with her, giving her smokes, pushing her to the dining room, etc. Virginia taught me something. Just a few months ago, I did not believe in the existence of God. I think that Virginia changed that. She would always tell me that I was going to heaven. Virginia was something special, and I believe the nurses physocologically lead to her death. I hope the doctors and nurses in that nursing home enjoy Hell.

It takes a special type of person to be a nurse. Simply put, you have to care enough about other people. As with being a teacher or police officer, you should not choose this job for the money, but you should choose it because its what you love to do.

Nursing is a rewarding, selfless job because they help take care of and comfort the sick and injured. They don't get the respect that they deserve.

I am a Nursing major. Nursing is one of the bestest careers b/c nurses are in demand so you'll never be out of a job ... but the main reason I'm doing this is b/c many times, I've felt like I'm really going nowhere and I don't want it to be like that. I want my life to have a purpose and I know that I can have one if I become a nurse. Nurses are caring people and I respect the occupation. Also, nursing school is hard as hell ... it can be overwhelming and burn you out. You have to really know what you're doing and everything must be done almost perfect ... it takes a lot from you and you gotta have big brains to do it. Nursing is not easy. Nurses really need the appreciation.

Like most professions and maybe even more than many, being a nurse is not a career choice you should make based on the salary involved - which, overall has increased significantly and rightfully over the last several years. It is the kind of profession for which you really need to have a true talent and calling. I will never forget once hearing a young nurse remark that she was "not a people person". I thought well my dear; you have definitely chosen the wrong profession. Whatever kind of care you may give as a nurse, this is a job with many facets and does not come without a huge amount of physical and mental stress. Since there has been and still is a shortage the job market is still good and many nurses can work out flexible schedules to match the demands of a growing family.

HGow can a job be so necessary and yet treat the people who do it so poorly?