When nurses become jaded and angry every day, what are they, and those around them, to do?
A new piece in NursesTogether.com says if you’re a jaded nurse, it’s time to reevaluate and ask yourself why you got into the profession, how you have made a difference so far, and what you love about nursing. If these answers are enough to remind you that you want to be a nurse, then reset your attitude and give it your best, columnist Stephanie Staples argues.
However, the column also prompts nurses to ask themselves in times of stress if you are giving the best care, bringing colleagues’ attitudes up or pulling them down with your attitude, and whether they have any energy or emotion left for family at the end of the day. These are certainly tough questions. Though some nurses might say that the answers depend on any given day, if you reevaluate yourself enough and realize that your job is detrimental to your health and happiness, as well as those around, you may have some tough decisions to make, says Staples.
The column urges nurses who are no longer happy at their jobs to move on. That’s a tough message, but Staples argues that unhappy nurses create ripple effects that affect not only colleagues in their units, but also patient satisfaction and safety. Unless you can overcome the challenges of nursing and ultimately come through with the same motivation that led you to join the profession, it may be time to move on.
What do you think about this opinion? Have you dealt with a similar issue? Please let us know by commenting below.
September 18th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
The life expectancy of a bedside nurse has dwindled due to the fact that nurses are taking care of higher acuity patients and face the threat of legal retribution on a daily basis. The paperwork requirements have tripled and the time for patient:nurse interaction has become minimal.
When a nurse is faced with this type of dilemma there should be extensive thought put into their decision. The nurse should first remember the true reason that she chose the art of nursing. If it was for anything other than caring and compassion than by all means…..GET OUT! If the nurse truly does care for the patients that need her but has become burnt out over time she should consider other areas of nursing. Nursing education, patient teaching, writing and various other specialties are out there waiting for a someone to fill the void.
One should make their decision with much thought and feeling from the heart.
September 21st, 2009 at 10:12 am
As a residency coordinator with new nursing graduates, I face 2 huge challenges in trying to help these fledgling nurses enter & stay in the nusing workforce in a positive way.
1) Finding & keeping enough knowledgeable, caring preceptors that are capable of helping teach & nurture these new nurses appropriate, instead of being all too ready to cast them out there quickly so they have better staffing. Training helps, but only when there is support from management/adminstration as well.
2) Lack of commitment & support on the part of some unit nurse managers & adminstration. Verbal support is provided, but with some, nearly constant monitoring is necessary to try to prevent abuse of these tender new graduates. No matter how hard you try, a program to ease them into this new role will not work if adminstrative & managerial support are lacking. It seems to have worsened with the economy & the movement is back to the old “any body with a license will do…and new grads are cheaper licensed bodies to fill the holes on the schedule” even if they are not competent or confident in that role yet.
3) Misplacement in their original unit of hire. Nursing school really does not, by & large, provide with a real-world understanding of what working on a particular unit will be like…whether or not it will actually be a good fit for them. Ever hospital & every unit is different, not just because of the type of nursing done there, but because of the culture of the entire group of people that make up the “family” on that particular unit. They really can’t know until they give a unit a try whether or not it is fits them like home…or whether they will fit in. When they are hired directly out of school for an nursing position on a particular unit, all too often, they find that it is NOT where they really feel they ought to be. Maybe hiring them in as a nurse tech who rotates to several units over a 2 month period before deciding on “home” would be a better approach. It would also give both the new grad & the facility the bonus of making it much easier later on when staffing adjustments need to be made that require pulling nurses to other units….they would have at least been to a few of those & not feel so alien in that arena.
Another problem I see crop up over & over is that students (doesn’t matter what school of nursing from which they come) often have instructors that have convinced them that they really “need” to start out on a med-surg type unit to become good nurses. I’ve taught as nursing faculty in schools of nursing for better than a decade now & I have to say, we have got to do away with this old school line of thinking!! We have so many nurses who come to the profession as a second career, at a later time in their lives. We also have a tremendous number (easily found in the nursing literature on the shortage & nursing retention) of new grads who will leave their first nursing job within 6 months (about half of them in fact), and & significant chunk of those will leave nursing altogether at that point, losing them as the assets they could be to our profession, possibly simply because of a bad experience in their first postion. I have to wonder how mnany of those leave because they weren’t in the right area of nursing on on the right unit with the right preceptor with appropriate managerial/adminstrative support?? If the reason I got into nursing is because I loved my experience giving birth & the way the nurses helped me there, then why in the world is it necessary that I start out on a med-surg floor? Especially if I only have 10-15 years before retirement age?
I know about this experience personally…
Back in the dark ages when I became a brand new nurse (25+ years ago now), I was placed in absolutely the wrong place with only about a week of orientation to work in a specialty unit I’d visited all of twice as a student nurse. Terrified is a pathetically weak word for what I felt there as the only RN taking care of extremely ill patients. After 6 months of crying almost every night that I had to go into work & praying that I didn’t accidentally cause harm or death to my patients, I went to our DON telling her I needed a transfer to an area with more support & that was a better fit, or that I was prepared to get out of this gig altogether & go back to working at Wendy’s & Burger Shack (the jobs that got me through nursing school.)I was as serious as I could get at that point, & luckily had a DON who listened, understood & allowed me to move to the pediatric unit….which truly is my passion in nursing. I had wonderful support there & it completely changed how I felt about nusing as a profession. That experience is why I snapped up this position when it became available…to create a program that would help new grads avoid that sort of trauma & hopefully decrease the risk of losing them to the profession altogether.
The burn-out topic spurred me to write about this because I think it applies in several ways. Burnt-out floor nurses & preceptor, burnt-out & disconnected managers/adminstrators & misguided new grads who are subjected to those folks will only worsen our problems with recruiting & retaining new nurses to help alleviate the shortage. They will burn-out as well, like shooting stars in the heavens, if we don’t start nurturing them as we care & concern as we would expect of nurses caring for patients.
Off the soapbox for the day
& Thank you for providing this forum to discuss the effects of burn-out on all of us…well seasoned & new alike.
September 28th, 2009 at 10:49 am
[...] Should Unhappy Nurses Quit the Profession? [...]
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:47 pm
I have been a nurse for 13 years and I only wish that I could flip burgers at McDonald’s and make what I make as a nurse. If I could………….I would gladly give up my license. I have absolutely no compassion left in me anymore.
May 18th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
20+ years in surgery, i love the work. i hate the endless documentation. admininistration wants faster turnovers and with a flawed computer documentation program(it’s still problematic after 2 years in place)it’s not possible for “real time charting” our hospital has become a joke. we have to document implants, sometimes 10, 20 or more implants in the computer and the same old paper implant record we always used it’s become as ridiculous as it is irritating. if an implant is new we have to fill out an extra sheet with the implant info as well as th other docs. triple redundancy is the norm here. i finally said enough and quit, im taking care of a sickly mother and was out of paid time off, sick time and occurances so it was time. the stress was killing me, now 2 weeks of not working, i really never want to go back to nursing unless im just first assisting or scrubbing i think i’m done with the paperwork side of insanity. the hospital blames everyone except administrations poor choices i.e. buying a defunct hospital to keep a larger hospital from obtaining it, building a 1/2 hospital to be finished over the next several years (patients are not sure where to even go) scratch that…yes they do…ANOTHER HOSPTAL.. and thats exactly what they have done. we are losing 2 million a month as the high, last month we lost a modest 60 grand. i’m a really good o.r. nurse some people have told me i’m the best, i’m certainly not mediocre, we have had over 50 years of o.r. nursing experience walk out the door in the last 6 weeks…i had 20+, the other 3 nurses had 9,10 and 12 years experience all at this hospital, i traveled or 8+ years and this is as redonculous as i have seen.
June 5th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Kasey, have you found a new profession yet? I admire you for realizing that it is time to get out but maybe you need not leave nursing entirely. Just get away from the bedside. What your feeling is very common.
June 17th, 2010 at 8:38 am
Nurses such as myself. Get stressed out very subtly. It started in Nursing school. Something messed up I could not put a finger on. Stress of being only American Born Nurse with a group of Nurses from another culture. Learning nursing and dealing with another culture. Hanging in there - stress does not go away it is getting worse. Try harder. Get tired look for different position. Get new Position like it. Hospital downsizes - you lose. Sorry. Not your fault. Get another job. Slowly like a morphine drip you slowly realize that nothing will change. You will always be understaffed. You will always be in conflict with some Nurse over ?. You continue to turn all the stress inward. Everybody who is not a Nurse say that you are complaining to much. Get another position. Work in another unit with another foreign culture ( they like to specialize). Only this one is different and do not want you to be their coworker. They have no bones about not liking you (Ethnocentric extreme) I call it inbreed. Change job again work with Insane Physicians who abuse to be like everybody else. Got to fit in. Stress must be internalized nobody seems to care anyways. Or they are from a culture unlike yours. They look at you like your crazy. Sorry you are part of the culture. Deal with Pompous MD showing off his $40.000 watch. You are not part of the club sorry. The CEO pops his head in to see if the slaves are not stealing the diamonds and are as productive as they dictate you should be. Oh yea they are not Nurses. But oh they make decisions for you. Do not complain. You try to be a robot. not humanly possible. Feel helpless. Nursing Administration Promises, Management says they have your back. You complain to protect your patient. Get pulled all over the place. You do it becouse you still have faith in the Hospital Philosphy. Unable to keep stress under control as good anymore. Get fired for something that is a lie and you know it. Leave after many years of above average work and wonder what the heck just happened. Slip into depression. Spouse gets you help (Thank god somebody loves me). You realize that You are on the wrong planet. Nobody cares. Nothing will change. You have to change youself. But now you know the truth. yes it took a long time and it almost killed you. But now you realize that it was stress, not your fault. You realize that you are a good person. You were in a situation that maybe a very passive person or the threat of being deported could only do under duress. Its time to go back to school hope for the best. Never will be a doctor. Never part of the inner sanctum. Money Talks, The truth Walks. Thank god you never
Facilitated anybodys demise. But you know alot. You are an insider. You could become a Legal consultant and try to let the law get some revenge for you. Or get another job and work until that becomes impossible. But you do not lie, you do not fudge alittle. Why are you so hard on yourself? Becouse you truly are the best Nurse and you are working in a system that does not care if you live or die. Just import some more Nurses and pretend that there is not a man behind the curtain. I am the Great and Powerful Health Care Reform. Nurses are asking what about us? We don’t count. Not alot of hot air. More like flatus being injected into your veins, with a smile and a coffee mug on Nurses week.
Prove me wrong. appeal to my intellect. Just your own facts. You do not know me. And you never walked in my shoes if you disagree with me. Also Mcdonalds is worse than Nursing
Mcdonalds is worse than Communism. Great Junk food. But such slave drivers. used to be good like Hospitals now I hope I dont catch MRSA/VRE from my next Hamburger. Nurses need to stand up and tell the Money that they care so much they can take care of the patients. Until Nurses get it written that they can make independent decisions and Charge for care of each patient. I made $27.75. after 20 years. Great. thats $4.50 to take care of 5-10 patients. thats about 40 cents/hour to care for 8 patients. Patients are on our side. We just need to scare that man behind the curtain. But I need you help.
But you are scared you need the income. Best of luck. I wish you never experience what I did. But from what Ive been reading on the internet I know I am not alone. The people that write that your a whiner! are they really a Nurse or some administration schlub who is part of this sick system saying they are a nurse. For all those who quit and turned their backs. I hope you still care. Well thats were Im at. 49 and worse off than when I started. I really care about fairness. I do not need a $40.000 watch. I need respect and power over my profession. Sorry for all those that sold out and found out that they were suckers. That really hurts. what happened to Womans lib? Nursing is not about change? I am a male and I love women of every stripe. I forgive those that did to me what they thought was right and I just want the best of a really bad situation. AMEN!!!!!!!!!! Now I am a criminal for speaking my mind. I need a new heart, brain and Courage. Glenda the good witch please help me! Time to make a stand. I will follow up. But I understand if you do not want to rock the boat. I never walked in your shoes. Believe my story is the tip of the iceberg. I was being polite.
June 26th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
I have been a nurse for 35 years!! I was burned out 10 years before I finally am not doing nursing. It was the best day of my life when I got out of nursing!! No more dealing with nurses who think they are the only ones that know how to do everything and they have only done nursing for 3-4 years! No more Director of Nurses who haven’t been on the floor for years and think that you should do everything and more and threaten your job if you don’t. Doctors who have no respect for nurses and want things done the second after they say it, no matter how busy you are or if you have a dying patient in another room. Doctors have no respect for nurses!! If a patient goes sour and dies unexpectedly, it is always the nurses fault!! Where was the doctor when you needed him? No where to be found!! I wonder how many patients have lost their life because doctors didn’t care enough to come and check them and have done what needed to be done to save the patients life!! It is always the nurses fault for everything that happens to a patient while they are in the hospital!! As nurses, we try to make sure the patient is comfortable in every way. We encourge the patients and listen to their woes, knowing we have 5-6 more patients out there that need our attention and caring ear,also. There is never enough time to do things right with the patient and by the end of the shift, the nurse is dragging physically and emotionally. Your heart just wants to cry out and many times tears come to your eyes because you know that you did all you could do with the amount of time that you had to do the care! It is never enough!! I just can’t do it anymore!! Doctors and director of nurses turning on their staff and blaming the nurse when the doctor could have been there and save that patients life!! There is no appreciation for nurses today by the hospitals, doctors and other nurses!! Everyone is out for number one-themselves! Who cares about others around them?!!
June 27th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Sue: I couldn’t agree more. The stress has gotten to me after 25 years to the point that I had a “meltdown”, I’m walking from nursing. I am doing a litle writing and taking an online AHIMA accredited medical coding course. Coders alone don’t make too much, but it can be finessed into managing a clinic or office, working at home, etc. I was invited to go into real estate by a local office, and I’m outgoing and fun(at least I always have been), so that might be something I could do very well at. If you will share,what are you doing for a career, and what do other nurses who leave nursing seek out for careers? Still need money coming in.
