There’s been a lot of recent discussion about nursing salaries and the nursing shortage.
I wanted to chime in because (a) I love to over-simplify things, and (b) I am on the verge of becoming one of those nurses they refer to - the kind who works 2-3 years after school and then quits.
The reasons aren’t complicated. Here’s why I’ll probably end up quitting:
- The money sucks.
- It takes its toll on you physically.
- I don’t want to work nights, weekends, or holidays.
Sure there are many peripheral issues - nurses dumping on each other, lack of autonomy, lack of time and resources to get the job done right. But other than that it’s a personally rewarding, and (at times) intellectually challenging job. It feels good to help people when they are sick. I love being the voice of calm in a storm. I love working as a team and saving lives (sometimes.)
I just don’t love it enough to get over the three points that I listed above.
It’s that simple. If I became a nurse when I was 22 I might have gotten a few more good years in, but sadly, I didn’t. So if there’s any constructive advice springing from this negative view of nursing it would be this: Get ‘em in while they’re young. The earlier you start your nursing career, the later your burnout will be.
Comments 42
I like this post, Beth. It’s brutally honest.
As I am looking into my first new grad position, I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about these things and thought “have I made a mistake?” I found out yesterday that our manager has been switching people’s nights and days WITHIN THE WEEK. I will crumble on a schedule like that, as will my marriage. We nurses have to think about ourselves, too and there’s no shame in what you’re saying. Lately I’ve been thinking I will probably only be a bedside nurse for 1-2 years before the schedule starts to royally suck, and then I will move into something else. Based on what I see and who I talk to (and blogs I read) it seems this is becoming a trend…sad.
The real question is, what can we do to overcome this problem, as a profession?
Posted 17 Oct 2008 at 8:51 am ¶Wait….
You mean you aren’t 22? : 0
Seriously, you talk like you’re ancient! : D
Kim < —- old enough to be your..older sister!
Posted 17 Oct 2008 at 9:17 am ¶Man, your post is really making me sad. Who is going to take care of Kim and me when our kids put us in a nursing home? Seriously, things would turn around on a dime if nurses would stand together as a united front and tell hospital administrators that we aren’t going to take their crap anymore. Caroline, the nurses on your unit need to tell your boss, “No, we are going along with this. It’s not happening.” Stick to your guns girl, and I hope things work out.
MJ
Posted 17 Oct 2008 at 9:45 am ¶@Caroline - FWIW I was reading about your hospice experience the other day and thinking that might be the type of nursing that would inspire me enough to stay in the profession
@Kim - I know, I know. I’m only 37. The sad part of it is that nursing makes me feel old. I come home from work and just want to sit in a rocking chair with my ben gay and my heating pad )`:
Posted 17 Oct 2008 at 9:48 am ¶AWWWW. Now I’ve made MJ sad too. )`:
Seriously though, I wish there was a way I could have my cake and eat it too, but the fact is that hospitals are open ’round the clock, and patients need to be bathed and turned. So the hours and the job description probably aren’t going to change.
Posted 17 Oct 2008 at 9:52 am ¶I really enjoyed this post. I too, experienced this frustration about 3 or 4 years into my professional career. The pay, the physical strain and the demanding schedule were all taking a toll on me. In addition, the ‘more frequent than necessary’ level of incompetent co-workers who’s lack of work ethics only added to my task list.
As a fellow fan of tech, I decided to try on a new hat not long ago and I am currently working as a nursing analyst in the IT dept. of a hospital. The hours are perfect (no weekends/no holidays), the pay is decent and there is very little physical demand. But, most importantly, I am able to spend a large amount of my time enjoying my hobby (computers / tech) while still applying my clinical knowledge and experience.
Just food for thought =)
Posted 17 Oct 2008 at 10:05 am ¶Beth,
Hi! I love your blog and have been reading it for a bit.
I’ve just started an ADN program at my local CC, and have questioned the same thing, for the same reasons. I will be 39 when I graduate. In December I will graduate with my B.S. in Psych (I know I’m going backward, which in and of itself is a whole other source of stress for me), and battle with the reasoning why I am putting myself through two more years of school. Why, especially if the issues you’ve listed are what there is to look forward to? This is something I’ve wanted for a long time, so will probably press on. I can’t see myself doing anything else, except teaching elementary school…and they’re really underpaid!
