Before I became a nurse, I was a nursing assistant for many years. In fact, the reason I never wanted to become a nurse is because I saw how they were: always overburdened and bogged down in paperwork. The reason I loved being a nurse's aide (as we were called back then) was because I was a part of my patients' lives in a very intimate way. Not just physically, obviously, but spiritually. Entering into their daily lives I was transported to a higher plane of existing. I was, by way of empathy and compassion, a better person because of knowing these demented, senile people who were actually fully realized beings.

Am enjoying a 3 day holiday from the hellhole which is work.
Nursing home nurses have a pretty bad reputation from what I hear. That what we do isn't "real nursing." Well, in many ways this is very true. Especially since the Medicare cutbacks, the documentation has gone from horrible to worse. I feel more like a medical secretary than a caregiver.
Of course, the reason we go into nursing is USUALLY to "help people." The real reason I have stayed in nursing these 15 years is MONEY. Being at one facility for that long your salary and vacation days really add up. "The Golden Handcuffs" we call it.