I hate nursing..

[flygirls2]

I graduated in December, and have been working on an inpatient oncology unit since. I DREAD going to work each week. The days I do have off, I'm too tired to enjoy. I'm not overwhelmed or any of the typical things you'd assume. I just don't like it!

Is this normal for new nurses? Does it pass? Were most of you in love with nursing from the get-go? Maybe I need a new are of nursing?

I just don't know what to do, I'm already pondering starting up a new degree program.

[Nacki, MSN, NP]

it's obvious that you aren't cut out for bedside nursing. we're all happy that you're in a private office with a happy stomach, smiley bladder, no dirty work and less patient contact. really, that's where you should be. if you're unable to see the rewards of bedside nursing for the pitfalls, you shouldn't be a bedside nurse. as for respect -- i get plenty of respect from those i work with. perhaps you didn't get any as a bedside nurse because you hadn't earned it yet.

wow ruby, you sound like one of those bitter older nurses who eats their young.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

wow ruby, you sound like one of those bitter older nurses who eats their young.

thank you.

[kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'm not sure about all the people who say that nurses on their floor eat their young...but I work on a floor of a lot of older nurses, and new grads. Not to mention that when I work, I'm usually the only guy and I'm still a new grad. All of the nurses, old and young, always ask me if I need help and are there making me feel like part of the team. Now whoever says that nursing school is just profit driven and doesn't really show you what nursing is about, those students must not have taken clinical seriously, their school is no good, or they just floated by(not talking about EVERYONE, but some). My first clinical day we were in there changing people, bathing, cleaning ,etc. By the time my last semester came around, we had 5-6 pts all to ourselves(190 leadership hours). The preceptor would assume we had the knowledge from previous semesters, and it was all on us to delegate, call MD's etc. If you didn't realize that's how nursing was by the time you got there...someone must have missed the boat during school or just plain forgotten as they went along.

I just don't understand why would you even go to nursing school if you don't really know what the job is all about??? It's not a good idea to make assumptions about something big like a career choice(not saying everyone did, but again some do) A lot of people say that they will "transfer to ICU, or this place or that", but the bottom line is nursing is nursing. I hear SEVERAL people say "I hate poop, I'm gonna go to ICU where I have 2 patients". I saw more more poop cleaned by nurses in ICU than on the Rehab floors with elderly patients, again that assumption will get you.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

I just don't understand why would you even go to nursing school if you don't really know what the job is all about??? It's not a good idea to make assumptions about something big like a career choice(not saying everyone did, but again some do) A lot of people say that they will "transfer to ICU, or this place or that", but the bottom line is nursing is nursing. I hear SEVERAL people say "I hate poop, I'm gonna go to ICU where I have 2 patients". I saw more more poop cleaned by nurses in ICU than on the Rehab floors with elderly patients, again that assumption will get you.

Your comment about assumptions resonates on several levels for me. I've lost count of the new grads I've encountered over the years who make assumptions about their own place in the hierarchy, developing a personal fable that they're somehow special and that they can have what everybody else wants just by virtue of the fact that they have a degree. I am not someone who treats others badly... in fact I'm the one new nurses come to with their questions and concerns and to get help from. Having said that, it sets my teeth on edge when I hear someone new say things like, "Well, I'm NOT working Christmas," "I have no intention of working nights, someone else can do it," and "I'm getting married at the end of July. If they won't give me three weeks off for my wedding and honeymoon then I'll just go casual." How can they be doing their clinicals on the floors during vacation planning and not know how the process works? Here it's all about seniority - and I can't have vacation during the summer after 16 years on the job so why should they just walk onto the unit and make that kind of demand?

Then there are the ones who come to PICU thinking that they'll have it easy, one patient - maybe two - sedated and ventilated so they can sit on a chair and read a novel, or plan their next tropical vacation while the people around them are working their butts off with unstable patients. Then they're complaining that they always get the floor-ready kids who are a LOT more work. But that's where your level of competence lies right now, honey.

This thread is beneficial to those who appreciate the place to ventilate and validate their views. I hope that by sharing these views a consensus can be found that can assist in coping with the way things are and changing nursing to be the compassionate, caring and helpful profession that it should be. But, that is only my opinion.

