The life of a nurse is not at all hunky-dory, as you have seen on T.V. and in movies. It is remarkably different in reality, and being with a nurse will give you a whole new perspective.
Dating a nurse means lifelong lessons in humility and dedication. You will be around a strong-willed personality with immense patience. Also, you’ll realize the importance of good health. You’ll stop taking life for granted and start appreciating the tiniest things.
In this article, we will discuss the reasons why you should date a nurse and share golden insights on how to make them feel special, things to avoid, and what to expect.
Why Should You Date A Nurse?
1. Patient & Understanding
The job of a nurse requires them to be incredibly patient.
Whether it is dealing with stubborn patients, emergencies that can make a typical person faint, or calming down unruly relatives, nurses deal with a lot almost every other day.
Thus, it is imbibed in their core values to look at things from the other person’s perspective and handle the situation accordingly.
And it is one of the greatest features you could want in a partner.
First of all, they try not to let a little fight or spat go out of hand.
And even when it does, they are always looking to solve things peacefully and quickly when the other person isn’t thinking clearly.
2. Easy To Move Anywhere In The World
Couples are often stuck in the same place all their lives due to one or both partners’ jobs.
It is the dream of many people to explore the world and still have a proper job. A nurse is one of the few people who can live this dream.
It is relatively easy for a nurse to get a job almost anywhere in the world due to a huge demand and supply gap.
TABLE: Average Annual Salary (In USD) Of A Nurse Around The World
| Country | Avg. Annual Salary |
|---|---|
| Australia | $50,486 |
| Canada | $53,834 |
| China | $59,324 |
| Denmark | $48,166 |
| France | $39,627 |
| Germany | $35,912 |
| Japan | $41,966 |
| Netherlands | $37,488 |
| New Zealand | $41,161 |
| Switzerland | $63,327 |
| UK | $35,224 |
| USA | $67,345 |
And when you are an integral part of a nurse’s life, you get to travel with them too.
The only catch here is that you might have to sacrifice your job or career for your dream of travelling the world.
And then there is the job hunt phase in a new country. If you are willing to endure all that and love travelling, you will love dating a nurse.
3. Care Is In Their Nature
Nurses have bundles of care and love in them. Remember that there is a reason they chose this profession, and that reason is not money.
Sure they have a decent paying job, but how many people deal with others nicely just because they are earning well?
Nurses love to serve people and are inherently nice unless there is some extreme reason to go crazy.
Even then, this is no excuse not to be nice in the nursing world. Because of their job, nurses tend to have a lot of empathy.
This is a remarkable trait to have in a partner who will try to put themselves in your shoes first before making a judgment.
And when you need some good care, you’ll have the best help at hand.
4. Don’t Bicker About Small Stuff
Nurses are dealing with life and certain death situations almost every other day! Do you really think that nagging about small issues is worth their while?
This doesn’t mean that it is a free pass to do stupid stuff and get on their nerves, but you slacking once in a while would be quietly overlooked.
If you forget to put the toilet seat up or down depending upon your liking, it is really unlikely that you will get an earful about it unless you have been politely asked to do the opposite a gazillion times.
In that case, nurse or no nurse, they have the right to be upset about it.
5. Understand The Importance Of Good Health
When you spend the whole day around sick people, you are hit the hardest about how meaningless everything in life is if it isn’t backed by good health.
Money, power, fame, and relationships don’t do you much good if you aren’t alive, right?
People tend to take the easy route and feed on junk instead of cooking something healthy every day as it takes more effort.
Moreover, for many people, exercise takes a backseat due to a fast-paced life and work load.
However, this doesn’t mean dating a nurse is having a 24×7 personal cook.
Instead, you will get timely reminders if you are falling in a routine that is harmful to your health.
6. You’ll Stay In Better Shape
Unlike desk jobs, nurses have to run around from one place to another all day round.
From moving between patients to check their vitals, supervising junior staff, planning nursing requirements, coordinating with the doctors, regularly reporting to senior nurses, and providing daily records, nurses need to remain active.
Add to that long hours of work shifts.
We don’t mean to say that desk jobs are easy to do, but in terms of calories burnt, nurses have a clear advantage.
Most nurses are in pretty good shape themselves, and just having someone like that around you will continuously motivate you to stay in shape yourself.
You don’t want to get dumped because you were too lazy to get up from the couch and make an effort to look attractive, right?
And since they are pretty health-conscious, as we had explained in the previous point, there will be an overall positive impact on your health.
7. They Have A Secure Job
It is not a secret that breakup and divorce rates are positively related to unemployment.
Money issues often stem from one or both partners being unemployed, with the other reasons being mishappenings or bad spending habits.
Thus there are constant conflicts. A nurse’s job is one of the least affected professions, even when an economic meltdown is happening.
There is always a shortage of nurses somewhere or the other, and in the rare instance, there is a layoff, it isn’t hard to find a new clinic, hospital, or private care work.
This adds to a certain surety of income whatever the amount may be.
8. You Have An Expert For Any Medical Emergency
With all the medical knowledge at your disposal, you will be fortunate if you date a nurse.
In case of even the most grievous emergencies, next to you would be someone who knows what they are doing.
Whether it is a small ailment or a major injury, you or someone from the family, the path to recovery, would be guided by an expert without any cost.
And not just one, if the whole family is sick at the same time, then too a nurse would handle such a situation easily because this is literally what they do every day.
Imagine paying for 24×7 personal care in this day and age!
9. You’ll Save A Lot Of Money
You can save yourself hundreds of trips to the doctor for minor ups and downs.
Not only will you save a lot of time but also a whole lot of money on bills and medical supplies.
Your walking version of the WebMD will also give you random check-ups from time to time.
They can do a pretty good job of catching any disease right at its onset before it develops into something serious.
Further, families of those in the medical profession get to know other doctors and specialists closely.
They are quite often at the receiving end of many healthcare benefits at subsidized rates.
10. Calm, Cool, & Collected
A nurse’s day is not all flowers and sunshine, where they are always smiling and have ex-patients coming to them every day, thanking them and showering them with gifts and donations.
Movies have spoiled our imagination, huh!
A nurse is under constant stress due to many problems like incomplete charting, not able to go home on time, fearing that they might make a major blunder and cost someone their life, reporting to the cold and cruel head nurse, injecting the wrong vein, violent patients and their families, etc.
This list doesn’t end, and the problems repeat themselves over and over. Despite all this, nurses don’t let it show and do a terrific job when at work.
This quality is also carried along in life outside the hospital where they don’t let problems get to their head in the first place.
And even if things do, you should see them handling the same. They cut through problems like a hot knife going through butter.
11. Can Talk & Handle Almost Any Situation
The job of a nurse is very demanding.
They are handling the most hectic schedules, managing multiple patients, handling emergencies when short-staffed, getting an earful from doctors simultaneously, calming down anxious relatives and families.
They also ensure that everything works in an orderly way in the hospital or wherever they work. Nurses are superhumans.
Even half the amount of stress is potent enough to break down a fully functioning adult, but here a nurse bears it all and that too alone because other nurses have these same issues.
Thus, when we say that a nurse is trained to handle anything, it literally means ANYTHING.
12. Practically Immune To Grotesque Stuff
Nurses get to see a lot of stuff every day that an average human being may never get to see in their whole life.
And seeing is one thing, but they handle clothes drenched in blood, regurgitated food, internal organs out on a tray, broken bones, cracked skulls, pee and poop, every day without making a fuss, face or saying things like ‘eww,’ ‘yuck,’ and ‘gross.’
When you are in a particular situation unable to take care of yourself, not only will they help you in conditions which are too ‘grotesque,’ but they will do it willingly as an instinct.
Secondly, whenever they find someone else in a problem, they will act as good citizens and help them out whatever the situation is.
Often, people are either too freaked out to help or just faint even if they want to.
In life or death situations, a nurse can be the critical difference and save the person.
13. Nurses Are Great Listeners
All through their day, nurses listen to a lot of stuff.