Ugh! Life!
Posted 17 Oct 2008 at 12:57 pm ¶Marxist theorists assert that, under capatalist systems, there will be organized, predatory, and oppressive actions instituted against highly skilled workers who must, at the same time, undergo unpleasant working conditions. These workers (nurses), under a true competitive and free enterprise state, would command very high salaries and good working conditions. This, of course, is inclusive of nursing. Why does this occur, theoretically speaking?
Posted 18 Oct 2008 at 6:49 am ¶The reason is that captalists want to keep wages low and working conditions unfavorable to maintain and maximize short term profit levels. These Marxist theorists,also, assert that the captialists will take a personally deprecating and hostile attitude towards these skilled workers in order to discourage orgnaized opposition to their unjust and oppressive tactics. However, according to these same Marxist theorists, these same captalist actions result in severe labor shortages. We must understand and appropriately address the valid Marxist criticisms of the captalist system (especially with regard to the nursing shortage) in order to maintain our individual freedoms, to maintain the high standard of living concommitant with free markets and competition, and to address the market anomalies resultant from capatalistic market abuses. I am a male R.N..
There are non-hospital jobs out there, too. I say that as someone who just left the hospital (and still have to remind myself that i’m not a traitor!) for a steady hour, rare weekend, no holidays nursing gig. They’re not always easy to find, but they’re there and they’re worth it. It’s amazing how much better i feel coming home, even after the first week of my new job–i don’t hurt, i don’t hate everything, and i don’t sleep all the time (or sit up until 7am unable to get to sleep). There are jobs out there that don’t involve working nights, weekends or holidays where you don’t come home feeling like you’ve been run over by a truck.
The other thing i would say is that you might like a smaller hospital/system better; in my experience and in talking to other nurses, the bigger hospitals like ours that have a lot invested in research and image tend to be really shitty places to be a nurse. You might do better some place where you have the chance to actually change things, rather than a big hospital system.
Still, i totally know what you mean. Totally. I’m really happy to be out of the hospital, because it was eating me alive.
Posted 18 Oct 2008 at 3:27 pm ¶I think we are both standing on the same part of the fence.
Posted 18 Oct 2008 at 8:17 pm ¶Pete-and-Repeat here.
I echo the top 3, but at this point in my career I consider the consequences worth the benefits that I experience.
I am however also planning ahead- I do not foresee me being a bedside nurse my entire career.
So this begs the question for you and for all of us standing on this ‘fence’.
Posted 18 Oct 2008 at 8:21 pm ¶If and when you are not a nurse…
What will you do instead?
@StrongOne - A ha! I shall save the answer to that question for a new blog post!
Posted 20 Oct 2008 at 8:58 am ¶Yeah, nursing is a tough, tough profession. I left the ICU environment several years ago. The physical demands were starting to worry me.
I feel very fortunate to have fallen into my current situation with hospice. I’m hoping that I can do this for many years to come.
I wish you all the best and will be looking forward to reading about your new endeavors.
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 3:48 pm ¶Maybe I’m just an impatient Gen Xer, but I don’t envision myself at bedside for too much longer, either. The crap on the floor and being low on the seniority totem pole, along with that rotating schedule and every other weekend, ain’t my cup of tea.
I plan on getting certified in my area and once my year is up, plotting and planning to get out to a new area that 1) has less people, so better vacation schedule and 2) one with less or no weekends. I also want to get my master’s one of these days and I need to do time in that area while I’m doing it.
I can’t wait! I love having a plan, even if I have to modify it.
Posted 22 Oct 2008 at 9:25 pm ¶Yikes! You will probably be happy to know that google reader, which I just fired up for the first time today, put you as a top 5 pick for me to follow. I was very excited to read this post because it marks (and you will probably find this surprising) the first time I’ve seen someone display interest in leaving the profession!
I’ve been doing as much research as I can before entering a AA program to become an RN. I am 33 now, and will probably be 37 when I finally manage to change my career.
For me nursing was not my first choice - I never thought I would like it due to the body fluids issue. (I’ve since realized that my fears in that regard are all more or less in my head.) I wanted to become a social worker really, really bad. If you think nurses are poorly compensated… well I decided to go for nursing because I felt the pay would be great!
