How Hard is Bedside Nursing – (10 Biggest Challenges & How to Overcome)


Written By: Darby FaubionDarby Faubion RN, BSN, MBA

Darby Faubion is a nurse and allied health instructor with over 20 years of clinical experience. Darby lives in Louisiana and loves exploring the state’s rich culture and history. Darby has a passion for caring for veterans and a special interest in those affected by post-traumatic stress disorder. In her quest to make a difference for veterans, she founded a non-profit called “Operation Battle Buddy.” Read Full Bio »»
RN, BSN, MBA


Are you a nurse considering whether to pursue a role as a bedside nurse? Do you have questions and wonder where to start so you can make the right decision? Perhaps you wonder, “How hard is bedside nursing?” One of the things I love about nursing is that there are so many opportunities. Each role comes with challenges, though. In this article, I will share information with you about the 10 biggest challenges you will face in bedside nursing and how to successfully overcome them. By the time you finish reading, you will have enough information to know what challenges to expect as a bedside nurse and decide if bedside nursing is the type of role you want to pursue.



Is a Bedside Nursing Really Hard?


As a nurse with more than 25 years of experience, I can honestly tell you that all nursing roles can be challenging. Bedside nursing is no exception. However, if you are aware of the challenges that come with your job, you can prepare for them and find ways to overcome them and succeed in your role.



What Makes Bedside Nursing Hard?

(The following are the 10 biggest challenges you will face in bedside nursing and ways you can successfully overcome them.)


CHALLENGE #1: Bedside Nursing is Physically Demanding


About the Challenge:

I always loved bedside nursing because it allowed me to have personal interaction with patients and their families and to develop relationships with patients, especially those requiring ongoing or long-term care. Despite the benefits, one of the main reasons bedside nursing is hard is that it is physically demanding. Unlike administrative roles that are often office-based, bedside nurses spend a lot of time walking hospital or facility halls, providing direct care to patients. You may be required to lift or move heavy patients or equipment and may stand for several hours during your shift.

How to Overcome:

While you may not be able to change the physical demands of bedside nursing, you can take care of your body to help reduce the stress these demands can cause. Simple steps such as wearing shoes with good support and comfortable clothes, using a back brace when moving heavy patients or equipment, and practicing safety precautions to prevent falls and injuries can help you face the physical demands with fewer negative effects.


CHALLENGE #2: You May Be Responsible for Caring for Several Patients


About the Challenge:

Depending on where you work, your bedside nursing role could require you to care for several patients during your shift. Each type of healthcare facility has designated nurse/patient ratios, which you must be aware of to ensure your and your patient's safety.

How to Overcome:

Although you may not be able to change the patient load assigned to you, you can find ways to manage your time wisely, which can make your job seem less challenging. The best way to handle this challenge is to learn to prioritize patient care based on evaluation of each patient’s needs and delegating tasks to appropriate staff are a few ways to ensure your patients receive appropriate care without becoming overwhelmed by heavy patient loads.


CHALLENGE #3: Everybody Needs Something!


About the Challenge:

I don’t know about you, but when I was working in bedside nursing, it seemed like when one patient needed something, every patient needed something! There were times when I felt like I could not get caught up because everyone needed me. As a bedside nurse, it is easy to feel pulled in a dozen directions at once. Not only do patients all need your attention, but they all seem to need something different. It can be frustrating and quite overwhelming at times.

How to Overcome:

The first step in overcoming this challenge is to realize you are one person and you cannot do everything at the same time. Learning to prioritize patient care based on the most critical or pressing needs will save you a lot of time and frustration. If you can delegate tasks to other staff and it is appropriate, do so. For example, if Mr. Jones calls for a nurse because his urinal is full, the nursing assistant can empty the urinal and document his output. By delegating tasks to the appropriate staff, you can move on to tasks that require a nurse's time and attention and then follow up with other patients.


