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Nurses are integral to the medical profession.
- Nurses are the life and soul of the healthcare profession, providing comfort, kindness, and care to patients every day
- It's a challenging job and one that requires hard work, dedication, and a very thick skin.
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are over 2.8 million nurses working in America right now.
- Nancy Whitt, who's been a nurse for 45 years, and Liz Watkins, who's been a nurse for two years, shared with Business Insider what it's really like.
Being a nurse is not a profession for the faint-hearted.
Nurses deal with life, death, and everything in between.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurses are responsible for assisting physicians in administering patient care, providing advice and educating patients on a variety of medical conditions, and giving advice to the patient as well as their family.
And while it might be a demanding job, it seems it's a rewarding one. A study by AMN Healthcare found 83% of nurses say they are satisfied with their choice of nursing as a career.
Business Insider spoke with two nurses, Nancy Whitt and Liz Watkins, to find out what it's really like to be a nurse.
Whitt is a gastrointestinal nurse in California with 45 years of experience. She works in Outpatient Services (sometimes called Day Stay) and Gastrointestinal (GI) Lab and is one of five gastrointestinal nurses in her hospital providing 24/7 coverage by being on call.
Watkins is a critical care nurse with two years experience working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Kentucky. Her patients are critically ill and in the process of recovering.
Here's what they said being a nurse really entails: