u/Nervous-Chard7647

hello mga kunars!

looking for a bit of insight on my recent dilemma which is if it’s doable or smart to juggle masters and working in a government hospital at the same time. for context, i work in the er of a tertiary apex hospital, so workload is quite demanding. still, i want to pursue masters so i can get more career opportunities in the long run since i decided i won’t be pursuing med nalang. our chief nurse is supportive naman sa mga ganitong situation and our supervisor is also willing to adjust my sched to accommodate weekend classes. i’m just not sure if it’s sustainable for 2 years? 🫩

thank you po

i only started working last dec 2025 so idk if this is the exhaustion catching up to me or if this is something my seniors are also quietly putting up with, but it’s honestly frustrating how nurses are still seen as assistants to doctors.

like… that label alone already feels so reductive. we’re not just there to carry out orders. we assess, we think, we anticipate. before an order is even written, a lot of us already know if it makes sense, if it’s safe, if it’s even feasible for the patient. we catch things. we prevent errors. we adjust in real time because the patients we cater aren’t textbook scenarios anymore.

it gets even more exhausting when some doctors actually act like they’re above us. not all, of course, but enough to make it a pattern. i’ve interacted with doctors who dismiss input, who don’t listen, who treat questions as challenges to their authority instead of what they actually are… which are supposed to be patient safety checks. this doesn’t go to say that i don’t respect them. i respect the work that they do, of course, and i recognize the years and years of hard work they put in.

i just wish more people understood that nursing isn’t passive. it’s constant clinical judgment, prioritization, and decision-making in environments that are already stretched thin. we’re the ones at the bedside the longest. we’re the ones who see the subtle changes first. we’re the ones who question the orders when we think they’re unsafe. we’re the ones who have to act fast when things start going south.

and honestly, it shouldn’t even be a debate in 2026.