CHALLENGE #4: Bedside Nursing is Emotionally Taxing


About the Challenge:

Another thing that makes bedside nursing hard is that it can take a toll on you emotionally. Whether you are emotionally overwhelmed because of caring for too many patients, dealing with the death of a patient or angry family members, or feeling like you are running on fumes, feeling emotionally taxed can have a significant impact on your overall well-being.

How to Overcome:

As a nurse, I understand that you may feel it is necessary to hide your emotions or try to conceal when you are hurt or frustrated. While there is an appropriate time and place for everything, it is certainly appropriate to deal with your own emotions. In fact, we set ourselves up for increased risk of burnout and emotional disturbances if we do not deal with the emotional toll our jobs take on us.

We each deal with our emotions differently. The important thing is that we deal with them. It is crucial that you be honest about your feelings and acknowledge when you begin to feel overwhelmed. Develop a strong, supportive social network. Practicing healthy lifestyle habits and adopting an attitude of positivity and thankfulness can also help overcome the emotional burdens of bedside nursing.


CHALLENGE #5: Dealing With Unappreciative Patients or Family Members


About the Challenge:

Working as a bedside nurse means interacting face-to-face with patients and their family or loved ones. Unfortunately, not everyone is appreciative or even kind. When you give a job your all only to have someone treat you as if you did not do enough or as though they would have preferred someone else, it can leave you feeling disheartened (to say the least).

How to Overcome:

I have never been the type of person who needs special accolades or attention for the job I do. I do, however, expect to be treated fairly and with some level of appreciation. Nursing is a tough job, and anyone who thinks otherwise has never done a nurse’s job.

It can be frustrating to feel unappreciated. However, the best way to overcome the challenge of feeling unappreciated is to realize that most patients do not mean to be rude or insensitive. Illness and injury lead to fear and anxiety, which causes responses that are out of character, including acting rude or unappreciative. As nurses, we must learn to look at a situation and try to empathize with our patients and their loved ones, providing the best care possible, even if we feel unappreciated.

Even in our frustration, we must try to think of what it feels like to be the patient or loved one dealing with an illness or injury, being afraid of the outcome, or knowing that a prognosis is poor and trying to prepare for the worst. It is okay to expect to be treated well, but we must also take into account that those we care for are dealing with things we may not understand and that they cannot articulate to us, which could be misunderstood.


CHALLENGE #6: You May Work Short-Staffed


About the Challenge:

As if bedside nursing were not challenging enough, a nationwide nursing shortage does not help the situation. Heavy patient loads coupled with too few nurses to cover shifts make it difficult to accomplish everything that needs to be done in a shift, which leads to burnout, errors, and increased chance of injury to both patients and nurses. Unfortunately, the nursing shortage is expected to continue, with nearly 900,000 nurses leaving the workforce by 2027.

How to Overcome:

One of the most essential characteristics for nurses to demonstrate is accountability, and you can demonstrate accountability by showing up for work for your assigned shifts. Although we cannot determine whether other nurses show up for work, we can do our part to help alleviate low nursing staff numbers by being there when we are expected to work.


CHALLENGE #7: Increased Risk of Exposure to Illnesses


About the Challenge:

Another big challenge of bedside nursing is the increased risk of being exposed to communicable illnesses and diseases. Our job as nurses is to care for others who have been injured or who are ill, but the risk to our own health is one of the things that makes bedside nursing hard.

How to Overcome:

Anyone providing direct patient care is at risk of being exposed to illnesses and diseases. In nursing school, one of the first lessons you learn in preparation for clinical practice is to use standard precautions. By implementing standard precautions, such as proper handwashing, wearing gloves, and other personal protective equipment, you can reduce the risk of the spread of illnesses.


CHALLENGE #8: Lack of Administrative Support


About the Challenge:

Lacking administrative support can make a bedside nurse's job more challenging, and this is a significant problem reported by many nurses today. In fact, the American Nurses Foundation released the results of a survey indicating that bedside nurses feel they need more support from employers and leadership staff.

How to Overcome:

I have worked in bedside nursing and administrative positions and understand the frustration that comes from both sides. As a bedside nurse, I realize you may feel your voice is not heard or feel that your opinion does not matter, but it does. As a manager, I can tell you that it is essential for administrative staff to hear what is important to you. Administrators and leaders do not know what you need if you do not tell them. Of course, one could argue that leaders should stay ahead of needs and be prepared for the unexpected, which is true to an extent.

However, if you feel something is lacking, do not be afraid to advocate for yourself and others. Something as simple as asking to put up a suggestion box where staff can leave ideas for leaders or organizing team meetings to discuss important issues can make a significant difference in the relationships between bedside nurses and administrative staff, and it could begin with you! Also, another way you can significantly improve administrative support for bedside nurses is to consider pursuing a degree in healthcare administration.


CHALLENGE #9: There Never Seems to Be Enough Time


About the Challenge:

Bedside nursing is rewarding, but one of the challenges is that it is time-consuming. There never seems to be enough time to get things done, which makes bedside nursing hard. Your day will be filled with patient assessments, documentation, medication administration, treatment performance, and collaboration with team members, patients, and families. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, especially if you are working short-staffed.

How to Overcome:

While adding a few more hours in the day would be amazing, it is impossible. So, we must learn to manage time wisely so that we accomplish goals on time. At the beginning of each shift, prioritize which tasks you must complete and which ones can be delegated to other team members. As much as possible, set a schedule for each task and try to stay within that time limit so you stay on track. Any nurse who has worked at the bedside will tell you that you can plan your day but expect the unexpected. Even if you must change your schedule a bit due to an emergency or something that comes up during your shift, prioritizing your time and planning your day can relieve some of the stress of being pressed for time.


CHALLENGE #10: Admitting that You Cannot Fix Everyone


About the Challenge:

No matter how good a nurse you are, there will be times when your patients have an illness or injury that they cannot overcome. As a nurse, it is difficult to admit that with all our knowledge and skills, there are some things we simply cannot fix. It is one of the things that makes bedside nursing especially hard because bedside nurses are there, face-to-face with patients and their loved ones. They look to us for answers and hope; when we cannot deliver, they feel let down, and we feel the sting of failure.

How to Overcome:

Bedside nursing is hard for many reasons, but admitting that a patient has reached a point where their situation cannot be fixed, and death is imminent is something that leaves even the best, most experienced among us feeling disheartened and overwhelmed. In these situations, the only way to overcome this problem is to take a step back and realize that our job is to provide the best nursing care possible.

Sometimes, providing good nursing care does not mean our patients recover. It may mean that we create an atmosphere conducive to comfort where our patients and their loved ones can spend final moments together undisturbed. It could mean demonstrating integrity in nursing practice, providing a comforting word, a shoulder to cry on, or an ear to listen. At the end of the day, it is okay to be easy on yourself and remember not to be so hard on yourself. Being present is sometimes the best thing you can do for your patients.



My Final Thoughts


As a nurse, there are many options for places to work and nursing roles. One of the most common roles is bedside nursing, but not everyone is cut out for this type of work. Perhaps you have considered working in a direct-care role but wonder, “How hard is bedside nursing?” In this article, I answered that question by sharing the 10 biggest challenges you will face in bedside nursing and how to successfully overcome them. By using these tips, you can face the common bedside nursing challenges and enjoy a job at your patient’s bedside, providing direct care to patients and their loved ones and making an impact in their lives.


Darby Faubion, RN, BSN, MBA
Darby Faubion is a nurse and Allied Health educator with over twenty years of experience. She has assisted in developing curriculum for nursing programs and has instructed students at both community college and university levels. Because of her love of nursing education, Darby became a test-taking strategist and NCLEX prep coach and assists nursing graduates across the United States who are preparing to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX).