Is it age, or is it overwhelming to be a nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

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I became an RN three years ago at age 44. Let me start out by saying that I am proud of my accomplishment and proud for any person who survives and graduates from nursing school. Most people have no idea how challenging nursing school is or what the duties and responsibilities of a nurse encompass.

My first job was at my local large medical center/teaching hospital on a trauma unit, which was a great place to learn but completely overwhelming for so many reasons. As so many have shared, the sheer magnitude of responsibilities and learning was overwhelming. Laundry list of meds, diabetes, pumps, labs, wounds, tubes in any and every orifice including man-made holes, burn patients and care, back breaking boosts, washing and cleaning only to have a fresh mess, start an IV/draw blood, depressed/elderly/bariatric patients medicated to stupor and dependency, bariatric patients sick because they weigh 300 lbs., broken bones, chest tubes, poor/city/ghetto population, sad cases, working the system cases, nowhere-to-go-so-stuck-on-the-unit cases, the stench of so many gross bodily things, DOCUMENT it all, admit them, discharge them, need pain meds, wait for a doctor/resident, AND, add a topping of ever changing shifts, 12 hour night shifts, some very wonderful and friendly but many very nasty, mean co-workers (and arrogant doctors) who make you want to cry out of sheer frustration, parking and walking a 20 minute walk away, sometimes in the rain and snow, and then go home to your family and try and have some energy left for husband/kids/aging parents.

I stayed there almost a year until I found a day/ambulatory position. For which I am sincerely grateful.

I am not fishing for sympathy; I am trying to ask, do you feel like sometimes how can it possibly be worth this horrible job? Dealing with gross things, depressed/sick/sick because of their lifestyle/flat out crazy patients, their families, and on top of it, some horrible co-workers? (and I do need to say, I have had absolutely WONDERFUL, caring, helpful, kind coworkers whom any patient would be lucky to have). But nasty people can ruin your whole already sucky day.

So, I became a nurse because at age 40, I had a degree in something else but wanted a career where I could make a difference in peoples' lives daily. Sounds corny but absolutely true. Is it age? Do others of you my age (now 48) feel like to work on a floor is just physically and mentally impossible? I can't help but think that this type of nursing is for the young.

And I must reiterate, the average person has no idea what a nurse does or needs to know to take care of patients. A good, experienced nurse is worth their weight in gold.

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

I am 58 - still on the floor (part-time) and a nurse educator with 8 to 10 students in tow on a busy clinical floor.

I have found nursing to be a stressful career no matter what the setting. Working in a variety of professional settings has helped me cope.

Additionally, I have lost 30 pounds over the past 18 months, try to eat very healthy (mostly vegetarian), and keep in fit physical shape.

Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.
Well now..... I became an RN 3 years ago; I'm the same age as the OP; I became an LPN many, many, MANY years ago; and anyone who may have read some of my posts know that I work 2 days a week and I space those days out. Today was supposed to be one of those two days. Notice I said "was". For the past 3 weeks, I've scheduled myself to work 3 in a row, just to make sure I had enough time in a row to get a good system going with my 4 BSN courses. And for the past 3 weeks, each time I go to work, I've gotten the same jacked-up assignment! How is it that I'm off for a week and still return to the exact same patients, 3 weeks in a row, on the same med/surg unit....(UNLESS!!!) this crap is done on purpose????:madface: This facility has 6 floors with 3 subunits on each floor. What are the chances of that happening each time a person shows his/her face?:sniff: Nursing is not overwhelming; the people in it ARE!!! Yet, they have the audacity to say, "thank you for helping us out"??? Be honest here and say, "thank you for coming to take the crap so the rest of us can have a great night". So, I decided that I would NOT call and place myself at the mercy of the ruthless...not today.:cheeky: Besides, it's Friday the 13th!! I'm not budging from my chaise!:no::D

I agree with you. The hardest part of being a bedside nurse is that we end up doing too much of administrative work, paperwork and legal work. It's so much of it it might as well be done in a office. Nursing is hard as it is, dealing with patients and their emotions, body fluids...wow. Actually what annoyed and frustrated me the most was that I spent most of my time writing and documenting things, always with the fear of being sued or the hospital being in trouble. I think that the way hospitals are set up don't help nurses do their work, it only take advantage of their amazing resilience in order to save money making their work unbearable. It is truly a broken system. On top of it all you don't have a supportive atmosphere in most places. You either have aggressive staff, or bad management who are always threatening creating a fear mongering culture.

I hope Obama care bring all of this to a crisis point and maybe some good changes would come up.

Specializes in Oncology.

Thanks for the helpful advice, mclennan! I will engrave your wise words on my heart, from which my healing intentions come, and hope that they come to my mind when I need them on the floor. I feel like everything you have said is do-able -- just so nervous right now; I need to get out there and actually do the work.

Specializes in Oncology.