July 21st, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Hello nurses, I just found this site and I am so glad I did. I was wondering if I was the only nurse with 30 years of experience , ready to walk!! this is all I know and love it but I am sick of all the corporate world dictating to me what kind of nurse I should be. I had a meltdown at my last job of 19 years!! and took a severance pkg for 6 months. I have been looking for a job and boy have things changed. remember when you filled out an application in person and they asked when can you start? now its on line and no one calls you back. I am trying to do home health or hospice prn , thats all I can take. I am trying to decide what I can do besides nursing, its a shame because I have always wanted to be a nurse. we make good money but there is a price, thankfully hubby says do what I want to do. Lets pay our bills off so we want have to be servants to the corporate world, who are not nurses.. take care everyone.
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:08 am
Hi Nurses! At last, a place for us to vent. I agree with Diane, Sue, Anita and especially David. I too, quit nursing after 35 yrs, for the same reasons you have. And the main reason was the way the new nurses attend the patients. They were texting, and shopping online, while their patients were crying, needed suctioning, ringing the light. And when you ask them to help, they are “busy”. And i just couldn’t believe how a hospital could hire these nurses and risk the liability. I was OR and ICU most of my carreer. I became disgruntled and stressed with the mandatory overtime, and lack of vacation time, and although the money was great, I started to stockpile the money, and just quit, and am not working. The best thing I ever did to keep me in nursing all those years was to work other Perdiem jobs at the same time, to give me a different perspective, home care part time, and on call for recovery room.Anyway, do not go to an insurance comapny. I did that thinking being in an office would be great! It was the worst. Assembly line, no thinking, rote responses from a script, and nothing is right unless you save them money. None of the other career choices you mentioned looks promising after a burnout. The best idea is to go to school for another degree. Especially higher nursing degree. There, you can work part time in a clinic, as a practitioner, and an office, and leave the stress to the ancillary help!
July 27th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
After being a nurse for 29 years, I got my first rejection email! I cried I have never experienced a NO before. I need to work. I am constantly thinking about what I can do besides nursing with a RN. I also am thinking about medical billing and coding, but I dont know much about it.. any help? thanks
August 12th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
So glad to meet you all! I was an LVN for 4 years and completely burnt out so I bought a dog and cat grooming shop which I had for 15 years. That was a great 15 years away from the slavery of the LVN world. I then really did not know where to turn so I found the world of “paperwork nursing” and the start of Case Management (inferno-hell!). C.M. was a good gig in the beginning but now is indescribable torture. I worked insurance, hospital, worker’s comp, appeals, HEDIS, authorizations, you name it. Then after being an LVN for almost 25 years I made the decision to get my RN. Somehow I thought that if I finally completed my RN, then maybe I could shut the door on it. No, nothing really changed but it did feel good to go from being “Just an LVN” to “Just an RN”. I’m not sure if the jobs got worse or better. I was not even being paid more in every case! I am soooooo burned out I cannot stomach the thought of one more day as a nurse. I think I would actually vomit. If it was not for my boyfriend I would be homeless. I did become a hypnotherapist for smoking cessation, but this good side business does not provide a regular income by any means. So now what? Where does a highly skilled competent on-the-ball 52 yr/old go for work? I am thinking about a slow doctor’s office. Maybe an old doctor ready to retire, or maybe a busy plastic surgery office with insecure women who want lots of procedures and I can re-assure them. Reiki anyone?
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:49 pm
I graduated from a diploma nsg program in 1976 and have been employed full time since then. Many things have changed in the nsg profession over that time. Some things have gotten easier such as computer charting, and access to pts information. It seems though that the more technology improves the less time nurses spend with their pts. Jacho and other accrediting agencies have made it so nurses spend much of their time documenting and less and less with the pts themselves. I realize that these organizations are attempting to improve pt safety standards but in real life they have the opposite effect. Every Jacho staff should have to work on a nsg unit for a week before they pass any requirement on to hospitals. Insurance companies and medicare require certain data if you want them to pay for certain procedures. Core measures etc are published and often the data does not accurately reflect what a hospital is doing and how they are caring for pts. Nsg as a profession creates ill feelings among nurses by constantly separating out associate , diploma verses BSN nurses. All of the above take and have to pass the exact same nursing boards to be come licensed as a RN. However BSN programs teach that they are the professional nurses and the associate nurses are techncal nurses only. I am all for higher education but most of your BSN nurses return to school almost immediately for a NP, or MSN and have never really had alot of clinical experience caring for pts. In the end your educators with MSN and PHD’s who are educating new nurses and making decisions that affect nursing care and practice in every day life have little or no clinical experience themselves. The criteria to apply for an advanced RN position is 2 yrs experience with pt care. Have you ever known anyone who was able to become an advanced practationer in 2 years time?
So today we have all this data, all these reported numbers and statistics, we have all these awards ie Magnet status,the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality award, practicing evidence based medicine. Everyone is so into the numbers and data they fail to even look at the inidividual pts.
I became a nurse so that I could be a pt advocate and the voice for the pt who could not speak themselves. Nursing requires an individual to be responsible for their individual practice and take responsibility for the decisions they make while caring for pts. A certain standard of care has to be expected by nsg managers and administrators and individuals have to be held accountable to that standard. You can’t change the level of that standard ever time you have a nsg shortage and need more nurses. I totally agree that if you are burned out you need to get out of nursing. The last thing a sick pt or grieving family needs is a uncaring nurse who really does not want to be there taking care of you or your loved one. You would not want someone like that caring for you or a family member of yours.
I love my job, I love being a nurse…yes there are times when I am frustrated and overworked and bogged down with paperwork with no end in sight…but at the end of the day my patients and their families always have more on their plate they I do and yet they have such strength and endless faith and voice no complaints. I look at the situations they have to deal with and think I really don’t have it that bad. They give me strength each day to be the best that I can be and do the most for the pts and families who will never forget your words of kindness or your acts of compassion. Their graditude for the extra minute you took to show you cared makes everything I find frustrating and negative about nursing worthwhile.
September 4th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Just an update, I did get a job with a Hospice company. I am working in the inpatient unit and doing home visits and soon to be training in admissions. I realize after talking with the “older nurses” like myself,, I am 52,, and not so old, that they all feel the same way we do. Some of these nurses have various degrees and work along side of me. I am still very discouraged but this job I have control over my schedule. I did not need the benefits and did take a cut in pay. Being unemployed as a nurse was very emotional for me and thankfully I did get a good job and made it. I have met several new graduates, one was a volunteer, she is 53 yrs old. She says as a new grad RN, she has applied to over 80 jobs and no one wants to hire her, not sure what else is going on, but I think it is sad. I truly think this will be my last nursing job, I am planning on taking an online class in something. I was born to be a nurse and love my patients but I just cant deal with all this anymore. Take care.
September 20th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
I have been an RN for 4 1/2 years on a post-surgical unit. I achieved my BSN 2 years ago and have been looking for something new ever since. I want less stress! I like helping the patients and doing patient teaching, but when it comes to critical situations, I get too stressed out and worry about every little thing. Every night after work it seems I make up things to worry about. I want something new. I have worked hard for my degrees, so I don’t want to give up nursing all that quickly, but I am getting so burnt out. Any suggestions?
September 26th, 2010 at 1:39 am
I can’t believe there are older nurse out there who feel the same way I do and aren’t afraid to post it. I say DITTO to all the above posters. I thought I was the only RN w/30 yrs of hosptial bedside nursing who experienced all the downsides, disappoinments and disillusionments of nursing. Had been unemployed for months- I did go to unemployment. I like for our number to be counted- some how hospital administrations seem to be able to fly under the government’s radar with all the concentual discharges of nurses. I fear there is alot of nurses out there who do not contact unemployment and end up withno health insurance, no income and lots of forclosures and bankrupties after years of hard work and aggravation. From the above positings I see we are a vast number and from all the specialities- mine is med/surg/tele. I too have had it with the corporate, nursing management BS and their bullying of the staff nurses. I hope to never set foot in a hospital nursing unit again. I will miss the money but not the atmosphere,liability, and routine.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:47 am
It is disheartening to read all the negative attitudes towards the nursing profession. However, I do understand those attitudes even though after 35 + years of nursing I still love being a nurse and regret that an injury removed me from bedside care. I feel very sorry for those of you who have lost your love of the profession based on the outside pressures to “perform”. Nursing is from the heart. Yes, the work load is tremendous and at times ridiculous and yes there are managers and bosses that really do not understand what nursing is really all about. We have only ourselvees to blame.
Approximatly 25 years ago we allowed nursing to begin to disevolve from being a profession in it’s own right and bowing to the pressure that only a college degree made a “professional” nurse. That is a lot of hogwash
A BS degree only means you can read books and retain some written knowledge. A nurse must be empathic, caring, concerned and able to do bedside nursing with compassion and knowledge. I’ve work with all different degreed nurses, some with diplomas, others with BSNs, and still others with PHDs and MSNs. It still boiled down to did they care about the patient or just about the job and the money available because of an advance degree.
I’m all for nurses continuing their education, we all need to continue to learn and grow however, nursing will never be the best paying job in the universe and if anyone went into nursing for the money they need to leave now not later. As to those nurses that are “burned out” yes, if you are truely burned out you need to take a break and reassess your options. There are many aspects of nursing that are available to you. Due to my injury I had to leave my beloved job as a psych nurse and am now a compliance officer for a home care agency. No, it’s not the same, the stress is different and I no longer deal directly with patients BUT I am still an nurse at heart and care deeply for the clients we serve and strive to set the example of what real nursing is all about.
For those of you who stay in nursing but “hate” it I say get out now, find a job you can love, it will reduce your stress and will make you happier. You spend way too much time working to hate every moment that you are there.
November 14th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I got into nursing because of the money. That’s pretty much it! I needed a career that would support me, becase I am unfortunately single. I initially wanted to be a scurb tech until I found out how much they made, so decided to be an OR nurse. Some days I hate my job but most days it’s just ok. I definitely don’t love it. I wish there was a job out there that I would love but there just isn’t. I’ve only been a nurse for about 2 1/2 years (I’m 36)so I have a looooong way to go til retirement. I’m currently enrolled in a BSN, although I’m not really sure why. I hate every second of it! If I had to do over, I wouldn’t go to nursing school. No matter WHAT happens, it is always the nurse’s fault. That is the main lesson I have learned as a nurse. Doctors don’t respect us. Management doesn’t respect us. Other personnel doesn’t respect us. It’s a thankless, stressful frustrating job. And it is MUCH easier said than done when people say,” Oh just go find something that you like and quit nursing!” Umm, ok are you going to pay me $60,000 a year while I figure out what that is??I’m pretty much stuck in this career and I get up every day and put my 8 hours in and that is my life. Most of the scrub techs I work with want to be and are currently going to school to be nurses and I have to ask them, “WHY?”
November 24th, 2010 at 9:18 am
Hi Everyone! My name is Tijera. Right now I have been in the Army for 5 years. Orignally I wanted to go to college and be a nurse but at the same time wanted to be more independent and also have my education paid. I joined the Army in 2005. Now it’s almost 2011 & I am completely burned out. With most of the complaints that I heard on this website, they sound a lot like the Army, the only difference though is that you can’t get out and people won’t work with you to get the help you need (in the military). Before I joined the Army I was a medical assistant and could handle stress really well. Now it’s a completely different story. I was in Iraq for 15 months and the stress you deal with over there (including how your SGT’s act) is unreal!!! People have talked to me about becoming a nurse in the Army because my education would be paid for but I found out that if the Army needs you at a particular area/unit you might not be able to practice nursing for 2-3 years and in my opinion if I took the time to go to school and work my butt off, I should be able to be a nurse and do my job well.
I know your wondering why I am on a Nurse website talking about the military? It’s because I want to make sure I want to be a nurse and know what I am jumping into before I start prerequisites/Nursing school. I want to know the pros and cons because when I joined the Army I was only told the pros and not the cons. Trust me, the cons outweight the pros!! I would love to work in Pediatrics. I love children and I love helping people.
If anybody wants to write me back my email is foxxythang08@hotmail.com. I would love to hear from you.
November 24th, 2010 at 9:27 am
I got one more comment to say…I know nursing has it’s cons but God it sounds so much like the Army. For me I work 60-84 hours a week…with no overtime and I’m treated like a baby. I have to leave my phone on when the weekends hit and supervisors have a mapquest/googe map to your house. Like I said before I would love to work in Pediatrics but I am also interested in Psych. And I do have a little idea of how you guys really feel. I was a medical assistant at a hospital. I was suppose to be working in admininstration but got stuck in the recovery room doing bedside care and messing with bed pans. Some of the doctors would treat the nurses so bad. I would see them running off and crying. One Dr. tried to talk to me crazy and I corrected him in front of everybody. I told him that I might not be young and have a million degrees but I am gonna get respect. And you know what?!? He never talked to me crazy ever again. But in the Army it’s a little different. When they yell you are suppose to take it and if you talk back you can get demoted and loss $$$ plus to 15-45 days of extra duty.
Reading these blogs have made me realized that no job is the perfect job. I thought when I do become a nurse that I would be happy because almost every nurse I have talked to told me that they love it but I hear all of the blogs and I’m like wow!!! I am glad I am getting the darkside of it instead of the good side. If anybody wants to reply back to me I would be glad to hear your input and/or pros and cons about nursing.
**Tijera
November 30th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Interesting viewpoints here. I’ve been an RN for 16 years and while it’s still better than being a carpenter, which is what I used to do, the paper work, has become a nuisance. The main reason for me is the hospital I’ve been at for the last nine years has bought the Cerner program. And rather than buy the whole package at once, they implemented it piecemeal. It’s very buggy and our nurses spend an inordinate amount of time fighting with the computer. Also, in the past year we’ve begun using the Dolphin med administration system, which effectively doubles the amount of time we spend passing meds - and that’s when it’s working properly, which isn’t often.
A big part of this job is upper management’s endless quest to find more work for their nurses to do. I simply decided the days of me getting worked to death so someone else can get a bonus are over. When they put new work off on us, I get the time back from something else. I’ll chart when and if I have time but there’s no way I’m staying over an extra hour or more to write a book about every little thing. That line, “If it wasn’t charted it wasn’t done” really is bs. My minimalist approach to charting cuts about an hour off my workload - which rebounds to my patients’ favor. My patients are happier because of the personalized care I’m able to give them and I’m happier because I’m less stressed.
