We spend thousands on thousands of dollars every year on an education aimed to prepare us for the real world after graduation. Whether you're in school for nursing, OT, PT, speech therapy, or even your doctorate, at some point you will probably end up working in a hospital. We can spend countless hours studying our notes and textbooks, but there are some things that a 100 slide PowerPoint can't put into words. These are just some of the lessons that can't be taught in the classroom.

1. When you find out one of your patients is a nurse, all positivity for the day goes down the drain




You will hear call bells in your sleep

If you hear the words “fleet enema”-- run




Jokes about hospital food are never not funny




Once you learn the smell of c. diff (after one whiff) you will never have to smell it again




And every time you have diarrhea you will be convinced you have c. diff




No amount of sleep can adequately prepare you for 3 12 hour shifts in a row




Your average steps/day are well over 10,000

You will get a lot of free food (and none of it will be healthy)

“I’ll ask your nurse” is always the right answer

The coffee tastes like burnt dirt- but you drink 3 cups a day anyway or you won’t survive

Elderly patients love to talk about their intestinal habits, and you have to pretend to be as interested about the fact that they haven’t pooped in 6 days as you would be about a new season of Game of Thrones




Patients continuously think you have the ability to look into a magic crystal ball to have an answer to the question "when will the doctor be around?"

There is no better feeling than getting a patient off the bed pan without spilling on their clean sheets

There is more drama than high school, but at the end of the day you love (most) of the people you suffer through those long, grueling shifts with