6 Things Nurses Deal With Daily That Would Make Most People Cringe

About 3.4 million registered nurses work in the United States, and the job comes with realities most people would rather not think about. Here are six of them.

1. Angry patients

Pain and illness raise anxiety, and people who are normally calm can turn hostile fast. A patient may yell, threaten to sue, or become physically combative. Your job is to keep communicating with them anyway so they get the care they need.

2. Body fluids

Blood, vomit, secretions, and excrement are part of the day. Patients who are immobile or seriously ill need help with hygiene around the clock, and that need does not pause for anyone's comfort.

3. Biological hazards

Constant contact with body fluids means constant exposure to bloodborne pathogens. Blood and secretions can transmit HIV and hepatitis B and C, so follow standard precautions and exposure protocols every time, no shortcuts.

4. Infection risk

Hospitals concentrate sick people and the organisms that make them sick. Working that close to contagious illness all day puts nurses at higher risk than most jobs, which is why hand hygiene and PPE are not optional.

5. Pain and suffering

You spend your shift with people who are hurting, and it is hardest when the patient is a child or an older adult. Offering steady, coordinated care while someone suffers is a skill, and it costs something to do it well.

6. Dying patients

Nurses sit with dying patients every day in the ER, hospice, and oncology. You witness the whole process, and you often become the patient's advocate in their last weeks. Most people could not do it. Nurses do it with compassion.

The work is hard and often unpleasant. For the nurses who stay, the reward is being the person a patient counts on when it matters most.