I look forward to reading more about your career change. Thanks for being a nurse blogger!
Posted 24 Oct 2008 at 2:00 pm ¶Hear, hear, Pixel.
I am also 37 and I’m rounding on year 3 in nursing. I’ve taken a half step away from the bedside by being a contract nurse and I defined my schedule to be self-scheduling, 12 hours 10a to 10p. (Which is a time of day I prefer.)
I’ll see how it goes.
Very curious to see what your plan is. Will be watchin.
Posted 26 Oct 2008 at 1:59 pm ¶/jo
I think the pay varies regionally. Many in my facility earn into the six-figures while being able to punch a clock and leave their job at work. Not many other professions offer that, and not bad for those who only spent 3 years in formal education to become a nurse.
That said, it is a physically demanding job that requires working unpalatable hours (I’ve personally been on nights for 14+ years), though I’d think most would expect that when entering the profession. If you don’t like the pay or off shifts, consider a route that would address both. Anesthetists earn around 175K a year for 36 hours on (week)days. They are only responsible for lifting the head (for the most part), so better for the back. With a little extra ambition you could earn 250K, and I have colleagues who make close to 350K.
Ya, the programs are rough, but the rewards are great. Sometimes the best way out of something is through it.
Posted 01 Nov 2008 at 7:19 am ¶There probably isn’t much that hasn’t been said here, but I wanted to lend my support through a comment anyway. Having had the opportunity to talk to you for a bit at Blogworld in Las Vegas, I have to say that if you leave nursing, it will be a real loss to the profession. I have found that I burn out about every 6 or 7 years and I have to make some sort of change. So far, the rewards of patient care have kept me at the bedside somewhere. The really great thing that nursing gives you is the ability to prioritize in crisis, problem solve in the absence of resources and to relate to all kinds of people in all kinds of situtaions. Wherever you take that Beth, I’m sure you’ll be successful. I’m excited and anxious to see what you will do.
Posted 01 Nov 2008 at 3:10 pm ¶Just wanted to chime in. . .
Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 8:03 pm ¶I’m 37 with 2 semesters to go before I even start to get paid. I know it’s my passion. I hope the Health Care System (sickness care system) will evolve to the point where nurses get paid what they deserve.
It’s a shame that you feel the way you do at such a young (nursing) age. I have been a nurse for a short 13 years and have had my hands in many different arenas. Yes, I am absolutely fried, but what else am I going to do. I made a lot of money last year (refereing to my taxable income). I get weekdays off to go to field trips with my kids as well as be home for them to help them with their homework. My marriage has grown with me being gone so my husband is REALLY excited when I get a rare overstaff. I can combine my scheduled days to take short vacations with my family without using paid vacation days. Plus, out of the 50 or so patients I take care of that refuse to believe I have a brain and am educated, there is that one patient and/or family that believes in me and really appreciates the 12 or so hours I spent caring for them. I don’t think the stockbrokers or bankers are getting any type of recognition right now. Go back to school and be a teacher and see how much money you will make, and then take a look at how appreciated you are for babysitting someone’s undisciplined child for 6 hours a day. I have had to take a really long look at why I became a nurse. It wasn’t for the money because I made 12 dollars an hour when I started. I became a nurse because it was all I knew I could be really good at. Take a few months off, work as an administrative assistant or something for a while and get your head on straight. You may not want to go back to nursing but chances are, if you went into nursing because you really wanted to be a nurse, then you’ll be back.
Posted 16 Nov 2008 at 9:27 am ¶I totally agree with all the posts. I’ve been a nurse for 3 years come December 2008. I did bedside med-surg when I started and I hated it. Now, I do psych hate it less but still hate it nonetheless. I should have done a more analytical career with computers. I’m now trying to find a nurse informatics position. Fits my personality much better, INTJ of the Meyers Briggs. But, I probably end up leaving nursing by the end of this year. I’m turning 30 this December and need to make a change while I’m still young. I would like to be able to see my family on holidays and weekends. It’s sad when you feel the need to warn nursing students not enter this profession.
