Any aspie nurses out there?

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I know someone who is going into the nursing field, yet she's not an aspie. It's a little off-topic, sorry. I'm going to be going in the the Psychology field after I graduate. My goal is to help others out with Asperger's, with possibly going into research and helping others with Asperger's on the side.

yeah. see, and i am witness to this kind of crap day in and day out. and i apologize on behalf of those people that all that happened to you. you think i'm not tired and resentful of being required to "look busy" or cleaning an isolation room full of deadly germs while a whole throng of vapid, up-talking twits discusses their latest baby name choices and so-and-so's wedding/baby shower? such minimal work and such a waste of payroll. talk about healthcare reform? add that to the top of the list! cut back all the overhiring of the overpaid and underworked, that goes for administration too, and maybe in the long run, we wouldn't be PAYING $80 for a pill. but no one wants to cop to it!

I am an Aspie, medically diagnosed and an LPN, and I have just recently let my license expire and I hope never to practice it again. I have met several compassionate and pleasant nurses over the year, but many more nurses who were ignorant and not curious about any thing in their field. They did their work like drones and often complained against others behind their backs. I was a victim of this sneaky vindictiveness a time or two early in my career and I loathed it with a passion. Although I entered an ASN program in Texas in 1987 and did very well in the sciences I always hated the clinical courses or the clinical portions of courses. I had several instructors who told me flat out that I shouldn't become a nurse and they intended to give me reports and grades to keep me from graduating. I persevered with loathing not wanting them to have the thrill of defeating me by their stated actions but in my last semester and last clinical rotation in intensive care I cracked and couldn't stop repeating aloud, "I hate nursing. I hate nursing." This upset my hard hearted instructor and she had me expelled. I returned to my home state of New York and was forced by my live jn best friend to sit for the LPN examination in New York for back up sake, she said. I worked for about six months in the medical unit of a state mental hospital where patients were yelling and screaming like banshees all the time. I couldn't take the work so I left it and continued with greater the publishing business I started during nursing school. When I moved to Florida in 2001 I was forced by my live in best friend to to get a Florida nursing license which I did. From 2003-2009 I've worked with two agencies mainly in hospice watching people die. I last worked in nursing in April when I was told that the patients and their family members, and some hospice staff thought I was weird and they thought I shouldn't be there. I asked what they meant by weird, but couldn't or wouldn't tell me/ On hospice gave me another chance to prove myself but after two weeks I was out and my agency refused to place me in any more assignments. Maybe it's for the best because I don't intend to work in nursing again except to take care of my best friend or her daughter if they get sick.

I hope other Aspie's find a way to excel in nursing if that's what they'd like to do, but if I had it to do all over again I would have preferred to have gone into medicine because of the sheer intellectual challenge of it, or at least take in Neuropsychology or comparitive Anaromy. At least in the sciences you're graded on the basis of hard data based on what you know and not on the opinion's of small minded little people who if you seem odd or different or they just don't like you they will do everything they can to get you.

I renewed my RN license just the other day. I too had to deal with the back stabbing that seems to infect other hospital staff. I'm glad I'm not actually practicing right now, but at the same time, I had to work really hard for the license and I don't want to just give it up. I just hope I never have to take another nursing job.

Hello...I'm new here and ran across this post in my "must read all posts in one sitting" thing, figured it was a good place to start.

I'm a nurse of 12 years, my mother says I'm the only nurse she's ever know who took almost 8 years to finish a 2 year program. I started a 4 year RN degree but stupidly got married/couldn't take the stress of such a big program/flunked out and ended up finishing at a local Career Center. I did well in class/clinicals only because it was a very small class of 12, a very small hospital, and for some reason the instructors took me under their wings.

Growing up I was/still am fascinated by the human body and figured nursing was my calling...LOL I found out pretty quickly after starting my first job that I had made a huge mistake. To this day I want out but have no clue what else to do, between my AS and physical disabilities there's little else I can do.

I started out working in nursing homes. The pay was good and there are always jobs available. My first day on the job I was thrown onto a ward with 100 patients to myself and 6 aids. I had no problem with most patients and was always very fast/good at med passes, my problems came in the management department. I do not handle confrontation well at all, and so when I caught aids not doing their jobs, abusing patients, taking money from families, sleeping in patients beds etc I couldn't "manage them" The few times I was able to gain the courage to report them I ended up having to get a police escort to my car after my shift because of death/a** beating threats. I also just could not stand the inhumane way people were treated. I tried a number of different nursing homes trying to make it work but I just couldn't.

I've also worked in 2 doctors offices which turned out to be huge disasters as well. A dermatologist and his office manger verbal abused me/called me names (dumb red neck etc) in front of patients and then fired me for "not smiling enough". Needless to say I spent the next few months drawing my unemployment off that jerk. The other was a neurologist office. The doctor and I got along great, he's actually treating me now and has for years, but the office manager and I could not get along. She also would verbally abuse me in front of staff/patients.

I left the offices and went to the state psychiatric hospital which I really enjoyed...well as long as I was on the male ward. Put me on the women's unit and I once again got death/a** beating threats but from the patients this time. I really hated leaving there but after years of infertility I got pregnant, had a patient threaten me, ended up getting suspended for running my mouth off at her (pregnancy hormones helped out a lot) and just didn't go back after I had my son.

The only job I've had any luck at is home health. I work for a sort of temp service. Most of the nurses do as needed type stuff filling in at nursing homes and hospitals, or with patients that need home care after surgeries and such. I however lucked up and got a long term case that I'm about to ?celebrate my 6th year on. It's 3rd shift and I'm completely alone in a room with an 18 year old boy on a ventilator. He and his family sleep and I watch over him...and surf the internet all night. This is the first job I've kept for longer than 10 months or so. It's been hard working 3rd and being away from my family/missing out on things because I need to sleep, but I've discovered 3rd shift and private duty are the only way I can continue in nursing. I dread the day my patient dies cause I have no idea what I'll do and I don't feel lucky enough to get such a good case again.

My family and I have had a very rough few years and my AS traits have doubled in severity if not more. What little enjoyment I ever found in nursing has totally disappeared. I don't have the energy to take care of anyone other than myself and my family...having someone else to take care of drains me so much. I doubt I'll ever let my license lapse because as I said there's nothing else I can/want to do but OMG if my husband ever gets another job (a whole other long story for another time maybe) I'm taking a very long, very needed break from nursing.

Well there's my AS nursing story, guess I really should go introduce myself.
For this thread I'll just say Hello again, My name is Amy

I've heard of other aspies getting fired for not smiling enough. I have never had that happen to me even though I never smile. However, if I did, I would seriously consider getting a lawyer. I consider my inability to smile directly related to my aspergers which is a disability. An employer that fires someone because they have a disability is a clear violation of the the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lawyer food.

I have a question just out of curiosity: Has anyone ever gone into Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing...or nursing for people with disabilities? I'm aware that it's a Masters program and I would have to go through the regular program like everyone else.

But I'm guessing the program is hell like any other nursing program, am I right?

With an attitude like "the patient always lies" you're going to have problems. I mean, probably not problems with the other medical staff. That attitude can be rather popular. But problems with respectful treatment of patients. I've now got a serious lung condition due directly to that attitude among both nurses and doctors. It's not a good thing to emulate. People die because of that. And it creates an oppositional dynamic between patients and health professionals which is seriously not a good thing. I don't know if oppositional is the word I meant. I mean when people become entrenched almost like as two opposite sides in a battle. That's not a good way to do healthcare.