No More Bedside Nursing, I Quit!

Nurses New Nurse

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I just recently graduated with my BSN in '04. i will be completing my 1st year this october working as a Registered Nurse. After 1 year working on the floor i have decided i'm going to quit bedside nursing. I worked for 8months in Boston on an acute medical surgical floor(eve shift). We had extreme staff shortage and not enough nursing assistance on the floor. I'm currently in Georgia in a "prestigious" hospital, facing the same problem in a step-down surgical icu. On this floor they have 30 patients, 2 nursing assistance and 6 patients ( very sick patients) to a nurse. Nurses have to get report do their own vs and even do morning care, pass out meds, prep patients for OR, and each nurse usually gets an average of 3 admissions per day. I spent 4 years in college learning about the art of nursing and i can't practice 1/2 the things i learned. Talk about hypocracy. Hospitals don't care about their nurses well being. I'm extremely burned out and exhausted after each shift and underpaid. I thought the hard part was the nursing school, it seems as if it gets worst after you graduate. My friend was just telling me one time she was running back and forth on the floor, she fainted and she had a heart attack. I'm 23 years old i'm smart enought to realize this is not for me early on. My sister who is 25 w/ 1 year experience agreed with and said she can't do it anymore. She is actually going back to school to do Legal nursing. I love the act of caring in nursing but if i stay on the floor i will eventually hate nursing and i don't want that. So what are my options here, what can i do with a RN, BSN degree if i don't want bed side / hospital nursing. I'm already considering private duty nursing, anything else i can do?

I share your complaints about nursing. I switched to the ICU (not a "step down"), where we only have 1-2 patients. It's renewed my interest in working at the bedside.

Wow, where in Boston did you work? I have been a RN for 20 years and when I wnet to Boston was surpised by the new RN's, pool nurses and the expected knowledge of the floor. I don't think all hospitals are the same. I also would not recommend nursing for my children or for friends-- certainly stressful!! All jobs are stressful to some extent, I just would like a lunch, break or bathroom break once in a while.

If you want to get out of the hospital, you could always look into home health/public health, clinic work, etc.

Definitately, look at other areas of nurseing or medical related fields-sales/computers/information,etc.,

I know I would never return to bedside nursing either. I'm lucky that I've had the opportunity to work in clinics and other out patient settings.

It kind of bothers me when people rec. home health as some sort of "easier" option. Home health is very stressful, in a different way. You're out driving around, sometimes in terrible weather. Pts. don't always live in nice, neat homes. I've been in many places that were out and out disgusting.

Expect to put a lot of wear and tear on your car, and not get compensated adequately for it. HH agencies are notorious for paying as little for mileage and wear and tear as they can get away with. Your car becomes your office. Trunk space? Prepare to have it filled to the brim with supplies (God love you if you ever get a flat and have to get the spare out!)

Pts. come home very sick, and you'd be surprised what you're expected to deal with in a home. And there's not another nurse "just down the hall" to ask for a second opinion...you need to do a lot of problem solving on your own.

The paperwork...think it's bad in a hospital? It's a thousand times worse in home care.

Plus you usually have to take on call, so you could have put in a difficult 8-10h day, then have to get up at 0200 and go see a pt.

No cakewalk, that's for sure.

Ok I am sooooooooooo confused about my career! I graduated in 2003 w/my LPN- worked at an assisted living for Alzheimiers, and then hospital as a tech on a med/surg tele floor. Just this past May I graduated w/my RN and took a job on the Burn unit @ my local University Hospital. I feel like such a bad person, because I went through all this schooling and just left my job after only 3 months, becuase I decided I love the knowledge, but don't like being at the bedside! Am I a bad person? And will I be setting myself up for failure if I don't work in a hospital for a Certain (unknown) amount of time? And if so where is a good area for someone who dosn't really have any direction in where she wants to go into nursing should work? I have thought about and recently applied to work in clinics. Right now I have been sitting at home for just over a week trying to decided what to do w/myself and reading in my nursing books- I guess looking for an answer. Please any advice would be great!!!!