Posted 18 Nov 2008 at 1:07 pm ¶ahhhhh,I’m sorry your feeling that way. You, and every other nurse I know. I don’t have the answers, and it’s getting worse instead of better. We need to stand strong and stand TOGETHER, buit we dont,
Posted 29 Nov 2008 at 10:53 pm ¶Taking a break from studying, I came across this post. I am near the end of my first semester of the nursing program. There have been moments where I felt that I was Done With This Bullshit, mostly related to instructors who are probably better nurses than teachers.
Posted 30 Nov 2008 at 1:38 pm ¶Anyway…I am a 35 yr old man (still blows my mind). I have spent the last 15 years either in a band or as a bike messenger, both of which I am good at… but messengering only goes so far, and music has a fragile chemistry. At some point it became apparent to me that I wanted/needed to do Something Else- but it had to be something that I could respect myself for, which meant not going to school to learn how to tuck in my shirt and be a desk jockey- I saw enough of what that did to people younger than myself in my days as a messenger. I wanted something useful, and something empowering so that if the shit hit the fan I would keep cool and be a part of making it better. I went back to school and enrolled in the courses for people who haven’t been to school for a while. While shaking off the dust I met a number of people (mostly women) going for nursing. After some talking I thought ‘this fits’. –So, I am Going For It, and have been for 2 yrs. Only 1 1/2 to go.
My point in writing… it is discouraging to come across so much dissatisfaction! I am thankful for those of you who try to turn it around and remind a sinking person that their race isn’t run yet. Those of you who have been around and have the MO of ‘grimace and bear it’ scare me as much as those who are bailing out.
I don’t blame anyone for their feelings… I haven’t even got a clue what it is really like. But seriously, folks… am I just going to be miserable because of administrative issues and attitudes of the staff I work with?
Yes, Of course I must decide for myself how well I perform in this environment. Nevertheless, I keep feeling like I am trying to overcome thoughts about the next 5 years of my life being all rain and uphill pedaling.
Thank you so much for this post. I am 37, with a BS and an MS, and I keep flip flopping between becoming an allopathic croney or working in the field of creating health (Natural Hygiene). The lure of allopathy (RN) to me is the $ and security. But I decided (with your help) to give up the security and $ and work at helping people to create health rather than help big pharma, etc. get fatter and richer while mostly treating symptoms of disease by shifting symptoms with their bulls*#t drugs, not addressing the root causes of degenerative disease. I just finished Micro/lab, Patho, A&P/lab, Med Term, Pharm, etc., but I think I am pulling out so to speak.
I know if I become an RN, the only way I could do it is to be a trauma RN or ER or OR RN. Lactation RN would be great, but the industry probably pushes cow milk formula as acceptable, when it’s not acceptable; it’s beyond retarded.
Bottom line for me is this culture sucks. We have old farts running the government and industry teaching generation after generation that the American way is great; it’s not great; we need major reform. We need more young people to lead. We need the old farts to learn from the younger generations.
I am still on the fence, but reading your post really helps me to gain confidence that I should work in the ‘creation of health’ industry as a small Internet and home business owner rather than work in the sick care industry. I can’t imagine the stress I would endure working behind a med cart and seeing the idiotic foods the hospitals and LTC, etc. facilities promote.
Thank you again for your post.
Posted 11 Dec 2008 at 8:45 pm ¶Being fairly young at 31 I have been in this profession now for 7 years. My father was an RN so I did know alot of what nursing entailed but until you actually experience it you can never fully understand. As many on this forum I too am burnt out. Nurses as a whole, unfortunately I think, will never be able to stand united for various reasons. One main reason is that nursing is not viewed as a true profession and is reflected in lack of autonomy, respect, and pay. Every night I literally have a patient’s life in my hands, away from my wife and children (sometimes for weekends and holidays), but by no means have the “finer things in life”. Compare schooling, responsibility, pay, and demand of schedule to other true professions and you can see the huge difference. It is not enough to anylonger to simply “love to help people” because between the majority of people’s entitlement attitudes (there is a small % people who truely are deserving and polite) and the continued stresses put on from hospital administration, that love quickly is strained. For anyone considering a career in nursing I would strongly recommend thinking twice and realize the things you will have to sacrafice. Nursing may give but it surely also takes at the same time.
