memes

I know several nurses. They are all quite clear that you simply get used to the ick after a few times, and you mostly don't socialize with patients. Its like working a customer service job (because it is!) - you will have so many patients cycling in and out that they just become faceless stats on the chart. You don't remember someone unless they are particularly memorable in some way. Which, 99% of the time, means they are particularly fucked up, or unpleasant to be around. You tend to try your best to show up for the former, because thats where you work on the really interesting stuff and the patient is usually sedated. And you tend to try to get the latter out of the way as quickly as possible, since most people don't tend to like hearing the rants of a senile nazi or being masturbated on by a homeless schizophrenic. As they tell it, that is one of the two main drawbacks - dealing with the people that no one wants to deal with. Polite, normal people don't need your people skills - they tell you information and fill out a form and play on their phone, because they are polite and normal.

The other drawback is the schedule. A lot of my nursing friends got into the job expressly because the schedule lets them do things like have an 8 day weekend regularly. But the problem is that: (1) A large portion of nurses work the night shift, or worse, an inconsistent night-and-day schedule - especially early in their career. This destroys your circadian rhythm, and most people need to plan a day or two just to flip back from night to day. (2) Your schedule doesn't line up with your friends'. Their weekends are not your weekends. Their nights out are your workdays. So your social life tends to shift towards people who also work a non-standard schedule - but that's still hard because your schedule is unpredictable. Everyone's schedule constantly shifts to cover everyone elses sick days, since there is essentially no slack in department scheduling - the hospital doesnt want to pay someone to sit on their hands just in case someone is out sick, so everyone has to work erratic schedules. (3) Because your schedule is always changing and your shifts are 12 hours long, it is quite difficult to really stay consistent with anything else in your life. Want to make a habit of running or lifting every morning? Want to make a home-cooked meal for dinner every night (night? What's night?)? Well, it is going to cut into your sleep schedule.