Vicky, I've been vegetarian for several years now & have lots of great recipes to share if you are looking for any. I, too, have lost significant weight over the past year -- stressing vegetarian, local and/or organic food when possible, and counting calories. I'm not sure how 61 years old is supposed to feel, but I think I feel better than ever!

Specializes in Oncology.

Thanks, lucasaurus! I went out yesterday & bought support stockings & some new Alegrias; I have a pair of Danskos left over from clinicals in school that will still last me awhile -- but they are plain ole' boring white. I really appreciate your advice and have taken it to heart! Re: back & hip trouble -- if you can find the time and/or inclination, I would highly recommend yoga and/or water aerobics (which you may already be doing), they have helped my body stay relatively pain-free for the last several years.

Specializes in Oncology.

Hey, lorirn2b -- you will do great! I absolutely loved nursing school and can't wait to get started actually using my knowledge & (so far very limited) skills. Where are you going to school, and does your school have an affiliation with a hospital so that getting a job after graduation will be facilitated? If not, I strongly recommend that you work part-time (as few hours as possible, though) as a nursing assistant or volunteer, and cultivate relationships at the trauma unit where you want to be employed. My experience (and that of my fellow students) after graduation is that any or all of the above will help immensely in getting your dream job! Good luck!

There are over 700,000 allnurses members. Just think what we could accomplish if we all stood together?!

Boggles my mind that we don't. Nurses make up the largest profession in the USA.

Yep, still an optimist.

Thanks, lucasaurus! I went out yesterday & bought support stockings & some new Alegrias; I have a pair of Danskos left over from clinicals in school that will still last me awhile -- but they are plain ole' boring white.

Get some colored sharpies and draw fun designs on them!!!

Specializes in ED, Cardiac-step down, tele, med surg.

I think as we age, maybe our tolerance for bs decreases and we become fed up? I'm in my 30s and am realizing I want to get out of bedside nursing within the next 3 years and move on to advanced practice. My coworkers and work environment is probably the most supportive I could have hoped for. I don't think it gets much better than this, but lately, I feel burnt out and drained. Most of it comes from having to deal with distraught family lately. I like all the excitement, the codes, and learning new things, but the psychosocial aspect of it it getting to me.

Physically, I'm in better shape than some people in their 20s, so I don't feel physically drained. In fact, that's one thing I love about nursing is the constant moving. That's one thing I will miss. Short answer, is that I don't think it's a matter of you being "old". I think it's maybe more a matter of you being at an age where you are less willing to put up with crap because you recognize the finite nature of time and you don't want people wasting yours with a bunch of bs.

I have been a nurse 9 yr,and im 31.

While im not really feeling the physical effects yet,i do notice i look older than people my age who work in other professions.

Im not really sure,but i think nursing had Alot to do with it. Nobody else in my family has these deep dark circles,deep smile lines,and 11 between the eyes.

Hello, I am like several nurses out there who changed careers later in life. At 37 I decided to get into nursing first as an LPN, and I have been an RN for 2 1/2 years. I have been working at a community hospital for two years on a telemetry, mainly cardiac floor. In the last two years I have seen it go from manageable, most days, if you have very good time management, to there is no way possible you can take care of your patients safely and complete all the documentation and all the other 900 parts of your job. For some reason whenever a certain group of staff does not follow through with their job duties management has decided it is now the nurses responsibility (not just responsible for making sure it is done, but they have to do it themselves). This even breaks down to very simple things such as weighing the patients, changing batteries in the telemetry boxes, hourly rounding documentation in the patient EMR and rounding boards in rooms. I have talked to senior nurses who have been in the field 30+ years and they say it is ridiculous. These are very hard working, and awesome nurses I am asking. If you mention anything to management they just say things like: it is the nature of health care, it is the same everywhere, or isn't it a good thing that we give you a paycheck just to be here. I am sure it doesn't help that I work 12 hr night shifts (or should I say 14), and just like everyone else we are short staffed. We also float way too much. It isn't strange to work 3 days in a row and float two of them, it isn't a matter of wondering if you will float tonight, it is "I wonder when I will be on my own unit next". This is not because we have more staff than other units, this is because they either refuse to hire and staff these units, or they call them off and use all of us. This makes my floor run very short. How would you like to be floated to three different floors in a 12 hour shift? We are also being sent to these units with no orientation. I really enjoy the staff I work with on my floor and I doubt I will ever work with such a caring, helpful, team oriented group of people in my career. I am now working on completing my BSN and hoping this will give me the ability to move out of bedside nursing. I knew what I was getting into when I originally went to nursing school. I am not like some of my former classmates who were totally surprised they were going to actually have to touch a patient, much less assist the patient with basic hygiene.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I think as we age, maybe our tolerance for bs decreases and we become fed up?

Short answer, is that I don't think it's a matter of you being "old". I think it's maybe more a matter of you being at an age where you are less willing to put up with crap because you recognize the finite nature of time and you don't want people wasting yours with a bunch of bs.

YES. This. ^^^ :yes:

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