I’ve noticed a lot of nurses, not just the newer ones, going back and forth many times to their patient’s rooms. No wonder they’re exhausted after their shifts. Smart nurses learn to cluster care. Nurses should concentrate a lot more on developing personal strategies to make the job easier rather than burning out trying to meet managment’s unrealistic expectations.
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:33 am
I have been a nurse for 19 years, I have suffered burnout for the past 7 years. I laugh and say I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I took a job in a psych hospital and loved it, thought I had found my calling. Now with all the paperwork and the responsibility, I don’t have time to listen to my patients. Management says we are over our numbers with 16 pts to 2 nurses and a tech. I feel like I work a assembly line, get them out so we can take in more. There have been days when I haven’t even discharge one when I’m taking one in for that bed. Where is the job where I can listen and talk with patients, and get my compassion back?
February 4th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
I think anyone who’s unhappy with their profession should quit.
February 28th, 2011 at 11:03 pm
I am so glad I found this website. Oh,how I can relate to all of you. Have been a nurse for over 20 years and have been burned out probably for the last 5. I want to get out so bad. The paperwork is over-whelming and takes priority over patient care. I loved being a nurse at one time but the stress is just too much anymore. I am over 60 and want to work for another couple years. I don’t think I can stomach this anymore. JACHO and the others that make all the rules and demands are totally out of touch with bedside nursing. Dealing with the patient is okay but having to deal with their family is sometimes torture…they are rude, don’t follow the hospital rules and think they can just take over or they try to tell you how its going to be. Where can you make this kind of money and work 3 days a week. I have been looking daily for a different job for at least 3 years. I don’t know what I am going to do. Am too old to start over. When I see these student nurses coming in I just want to take them aside and tell them to rethink their decision. Do something else and do it now. I have become so bitter…..I need to make a change…somehow.
March 2nd, 2011 at 2:44 pm
I have been a nurse for nearly 30 years {gulp} and love the fact I have this job. It has never been about the money because nursing won’t get you rich by any means.
I am extrememly proud of my profession and realize that “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side”. But at least with nursing I know that I can be caring and make a difference everyday I work. I have worked in NICU,chemical dependency,CCU, employee health, and a high risk children’s group home. I learned so much about myself in each position.
I too don’t like the paperwork and computer work somedays. Somedays the work load can be overwelming and stressful but that’s when I talk with friends and other RNs for the motivation I need again.
I can tell you the “if it isn’t written than it wasn’t done’ absolutely does matter~ just spend a day in court testifiying and you will see it does. Somedays my hours are stretched to the max and I don’t know what a 8 hour shiift means now that I am salaried. But I know that what I give makes a difference.
I am thankful to work in an organization that, while far from perfect, listens to the nursing staff and wants critical thinking. Not all my jobs were ideal, I even left the group home because I began to question the safey of the children in my care due to poor training and orientation. But the beauty of nursing is just that, you can move on to something else within nursing to find the area you feel passionate about.
So would I encourage someone to go into nursing~ absolutely!!! We need compassionate,caring,educated nurses to continue to come into this profession.
March 12th, 2011 at 2:22 am
I have been a nurse for 25 years and for the most part enjoy it. More and more feel that I don’t have the support I need to do my job. Initially people hired into management were high energy exceptional nurses. Now, it is not what you know, it is who you know and more and more not nurses but people with an interest in business coupled with unlicensed personnel. Would more than likely prefer insurance or work from home doing coding as the risk is too high in current environment. Holding hands and signing Kumbia is not going to do it.
March 26th, 2011 at 5:19 am
I was a “nurse” for a whole year before I got burnt out. I know what you’re thinking, “That long huh?” Well let me tell ya… I worked in a med/surg unit, because as was mentioned in another comment, I was taught that if I could do a few years there I could do anything. I was extremely enthusiastic about it all. I worked as a tech while going through school and then transitioned to a externship, which was basically a glorified LPN. It was stressful but I never attributed the stress solely to the work because I was in nursing school for heavens sake! Stress is the way of life during nursing school. Point being, I naively thought that when I became an RN the sun would shine and birds would sing and all my little girl dreams of changing people’s lives and making a difference would finally come true. And, guess what? It happened! For about two months it was great. I don’t know if it was the high of graduation and passing my state boards or just finally having the autonomy I had been craving for so long and being the one in charge of my team, or if I really did make a small amount of good for someone somewhere in there… I don’t know. It didn’t last long though.
As a new grad, I found my self extremely well prepared to pass a test (not so important in real life), and keep a pt alive (much more important), moderately prepared to manage all that a 12 hour night shift on an extremely strict and understaffed med/surg floor entails, but absolutely and without question completely unprepared to have the optimistic wind knocked out of me with the unrelenting beating from every direction that a nurse takes almost everyday. From above, administration, physicians, even a times those nurses who like to give a little bit of the crap they got when they first started back to the new ones coming in to the game. Not fun. But then from “below” the patient and their family, who despite your best effort to meet their most important medical need, don’t care that you are on literally your eleventh hour, they want sugar in their coffee and they want it now!
I read all your comments and see the 20yrs+ as nurses and just now getting to burn out stage and all I think is God bless you for making it that long. I am out of the world of nursing after a horrible year on med/surg, many tears, much deliberation, and ultimately coming to the decision that I was going to get out before I quit caring completely. It was hard to face the decision and in essence say that all the schooling and hard work had been for nothing. Very difficult to let go of the steady and larger-than-they-had-ever-been paychecks, which was never the lure in the first place however it became a major con when deciding to leave or not to leave. But most of all, I hate that I had to do something so contrary to my nature for the sake of my happiness and well being, and that is quit. I am not opposed to never doing anything else in field of nursing but I’m so emotionally scarred that even now when I think of returning it produces a softball size lump on my throat, instant heaviness to my shoulders, and profound nausea. Anyway, I hope to find a new path soon, but for now, I’m greatly relieved I’m no longer forcing myself down the wrong one.
April 11th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
hello, my name is janette ince, i am a registered nurse since 1986, what have i gained from working as a registered nurse for more than 15years fulltime at both hospitals and nursing homes, i have gained homelessness, foodstamps, degregation, scorn, hate and rejection, a place on the welfare line at the nearest social services office, people cursing me where ever i go to live, people constantly harrassing me for monies to pay debts that they themselves owe,audits from the internal revenue department every year, no savings, no credit cards, no monies, 911 follows me where ever i go, 54 short-term different addresses,when i work , my yearly salary is always 40,000 dollars less than what i actually worked for, i am only paid enough to pay 0ne years rent regardless to where i work,a dup,a fool, RN Profession ? or a snag ?
April 13th, 2011 at 10:34 am
I’ve been a nurse for 12 years. I was a struggling artist wannabe, in other words, a waiter. I gave up my dreams and I went into it for the money — a friend said I would be able to dictate my own salary with a nursing shortage looming. I breezed through school and found I was very effective as a nurse. Loved the new money (although now it is still not enough); and the rewards are immense, the sense of accomplishment and helping others. I thought, it’s good karma.
But I burn out so easily because I have high compassion for people and I told myself I would never be mediocre. I went from Med-Surg to Hospice to Case management. Still, It amazes me how many nurses and doctors drop the ball and pass the buck. Healthcare has become all about profits. I have also learned that medicine today does not heal anyone but only prolongs the cycle of disease to keep the money machine turning. It’s digusting. SO, now I am 48 and want out, but feel I have little options. I am a single guy and don’t have a husband to fall back on. My plan is to finish paying off my debt and then, alas, I will have to backtrack to a lower-paying job just to keep my peace of mind. Although I will continue to honor the work I have done and those I have helped, I feel the good nurses’ codependency is the only reason they stay. The others let it roll off their backs and are not that good and are merely pawns for what has become an industry in which they are robots. I have attained some karma, and I have a great understanding of humanity, but it is not positive. Also, seeing my own mortality everyday has darkened my soul.
I need to get that back with something more life-affirming. I am seeking an alternative.
April 22nd, 2011 at 7:51 am
Hi all, I have just finished my first term of LPN school and I totally despise it. The stress has been overwhelming and I can’t stand the hospital! I am in the process of withdrawing and plan to go back to school to get my Associates degree. The school I am in is giving me a hard time about leaving. We started with 32 students and are down to 22. I was one of the ones that passed all of my classes. We have 4 instructors that disagree with each other and it is so confusing, I don’t know how I passed. I really love people and thought I wanted to be a nurse, but frankly I am terrified I’ll get something and bring it home to my family. I made a list of everything I liked about PT care and what I didn’t and wow the didn’t s won out. My family has been neglected, my son’s grades have dropped, some A’s went to C’s, my house is a wreck and so am I. Financially I have to work as well and I will have to give up over $700 a month to continue and I told them I can’t do that. They asked me if I could get more loans to help out, uh no! I was trying to leave on a good note and have the option of coming back to the night and weekend program but a friend made me realize it wouldn’t make any difference if I really didn’t like it. I have found so many boards with Nurses hating it and I am so glad I am not alone. I know I haven’t really gotten a taste of Nursing but I can tell you from the little I have experienced, it is enough! The floor I was on for clinicals, the nurses wouldn’t help and they complained about us being there and the things I saw that weren’t sterile! There was one nurse that was great, but I never got to be with her. One of the CNA’s that already worked there got first dibs. I feel guilty for not finishing what could possibly lead to a decent paycheck but I think my hearts just not in it. I will have to find a career that I can use to help people in another way. Thank you for letting me vent.
April 25th, 2011 at 7:49 am
Went to RN school as a non-trad in 1991. Made it through and thought I had the world at my fingertips. Good money, good company. Well, that was true for a few years. Then got a job in a huge hospital on the cancer floor. The money was even “better”?????? That was the beginning of the end. 20-30 pts a night, THREE nurses. It was awful. I cried every day on my way to and from work. Got a different job in an office. That was perfect for 9 years. Then the paperwork started to escalate and the management got raunchy. I began to get bullied by two younger people in the office. I was daily hit with questions of “why are you doing it that way?, why is that pt still waiting?, are you sure that is what the dr meant?,. The first thing I saw when I logged on to my computer each morning was a note about what I had done wrong the day before from the DON. Could be as ridiculous as “laughing out loud in the hallway”. Now, the DON was in a different location so I was being reported on daily. The 2 younger (and lower paid) employees had done this before and I should have seen it coming. The last nurse had given up 6 months before me. My last month, after I gave notice, was awful. They actually destroyed a sterile field I had set up just a few minutes before a procedure. I had a flat tire 2 days in a row. My lunch was in the trash can when I went on break. My personal pictures hanging in my cupboard were destroyed with a Sharpie. I could list a hundred evils. They were obviously “hitmen” to get me out. I guess they have already started on another “overpaid RN”.
Just to think that the DON condones this behavior is nauseating. What is her job about anyway. Ahhh, yes, saving money. Forget the patient, lets get rid of the organized, critical thinking, experienced RN and replace with a new medical assistant who gets $12 LESS per hour. Nevermind that she cannot pronounce the word colonoscopy and couldn’t triage an appy if it fell on her.
The bullying was the last straw but I have to tell you that the nursing atmosphere has been crashing for years. The amount of paperwork is unbelievable. Prior authorizations for procedures and medications are out of control. And, the push to save money where there is none to be safely saved?????????????
I am now home and love it. Can’t imagine going back to nursing. It is a homewrecking, lifewrecking occupation. Thanks for letting me vent.
June 1st, 2011 at 9:17 pm
Wow! It was great reading all of your comments. Somehow it is so validadting. I have been a nurse for 33 years and have always disliked it and most of the time hated it. I was lucky enough to stay home with my kids for a glorious 10 year span and those were the best years of my life. Now I really hate my job, but so far havent figured out what I should do that would be better. I am 55, with a great personal life, but I can’t stand going to work! It makes me miserable. I work on an endoscopy unit that is rediculously busy. It has become “hurry up, but don’t dare make a mistake or you are out!” THe pressure is out of control, more and more paperwork! We are always expected to do overtime, more and more emergency ad on cases. I am considering home care, or a doctors office. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions to share? My email is kjablon442@aol
August 4th, 2011 at 12:19 am
All the information and commenting are usefully for newbie nurse to learn,thanks for you guys
August 6th, 2011 at 8:21 am
I have been a nurse for 15 years and hate it. I cannot handle any more stress, its affecting my marriage and most of al my well being. I am trapped. I worked LTC, hospice and home care, agency ad none of it makes me feel like Im in the right place in life. I am 38 , married with a preschooler in tow and need the money. I make 40 bucks an hour o a med surg floor so I only need to work 3 days a week but I find I cant even handle that. Sad. I have devloped an anxiety disorder over the years and find that I cannot handle any more stress. My mind becomes frazzled and disorganized and I find it hard to complete tasks at work. I am sad I couldnt go back to school to discover what other talents and potential I may have. Its hard with a little one. I want to take a class per semester but Ill never graduate at this point. What have other former nurses transitioned into for work? I need out soon! I am making stupid mistakes at work and am afraid.
August 19th, 2011 at 4:56 pm
Every body knows that modern life is very expensive, but different people require cash for different issues and not every man earns big sums money. Thus to get good loans and just consolidation loans would be good way out.
September 3rd, 2011 at 3:02 pm
I have been working a med/surg unit for 22 months now. This is my first job after graduating into this new career at age 50. I love people, their stories, and providing a helping hand if possible. I chose nursing to earn a livable wage, be of service in a positive way, and stay in NW Montana. The economy changed and I had to relocate.
After this past week it is now very clear to me that I am in the wrong job. I reacted poorly under three days of constant stress with no breaks. Specificaly, I yelled at a patient and my CNA. A very needy pt. and a CNA not performing tasks I depend on. No excuses, a knee jerk response instead of a professional approach. I know we all make mistakes, but I cannot accept making a poor situation worse with my negative influence. My primary attitude is to do no harm. I know the work load and environment is not going to change.
