A Day in the Life of a Nurse

Maybe you're thinking about becoming a nurse, but you want to know what nursing is really like. Perhaps you are interested in discovering what a typical "day in the life of a nurse" involves, or in learning about the realities of nursing from an experienced nurse.

A nursing career is not for everybody. Besides being comfortable with anatomy, the human body, and medical procedures (such as giving needles and administering medication), aspiring nurses must exhibit certain qualities and characteristics. First of all, you need to understand that nursing is hard work. Nurses often work long shifts, and a lot of the labor is physical. Flexibility is key, as is the ability to work under pressure and in stressful situations. Finally, good organizational skills and the ability to work well with people, including doctors and patients, are essential.

No Two Days are Alike

First of all, it's difficult to really pinpoint exactly what a typical day in the life of a nurse involves, because each job description and task varies substantially from one nurse to the next. Some say that nurses do a million different things in a million different places.

For example, let's consider a day in the life of an emergency nurse practitioner named Sarah. Sarah arrives at the nurses' locker area prior to her 10-hour shift starting at 7 a.m. She gets herself ready for the day and reports to her particular station to begin her shift. At this point, Sarah receives any relevant updates and instructions regarding patients and is briefed on any current issues at hand. She then receives the medical records of the next available patient who came into urgent care who has already been registered and initially assessed, and this will be her first patient.

Sarah then sees her first patient, who had a bad leg injury from a bad fall. She asks about the patient's medical history and then examines the injury and asks about his symptoms. After verifying what medication he is taking, she sends him to have an X-ray and gets ready for patient number two, a boy who has burned his hand. The boy is with his mother and Sarah asks questions to both of them. She examines the wound, which is not serious, dresses it and gives the mother and son written and verbal instructions for care and follow-up. The boy is discharged.

At this point the X-ray of the man's injury is sent to her, which shows no broken bone or fracture, and she gives instructions to the man for care and follow-up and discharges him.

Dealing with Traumatic Experiences

Sarah's next patient is a woman who is having a miscarriage. Sarah takes the woman's medical history (including medications), takes the woman's blood pressure and temperature, and sends her to get a blood test done to check for level of pregnancy hormone. Sarah also asks her questions about her pregnancy and current symptoms. Upon discovering the severity of the symptoms, Sarah decides to send her to see a doctor right away as she suspects complications.

A Non-Stop Roller Coaster

Basically, besides her two breaks and a short lunch, Sarah's day involves a continuing influx of patients that she sees, examines, assesses, diagnoses, and then either treats herself, giving them instructions before discharge, or sends to see a doctor. By the end of her 10-hour shift, Sarah has seen almost 20 patients, whom she will probably never see again.

Changing Settings Mean Changing Duties

However, this typical day in the life of an emergency nurse practitioner is quite different from that of a public health nurse or a nurse who works in a seniors' home. A public health nurse's duties would involve a lot of assessment and report writing in his own office, and a lot of driving out around the community, visiting patients in their homes, visiting clinics and schools, appointments, meetings, giving public health lectures and being a part of public health campaigns, and more.

A nurse who works in a seniors' home might have steady full-time hours and no shift work, with his or her own regular patients that he or she will be dealing with on a day-to-day basis. The nurses' duties may involve patient assessment and monitoring progress, administering medication, bathing and dressing, feeding, and sometimes dealing with patients dying.

Every nurse's job is different, and it's important to discover in which area you might be interested. If you know you want to be a nurse, but you're not quite sure in which area to specialize, however, you can still go ahead and begin your education, as most nursing students only make that decision after they've done a clinical or practicum and before they enter the work force.

Get Your Own Experiences

For a real, up-close-and-personal "day-in-the-life-of-a-nurse"-type experience, check with your community, local hospitals, training programs, and other organizations to see what they might have available in this department. For example, some hospitals offer a "Day in the Life of a Nurse" program for local-only high-school students who have expressed interest in nursing as a career.

Becoming a nurse is a big decision, and it's important to determine whether this exciting, challenging, sometimes stressful and in-demand career is for you before you fork over thousands of dollars for the education required to become a registered nurse. Talk to as many nursing students and nursing professionals as you can. Go to the library and do research. Go online and find out whatever you can about nursing and the specific area or field in which you're interested. Find out what kind of "A Day in the Life of" programs or nursing job shadowing programs are available in your community in order to be as fully prepared for what to expect as possible.

If you think a career in nursing is right for you, you may want to view our list of online schools offering nursing degrees.