Posted 21 Dec 2008 at 6:05 pm ¶I’m 35 years old. I’ve been a nurse since 2005: first step-dwon, then ICU. I don’t like ICU any better than step-down. I am planning to return to school. I think that’s the only saving grace. Oddly enough, ICU sometimes seems more physically and mentally DRAINING than my step-down unit. I also work nights, which sucks beyond belief. I’m always tired.
Posted 25 Dec 2008 at 11:45 am ¶I have excruciating lower back pain. Turns out, I have a bulging disc. Go figure. Having morbidly obese patients doesn’t help. When I left work this morning my hips hurt and my feet were so sore, I was limping.
I forgot: Merry freaking Christmas.
Posted 25 Dec 2008 at 11:48 am ¶Butch:
No life’s not all uphill, but you have to know what you like and what you don’t.
I always believe in having a plan A, plan B and a plan C. Plan A is right now, and I’m looking around to see what plan C will be. Plan B is already cooking.
When life hands you lemons, make lemonade or find a new use for them that you can handle.
My career life has been much like the Albert Camus quote, “Fulfillment is slavery; it only leads to higher fulfillment.”
I rise as far as I can and I go on. A ship in a harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are made for, is it?
Posted 01 Jan 2009 at 10:48 am ¶Beth,
Posted 16 Jan 2009 at 11:26 pm ¶There is hope for those that seek. I have been a nurse for 12 years… started out as an LPN. I got my RN license in 2006 and my entry pay was 66,000 going directly into Hospice care. Since then I have continued to look for a health care position that meets my financial needs as well as the career I enjoy… I became a Home Health clinical manager and the salary is 76,000.00. I don’t know what you make, but if this still seems like not much, then your demands are greater than mine. But this is enough right now for me and my spouse who is quitting work soon so we can foster and adopt.
Oh, and I don’t work weekends and I am fine physically.
Posted 16 Jan 2009 at 11:27 pm ¶yall I thoughtI was lost cause I got fired, because I asked for a raise,I have been a nurse for 5 years don,t you think I should be making 17 a hr will, He got mad and found something else to fire me for, guess what it was? yelling @ a dietary worker because she had a bad mouth, and she alone gave my residents 12 glasses of water and i had 31, so I snapped on her. Now that was wrong because,you just don,t do that. I did amit I was wrong but I still got fired. so that is why iam collecting unempolyment. and its sad but iam glad because they got on my nerves.I hope I can find me a job doing something else.
Posted 07 Feb 2009 at 1:37 am ¶Interesting post being that I am currently suffering from the worst burnout a nurse can have. I just got my Masters in Nursing Education, though, and hope to get a promotion to Department Educator soon. I also am teaching at a local community college. This allowed me to cut back my hours at work.
I keep a blog but I will not publish the URL. If you want it, you can contact me at helloooooo_nurse@yahoo.com I will warn you, though, that it is not a nice, cheery blog. It is bluntm honest, and, since my hospital does not believe in nurse empowerment, sad. There is nothing happy in it unless you consider being able to actually sitting down to eat lunch, taking a potty break, or getting out on time cheerful. Most of it is about the mismanagement that goes on, huge number of patients I have to care for, etc. humorous in hindsite.
Anyway, it is terrible to find out that the autoworkers make more money than I do. They average $40 to $60 dollars an hour and they don’t need a college degree at all. They get on the job training. That tells you how poorly nurses’ contributions to society are seen as being. Additionally, it shows that the unions aren’t doing anything for nurses except promoting people who may not actually be qualified for the position they got only because they have seniority. That is not the way to run a hospital.
Denise, I have three bulging discs and have had four rounds of surgery on my right wrist from a psych patient ripping it apart. I had my jaw broken and ribs fractured by patients as well. Nursing is tough work and not for the faint hearted.
Butch, I too have Plan A, B, and C. If I don’t get the Educator position that I applied for, I am looking at Hospice. That is Plan B and C. I am making lemonade but, unfortunately, it ain’t happening fast enough.
And I would not recommend that you read my blog as it would probably make you depressed about going into nursing.
Anyway, you have a nice blog here and I have enjoyed many of your postings. I feel the same as you, though, in regards to nursing. We are underpaid for the work that we do. We are the mules of the hospital, doing all the hard work, but the managers get the credit. A good book to read is ‘Nursing Against the Odds’. It was very enlightening.