My RN experience has taught me that nursing is not a healthy profession to be in, and the hospital’s priority is loyalty to the business model over patient care. If you hate what you are doing it will soon surface, get out, do no harm.
I can relate to previous comments, what do I do now? At my age and with all the time, effort, and expense of acheiving my RN license I feel lost. Yet, I believe this will lead to something more in line to my true nature.
I believe you all have sincere concern for our fellow humans, we all must find a way to express our caring nature without continually sacraficing our own health.
September 16th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
22 years experience here and let me tell you- I have done a lot of different types of nursing. med surg, home health, motherbaby all ICU’s - many many years, and now dialysis. I even did a little radiology… boring.. It has just gotton ridiculous….. I went into it because I care and I love people. But hospitals only care about computer charting and bullsh*** managers that couldn’t take care of a really sick patient if their life depended on it. And these new grads that know it all and wnat to manage me? HaHa Ha. Hope I never see them as a patient, because they could care less!! I’m so fed up seriously thinking about just working 2 jobs for a while paying off my bills and sititng my behind down. The doctors aren’t any better! They could care less, they just make referrals to other doctors… pass the buck!!
October 9th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
I have been an RN for going on 11 years. I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE my med-surg job. I used to feel blessed to have my job, now I feel like crying almost every day. The last couple of years have been difficult d/t being a primary caregiver to a (now deceased) sibling on top of working full-time. Now I am caring for my elderly mother. I am just plain tired of taking care of people. Thankfully I have no family of my own to tend to, otherwise I might really lose it. I was thinking of switching to a clinic position.
I am just glad I found a place to vent!
October 27th, 2011 at 2:44 am
Thank God I have found you all!! Have been in Home Health for 10 years after 3 year stint in a pediatric convalescent center. Thought Home Health was my passion and calling. I have cried buckets of tears for all of you people and I commend you all for posting your thoughts about the whole nursing scene. I too am an older nurse with alot of compassion and integrity. Except changes in the home have made it difficult to enjoy my job any more. I’m experiencing burnout from all the changes and budget cuts. Family dynamics are in the toilet and now after having the same patient for ten years with improvements in his overall wellbeing, I’m called out on the carpet because I refuse to accept abuse by my patient any longer!! I’m jaded, I hate nursing and am up right now at 3:30 posting this because I’m losing sleep over what is going to be a melt down. Because of the current economy, I hesitate to quit. I live in a small town where good opportunities are few and far between. It’s time for a change but where does someone my age go?? Thanks for all your support and letting me vent!! It’s good to know that all the self-degradation is totally unnecessary as I’m not the only one on this sinking ship called healthcare!! I wish the very best for all of you!!Thanks again for letting me vent!!
November 15th, 2011 at 11:48 am
Suki, I completely agree. I pray when its time for my mom to go, it’ll be in her sleep at home. My sister died in hospital and it wasn’t the best death. Not the worst, but definitely could have been better. Her last nurse was clearly not suited to a dying pt. She had the nerve to tell me after my sister died that we needed to get out because she needed the bed for an ER pt. What a heartless or just plain rude bitch.
Misty, I wish you luck in finding a new position. I know change is difficult.
I am actually in a better place spiritually and emotionally than I was when I wrote what I did above. I finally got more manageable assignments and pts that reminded me why I’m a nurse to begin with. I also realized I need more self-care. I’m working on that. We all need something to look forward to.
January 11th, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Great blog here! Also your site loads up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol…
January 22nd, 2012 at 3:00 am
i need to leave this profession… but me not finding other best career….
January 22nd, 2012 at 1:26 pm
MJD,
I understand what you mean about facing your own mortality.
I have been a nurse for 14 years, Oncology care for the past 9 years.
I know that I could change jobs, but I feel stuck. What else would I do? I only have an associates degree, and am so limited by this. We have moved to a new state and have two small children. Not working is not an option for me. Going to school is expensive, and there is NO way I will work full time just for tuition reimbursement!
Luckily I only work per diem, one 12 a week…..14+ in reality.
My problem is that I feel like nursing is killing me. The constant suffering, death, paperwork, short staffing, blah, blah, blah. I think about death a lot. Like my life is almost over. We live, but die so soon! I’m only 36 and feel crippled by this! I am sick with anxiety for days before my shift. Useless to my family days after. I’m pathetic! Another thing I find is that I just don’t want to take care of ANYBODY but
myself anymore. I feel terrible putting that down in writing. I am sick of caring! Help me! I feel so toxic and I’m imploding!
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:30 am
Great site for ”Awakening Nurses”… I’ve been Med-Surg RN for years- Long story short- hated 1st job -cried nightly- lost great husband sudden to brain aneurysm-ended up where I am now as charge nurse 3-11 most nights w/o a CNA where patients/families don’t share the PRIORITIZE rule of nurseswhen fluffing their pillow or finding a remote IS priority- I see daily a lot of unnecessary health conditions and surgeries that probably could have been prevented which led to my becoming vegan/raw vegan.
I am now planning my escape even though I work at one of best med-surg nurse to patient ratios out there (evenings w/ 1:6) and most employees are awesome- I even love my boss- but I DON’T LOVE waking up at 2am worrying if a decision I made is going to lead to someone’s death. I would rather be poor and happy than rich and stressed. I became a mostly Raw Vegan after seeing on a daily basis how important ACTUAL good nutrition is for humans (who- by the way– are the only ones who cook their food on the entire planet) -so many health care problems could be prevented if we grew our own food and went outside and played in the sun and put our feet in the earth more.
No- I ain’t crazy- I’m just awake and am planning my escape from stress- I recommend a little book “”The Richest Man in Babylon” to anyone thinking of getting out… I put away just 10% of every paycheck to a second bank account -across town- that I DON’T have a debit card to or online access to- I don’t pay close attention to the total. I’m looking around at the employees of stores I go in to and watching for who looks happy- that’s what job I’m going to go for. I won’t lose sleep over selling customers green beans and toilet paper!!!
( med-surg floor for maybe 1 year at the most- stockpiling money-paying off debt- and watching for that happy low stress cute little job 
oh yeah - and start buying non-expensive produce that I’ll have to scrub down w/ dawn soap to avoid bacteria and pesticides if possible because the healthiest is the most expensive… If anyone finds the perfect low-stress job w/ family plan- please post position- so far it’s looking like Aldi’s cashier for me… ”Thank you- Have a nice day” 
and check out my guru- dan macdonald on youtube liferegenerator
It doesn’t matter how much you make - it’s all about insurance… And- the more money you make– the more money you spend! So- my plan is to keep it together as charge nurse on my crazy hectic (mostly CNA-free
Thanks- Cheryl
February 3rd, 2012 at 8:47 am
Correction to above post… ”CNA Free
” that’s sarcasm and then a frowny face - my employers would rather pay an RN overtime to do charting than hire another CNA– (more sarcasm)
February 10th, 2012 at 10:30 am
This is Tijera. I am back on this site because I love the blogs. I still have 1 year & 7 months to go in the Army. I still don’t like it but it feels good that I am almost out. I also like the unit I’m in at the moment. I am not working 60-84 hours a week like I was in Germany.
I am on this site again because nursing school has been on my mind (still). I really love caring for people and I’m very compassionate. The $$ is good but I am a people person and I would love to work with children (Pediatrics) or Dermatology. It’s just that in Germany I couldn’t handle the stress so I’m wondering once I get to nursing school/working will I be the same way I was in Germany? I had a complete meltdown and stayed in a hospital for 4 days. Like I stated before on my previous blog that before I joined the Army I could handle a lot of stress. I worked in the medical field and other types of work. Some jobs I like and some I hated but I still had peace when I went home for the day. I also was on unemployment at one time (laid off from my Chriopractic job) and I still wasn’t stressed out. I still looked for employment and had a positive attitude. I wanted something new and challenging (plus college benefits/TA) so I joined the US Army. My stress doubled (to top it off a 15 month deployment in Iraq), and I haven’t took one college class in over 6 years. Just too busy in the Army/my unit or crap that goes on after 5pm. Also I am married. My husband is also in the military.
Even though my education will be payed for when I get out the Army next year, I wonder if I am wasting my time being a nurse?
February 15th, 2012 at 11:04 pm
Cheryl, I completely understand what you mean about the cute job. When I was still in nursing school I went to Disneyland wearing my college sweatshirt which had “Nursing” under the university’s name. The cast member we bought our tix from saw it and gave us a discount because she was a nurse. She said she got out if nursing after 20? years because it was too stressful and she was much happier working for Disneyland. At the time, I thought she must be a,bit,mental but now I completely understand!
February 15th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Karen, Onc is really draining on the human spirit. I was my sister’s caregiver before she died of stomach cancer at 39, I was so depressed. Of course I was devastated to be losing my sister, but the sheer futility of the treatment options made me wonder why we bothered at all. I couldn’t work Onc for that reason. I have dying pts, and losing kids is always horrible, but I don’t have to see death daily or even weekly.
Maybe its time for you to put your nursing skills to use elsewhere, in some capacity that won’t drain your spirit as much as your current role does.
I too can relate to not wanting to take care of anyone but myself anymore. I’m now,my elderly mothers caregiver. Ive decided not to marry or have kids simply because if I do I will never have my own life again. A selfish thought but a valid one nonetheless. I’m happy I has this epiphany BEFORE bringing children into the world. That’s just me though.
February 18th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Karen, get out of chemo, it will suck the life out of you faster than any nursing job out there. I know, did it for a few years and put on 50lbs and would not talk to the hubs for hours after a shift. Miss the patients but not the short staffing at the shithole I worked in.
Trying different jobs, departments, etc, etc does not work. If you have a brain get the hell out. I am planning the same and wish everyone luck and much success. Get out before you lose your mind, get addicted, and like so many, get a mass(like I did), or become a mindless automaton just to keep your nose clean. Those who care get pissed about things, those who are happy with nursing have their thumbs up their asses. Quit before you’ve put in another 10 years, or it will end up 17 like me. Does anyone recognize themselves after being in it that long? I look like shit now and just turned 40! WTF!
February 28th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Tijera… there’s got to be a better way.. ask yourself why you are being so self-sacrifocial. I don’t know you- but i can gather that you are willing to lay your life on the line (thank u) - but why? –because you want to ‘help’ people? The medical first rule is Do no Harm— HAH! What a lie… look at how much harm medicine/surgeries cause to people that blindly just fall into …well, the doctor thought it was a good idea”.
Search your mind while consuming raw living fruit and ask WHy?
If it’s money- there are other ways… Save Yourself
Fully well intended, Cheryl
Well- gotta hop in shower and go to work… 357 days left- yeaah!
March 1st, 2012 at 10:23 am
Well… I thought I had all answers- thought I could psyche myself up and keep a positive outlook at work- I even did positive affirmations- just seems like when I get there- it just feels like I’m drowning.
i’ve heard this expression before from nurses…. I’m drowning- if there is anyone who knows how to not DROWN on Med-Surg evening shift- please speak up!
I’ve got 355 days left as charge nurse w/ full load- I don’t mind staying till 12:30 to finish charting–
I am willing to accept the fact that I’m NoT swimming the correct way.
Tony Robbins (guru) says- watch someone who does a good job and do what they do.
Help
March 2nd, 2012 at 3:43 am
Ok- so- i may have figured it out… What do you tell a person that’s drowning? …”Don’t fight or struggle… Relax… what happens when you relax in water?… anyone??? YOU FLOAT!
So… I tried it tonight- had 6 patient’s/all the LPN’s assessments/a blood transfusion and 2 outpatient infusions…luckily a nice day shift nurse stayed & helped w/ 2 of 3 admissions we sudenly got… BUT ANYWAY…. I tried it & I think it worked… I took the computer down the hall and assessed all my patients– of course the blood transfusion was little late (but he was stable- not bleeding on me) and the out patient thought I forgot about her because it took so long- but overall- I didn’t drown.
Cheryl
I said… I didn’t drown– all the money I’ve spent on self-help cd’s/books- and here I figured it out on my own.
I love this blog- thank you guys so much for letting me sort out my feelings here
March 5th, 2012 at 5:53 am
It is comforting to see that I am not alone in my aggravation with this profession. I was encouraged by my father to become a nurse because of the income and the job security. It is a decision that I regretted within one year of becoming a RN and still regret 18 years later. For a long time, I thought that changing jobs would help, so I would try different things, only to finally realize that it just must be me.
For the last 12 years or so, I have worked in the ER. It is the most tolerable place for me because it is fast paced and the patients come and go pretty fast. I do not do well with keeping the same patients for hours upon end.
I have seen people that are “meant to be” nurses, and I am grateful for them. They continue to be an inspiration for me, and they make life a little more cheerful. The problem with the profession is a multifaceted one. Yes, there are the shortages, the inability to keep staff longer than a few months, the attitudes of doctors, etc. What I see most though is the downfall in society in general. I have always worked in “non profit” businesses, and it seems that people just don’t want to take any responsibility for themselves anymore. The entire hospital is a revolving door. Not only do the same people come to the ER because it is a free clinic, but the same patients rotate in and out upstairs because they are so non compliant. We can teach until we are blue in the face, but if people have no inclination to put that teaching to use, what good does it do?
It is really scary that new regulations will see that hospitals soon will have reduced/no payment for repeat hospitalizations for the same illness in a patient. How will they operate? How long will it take before people become more responsible for their own health? Meanwhile, I dream of a new job for myself in the future while continuing to cope in a world where I feel society is collapsing.