Whether they are medical instructions from superiors or doctors, queries of anxious relatives, funny patient stories, or giving an empathetic shoulder to other nurses while listening to their woes, nurses know how to just listen patiently without jumping at their turn to speak.
So many relationships are spoiled due to partners just wanting to speak and not taking the time to listen to the other person.
When you date a nurse, you have someone who actually processes what you are saying with great patience.
Thus there is a lot of space for healthy communication.
And if you are someone who isn’t patient enough, this quality of theirs will definitely rub off on you gradually.
14. Insane Level Of Multitasking
Due to a shortage of nurses in most places, a single nurse handles the work of multiple nurses.
And more than that, every day, their job consists of handling various tasks in one go.
They inject one patient in the ICU and then stride to the complete opposite end of the hospital to check another patient’s vitals in a general ward.
Here they are eating something on the go due to not getting time for lunch, and at the same time, you see them charting the schedule.
And if you thought that this affects work quality, you are gravely mistaken. The work is flawless, as if it was given individual attention.
Thus, they are quite a force to reckon with at home. By the time you complete one chore, they would be done with three.
You’ll learn how to save time and do everything with remarkable accuracy and efficiency.
15. No Stain Is Stubborn
Have filthy laundry with stubborn stains and no idea what to do? Ask a nurse!
Right off the bat, they will give you a dozen different ways to tackle the problem.
It is as if you have a walking Wikipedia for stain removal. Nurses deal with a lot of stains on their scrubs.
Blood, body fluids, solutions, are some of the common things you might know about, but there are also many other gore things that you cannot even imagine.
Heck, you can even start your home-based business off the tricks for stain removal from a nurse!
Dry cleaning leaves us with smelly clothes, but the nurse’s way removes the most stubborn stains and keeps the clothes smelling nice.
How To Win A Nurse’s Heart?
1. Keep Healthy Snacks Ready
Nurses are busy as hell throughout the day and consider themselves lucky if they get time to eat properly once in a blue moon.
Otherwise, it is work, work, and more work. Rinse and repeat.
Due to this, often they resort to eating whatever is available at the moment, and unfortunately, things available on the go are often not healthy.
Thus, you would be doing a ton of flavor to your nurse girlfriend or boyfriend if you hand them some healthy snacks to munch on whenever you get time.
It might not be a lot of effort for you every day, but it can do wonders for their health in the long run.
2. Their Job Isn’t Easy – Show Gratitude!
We have heard all our lives how healthcare professionals and other essential workers are doing a great service to humanity.
But the Covid pandemic made us realize the same as we saw it through our own eyes for the first time.
Nurses go out of their way every day to give their patients the best possible service without getting some kind of benefit in return.
Heck, they even work on weekends and holidays.
A simple thank you every day would go a long way instead of waiting for an occasion to do something special for them.
Moreover, people often take the services of healthcare and other essential workers for granted.
These people are selflessly doing much more than what they are paid for.
3. A Wholesome Meal When They Come Home
Nurses are practically exhausted due to the hectic job requirements that sucks life and energy out of their bodies daily.
And to meet the daily nutrition requirements, they need a wholesome, nutritious meal that will recharge them completely to face the next day with the same enthusiasm.
But do you believe they are in a position to cook for themselves by the time they reach home? Hell, no!
Cooking a delightful meal is a terrific way to make a nurse super happy. They will thank you for this food and the effort you put in to make it.
But remember to ask them when they might be coming home.
Reheat the food if you need to when they are on their way home so that they at least get a warm meal.
4. Put Yourself In Their Shoes
The best way to love a nurse is to continually be aware of how they might be feeling because of their job.
Frequent change in shifts, night to morning schedules, periodic adjustments to body cycles can make anybody exhausted and cranky.
Add to that, more than the scheduled number of work hours.
Forget about what’s written on paper, there are no set timings for a nurse in reality.
When you see a life plunge into the abyss of death within a matter of seconds, you tend to appreciate everything more.
Being a nurse is a very challenging job in terms of mental health too.
It affects you deeply, and the emotional scars exist for a lifetime. A warm, loving hug every day means a lot more than what you think it means to them.