Abby
Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 7:14 pm ¶thank you Abby i feel a liitle better because i strated to let go of nursing, because,i really thouht I did something wrong,well it was wrong, I should have not yelled at the person and cused her out, but I got tried of that shit. than the owner fired me. but he didn,t fire the nurse that stold a whole.pack of lortab ain,t that some shit.anyway my umployment is about to end and 6 weeks ,so I am going to give it another shot because I am a dam good nurse taught by the best my Mother whom,has a Bsn. and I live between to big cities.anyway I pray for U because you deserve the best. thats why when I do work I always get the best and try to be the best nurse I can be.Thank you
Posted 26 Feb 2009 at 10:56 pm ¶Im out of Nursing asap….its been a wild ride but need to move on. Agree with all the down sides posted above.Been a RN for 4 years, dont plan on making year5. Good luck
Posted 06 Mar 2009 at 4:28 am ¶Cheryl,
No one is perfect. I have had ocassions where I wanted to yell at a patient or a patient’s family, even at a nurse or aide, but I have withstood doing so for some reason or other. Last evening, I was trying to finish admitting my second admit for the night when I was volunteered by another nurse to help the hopeless case nurse on our floor. Every unit has one of them! This nurse complains to the supervisor over and over about her assignment. She spend 20 minutes x 2 on the phone to the supervisor saying how unfair her assignment was and that it was impossible. Then she asked for help from other nurses which is how I was volunteered. Because of the economy, we are to get out on time so as to keep costs down. I still has a dressing as well as charting to do. Anyway, I told her I would help when I was done with settling in and medicating my second admit. By the time I was done with that, she no longer needed my help but keep saying how unfair her assignment was and that I should have helped her. I pointed out to her that I was passing a dressing change off to the next shift as it was even without helping her. She just didn’t get the fact that we all have a lot of work to do. I was more steamed at the nurse that volunteered me.
Anyway, I love teaching and have been asked to come back in the fall and maybe pick up more clinicals. It is hard to keep my cynicism out of teaching but I manage. Working less hours on the floor is helping me deal with the burnout which was getting extreme. I will sit the Med/Surg certification exam this spring. My boss wants me to apply for level 4 on the clinical ladder but never makes me charge. But the hopeless case nurse is often charge. Go figure!
Howard, I would say for you to just scale back your hours like I did. If you have a Bachelors, you may be able to teach clinicals which is a very warming experience. I believe nursing will change. I have hope that will be so. If you keep your foot in the door, you can come back when you are less burned out.
Abby
Posted 06 Mar 2009 at 5:25 pm ¶Thank u I feel better. i am planning to go back to work real soon.after the summer. oh I am a Lpn maybe one day I will get my Rn, but I have learned my lesson I will stay in control of me.that same thing happen to me many times that might be way i snapped, you hit the nail on the head.I love nursing it’s in my bones passed on from grandmother all my aunts and most of all my mother.(BSN)
Luv ya
Posted 15 Mar 2009 at 5:53 pm ¶Hi,
Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 6:25 am ¶I am 38 years old. I am an elementary school teacher thinking about going back to become an RN. After reading all of these posts, I don’t know if that’s the route I want to take now. I do enjoy having my holidays and summers off. I’ve been off all this week for spring break. Considering I only work 181 days out of the year, I do get paid really well. I have a Master’s degree, so that helps.
Also….I will be close to 41 years old by the time I finish an RN degree. I’m not sure if I can physically handle it by then….
Posted 10 Apr 2009 at 6:27 am ¶Blah… these posts. What have I done to myself?
Maybe one of you Nurses can help me with some advice with my situation. I started Nursing school 5 years ago, after the first year I fell pregnant with my daughter. So decided to take part time study, so that I could manage study/ family commitments. After my first year of Nursing it was apparant to me that Nursing was not my thing and I thought that I could transfer to another degree in health that was not so bed side focused. On second thoughts at the time I brushed my doubts aside and continued Nursing. However along the way I have become very unhappy about my desicion to continue. I have even considered going back to Uni after Nursing. Have any of the Nurses out there considered doing Med after Nursing- Or is that just getting way out of line?