March 10th, 2012 at 4:42 am
I have only been working as a nurse for 2 1/2 years and already feel burned out! Is that normal? I work in an inpatient rehab facility in a hospital and feel that they completely take advantage of medicare and medicaid. I mean really … the people that they bring to rehab sometimes we are like “so that person who cannot lift a finger overnight is doing 3 hours of therapy every day??” Also the unit is crap. Half of our equipment doesnt work, the internet always freezes up, we still have semi-private rooms in which the patients ALWAYS complain about. They are finally renovating the rooms but as of today it looks like they are not actually renovating but putting in new tvs and painted one wall a different color. That is not renovation! Plus many of the nurses feel that the management does not care whatsoever. They are required by the hospital to put the assistant manager as charge nurse during the day but dayshift says she does absolutely nothing but sit in her office. If admissions come she will push them off until the next shift.. and she will have NO patients during the day! So then evening shift will get the admissions plus a full group of heavy patients. Its rediculous. You should have seen them when JACHO came to town. HI-larious. Both the manager and assistant were running around moving things out of the hallways, tryingn to make everything look perfect. Making comments to the staff about not having needles or insulins on our computer carts. They could have told the staff like a week in advance that JACHO was coming and to please help straighten up?.. but no.. they ran around the day of acting like they were the only ones who do anything around here. I literally had my manager take insulin syringes off of my computer cart when I was in route to give morning meds (including insulin). I’m so sick of it and have not even been here for 3 years yet! I go back and forth about my next job and what I should look into but I keep getting road blocks because of the decrease in pay or hours. I work nightshift and my husband is very adament about me getting paid the same at the next job (we have only been married for 3 years and I understand the need to be making the money at this point to save up for children and pay off debt). I’ve been thinking about switching to pediatrics (what I;ve always wanted to do) or do something different like a clinic or doctors office (paycut). Any recommendations??
March 14th, 2012 at 10:16 am
Where’s the emergencyRN?- I agree with what you wrote- It’s hard to help people that won’t help themselves…
Molly– You CAN do this job… Obviously it can be done… There are ways- we al know “good” nurses out there that are doing it. You probably know one where you work… their patients are cared for… they are nice and extremely efficient & they somehow magically get their charting done on time. I know 2 in my nursing career. The third nurse is late on charting like me.
You can make this job work for you - save up $ and have your family if you really want that.
I advice (& I’m not really best 1 take advice from… but anyway) — find that mentor nurse in the white dress w/ cap on (lol) and start a relationship w/ her- do it like she does- copy her ‘brain’… etc
DeLeGaTe what you can when you can.
Cheryl
That’s all I got (late night 3-11)
Good Luck… oh- read the Richest Man in Babylon
April 3rd, 2012 at 4:10 pm
I was sexually assaulted by a physican. He twisted my gentials in public. I saw stars and hurt for weeks. He wanted me to perform oral sex on him in the elevator, he wanted to know how many orgams I had each time I had sex. He wanted me to strip naked in a pt. room where the woman was sedated. I reported the event to the hospital and they came after me. They said I was responsible for a pt. death who had an abdominal aneurysm. I went by the doctor’s protcol and the pt. rested nicely. He died the next day on his way to radiology. They put me on floors where I had no experience, hoping I would screw up. They watched me like a hawk and I was in meetings twice daily where they told me that I was incompetent, crazy, mentally ill, stupid, and deranged. I said, if I am so bad…..FIRE ME! Oh no, we want to help you. They tried to pay me off - didn’t take it. So they stepped up the attacks and really went after me. Nurses attacked me, doctors cussed me out, the DON came and chewed me out, and everybody was in attack mode. I was slowly getting sick and not doing well. I hired an attorney and tried to sue, but the hospital paid the attorney off. Hospitals have big GUNS! I quit and they blackballed me. Could not find work for two years. I put myself in a mental institution. If you think the medical community respects Nurses, think again. We are treated like second class citizens, like slaves, like vermin. I HATE NURSING, AND ANYONE WITH ANY SENSE …..WILL GET THE HELL OUT OF NURSING. YOU GET NO RESPECT - JUST ABUSE!!!!! Get out while you still have self-respect, because NURSING WILL DESTROY YOU!!!!
April 16th, 2012 at 8:49 pm
Are all jobs in the medical field this stressful?
ie. Occupational therapy?
April 25th, 2012 at 6:35 pm
After reading all of this, I am afraid to pursue LPN school this fall. It’s just that I really have an interest in the medical field and nursing seems like the answer. I hope I’m not setting myself up for disaster. I thought about finishing my LPN first and then working for a little while till I decide to finish my RN. Any advice will be appreciated. I don’t understand why people can’t get along in the workplace. Life is too short and it is not fair to be bullied at work. I really feel bad for you nurses because you are given tons of work and responsibility and it seems like you all are being treated so badly. It is a terrible way to live your life. I mean, lets face it, working consumes our lives. Why should we be miserable every single day at work? Something needs to be done about all of this. It is completely wrong. Well, someone let me know what you think about me going to LPN school, please. Thanks
April 29th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
I got here after googling “nursing burnout need break.” I’ve been an RN for 28 years and I think I’ve been burnt out for at least 25.I worked my first eight years in an urban hospital on the oncology unit. A move out of state led me to a home care position as the idea of working in a hospital again filled me with dread. Home care was great at first, but the benefits were quickly outweighed by the volumes of required. (If you think hospital charting is bad, you should see what we do in home care. It’s at least triple the amount, and the mandated documentation continues to grow.)
I worked part-time for a time, but when my husband lost his engineering job a few years ago, I went back full-time, both for the increased money and the health insurance. Though my husband is now employed, he still doesn’t have insurance, so I continue on.
I now find myself literally exhausted and depressed. My panic disorder is rearing its ugly head again. I spent my only vacation this year at home, catching up on paperwork. My house is a mess. I am not giving my family what they deserve. I am actually looking forward to having a knee replacement done this summer, so I can get some time off!
And I am this way working in a nursing field that many perceive as easy when compared to hospital work. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely benefits. I get to be outside, and I work with patients one-on-one. But your patients are your responsibility, 24 hours per day. Driving from patient to patient can be treacherous when there’s an ice storm. There are issues you must deal with that don’t often occur to hospital nurses (I know they never occurred to me). In fact, I was reminded of this when I saw above comments about noncompliant patients, and those people who are sick because of their own poor behavior. You should talk to a home care nurse sometime. What you label noncompliance may be related to any number of issues. They may not take their meds because they can’t afford them; there may have a poor understanding of why some pills Are necessary. Missed appointments? Maybe they don’t have a working vehicle or the senior van didn’t show up. I could go on and on, but it’s these types of issues we home care nurses address everyday. I just want you to remember that the next time you blame a patient for their illness. That attitude, in and of itself, can be a sign of burnout.
So even though I still have compassion for my patients, the stress is literally affecting my health. I’m like others who feel trapped. I’m not sure what to do, except go work on my charting, because it’s Sunday evening, and it’s all due in the morning. I can feel my panic level rising as I type.
May 20th, 2012 at 11:04 pm
I work LTC and it is the pits, I’m only 32 and I feel 82, nursing is not what people think it is everything listed on this page and more which is usually negative the money is not worth the impact on your health and nurses cant blame patietns for poor health especially if u continue to work in a profession that may kill u. I see more obese nurses than fit, more smoking nursing than those who dont smoke. I gained 70 pounds over 6 years including nursing school no other profession has ever done this to me and this is a second career for me. NURSING is unhealthy unless u are very very codependent and NEED to take care of someone to make yourself feel whole. statistics show most nurses come from homes with an alcoholic father, I,m one of them, also statitics show that most nurses are single mothers, what does that tell u. Nursing is a quick fix profession get a degree in 2 years make bigs bucks verses goin 6 for a DECENT career. People dont put thought into what they are gettin into they see dollar $$$$$$$$$$$$
May 28th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Wow! The last post I read is extremely cynical and very sad. I have been an ER/ICU nurse for the past 24 years and I absolutely love every day! I do not come from the background that 5yrnurse comes from and I definitely did not get into nursing for the money. I made a whole lot more money as a new grad than I did down the line……which I really think is sad. Unfortunately, the insurance companies dictate what will be done and what will be compensated. I could have gone on to become a physician, PA, or NP, but why??? I absolutely love being at the bedside and taking care of my patients and their families. Have I ever felt burnt out? ABSOLUTELY!!!
I didn’t know what I would do but thanks to a friend I was able to continue with nursing as an instructor!
When I felt this, I started traveling…..it was wonderful! It gave me a whole new perspective on nursing….especially when I was in California. They had some great programs in place to deal with a lot of the issues we face in the eastern part of the US.
I unfortunately have lost some of my hearing and need to wear hearing aids in both ears
I know teach in a high school Practical Nursing program and I absolutely love it! It makes me feel really good to know that I have some kind of influence on the next generation coming in to care for the sick.
I tell them from the get go……if you’re here for the money…….you are definitely in the wrong place! You can make more money as a garbage collector than as a nurse in a lot of states and you don’t have to deal with people.
Love what you do and you will never work a day in your life!
May 28th, 2012 at 11:19 pm
I have been a nurse 17 years minus 5 to get a BA in Studio Art, so that I could say that at least I did something I wanted to do with my life, even if I always have to do work I loathe. Tijera, I worked with a nurse who was former Navy and a negative person to boot (she is my husband’s cousin, they are all negative) and she does ok –she is child-free and unmarried–I definitely think that helps! She lives with her mother who helps out around the house, so she isn’t sucked totally dry, and therefore has something left to give and can take care of herself, too.
OT hopeful– my last real job was Inpatient Rehab and I gotta tell ya.. our OT’s also had to put on a shiny, happy smile while helping someone to the bathroom because they refused to get up when we had time to get them up. PT appears to be less stressful..I think it depends where you work, I don’t know though. I was night shift 12-hour….did it 3 years, as long as I could physically.
Where do I begin! Via suggestion from my family when my first marriage wasn’t working out…Get into nursing! My oldest sister was a born caregiver, who was given a bonus right out of nursing school to go into OB. She handled family by paying for a lot of meals at restaurants, which she loves, I love, and am not judging her for. She is in a positive part of healthcare and has stuck with it for so long it pays off for her at this point. I started with corrections for 2 months (ha ha! Try it after reading “The Devil’s Butchershop”), then worked part-time at a nursing home while getting ADN degree, then tried group homes for developmentally disabled, then back to nursing home but in the Alzheimer’s Unit, then took the 5 years off (only went back to it because of a tax nightmare my ex was responsible for to protect my then-innocent spouse), then tried the Methadone Clinic (actually liked except for the pay and 45 minute commute to open by 0600), then tried Drug Treatment 28-day Program Inpatient– first nursing job I was fired from; back to Methadone Clinic which had changed hands working for racist people who had family as co-nurse, management and security- too bad for me- then hospital med-surg nights, of course no day shifts available, then after 6 months Inpatient Rehab. Honestly, I stayed in rehab because of the other nurses I worked with. They were fired or quit when the hospital was bought out by Christus, then Assisted living for low pay again, then fired because management has not a clue of medicine and doesn’t want to pay for 2 nurses, so I worked a split 8-12 then 4-8 5 days a week… and told a family member that if she wanted her husband to have 24-hour medical care, not med-tech care, he needed to be in a nursing home if she was going to come and take him out whenever and not bring him back by the time I had to leave. Really sucked. Am currently loving life on unemployment right now but dreading going back to work. Want to take advantage of Workforce options but understanding is not wasted on a nurse who could make “real” money…
June 12th, 2012 at 9:15 am
Hi, I have been a LPN for 16 years and a STNA for years before that. I can’t stand being a nurse anymore. I went into nursing for the right reason, but now I do not have anymore compassion and patience left. The responsibility is outrages, the long term facilites are run by corporations who don’t give a damn about you or the residents. They think 1 nurse for 30 residents is OK!!Its dangerous, but they don’t want to hear it! They look at profits and numbers.One nursing home, nearby, had a resident disappear for 2 hours during the night. She was found dead at 6AM outside. She died of hypothermia. But guess what? The only one who got in trouble was the poor aide who was working ALONE to watch over 30 residents. No nurse!She got arrested for neglience, when she was the only one scheduled, and had told them many times it was too much work for 1 person. That is disgusting. I feel so sorry for her, the owner left her out to dry!! It happens everyday. I HATE nursing and what it as become. A bunch of bitter, unhappy people, coming into work because they have bills to pay. I want out, but i am 52 years old, what can I do? I cry everytime I have to work and try to do the best job for my residents, but I just don’t have it in me to care anymore.I have changed jobs, many times at various facilities, its the same everywhere. Hospitals don’t want LPN’s, doctor’s offices don’t hire. I have NO desire to be a RN. It would just be the same only with diffrent headaches. I JUST WANT OUT ,but i have to pay bills too. HELP!!
June 17th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Hi nbrooks- that is awful what happened and a disgrace that the company didn’t own up to their own negligence w/ scheduling– we hear about things like this happening and it’s always the little guy that gets persecuted…
I too am trying to get out of debt so that I don’t need nursing anymore…
Quote by Ben Franklin on working for ‘the man’:
”Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.” -evidently he looked down at the idea of having a good steady job. He took a dim view of working for others because to do so was a form of slavery.
Perhaps we should all open up small LLC businesses (limited liability company).
I think that nurses would benefit no matter if the business was a failure or a success.
What? You ask….. Hear me out– a business that does so poorly may halp us get some of those thousands of dollars back that the government unconstitutionally steals from us every year.
Thus- we could pay off our bills quicker.
A note about bills… the more $$ you make –the more you spend. Fod for thought.
Cheryl
June 18th, 2012 at 2:49 am
Ok I am so so glad I found this blog. I have been a nurse for one year. I worked in a Trauma ICU which I found very very rewarding but management killed it for me. I then went to an extended care wing in another hospital and found I hated it. I have swapped back to an ICU in yet another hospital and have been there about 3 months now and literally am about to go crazy. I am pregnant on top of it so of coarse we all know that doesn’t help.
I just feel burnt out. I went into nursing with a love of helping people and while nursing school was stressful I loved the nursing. Now I just want out but don’t know what to do. I already have 2 beautiful children and now a 3rd on the way. My fiancee is having trouble finding a job and I feel like I am stuck. I literally cried my eyes out yesterday all day long at the thought of having to go into work. I find myself miserable no matter how I try to look at the day. Nurses have made it miserable along with management.
There is simply too much politics in the hospitals and that makes it unbearable. Then you have nurses who simply don’t care and are out for themselves. How do you deal with this?
I find myself on a daily basis saying I wish I had never gone this path. It’s sad I watched a video from my graduation we made of our 2yrs through our program and cried because I simply remembered I use to love this so much to hate it so now.