5. A Foot Massage
When your job is to run around here and there the whole day or stand for the most part of it, your feet can quickly give in!
There are so many knots, blood circulation issues, swelling in the feet, which occurs frequently and adds to a nurse’s already existing woes.
Want to know a golden secret to make a nurse crazy about you? Give them a 15-minute foot massage every day.
Learn about professionally massaging feet from the freely available resources on the internet. Heck, you can even take up a paid course if you need to.
Give it your best shot! Your partner will love you to death for this.
6. A Coffee Before Their Shift
If a foot massage rejuvenates them at the end of their day, coffee is necessary to stimulate them mentally and physically before their shift.
Always keep ‘grab on the go’ coffee ready whenever a nurse leaves the house.
Espresso, latte, mocha, americano, with flavor, without it, learn it all and give them something new and refreshing every day.
You can also study a bit about tea as it is a great energizer and a stressbuster too.
Adding spices like ginger, cardamom, clove, or any combination of these can make tea their all time favorite beverage.
Things To Avoid That Irk Any Nurse
1. Making A Fuss About Small Ailments
Learn not to become bedridden and lifeless for minor fevers or body aches.
In short, nurses are irritated by situations where people make a big issue out of a minor ailment at home.
Learn to cruise through your day as if you are completely fine.
A thumb rule to remember can be not letting uneasiness show on your face till your temperature doesn’t cross 100 F.
Nurses see far worse situations every day. It irks them to no end when they see someone make a mountain out of a molehill.
This also has an added benefit as it forces your immune system to fight the fever or minor condition without the aid of medicine.
It strengthens your immune system in the long run.
2. Hogging Their Personal Space When They Come Home
Nurses talk to a plethora of people during their shift.
From patients, doctors, and other staff members, to relatives, families, and external entities like cops, insurance agents, etc., many people visit the hospital every day.
Thus, when a nurse is back home, the last thing they want is to get all chitty chatty.
Make sure you do not steal those moments of comfort from them by yapping about unimportant things.
Ask yourself if you can talk about it a couple of hours later. If yes and it would make much difference, then put it off for later.
Mental relaxation is as vital as physical relaxation.
3. Asking Them To Do Chores After A Shift
If talking to them right after a shift was a big no-no, asking them to do a chore is an unpardonable crime!
Nurses are exhausted by the time they reach home, and unless you want to add fuel to the fire, steer clear.
Try to be a bit more supportive, even if the demand seems odd.
They want to sit at a particular place or watch something in particular on the T.V., let them do it.
They politely ask you for a hot coffee or a refreshing tea, become a genie, and fulfill their wish!
It is a part of their necessary unwinding ritual without which they start feeling cranky.
4. A Hug When They Come Home
No…. DO NOT hug them the moment they enter home. Sounds like stupid advice? It certainly isn’t.
Nurses work in an environment where their scrubs come in contact with all sorts of things you don’t even want to know about.
Moreover, they attend to sick people all day and are at a greater risk of carrying infections than your average Joe working in an office.
So hugging them would be a sin from the medical and hygiene perspective.
Let them throw their scrubs into the laundry, hop into the shower, clean themselves thoroughly, wear pajamas, and then you can hug them all you want.
5. Asking Why They Didn’t Become A Doctor
Tame the career counselor in you and stay miles away from the dreaded question, “Why didn’t you become a doctor?”.
The answer is plain and simple, i.e., because they wanted to be a nurse!
While ignorance may lead us to believe that what nurses study is easier than what the doctors had to go through in their curriculum, it is not the case.
People foolishly believe the notion that those who could not become a doctor end up being a nurse.
The job of a nurse is a whole different ball game.
We know hundreds of nurses who are equally knowledgeable on the subject (if not more) when compared to the doctor they are assisting.
And yeah, nurses ASSIST doctors, they don’t work beneath them. On a side note, why didn’t you ever think of becoming a doctor?
6. Disturbing Them When They Sleep
Want to experience the wrath of the devil? Wake up a nurse from their deep slumber.
Nurses literally look forward to whatever little time they get so that they can sleep.
Often during their breaks, you might catch them napping in some corner.