There's nothing that says people with opposing views shouldn't be allowed to benefit from the opportunity to ventilate and be validated. The harsh reality is that the majority of new nursing grads are going to have to spend some time at the bedside, working nights, weekends and holidays, missing social events, getting their hands dirty and hurting their backs. They need to realise that it isn't a conspiracy against them but a fact of life. If that kind of work doesn't appeal to them then they should be choosing another profession.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

your comment about assumptions resonates on several levels for me. i've lost count of the new grads i've encountered over the years who make assumptions about their own place in the hierarchy, developing a personal fable that they're somehow special and that they can have what everybody else wants just by virtue of the fact that they have a degree. i am not someone who treats others badly... in fact i'm the one new nurses come to with their questions and concerns and to get help from. having said that, it sets my teeth on edge when i hear someone new say things like, "well, i'm not working christmas," "i have no intention of working nights, someone else can do it," and "i'm getting married at the end of july. if they won't give me three weeks off for my wedding and honeymoon then i'll just go casual." how can they be doing their clinicals on the floors during vacation planning and not know how the process works? here it's all about seniority - and i can't have vacation during the summer after 16 years on the job so why should they just walk onto the unit and make that kind of demand?

despite what seems to be the popular opinion of new nurses, nursing students and about-to-be nursing students on threads such as these, i am also one of the senior nurses that the students and new grads seek out to answer questions for them. as far as i know, no one that i know personally has ever believed that i'm a "young eater." if there were such a thing.

i frequently see new grads make statements like the above -- prefaced by saying "i'm only working hear while i go to school for my np" or "i'm just doing the least icu i can do before i go to anesthesia school." despite our manager's clearly stated policy that she will not be giving recommendations to anyone who doesn't work in our icu a minimum of two years after getting off orientation, there are still those new grads who apply to crna programs a mere year after they've started working here, even though that's often not even six months off orientation. i wish i had a dollar for every new grad that's come to me or some of my peers asking for a letter of recommendation because they're so shocked that no one on the management team will give them one. they'll insist that our manager is a nasty old (bad word meaning female dog) and that this is a prime example of "nurses eating their young" because they "don't want anyone to get ahead." if they can find someone else to write a letter for them, they'll do it. and at least one girl that i knew of got into graduate school without any letters of recommendation from the workplace by virtue of asking her grandparents to endow a chair . . . .

because i work in a well-known hospital, we often get new graduates fresh from prestigious nursing schools or whose parents and grand-parents have contributed large amounts of money either to our hospital or the nursing school. there are exceptions, of course, but many of them feel that they shouldn't have to work nights, weekends, holidays or do anything difficult before they inevitably move on. starting in july, before they're even a month into orientation, some of these new employees are making statements such as "i'm not working new year's eve -- i have a social life." and "i can't work christmas -- i have a family." they also don't want to clean up poop, deal with difficult families or miss a weekend at the beach. it seems to be the rare new grad who comes to the icu because they really want to take care of icu patients. we hire between 16 and 52 new grads a year, and usually only a few stay. it isn't because this is such a horrible place to work -- most of them start with the intention of just marking time until they get their advanced degrees.

then there are the ones who come to picu thinking that they'll have it easy, one patient - maybe two - sedated and ventilated so they can sit on a chair and read a novel, or plan their next tropical vacation while the people around them are working their butts off with unstable patients. then they're complaining that they always get the floor-ready kids who are a lot more work. but that's where your level of competence lies right now, honey.

there's nothing that says people with opposing views shouldn't be allowed to benefit from the opportunity to ventilate and be validated. the harsh reality is that the majority of new nursing grads are going to have to spend some time at the bedside, working nights, weekends and holidays, missing social events, getting their hands dirty and hurting their backs. they need to realise that it isn't a conspiracy against them but a fact of life. if that kind of work doesn't appeal to them then they should be choosing another profession.

but it seems that very few new nursing graduates enter the profession prepared for working nights, weekends, holidays and doing the dirty work and back breaking labor associated with the job. perhaps my view is skewed because my unit is "a feeder unit" for anesthesia school, but most of the new graduates i've met have no idea what they're going to have to do to get that year of experience. it starts while they're still in hospital orientation, before they set foot on the unit in scrubs. "i'm getting married and i need three weeks off in july for the wedding and honeymoon, and i need every weekend in june off for the parties and i can't work christmas because my whole family is getting together." they're often the same new grads who claim that "the bitter old hags" are eating them because they're so much younger and more beautiful. and the ones who spend most of their shift flirting with the residents who, since the influx of mid-level providers into the icu, have nothing much to do.

i'm not sure why it is, but this seems to be a relatively recent turn of events; perhaps in the last 10 to 15 years. in fact, all of the nurses i know who work in the icu because they want to work in the icu and do the actual work of the icu started more than ten years ago. that's frightening. and sad.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

I hear you, Ruby! It seems to be a universal malady. Our unit isn't a feeder unit for anesthesia school (Canada doesn't really have nurse anesthetists) but we've spawned a number of NPs and Master's prepared nurses who are now biding their time until they can put their advanced degrees to use. One has been accepted to law school and hopes to go into med-mal... wonder where that desire came from?