I feel like how can I very well say I want to chase something else after working so hard for this career. Not to mention the money issues of not being able to afford to chase anything else.
I am sick of watching people die from things that were preventable. I am sick of hospitals not caring about the patients.
Today everything was confirmed for me….in a very sad way. My exhusband’s grandmother (whom I am still very close to) is in our ICU. My ex mother in law calls me this afternoon so mad I thought she would probably explode. She stated she had never met nurses who were so mean until today. Everything she told me was stuff I had noticed over the time I have been working there. Nurses refusing to simply take care and care for the patient. This poor woman had been NPO for a solid week and today they finally tell her she can have clear liquids. She asked for a cup of ice to just wet her dry lips…2hrs later and much complaining from the family later she finally got it. I mean what excuse is there for that because I know our ICU and there is no way that they were all that busy for 2hrs to not take a few steps to get a cup of ice. The family even asked another nurse in that time to get a cup of ice and the nurses response was “I am not taking care of that patient.” Then when asked where they could find the nurse who is taking care of her to get the ice their response was “She’s at lunch so you’ll have to wait.” Really???? Ughh.
Nursing is not what I thought it would be and the hospital has sucked every ounce of joy out of it for me. I go in every night saying it will be a good night and if nothing else I will help my patients as best as I can. I walk out every morning miserable and hating the thought of returning. I have tried discussing it with my family–whose response is (well was until the other day when I cried my eyes out for hours) “Nobody likes their job. It’s a job get over it.”
I have always been that person to say if you have gotten to the point I am at now you need to do something different because it rubs off on your patients and their families. Now my question is how do you do that. I thought maybe I was crazy for feeling like this after a year of nursing but now I think I just realized sooner than most the sad reality of nursing.
My kids suffer as I am too drained to have real time with my family and be who they need me to be for them. I literally think I have sunk into a depression over it. I am not depressed with anything else in my life but work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated because I am to a point that given the right chance I would gladly leave nursing behind me. I didn’t get in it for the money but I can’t quit now because we don’t have the financial stability right now for me to not work…..I feel so trapped
June 23rd, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Hello All - so glad I found this website! I have actually thought I might be the only one who feels this badly about what I do. I have been a nurse for 31 long, exhausting, miserable years, am 56 years old, so burnt out I’m not sure how I’m holding myself together, and can’t tell you how much I hate nursing. I’ve probably hated it all along but felt I had to keep going just so I could justify the enormous amount of money I spent to get my education. Then, of course, life happened and I couldn’t quit - the house, the car, the kids…I’m sure you’ve all heard it before. Unfortunately I now find myself so heavily invested in this job that I can’t get out.
I’m tired and in pain all the time. My back, knees, and hips are a mess, sometimes I’m not sure if I’ll make it through a shift but then an alarm goes off and I have to get up…again. After schlepping myself through 3-4 12 hour shifts a week I have no energy for my family or friends. I fall into bed unconcious only to wake up feeling completely unrested. Sometimes I can’t sleep at all because I hurt too much. I sob like a baby every night as I’m driving in to work and every morning on my way home. I just spent 3 weeks at home because I had an episode severe chest pain at work and ended up in the ER - the thought of going back tomorrow night makes me break out in a cold sweat and want to run outside and play on the freeway.
Despite my extensive experience I get no respect from the doctors, no help from a largely out of touch and ineffective management “team”, and the administration is only about get it done quicker with fewer supplies, fewer resources, less staff, and oh by the way - it better be right and you better not make a mistake or not only are you fired, you won’t find another nursing job anywhere in this town.
I put up with demanding patients and even more demanding families from which all I hear is go get this, go get that, come here, go away, hurry up, I want, I want, I WANT!! Sometimes I think I’m going to lose the few shreaded remnants of composure that are sitiing somewhere on my very last shattered nerve. I get yelled at, belittled, disrespected, crapped on, peed on, bled on, whinned at, complained to, been told I’m “mean”, have had food thrown at me, and been told “you’re only a nurse - what do you know?” Nice.
I’ve heard the long term future goal of nursing is to have Master’s prepared nurses doing patient care at the bedside - SERIOUSLY!!? Good luck with that! What nurse with a Master’s degree that’s in their right mind is going to stand at a bedside and take that kind of abuse, and be overworked and underpaid to boot?
I’ve been told many times by some of my colleagues how good I am at what I do, how helpful, tolerant, supportive, and patient I am, what a good role model and mentor I am. Well, therein lies the the entire issue - it’s a role I play, a mask I wear, an act I put on. Why? Because I’m getting paid to do it. I might not like what I do, hate it actually, but I’m still being paid to perform - and it is all about the performance isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong here, for all the things I have to know, be responsible for, think about, worry about, and do, nursing pay is crap - but it’s better than Walmart or McDonalds where by the way I would happily go if the pay was comparable.
I’m very sad that the majority of my working life has esstentially been thrown away doing something I decpise, from which I get no satisfaction, don’t care about, yet will have to continue to do for at least another 10 years because I like the roof over my head, I like the heat and the lights on, I need a car, food on the table is always nice, and I have kids still in school. I’ve been trapped for a very long time.
Have I or would I recommend nursing as a profession - Not a chance. According to the CNO of the hospital that attitude makes me a very poor representative of the profession - so be it. She has the luxury of thinking that while she sits in her leather chair behind her solid oak desk in her book lined office chatting it up with the CEO while they both delude themselves into thinking they’re in touch with the average nurse in the trenches.
I’m not going to sugar coat s**t just to help lure some poor, naive, unsuspecting soul into this hell of a job - wish someone had told me the truth 30 years ago.
June 25th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Hi LindaRN and all of you wonderful ladies. I am so glad I found this website. I thought I was the only ONE who hates this profession. Let me say something. If there is so many of us, then there is something truly horrifically wrong with the system, not us. I understand we feel all trapped, bills to pay ecc… but shouldn’t we form some kinda association to fight back. I mean, if it wasn’t for us there would’t be bedside care, hospitals and nursing homes couldn,t exist right? You think the doctor’s and administration could do what we do, put up with patient, family abuse,pressure to perform, stress, chest pains, anxiety, tears, long hours on your feet, popping unnessary calcium pills for 90 year old’s? I am sorry if I sound awful, but its all a bunch of bulls**t! I would’t recommend this profession to my worst enemy. They wonder why there is a shortage of nurses! We need to wake the “powers to be” and let them feel and hear our pain without fear of retagliation.If anyone as any ideas, please voice it. We are all in the same boat. We need to help ourselves, because, guess what, no one else gives a damn!
July 1st, 2012 at 10:22 pm
I have this website by boggling stress out nurses. I wanted to justify if I am the only one feeling this way or just a mid life crisis going on. I am a dedicated nurse with 23 years experience from open heart to different ICU with CCRN and has administration experienced as well.
I was a happy nurse when I was working in NY where my co staff is like an extended family to me. We have a multicultural group and respect each others holiday. I gave my services to that hospital for 18 years from the time I graduated till we have to moved to Texas after my husband got laid off from his company. Coming from NY to Texas was a big adjustment for me. My pattern of work clearly shows I am not happy. I moved from one hospital to another with only 2 years of services compared to 18 years loyalty from my previous hospital where I came from.
I tried to hang on to nursing moving from open heart unit to med surges thinking it’s a little bit laid environment compared to where I came from BIG mistake! To ally different environment from being an autonomous to yes Doc. No way I know what I am talking about. I am just miserable dragging myself to work, crying when I am alone cause I know and I hate to admit that the enthusiasm of being a nurse is gone. I fell so burnt out. I was just smart to invest to open an assisted living with my husband. Fellow nurses just a warning it’s a good money but you have to remember that this business is ” Feast or Famine” your mortgage continues despite your low census or hardly anybody just think before you invest big.I don’t want to be in a big hole. Now that my census is low , I am thinking of going back but just looking at the hospital website gives me an anxiety attack and couldn’t sleep. Thank you so much fellow nurses now I know I am not alone feeling this way. Right now I am paying 1,200 for my medical insurance thru COBRA and was thinking of getting a part time job but I do not want to be a nurse anymore. I like looking at houses even before so I was thinking becoming a real state agent. Anybody has any advice?
July 31st, 2012 at 11:47 am
Hi all, RN here for the last 6 yrs, I work in the ER and get a stomach ache before every shift! Over the last few years I have noticed a steady increase in what I am asked to do, and worse..those things are now being timed!(thanks computor tracking) I initially loved ER nursing because of the energy it had, now its just a constant source of anxiety. I feel like every intervention I do might hurt someone because I am so busy “filling in the Goddamned boxes” on the God-forsaken computor charting system, I don’t have the time to slow down and think about everything I do. I used to be able to sit at the bedside and teach and explain side effects before pushing a medication. And when the hell did Dilaudid become the only pain relief that works!!!! I seriously would take the cut in pay to transfer to cushy DR’s office and push papers around all day. The lack of respect from Doctors is also so disheartening, I do my best everyday to add to the breadth of knowledge; some do the best they can to ignore things I suggest simply because it was suggested by a nurse. I cannot leave all together, I truly wish I could but I don’t know where to start to make it better.
August 1st, 2012 at 9:23 pm
I’ve been reading everything I can to help me get the courage to finalize my decision to leave nursing. I have been an RN for 34 years. I’m done. Burnt to a crisp. Thought about going into a different area of nursing, but the reality is that I just need to get out of healthcare altogether. I take offense to people assuming that nurses that want to leave the profession were never in the profession for the right reasons or are not giving their patients good care b/c they are burnt out. This is simply not true. Oh maybe for a few bad seeds would take it out on their patients, but almost all would never do that. My patients have ALWAYS been my number one priority and they continue to be even though I am so done with nursing. The only thing I love about nursing anymore are the people I care for. Patients are in a vulnerable position–most of them recognize, value and greatly appreciate competent, compassionate care… I give that to each and every one of them despite my dreading going to work. Administrative red tape and the almighty dollar has screwed nursing over….constant classes we have to take….not CEU classes that you get credit for, but frequent online classes that are a ‘requirement of the job’. You have to fit these online classes to get them done by certain deadlines….they are mandatory. It’s the constant adding of standards and protocols, combined with the outrageous amount of documentation, that has me jaded. The more requirements they force down nurses’ throats and the more documentation they make them do, the better their reimbursements. You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. Today, I worked 15minutes overtime b/c I had one patient in severe pain who needed to be medicated, another throwing up and another who wanted to be discharged. To boot, it was also my responsibility to find an available nurse to give report to. I received a frustrated look from my nurse manager b/c I hadn’t ‘reported off’ 15 minutes earlier. Then she makes a snide comment that I was ‘chatting’ with someone….really? Chatting? The reality is that while I was feverishly finishing my charting, a previous nurse colleague came to visit the nurses on our unit. She sat and talked to me while I CHARTED folks. Oh and let me also mention that SHE chatted at me for a whole 5 minutes…omg, FIVE FREAKIN MINUTES. Me BAD, again. As IF I really WANTED to remain in that hell hole for another 15 minutes. Honestly, I can not remember the last time I was able to take our second allotted 15 minute break. It’s been years and years since I or any other nurses I work with have been able to do that. I had an anesthesiologist actually call me from the O.R. to complain that I didn’t take the patient’s arm out of the hospital gown sleeve before I started the IV. I usually do this but it was a stat admit and it was my oversight…me BAD. For the amount of time and effort the doc put in to calling me and complaining about it, HE could have strained himself a little bit and slipped the IV bag through the sleeve. Never a ‘thank you, you guys are awesome getting these preop patients ready so quickly’….Yes folks, this is nursing at it’s best! You didn’t get to lunch b/c things were so crazy busy? Then that would be your fault. We are being told that since we did not get to lunch by a certain time, the unit will incur a fine from the union and they just can’t have that. And the reality of it all? How does one report off to another nurse when you can’t find anyone to report off to b/c they are running around crazy busy too? Nurses won’t DROP everything and just walk off to lunch (that’s patient abandonment folks). We are working with people….it’s not like turning off a table saw and walking away from it. We keep working when it’s wacko busy…patients first…that’s what we do. It is not my responsibility to find lunch relief. That is the job of management. Yet, we receive warnings about making sure we find a way to take our lunch breaks. Huh?? Is this the Twilight Zone? Why has it become the responsibility of the nurse to find her own lunch relief? For the record, nurses are human and we get hungry and we like to eat when we get hungry. OBVIOUSLY there’s a reason why we are not eating….ya think? Last summer we switched over to a new computer system. It has TRIPLED the charting. Yes, TRIPLED. This is not my perception, it’s the full on truth–any of the nurses I work with will tell you the same thing. I’ll say it again. I LOVE my patients but when you only get a 5% opp to actually nurse your patients and the rest is documentation and CYA, then I can not think of enough reasons to stay in nursing any longer. Sorry, 5% is not worth a stroke or heart attack. I am convinced that administration will not blink an eye when I leave. There will be no efforts to retain me or harvest my years of critical thinking skills or experience, so I will take my 34+ years of knowledge with me when I go and that will be that. Thanks for reading my rant. But I think I’d much rather work full time making minimum wage and doing menial work if it means I’d be able to go to work with a spring in my step again.
August 16th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
OMG all these nurses that have survived 10, 15, 20, 30 years you deserve a metal I’m done after 5 years my health is declining at 32.
August 25th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
This is just where I need to be!!! This the first chance I’ve been able to view this. I’ve been a nurse for 30+ years. halfway through my career I became a pharma DM and made lots of dough. The pharma boom dropped out and I went back to nursing. I was taken into an ICU position because the nsg. shortage was HUGE!!! Well , now the bottom has dropped out of that! Nursing has deteriorated to the point of no return. I totally agree about the comment made about the new grads reading magazines and saying they are busy. I have found I am not well-liked in nursing homes, because I very nicely bring pain and distress issues to the RN who has the patient. They truly do not CARE!!!! They think they knnow everything and will not take any advice. In their defense, the hospitals are no longer providing great 12 week orientations like they used to. And if you were not “catching on” the educators worked with you until you did. I have to work!!!! I have an offer from a real estate broker at Keller-Williams and I’m thinking of taking it. First of all, my electrician makes WAY more than I do. I am Reiki certified, but in this economy, I’m afraid to venture out and rent a space, and will people pay for Reiki in these hard times???