They love sleep to the extent that if they have to choose between food and sleep, sleep it is, always.
Now imagine that they finally have a day or few hours to themselves before returning to that grueling schedule, are sleeping like a baby, and you make the grave mistake of waking them up.
No explanation is needed to describe the turn of events. Thus whatever it is, unless it is a life or death situation, just let them be.
No need for to wake them up or set an alarm for them.
If they have a shift afterward, they are responsible enough to set alarms and wake up, and in case they get an odd day off, their body cycle will wake them up whenever necessary.
What you can ensure is to make minimum noise when you move around the house and do things.
7. Don’t Eat Their Snacks!!
See the double exclamation mark at the end of the heading. That’s how important it is for you to remember this.
As we mentioned above, nurses don’t get much time to eat, and thus they like things on the go. So, snacks are their best friend.
Doritos, Cheetos, Oreos, ready to eat food, and whatnot. Please stay away from their snack pile when they have a shift the next day.
And whenever you need something, make sure you replace it asap so that their stock is always full.
It irks a nurse to no end to see an empty cupboard when they are in a rush to leave the house and start their shift.
They might have to remain hungry or survive the day on someone else’s food because of you.
8. Asking Questions About Whereabouts
A nurse’s work timings are never defined. Though they have a specific entry and exit schedule on paper but that exit schedule is hardly ever followed.
They have to stay back and do a lot of extra stuff before they are done for the day.
This includes tasks like completing the logs, submitting reports and instructing the nurse and staff that is about to begin their shift.
So don’t bombard them with questions like “Where were you?”, “You were supposed to come home an hour ago!”, and yada yada.
The worst thing you can do is to suspect a nurse of cheating on you when, in reality, they were only toiling hard at the hospital due to an emergency surgery.
What To Expect When You Date A Nurse?
1. Beast Like Strength & Work Stamina
When we say strength, we don’t only mean to say physical strength. By now, it must be pretty clear to you how physically demanding a nurse’s job is.
Simultaneously, the death of a patient you were taking care of for months, extreme shortage of staff, frustrating and seemingly unfair medical policies, changing bedpans, etc. can take a toll on a person’s mental health.
Despite the extremities, nurses bear it all with a smile on their face.
Thus, when you date one, you are in the company of a person who can cruise through the ups and downs of life with a stable mind.
Nurses have superhuman emotional strengths too!
2. Exhausted When They Come Home
You might have some rough days at work, forcing you to go and lie down and do nothing else.
A nurse has more frequent encounters with such days but also becomes immune to the hardships gradually.
However, new nurses are just like you and I and take time to adjust.
Thus, if your partner is new to the experience, give them time, and be a little extra supportive whenever possible.
3. Will Easily Gel With Friends & Family
Nurses have a knack for immediately becoming friends with strangers within minutes.
If you think of it, their job requires them to make the patient comfortable in the scary hospital environment as soon as possible.
Thus, your friends and family will love your partner due to their friendly nature and will love you for bringing such a person into their life.
Well, of course, unless your partner is really uptight, you have one less thing to worry about, i.e., whether your loved ones will approve of your partner or not.
4. Haywire Timings
Be ready for movement in the house at odd hours!
A nurse’s shift timings change quite frequently, and thus it is hardly probable that you will ‘adjust’ to their schedule.
There will be a time when you will make peace with the haywire schedule.
So if you are someone who wakes up just because leaves were rustling in the wind, be prepared to look for measures to adjust with the new normal.
Also, your partner might be sleeping during the day due to a night shift and then you’ll have to move around the house like a ghost.
5. Weekends & Holidays Won’t Be ‘Normal’
If there is one major disadvantage of dating a nurse, then it is this!
People LOVE to spend holidays, birthdays, and weekends with their loved ones, and probably you’d want it too.
However, it will be a rare event when you get to do so.
Essential workers like nurses, doctors, firefighters, cops, and personnel of the armed forces, etc. work on all sorts of public holidays when the world is partying their heart out.
And they might get a day off not on the weekends but in the middle of the week and that too during your office hours. So, good luck with that!