[bluemartian, BSN]

I did notice the NP and CRNA agenda was pushed hard at my school while I was in nursing school, but I felt it was more of an academic ego trip as many of my class mates already had their minds made up that they did not want to stay at the bedside. At the end of our last semester there were several information sessions for graduate school which would try to convince you to go to grad school after 1 yr, if you chose to stay at the BSN level then you must not be ambitious enough.

The other issue I had with nursing school was that the clinical rotations were a joke, each semester we would meet for clinicals with our respected clinical instructors, then would be assigned to nurse and you would just watch what the nurse did. Then we would go to lunch with the instructor ala mother goose style, debrief in a room and be home by 2pm. What the hell is that! For 4 semesters! No wonder when I went to do my clinical practicum I was drowning from day one. Oh but I would be sent home by 2pm, I always asked if I can stay later to observe and learn more, I would be told no that the instructor must be present for liability purposes.

Some of our clincal instructors were in graduate school and part of their deal would be to precept us students as this would enable the instructors to attend grad school at a reduced cost or even free. The rule that was always brought up was **** rolls down hill, if you make my life hard I can make your life worse!! This is a tier 1 school.

[jjjoy, LPN]

most of the new graduates I've met have no idea what they're going to have to do to get that year of experience.... I'm not sure why it is, but this seems to be a relatively recent turn of events; perhaps in the last 10 to 15 years.

While there are those students who want quick and easy gratification (good money and flexible hours) and won't listen to any evidence otherwise, some schools of nursing actively recruit and encourage these students who have *no* interest in bedside nursing and/or expect really flexible hours. At informational meetings, a prospective student can flat out say "I'm not sure if nursing is for me. I do NOT want to work in bedside nursing" and the school representatives will say "Oh, no problem! There are MANY opportunities for nurses besides staff nurse positions!" Some recruiters might slip in as a dismissive afterthought "You can pick up work as an RN while continuing on with your advanced studies"... as if it wasn't any big deal to make the transition from student to practicing RN. A prospective student might worry "I don't want to work nights and holidays" and the recruiter will respond "Most places do self-scheduling! You can work PRN!" and downplay the qualifying aside "You may need to accept some undesirable shifts when you first start"... which can come across sounding like maybe a few bad shifts here and there, not day in and day out for months and years.

[pedicurn, LPN, RN]

Here it's all about seniority - and I can't have vacation during the summer after 16 years on the job so why should they just walk onto the unit and make that kind of demand?

.

Now where I work in Australia ....new employees will not have much say in their first year on the unit, re vacation.

However, into the second year.... full-time nurses have equal opportunity regarding vacation allocation.

I do think this is fair ....all nurses make a valued contribution to their unit and all nurses are adults with lives outside of nursing.

This way, we all have a shot at having at least one holiday off.... must work either Xmas or New Year.

Over the summer, I would expect to have two weeks vacation every second year.

Every other year my manager will try hard to give me a couple of days so I can stretch my grouped days off into two weeks off.

It works as long as people are flexible and understanding.

I honestly would not work in a job where I couldn't have a vacation in the summer after 16 yrs ...it doesn't need to be like this

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

When first choice of vacation time is the ONLY benefit from staying on the job for many years, it's really hard to successfully argue against it. No, it isn't completely fair, but neither is it fair that someone with half as many years of experience makes exactly the same hourly wage and shift differentials, has exactly the same number of special leave days and vacation days, exactly the same number of statutory holidays, exactly the same number of professional development days, exactly the same pension benefits and so on.

[pedicurn, LPN, RN]

When first choice of vacation time is the ONLY benefit from staying on the job for many years, it's really hard to successfully argue against it. No, it isn't completely fair, but neither is it fair that someone with half as many years of experience makes exactly the same hourly wage and shift differentials, has exactly the same number of special leave days and vacation days, exactly the same number of statutory holidays, exactly the same number of professional development days, exactly the same pension benefits and so on.

Well... in Australia we reach a point; after several years, where all experienced staff nurses are earning about the same.

I'm not going to complain .... who's to say a younger RN with eight years top-notch experience in the specialty contributes less than an older RN with twenty-eight years of so-so experience in the same specialty?

There comes a point where extra years of experience may not contribute that much more.

We all earn the same annual leave/sick days/stat days/study leave (no pension here) and that's OK.

The 28 yr old RN is working hard in the trenches, doing rotating days and nights .....just like me.

IMHO I don't have an issue with it.

But I do wish we kept getting a pay rise every year like US nurses....that would be wonderful

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

I'm not saying that there's a huge difference in the contributions of younger nurses with lots of valuable experience and the much older nurse with twice as many years on the job. What I'm saying is that there has to be some sort of incentive for those who have stuck it out through thick and thin with one employer. Otherwise, why stick around?

PS... could we please send Dr Duckett back down under?? Please?