Hospitals RN's are happy and why...

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello All,

My name is Jo. I am looking to change employment due to being unhappy and thought I should start a tread where you lovely nurses would share where and why you are happy at your current job. The job I am currently in makes me completely frustrated, angry, and unhappy. I extremely love my coworkers but dislike management/administration. The patient:nurse ratio is scary at times specially with all the amount /dosage of narcotics we handle on a daily basis. Perhaps I expected more from my current facility due to it being a hospice-like facility/hospital. I have currently sent out my resumé to various hospitals in NYC/Westchester county.

If you guys would kindly give me names of hospitals that you work at that make you happy/unhappy and why, I would greatly appreciate it!

XOXO,

Jo.

Ruby Vee, BSN

17 Articles; 14,030 Posts

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

Why in the world would anyone give you the name of the hospital where they work? I know this forum isn't as anonymous as I might wish, but what you're asking for would make it even less so!

Even if I were ecstatic at my place of employment, there is no guarantee that you would be happy there. Most people, according to Abraham Lincoln, are just exactly as happy as they make up their minds to be. I've taken that to heart and made up my mind to be happy. But be that as it may, what makes me happy may not make you happy. And vice versa. So maybe what you REALLY want to know is "Is it possible to be happy in a nursing job? And how do I find that for myself?"

I've worked in several jobs that I've enjoyed thoroughly and a few that made me miserable. Identifying the commonalities between the jobs that made me miserable, I've realized that teamwork is essential to me. A good group of coworkers goes a long way to making any job a happier place for me. Management comes and goes, and with it come changes in policies. I try to just roll with them. Color coded uniforms was a deal breaker for me for years -- I've turned down jobs because of it. But when my current workplace went to color coded uniforms, I elected to stay. Why? Because I'm genuinely happy here, and besides, I'm retiring next year.

If I were out looking for a new job that would make ME happy, I'd look for a union hospital. Unions give nurses bargaining power, and they provide a method of addressing grievances. I'd look for someplace with a good base of crusty old bat nurses to teach the newbies how to Be nurses. If the crusty old bats are staying in a unit, that means it's probably a good place to work. Be wary of someplace where the old bats have recently flown the coop -- that means there are some changes coming down that experienced nurses deem unsafe or intolerable. These days, there's probably always going to be an enormous turnover of newbies, so don't let that discourage you as long as there's a solid core of experienced nurses. I'd look for an hourly wage rather than a salary -- ever so much more fair to the nurse. I'd look for a core group of nurses who seem to like each other and their jobs.

Wherever you land, you have to work to be happy in your job, just as you have to work to be happy in your marriage or in your life. You can load the dice in your favor, but you have to choose to be happy.

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