But this will also teach you to appreciate whatever little time you get to spend with them and make the most of it.
6. Dates Will Be Rescheduled Or Cancelled
Be prepared for a change in plans at the end moment or dates getting canceled.
And this will happen quite frequently to the extent that it might irritate you.
You will be all dressed up for that special date when you’ll get a call from them, announcing that the plan is postponed.
And sometimes it will be a short text. You need to adjust to such scenarios and not complain. Why?
By now, you should be aware of the reasons behind it. It is not in their hands, right?
7. Odd Hangout Places
Still want to go on a date? How about meeting them in the hospital canteen for just 5 minutes?
If you are willing to put in that effort, kudos to you.
This will indeed make a nurse feel special that you not only adjust to the change in plans but also did something extra to make sure that you two meet, even if only for 5 minutes.
A secret tip is to cook something for them and bring it along.
Or buy something tasty on your way. If only you had a dollar for every time you heard them say, “I am bored of the canteen food.”
8. Lots Of Stories
While their job involves a great deal of seriousness, the stories do not often follow the same suit.
Did they tell you about that one time when a man’s wife was in labor, and he made the mistake of trying to see the baby come out?
He was retching in a corner for the next 5 minutes while his wife was laughing at him.
Or that one time when a 50-year old was whining like a kid before being vaccinated.
In case you two have kids together, fairies will not be the only characters in hilarious stories.
Plus, you and your kids will get to learn about some cool medical stuff too.
9. Hospital Like Feeling At Home
Dating a nurse can often feel like living in a hospital. No, we are not exaggerating.
Apart from the sight and scent of a person moving around in scrubs, there will be hospital-related documents, medicines, extra sets of uniforms, accessories, vaccines, stethoscopes, and what not in every corner of the house.
The stuff might not be lying unclaimed like an orphan and will be adequately tucked in appropriate places most of the time.
But still, whichever cupboard, drawer, or almirah you open, you will find something.
And whatever you ask them about, there might be some unsolicited medical advice at the end.
10. You’ll Be Their Practice Dummy
Don’t tell us you were not expecting this! They learnt something new today? Be ready to be the guinea pig for their experiment.
Many times you’ll find them staring at your arms and behinds. Yes, it’ll be because they’ll be feeling hot, and yes, it turns them on!
But not because of what you think.
Your arms and posterior is the perfect place for them to practice their vaccination skills. Why?
To ensure that he next time they give some kid a shot, there is absolutely no pain and post-vaccination howling!
Find them staring at your veins? Run and hide because they are imaging putting a needle into it for that drip.
11. Can Help You With Big Decisions
Nurses are habitual to taking big decisions, and oh boy, they take it quickly with carefully crafted plans.
They’ll be quite a handy force to assist you in making big decisions meant for adults like the insurance plan to buy or the right home to shift in.
Further, their ability to remain calm can help you cruise through financial adversities by taking sound monetary decisions.
Every dollar well saved is a dollar earned. Couples often struggle when none of the partners is capable enough to safeguard their future in some way.
But with a nurse, that isn’t going to be a problem.
12. They Love What They Do!
Ever heard about the kind of people that love their job and cannot get enough of it?
Want to see someone love their job so much that they wouldn’t exchange it for anything? Meet a nurse.
Nurses are immensely passionate about what they do and thus cannot get enough of their job.
Don’t forget why they are in this profession. To serve humanity and spread love, that’s why.
You’ll often hear them talk about their work and how much they love it.
They can start anytime and anywhere, while in their bed, on a date, when eating food, cooking a meal, in the shower, and all the places and situations that you can imagine.
But the passion with which they talk about it will never let you get bored of it.
We can only wish everybody was as passionate about their jobs as the nurses are.
Conclusion
Read the history books, and you’ll realize how nurses have saved multiple important warriors and turned the tide of the war.
Most of us can create new lives, but not all of us can save the existing ones.
It takes skill, courage, and an immense amount of superhuman patience to work as a nurse, and we ought to respect them for that.
A big thank you to all the nurses out there. Let us know in the comments below your experiences of being with a nurse.