Finally, I just have to say that one thing has not changed about nurses…they eat their young. They are some of the most miserable anat the same time, nost wonderful people I’ve met. Question???? How are you residential real estate agents/brokers doing financially?? Do you regret going into real estate, or was it the right move?
Godric
September 2nd, 2012 at 11:03 pm
I find this blog very helpful. I just switched floors from med-surg to a medical Stepdown. I feel so overwhelmed and at some points I literally don’t care! I have been a nurse for 6 1/2 years. Among those years I was forced to get med-surg certified while my father was dying from cancer, and I have been forced to work overtime to the point where I have bursitis and and times with my anxiety, anorexia. My husband doesn’t have reliable work and as the breadwinner I feel trapped! I do NOT know what to do. I do enjoy helping people but my hospital is all about charting every hour and it’s too freagin much! I just don’t know what to do! I have considered a dr’s office but I feel pressured to stay where I am. I don’t have kids and have even gotten to the point where I just font know if I can take care of anymore people! I am 29 years old and I feel like in having a mid life crisis! Any suggestions?
September 12th, 2012 at 11:08 pm
I am blessed that I came across this website tonight. I have been a RPN for 4 years now, went into it with a positive attitude and all i wanted to do was help patients. Over these 4 years ive gone from being a strong positive woman to a emotional wreck who hates her job everyday. I have made the decision in the past week after quitting so many nursing jobs over the years, to finally close the door and try adn figure out waht else I would like to do. i will not sit here and cry over nursing anymore. I miss the strong girl i used to be. I hope this huge change is for the better!!
October 9th, 2012 at 9:49 am
Hey everyone,
i’ve only been a nurse for 4 years and I’m already feeling like I may need to get out. I love taking care of people, honestly. The think i can not stand is being part of the corporate machine. It’s so dehumanizing. Rules, rules, rules dictating how i greet people, to how far away i should be standing before eI greet people. Documentation to the point of feeling nauseous. Always feeling like you have to watch your back around the managers. If i hear the word patient satisfaction one more time i swear i’ll vomit. Is there a way to be a nurse and not be in the corporate world even if it means making less money?
October 15th, 2012 at 10:53 am
I have been a nurse for 20 years. I started out as an Lpn and worked nights to put myself through school to advance to get my RN. I have tried every floor of the hospitol, thinking it would be better somewhere else. I have worked in Critical Care/ICU for over 10 years. I really love being a nurse and taking care of patients. However, administration has proven over and over that they really do not care about the patients or you. They want you to hurry and move your patients to telemetry unit or wherever so they can have the bed for someone else. Yesterday we had to do this to a patient that decided she did not want to be on the ventilator. She had coded on the telemetry unit, and was sent to us in CCU. She woke up and realised she was on the vent and wanted to be taken off of it.We abided by her wishes(after speaking with her only daughter). She easily was extubated and was happy and visted with her daughter and family. She said she was ready to go if it was her time and that she did not want any machines or anything done. She was made a DNR. Once the house supervisor heard of this, we had to move the patient out of CCU. We had no empty beds in the unit, and this patient was our only one able to move. WE reluctantly asked the doctor if she could be moved and he agreed. The patient’s daughter had to leave, and we told her her mother would be moved. The patient begged us not to bring her back to that rooom she came from. We reassured her she wouldn’t be alone, that her daughter would return soon. WE all had tears in our eyes as we brought this lady up to the telemetry floor. We held her hand for as long as we could. She didnt want to be alone. But we had to leave her. The unit was going crazy busy with other patients and there was work to be done. I had two patients of my own and was in charge. I wasnt assigned to this patient, but she touched my heart and the nurse that took care of her felt the same way. WE did as we were told by administration,thinkng we had to empty the room in case we got another patient. This poor patient died later that day.. alone.
I never felt so guilty in my nursing career. we all felt bad for leaving her. Why didn’t we just keep her a little longer? it was traumatic and me and the other nurse had a hard time dealing with this. Angry at the fact we had to move this patient and angry at ourselves for not doing what was best for the patient at her time of need.
I cried when I got home, and decided I would resign from nursing for good.
The times have changed and no where in the world is it better. More work is required and hospitols are in it for the money. You are just a warm body taking care of patients.
It also occured to me that if you are in it because it is what you love to do, nothing in the world will give you that same feeling. Yes, we have bad days. But there are also those days that you know you helped someone, that you made them smile, that the patient lived another day because of YOU.
I find balancing work and my life the only thing that keeps me sane. I get out of town, I do outdoor activities like golf and bicycle riding. I pray alot and I have a wonderful supportive boyfriend.
I know I was called to be a nurse. I know I cannot do bedside nursing forever and will probably go back to school for NP. But for now, it’s the only way to make a living.
I hope every nurse can find peace in their job out there. Life is too short not to enjoy it.. as we see how short it is everyday at work.
October 29th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Hi all,
I’m glad to have found this site. I thought that I was the only one who felt the way many of you do.
Been in nursing 8 years. Have done neuro ICU, EP lab, clinic. I’m very conscientious and I think that is why nursing is not for me. It’s a fine line between being compassionate and doing all that is expected of you. I tend to worry about every little thing and that has led to stress and burnout.
I’ve gotten to the point where I hate my job and am now going to school to transition to something else.
I can’t wait for this burden to be lifted.
November 12th, 2012 at 2:31 am
William “The Refrigerator” Perry is one I can think of off the top of my head. His heyday was in 1985 or so, if that helps you to realize how far they’re reaching. I don’t really think it’s been the resounding success they’ve hoped for. And to address the ‘world champion’ moniker they tend to adopt, as far as the NFL’s concerned, they are the only ones in the world who play it (well, aside from the Canadians, but rumors fly from time to time the NFL will acquire their league), it stands to reason the best team in the NFL will be the world champion, much like the underwater egg-juggling example. wholesale nfl jerseysAnd it does make sense once you think about it: I mean, if they called themselves the ‘national champions’, then people everywhere would probably wonder why they didn’t call themselves world champions, since no other country had a national champion. wholesale jerseys china I’m rambling again, aren’t I? Oh well, just felt like being a useless font of American sports trivia for a few minutes. I can continue on and on if you’d like, but I don’t really think you would.
November 12th, 2012 at 2:52 am
To pretend otherwise will only prolong and deepen the airline’s crisis.. For instance, you want to purchase some NBA shorts and socks, [url=http://www.authenticnfljerseyssale.com]nfl authentic jerseys[/url]you can simply search online and find amazing deals in various websites that sell such items.. There is enough diversity to allow for just about every preference. [url=http://www.authenticnfljerseyssale.com]shop nfl jerseys[/url]
November 13th, 2012 at 12:51 am
Order and buy Cheap NFL jerseys from China, We also have other MLB Baseball jerseys for sale, Buying Cheap NFL/MLB jerseys from China factory, More order, more discount!
November 13th, 2012 at 12:58 am
Authentic NBA Jerseys from China, we have a huge range of authentic NBA Basketball jerseys, 100% top quality authentic NBA jerseys for sale. Fast Shipping!
November 13th, 2012 at 1:06 am
I doubt many people out there understand how much extra pressure is put on the typical black quarterback to perform at a high level. There is pressure on any quarterback in the NFL but when you add the racial tension to the situation it goes through the roof. Maybe Pat White will be the guy to lead a new wave into the league and become the next highly successful black quarterback..
November 13th, 2012 at 1:06 am
Well, the doctor didn’t notice right away but the NICU nurses were there because I’d been on magnesium for pre-eclampsia. They then told the doctor they suspected Down syndrome after they examined him, just minutes after he was born. While they didn’t list the markers at that time, they did sit down next to my bed with the doctor and said, “It looks like he has some characteristics which are consistent with Down syndrome” — that’s about all I heard as my head was spinning, as you can imagine
November 13th, 2012 at 5:03 pm
I’ve been an LPN for four years. I’m thinking about taking a job at a local factory, and everybody thinks I’m crazy. I got fired from the nursing home I was working in, because somebody got sick four hours after my shift ended. Of course it was my fault, because everything is always the previous nurses fault. Just the thought of going back to nursing makes me sick. While I was working as a nurse I thought something was seriously wrong with me. I started seeing a mental health counselor, and she had me on two different medications. Since I’ve been off working for a few months, I realized it was all of the stress from work that was making me crazy. I just really don’t want to go back to that again. I’m seriously considering a local factory, it’s not my dream job. I just think at least I’d have holiday’s and most weekends off. I’m just scared though, because I’ve never done that kind of work. I was just wondering if anyone has ever left nursing to work in a factory. I feel like I’m the only crazy one who is thinking about doing this.
November 15th, 2012 at 6:50 am
LPN Burned out after 4 years
You’re not alone I got tired of nursing homes I went to work at FedEx hub full benefits and bidded on a desk job so follow your heart I was scared too but it worked out. I’m a LPN 6 years
November 24th, 2012 at 2:36 am
Yes, all nurses who are unhappy should quit, NOW.
Which would leave the country with nearly no one to care for sick people.
Great thread (sic)
November 28th, 2012 at 3:22 am
Once you have found a brand that you like, it is then time to choose the right helmet to suit you. The UEFA European Football Championship is held every four years since 1960. So again, find a group of publishers in your markets, let them know you created a new e-book with sales letter that they can use and plug straight into their website and give them a mailing promotion to use and tell them they can have the book for free and that they can either sell the book or the book and the reprint rights to their customers.
November 28th, 2012 at 3:27 am
This going to be marketing. Becoming a proficient marketer is your ticket to ultra wealth in Pearlcium or any other company. In the film, Morgan goes around the country to McDonald’s in different states to see what the have to offer. Within the first week, Morgan can’t handle the extensive fast food intake and throws up on the sidewalk outside of the McDonald’s.
November 28th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
wow!!! also glad I found this site… was in the LPN program, halfway through and had already started feeling the stress. Started having panick attacks for which was prescribed 3 different meds…i think the panick came from being humiliated, yelled at, belittled in front of others by one clinical instructor whom also accused me of being unsafe…I came to nursing home and notice something really wrong with this man, foaming in the mouth, pulse 150, respirations: 44. took his pulse oxy, a 67% then called the nurse in charge who gave his breathing treatment bringing 02 up to 89%. Told all this to clinical instructor who went to my room and accused me of causing all this cause pt’s nasal cannula was not properly secured because patient himself kept taking it off…
November 28th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
it must’ve been off for short amt of time….kept thinking…if it’s like this in school, cant even imagine how it must be out there. everyday was on the edge , waiting for the time one instructor would snap at me..and they do all this cause they think nursing is such a “precious” jewel of a career….please!!!
December 4th, 2012 at 3:39 am
To watch cricket live in this way is quite interesting and exciting as well. You will get the new first and foremost compared to the other viewers. Most of the times we use to search in the internet for live cricket online, but end up finally in finding some useless sites which run commentary alone but not live cricket video. It could be frustrating in such a case for a real cricket lover to not to be able to watch cricket live online, and entice about the happenings lively. ICC live cricket channels are there where you will not find a lot of advertisements. People can pick their own music albums for producing cheer music. To begin with cheer music; it mi . There are a variety of online . This activity is a little bit different than traditional ski . You can find options for tubing in water that offer hours of enjoyment and even relaxation depending on the water. Tubes for this activi . One needs to put in great efforts for sustaining the outlook and beauty of the home. Free shipping is granted for purchase of around 5 jerseys. Remarkable discount throwback nba jerseys. Arrive at choose the most desirable price reduction th .
December 5th, 2012 at 3:09 am
People can pick their own music albums for producing cheer music. To begin with cheer music; it might take some little practice at first and it can be improved later
December 6th, 2012 at 2:58 am
It looks as if the broad market is setup for a test of support which could happen within 2-4 days. You need to literally imagine that the football is a big hamburger and you want to bite it and not slam your forehead against it.. To the right of the Right Shift Key, an unshifted asteriskcheap jerseys from china key allowed the user to type the now common *.* without acrobatics.
December 11th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
I have to say that close to half of the nurses I work with feel the same way. Most of us stay because of financial reasons and that’s sad. I was one of those who stayed because I couldn’t afford to get out, I finally found a position that made me love the job again. I was a home care nurse to an amazing little boy, who stole my heart. He passed away back in march and I haven’t worked since. It broke my heart, but more than that it broke that last thread that was holding me to nursing. I’ve been an LPN for 25 years and I’m done. I was hired by a asst living a couple of mo ago and became so anxious and stressed before I started I declined the offer 2 days before I was to begin. I’m leaving nursing for good because patients deserve more than I can give them. The BS from admin, MDs and nsg staff is ridiculous, obserd new regs every time you turn around, insane staffing ratios, PIA family that treat you like crap, PIA patients that treat you like the hired help and worse, docs that treat you like crap. Nope I’m done, I will live in a cardboard box befor I go back int nursing. Why is it that any one else can leave their chosen career and no one says a thing, but let a nurse say it and all you hear is admonishments for leaving such a wonderful, glorious profession. What is so wonderful about being sh** on from all directions for 25 years? I hope all of you find peace and happiness because you deserve it.
December 14th, 2012 at 2:48 am
Jacksonville Jaguars videos live online streaming, replays of the match, previews, score updates, highlights and result recaps by Sop Cast, US stream, P2P Stream, Pod Cast, Share TV, TV U, Freedo cast, V share TV, Justin TV and others sports online sites for watching Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans (live and replays).
The biggest and most troubling issue in the NFL currently is the League’s medical staff handling of players with injuries. It was sight unseen on both parts.”. One more important identifying instant in this particular pen will be when the 1st complete rusher is selected.