:eek: Hey there! If only I had had a place like this to go to when I had newly graduated! I guess they probably had forums then, but I didnt know about them at that time . 1996

Anyway, Hooray for you for not putting up with all of the -------- that comes along with floor nursing. If you could have seen me during my three years as a floor nurse you would have laughed! I had all of these ideas just like you did. I can remember getting yelled at by doctors, getting evil eyes from PA's etc... And some of those nurses on staff! They will eat a young thing (new nurse) for breakfast! PLease dont quit yet!!!!!! There is hope for you! I will tell you how I avoided quitting nursing.....

After three years on a tele/med surg floor doing float pool and hating it, I worked on the pediatric floor one night (due to low staffing.) I kinda liked it, and then after doing this several nights over a six month period, the leader of the NICU/PEDS unit called and asked if I would go to the NICU and feed babies for a shift! I was scared to death! I was an adult nurse for heavens sake!

It has been seven years since then, and I can say that it was the best decision I have ever made in my life, other than going back to college for my degree.

Do not go to a level three NICU (really sick babies) go to a level two. Less stress, and not a teaching hospital. I am serious! You would love it! When all of your friends are up on the floors working like dogs... you could be bathing a little 4 pound baby girl and putting sweet clothes on her, rocking her to sleep! It is the BOMB!

Check it out anyway!

Jeri

:eek: Hey there! If only I had had a place like this to go to when I had newly graduated! I guess they probably had forums then, but I didnt know about them at that time . 1996

Anyway, Hooray for you for not putting up with all of the -------- that comes along with floor nursing. If you could have seen me during my three years as a floor nurse you would have laughed! I had all of these ideas just like you did. I can remember getting yelled at by doctors, getting evil eyes from PA's etc... And some of those nurses on staff! They will eat a young thing (new nurse) for breakfast! PLease dont quit yet!!!!!! There is hope for you! I will tell you how I avoided quitting nursing.....

After three years on a tele/med surg floor doing float pool and hating it, I worked on the pediatric floor one night (due to low staffing.) I kinda liked it, and then after doing this several nights over a six month period, the leader of the NICU/PEDS unit called and asked if I would go to the NICU and feed babies for a shift! I was scared to death! I was an adult nurse for heavens sake!

It has been seven years since then, and I can say that it was the best decision I have ever made in my life, other than going back to college for my degree.

Do not go to a level three NICU (really sick babies) go to a level two. Less stress, and not a teaching hospital. I am serious! You would love it! When all of your friends are up on the floors working like dogs... you could be bathing a little 4 pound baby girl and putting sweet clothes on her, rocking her to sleep! It is the BOMB!

Check it out anyway!

Jeri

Jeri, do you currently work in NICU? One of the areas I have been pondering over is womens health, I am very interested in this area but I have been told that most places want you to have X number of years experience prior to entering this specialty. Any comments regarding this?

:eek: Hey there! If only I had had a place like this to go to when I had newly graduated! I guess they probably had forums then, but I didnt know about them at that time . 1996

Anyway, Hooray for you for not putting up with all of the -------- that comes along with floor nursing. If you could have seen me during my three years as a floor nurse you would have laughed! I had all of these ideas just like you did. I can remember getting yelled at by doctors, getting evil eyes from PA's etc... And some of those nurses on staff! They will eat a young thing (new nurse) for breakfast! PLease dont quit yet!!!!!! There is hope for you! I will tell you how I avoided quitting nursing.....

After three years on a tele/med surg floor doing float pool and hating it, I worked on the pediatric floor one night (due to low staffing.) I kinda liked it, and then after doing this several nights over a six month period, the leader of the NICU/PEDS unit called and asked if I would go to the NICU and feed babies for a shift! I was scared to death! I was an adult nurse for heavens sake!