It is not an option for me to discontinue my degree at this point as I have already given 5 years of my time for Nursing.
Any thoughts, advice.. comments would be fantastic. I have been doing this degree for 5 years now, and need some hope!
Posted 26 Apr 2009 at 6:11 am ¶I am quitting nursing after 15 years of it. I have done ICU, CCU, CVICU, ER, Med-Surg, Telemetry, Long Term Care, Disease Management, and supervisory positions. After all of this time…I have decided I am tired of getting the s–t beat out of me time after time. Hospitals are brutal and working with other health care professionals can be brutal too (there are some very nice co-workers, but many dysfunctional ones as well). I was actually harassed and bullied by a co-worker at my last job, the higher ups blew me off when I reported it, I even went all the way to the president of the companywith absolutely no resolution. Two other nurses also had this same experience at the same place, they too were blown off. So, I am quitting nursing, going to dog grooming school, and am starting my own business. I would rather groom a pack of rabid coyotes than stay in nursing another day. Sorry to be negative, but that is how I feel.
Posted 28 Apr 2009 at 6:20 pm ¶This morning I came upon this site and wanted to add my 2 cents worth. Here is my story.
Posted 08 May 2009 at 10:33 am ¶I have been a nurse 6 years, and a very good one at that, am in my early 50’s (young at heart) and want to change careers again. Wow, if I knew then what I know now, I never would have become an RN. I was laid off in 2000 and went back to school to become an RN. I have worked in a metropolitan hospital, a group home and a clinic (where my fellow clinic RN’s were hateful, catty and backstabbing.) I went into nursing mentally and physically healthy and happy. Since then I have had back surgery and have developed bursitis in my feet and hip due to working dangerously short staffed, shift after shift, which resulted in running incredible distances on the floor with no breaks. The stress, fear, fatigue, and anxiety of working in the nursing environment is unbelievable. It carries over into your personal life. In one week, it was common to rotate between shifts 4 times. I wore a phone, beeper, locator and was responsible for the phones in the hall. I had to run to rooms for call lights, bed alarms, telemetry alarms, O2 alarms and anxious pts. While I was calculating IV digoxin, heparin, or Tikosin (actually doing the math on scratch paper), I was constantly interrupted. Did I mention I would have 3 pts on Q15 minute monitoring and a new admit that ER dumped in the hall, still on a cart (I know, they have it rough too). Then there were the unmotivated assistants on the floor (if you had help at all) who would hide, talk on their cell phones in pt rooms and falsify their documentation. I won’t even mention the exposure to TB due to inadequate communication and lack of follow through, practically swimming in infectious body fluid that was bursting out of a colostomy and bariatric pts with wound vacs and inadequate lifting help. Then I was expected to not only document on my pts and make unending doctors calls, but document on any broken equipment, staffing issues, safety issues or complaints. The last three are largely ignored, or you, the RN becomes the problem, not the actual problem.
Incidentally, no one is paying attention to the new hospital environments of private rooms. I worked in a newly constructed unit. The distances between patients, supplies, front desk, tube systems is brutal to travel shift after shift. In my unit there were only 10 recliners for 20 rooms. Who makes these decisions that 10 pts do not get a chair in their room? We also did not have enough commodes. In fact most of the new equipment was inadequate and broke down quickly. This is insane. The unmotivated staff know how not to be found on the locator system, the locator systems are often broken or so slow you cannot find anyone to help. There is no line of sight with patients or other staff. No one gets the importance of eye contact in nursing, but I digress.
I could rant and rave about management, lack of problem solving, criticalness of pts on a general floor, the overwhelming number of admits, discharges, post surgicals every shift, the disregard for pt care by administrators and for the nurses who are trying to provide care in spite of it all. Others before me have expressed these issues very well and I concur!!
Currently, I am unemployed by choice after terminating the above mentioned clinic job (which was a god awful example of nursing at its worst). My temporary health insurance runs out in Sept. I am angry and scared at being my age, facing starting over again. I am seriously considering quitting nursing. I want to be happy and healthy instead.
some of you guys are killing me– i have been a nurse for 22 years and ask, if you don’t want to work holidays and weekends, who is going to do it?????
Posted 16 May 2009 at 8:58 am ¶Post a Comment