December 16th, 2012 at 11:49 pm
So..ended up being failed by clinical instructor and debating if I should go back for 8 more months to finish LPN…If I couldnt deal with one bitchy nurse, Im not sure i ll be able to function at workplace dealing with 10 of them, so confused! I honestly cant decide if nursing is for me or not! I dont think I have a calling, i look at it as a profession nothing more…help
December 19th, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Now I don’t feel so alone!! I’ve been a nurse 10 years minus 2–the two years were ones I took off because I just couldn’t take it anymore–I worked as a veterinary technician and was never so happy! Looked forward to going to work every single day! Only downside–made $10 an hour. I returned to nursing for the money. Within 6 months I was back to being the stressed out, tightly wound, bitter, trapped person I’d been two years earlier. I was in EMS for 10 years before nursing so the stress runs deep. It’s amazing to me that my stress doesn’t come from working feverishly on people on the verge of dying, working cardiac arrests, working nasty traumas (that was EMS stress)–no, the stress comes from ridiculous rules from administration, patients who act like children (”Can you please put this gown on?” “Oh my God, I’m in such pain, I can’t–I just can’t”—oh yeah, well who dressed you, put your makeup on, and bought that Starbucks coffee for you-you said you were on you’re third day of pain). We are actually expected to double chart our medications. Yeah, no thanks.
I guess what I’m wondering is what people have done who have left the profession. How do you make a living wage? How do you start over when all you have done is medical crap?
December 25th, 2012 at 9:40 pm
I feel that many hospitals are literlly selling their souls to become MAGNET. That means screw as many nurses as possible and srite them up so that they can get rid of ADN nurses or older nurses that cannot be fired so tricks are resorted to. I became a traveler RN to get away from these tactics and earned my BSN, I am in an MSN program now. These CEO’s do not fool me. Those RN’s with jobs feel safe and will have positive things to say about their jobs others will be labeled as burnouts and theri opinions will not count
December 25th, 2012 at 10:02 pm
To Linda RN I agree wholeheartedly I saw one nurse manager gain her MSN as she sat on her lazy butt and work the rest of her floor staff literlly to death. There are many of we nurses who care about our patients in the way that new nurses need the laws laid down for because they did not become nurses due to vocations many changed careers or were lured by financial incentives. Yet the older the nurses look the higher accuity patients are given to them.The you and still pretty nurses get the easier loads. If the older nurses with the heavier loads make an error they are blamed based on their age instead of the huge staggering loads they suffer under. Unless you have worked the floor you can have no idea how the tasks become overwhelming and the nurse can no longer use the critical thinking skills that they would useif they were not driven like slaves? The CNA’s are given the non-verbal “OK” by the nurses in charge to treat them like shit and not help in the slightest. This situation leads to poor nursing care tha gets placed on the nurse’s shoulders. Who says there are no slaves in America? Until this dreadful healthcare is resolved it will be the bedside nurse who will suffer. I trained to be a nurse. I have changed with the times and continue to work on my education, but it is not fair that bedside nurses nust continue to suffer because they trained and have the vocation to be nurses. We do not need to learn about service excellence, we were providing it. This is lipservice by management. The patients that believe this are not getting the whole idea behind excellent healthcare. But many take advantage of the lousy economic crisis we are in. Many people want to see educated, people wipe their loved one’s backside in order to make everyone feel equal. Have a bad day? Say something rude to a nurse…………
December 25th, 2012 at 10:34 pm
If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. Many people mistakenly believe that having courage means you feel little or no fear, but nothing could be further from the truth.
December 30th, 2012 at 2:33 am
So Rick informed me that I would need about a half an hour where I could be relaxed and uninterrupted. Once we found a mutually agreeable time, the session began. There is no touching/physical contact that takes place during the energy healing session, so lyingin a very relaxed position, Rick instructed me to say a short invocation and affirmationof acceptance of the power of energy healing.
February 2nd, 2013 at 8:03 am
I’ve been reading the blogs I am a burned out Dialysis nurse that has been in for 18years. Gosh, I feel like we need some kind of support group like AA. My stress level, huh, well its way over the limit. David, I read your comments and completely agree with you 100% I feel like I’m a rat running in that little wheel and can never get to the cheese. OMG I think thats the first time I’ve ever really found a way to truly describe how I feel. Its a really horrible and depressing feeling and it really sends your world spiraling downward. You try to stay strong and maintain so you can take care of your family, not realizing that they are suffering too because of your unhappy state.
I am an LPN and have less than six months left in order to finish my RN but I have a nudging feeling that that RN is really not going to make a huge difference. Maybe only because I can change areas easier, but un the long run management is all the same and all you are is a slave like you said in a world thats overrun by foreigners who kiss ass and are just willing to put up with anything for crappy money. Understaffed and Overworked,, Is that truly what I have to look forward to the rest of my life?? I need to change my surroundings , I deperatly need to change my career!! If only patient care was true patient care, thats my fairy tale , a world where we REALLY focus on the pt’s and not the $$$.
February 2nd, 2013 at 2:17 pm
I have been a nurse for 40 years. I graduated from a diploma program, joined the army, got my BSN and worked on a Master’s. I retired from the army after 20 years and assignments in ER, Med-Surg,Surgical ICU, the Burn Unit, a combined Medicine/Pediatric unit, and Supervision. That was the first act and afforded a girl from a small town and modest means incredible opportuniites. My second act of 20 years has afforded me varied and challenging roles. I am able to interact with/mentor/affirm students from multiple disciplines since we are affiliated with an academic medical center. I still rotate to nights sometimes and don’t mind this. I may get frustrated with elements of things many have mentioned, however, I am always grateful to encounter 99 of 100 people I get to see each day. I collaborate with nurses, administrators, clerks, techs, MDs, environmental services staff and a host of others. I cultivate relationships across departments and appreciate the help I get every shift. I am able to see the miraculous and the sad every day. It truly makes me glad for all that I have and can contribute, no matter how slight. Nursing has been very good to me. I am curious about and glad to see all of the improvements in technology such as minimally invasive procedures, tergeted therapies, etc. No matter how much there is to do or how many people there are to do it, the gold standard of nursing remains the humanistic delivery of care by an individial licensed to practice as a nurse. It’s easy to change addresses. I caution you to see if that’s all you are doing. It’s my belief that careers can/should be planned. sometimes the plan changes, but it should never be randomn. That being said, I plan to transition to Hospice Nursing and am volunteering to check that out.
February 23rd, 2013 at 1:54 am
I quit nursing after 5 years and I’m now going to school for Accounting. I’m loving it so far. No holidays/weekends. Stress is deadlines not death! Explore other careers until our society realizes that Universal Healthcare is the only way to get this field back to a good place!
March 3rd, 2013 at 3:25 am
I graduated in 1994 with an ADN. I started out loving nursing. I worked 18 years in a local hospital which was tolerable until it was bought out by another hospital. I worked Med-Surg, ICU, ER, Computer Super User, and as a relief house supervisor during this time.
After I left I tried travel nursing in an ER and the patient ratio was 8:1 most nights. With computer charting that is just not possible to handle for me. They released me from my contract early because they said I was too slow with the discharges. With more than one doctor and PA sometimes 4 of my 8 would have discharge instructions at the same time. Their goal was to discharge patients within 10 minutes of receiving orders. On top of that I would sometimes have 2 COBRA’s going at the same time.
It took me a few months to get my nerve back up to try again. That was the only job I was fired from. I tried home health for 6 weeks before turning in my resignation so worked a total of 10 weeks. This job paid for 40 hours work per week, but required 80-90 hours of work for charting, compiling 30 and 60 day summaries, and telephoning patients to line up for the next day. I discussed this with the team leader and she suggested I tune out the patients to chart in the patient homes and another suggestion she had was to chart between patient homes. I don’t know how she expected me to fill med boxes, teach patients about medications and disease processes, do wound care, etc., while typing or type on a laptop computer while driving. I suggested she try it and she told me she had served her time. That’s when I knew I had made the right decision to resign.
I looked and looked for something else to do besides nursing even though in all the above jobs I loved my patients and caring for them. The paperwork or should I say computer work is just too much. I worked as a secretary before going to school to be a nurse so I think I do a decent job with paperwork as well as computer work. However, I think now nurses have two jobs, nurse and secretary, and they are supposed to get both jobs done in the amount of time of one job.
I decided to take a job on a Telemetry/Step Down Unit in a nearby hospital. The patient ration is 6:1. I am still in orientation, and already I know that this job is not for me. We are required to do hourly rounding and chart hourly on pain, positioning, and toileting. Also, CABG patients are required to ambulate 4 times during the 12 hour day shift. PT walks them 2 times Mon.-Fri., with nursing doing the other walking. This is a major chore with chest tubes, Foley Catheters, feeding tubes, etc., and very seldom is anyone available to assist you. Techs have a way of not being located when needed. There is only 1-2 techs for 30 patients. Meal trays have to be put out and they put a thermometer in one of the last trays to check temperatures to assure they are put out in a timely manner. I’d love to see the administration do all of this and chart on the computer hourly. Oh, did I mention that each of the 3 things required to chart hourly are in three different sections on the computer. (6×3x12) required extra charting on top of administering medications, IV fluids, and blood and charting any wound care or procedures done. I just do not see it. I was washing a patient’s face and chest and changing his gown where he had vomited when I was told by my preceptor I needed to quit dawdling and get my charting done because she was not going to leave late due to me wasting time. I did not go into nursing to put patients on the back burner and computer charting in the forefront of importance.
I do not know what to do. I am so torn. I love patients, and if all of us that love patients leave healthcare who is going to be left to care for the patients?
I am 52 years old, single, and need to work until I’m at least 70 with economy the way it is.
Sure wish nursing would not have turned into such a secretarial job. Paper charting was so much quicker and left time for PATIENTS. Spending time with patients is what made nursing enjoyable for me.
Thanks for giving me a space to vent.
Please, somebody come up with a voice activated computer charting system for nurses that would allow us time with our patients.
March 9th, 2013 at 12:03 pm
Wow, this is just the site I was looking for to vent. I have been nursing for almost 17 years now. I started out in L&D, trauma ICU, and have spent the better part of my career in medical/surgical ICU. I remember graduating from nursing school in 1996 thinking that nursing was all rainbows and bunny rabbits. I really thought that healthcare was all about doing what’s best for the patient. How wrong was I! We are all just a cog in the massive corporate wheel. Healthcare has nothing to do healing and everything to do with milking every last drop out of disease processes to turn over the most ginormous profit possible. Ethics be damned! If you are 95 years old and your aortic valve isn’t quite up to snuff, well we will take you to the OR, slice open your chest, and stick a brand spanking new one just in time for you to run the New York City marathon next month! I could go on and on forever about all the unnecessary and unethical things we do to people. Procedures out the wazoo, because lets maximize our profit margin! We let people who are past the point of no return linger and linger for all eternity on full-life support because god forbid we risk lawsuits from angry families. We torture these poor souls with tubes jammed into every orifice, suctioning, sticking, poking, prodding. It’s awful. All for what? So they can suffer a whole lot more before dying? Lets not forget the nursing aspect of all this: Broken equipment, not enough equipment (can’t do our jobs properly), no lifting help for patients that fill our hospital beds (80% are very overweight-250lb+), poorly run pharmacy and lab (late meds and lab results with constant calls to these departments), managers that are totally out of touch with the bedside (blame everything on the nurse), lack of nursing staff (unsafe assignments), endless charting on computers that never work (wasted time), and don’t even get me started on these psychotic, annoying, needy, intrusive, obnoxious, disrespectful, rude family members! They make my life a living hell each and everyday. One of these days I am going to loose it and tell these family members to F*&K OFF! No I cannot powder your husbands ass right now, I am busy doing trying to prevent my patient next door from exsanguinating. Piss off you self-absorbed, entitled pieces of s&*t! Thank you. I feel better now.
March 9th, 2013 at 12:27 pm
P.S- Despite the above rant, there is a part of me that doesn’t regret being a nurse. I am good at it, my patients receive excellent care, I am kind to them during their most vulnerable times, and I enjoy learning. However, I am at the end of my rope with the bulls*&t that is healthcare. I despise pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and basically the whole corporate aspect of taking care of sick people. Hospitals are toxic places with insane politics. I am going to figure out a way to get my masters degree and hopefully become a nursing instructor. Out of the hospital, into a university setting. Wish me luck.
March 9th, 2013 at 8:56 pm
Yup.. My heart goes out to all of you. i have been in health care for 24 years, I’m mid career and am in jeopardy of losing my job. I have had “date entry issues” and am being called into question for my ability to “think critically as it applies to Occupational Health”. You see, after 15 years, I felt it was time to get away from the bed side. I loved OH when I got in to it, but I got hired in a OH department that continually shifts EVERYTHING that we do. We are responsible for remembering all of it. The policy basically doesn’t change, but the procedures do and our work is ambiguous at best, but we’re still responsible for remembering every picayune thing leadership expects. And the worst part is, they don’t even know our job and would shit eggrolls if they tried to do everything they expect of us underlings. It’s sad. So getting off the floor can lead to an even more toxic environment, I’m afraid. Is it me? Consider this, I have been there over 5 years, less than 9 and over 20 nurses have left the place. One left because her husband got a fellowship elsewhere. One moved back to the state of her origin. Almost everybody left because the damn place is ran like a free for all. Better nurses than me left the department thinking what a nutty shit hole it is. So again, my abilities to not keep up are all my responsibility, not shitty management. And I have tried to get out, clearly not as aggressively as i should have, because here I am in a serious pickle. But since the recession of 2008, i have went on no less than 12 interviews with no luck, what is a nurse to do? Leaving this place for my health and well being hasn’t really been tempting. Ive got a mortgage to pay, after all.
My question is, for all of you incredible brave souls that have left without losing your shirt< how did you do it? What did you go in to?
And another point, this is a nice website, but sites for nurses to vent their unholy spleen are a dime a dozen, which clearly shows the need. But why aren’t there regulatory sites for helping this crisis? I see nothing on my state’s website that adresses this issue, much less offers help, or solutions. They sure as shit have stuff if you have a substance abuse problem. Always stuff for negative shit. Where are those websites? Why do we need to consult with a labor lawyer? Why doesn’t the nursing commission(s) acknowledge this problem? This is not the time to turn a blind eye and it’s just another reason why so many of us become disgusted and disgruntled with the system we work in. Why do the people regulate us not have more support for us? If burnout was something we could cope with, well, then it wouldn’t be burnout, would it?