It has been seven years since then, and I can say that it was the best decision I have ever made in my life, other than going back to college for my degree.

Do not go to a level three NICU (really sick babies) go to a level two. Less stress, and not a teaching hospital. I am serious! You would love it! When all of your friends are up on the floors working like dogs... you could be bathing a little 4 pound baby girl and putting sweet clothes on her, rocking her to sleep! It is the BOMB!

Check it out anyway!

Jeri

ITA. Sometimes just switching specialties helps tons...I considered oncology and peds myself before leaving the bedside. Tele/stepdown has got to be one of the evilest, most stressful places in any hospital anywhere....

You make me wish I'd tried NICU now! :)

Specializes in Pain Management, FNP, Med/Surg, Tele.

I am a new grad a I recently recieved a job offer to work in the Telemetry Unit. On top of being a new RN, I have never worked in a hospital before does anyone have any tips about this unit? Thanks a bunch.

ITA. Sometimes just switching specialties helps tons...I considered oncology and peds myself before leaving the bedside. Tele/stepdown has got to be one of the evilest, most stressful places in any hospital anywhere....

You make me wish I'd tried NICU now! :)

hi everyone-

I recently began working as a new nurse on a Tele floor, 2 1/2 months ago. I have no clue what I am doing half the time. Thank God for my preceptor because I learning a lot from her, but I have no clue what I'm going to do when I'm on my own next month. I feel like I'm working as a servant instead of a nurse. some of these patient's think their in a hotel, which is absurd. A lot of theses patient's are self sufficient, but refuse to be a part od their rehabilitation. I know their is a lot responsibility in nursing, but school did not prepare me for this stuff. I hate bedside nursing I just wanted my med/surg exp. for a year. I will probably stay part-time after a year, but my first love is in psych which is what I have a degree in and I want to explore other avenues. I going to hang in there for this 1st year, but does anybody have other suggestions on what I can do?

redred

I'm a new grad as well (May 2005). I have never liked working the floors. I am in th ER, and I dreaded nursing clinicals b/c I hated feeling like a servant to these patients who don't want to help themselves. So off to the ER I went. I absolutely love it, with every ounce of being inside me.

My mother has been a nurse for 30 years, and she has said that is has changed dramatically from when she first started. Nursing is all that I've ever wanted to do, and she's encouraged me to follow my dreams, but she said that if she had to do it all over again, she would never choose nursing knowing how it is now. She is 4 years away from retiring (early, b/c she doesn't want to put up with it anymore), and she is literally counting down the months: 49. She has done just about a little bit of everything: med/surg., clinics, psych, just to name a few, but she is now the charge nurse on a psych. unit where she is the only RN, has 1 LVN and 2 assistants. She has up to 25 patients (so you know that she has to do all the teaching, assessments and discharges), starts her day at 6:30, and sometimes doesn't get home until 11 or 12. Sucky job, and I can totally see why.

I hope that you find a career or area of nursing that works for you if you decide to stay. Happiness is worth more than 4 years worth of school. Good luck.

Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice, Home Health.

every facility is facing the shortage, but it's your license on the line...if anything happens and there is litigation, the hospital will hang you out to dry...I too am in atlanta, transferring to a medical stepdown icu unit, average 4 patients per nurse, one cna, 12 bed unit...I work day shift...sometimes the cna will do your accuchecks and vitals, some times she won't...frankly, I'd rather have 3 patients and do it all myself.

I have heard that private duty nursing is quite rewarding and profitable...

It's YOUR license, you do what is right...although you are young, you have the foresight to move on when it is time (a great book "who moved my cheese"), I was dissatisfied with med/surg floor nursing and FINALLY took the step to move to another unit where yes pts are more ill, but frankly, it's less hassle then patients on the floor with umteen family members that are pissed because they "demand to know when the doctor is coming..." (when the patient is fine, they have just arrived and demand to see the physician)...

move with the cheese

atlantarn

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