I'm quitting nursing

GardenDove · Jan 8, 2007

Good Luck. I like nursing, even though it has a less than glamorous aspect to it. Nurses are really awesome people with whom I'm proud to be associated with.

MVH119 · Jan 8, 2007

What is awesome about nursing? It's a nasty job that I was daft enough to do.

No more.

ICRN2008, BSN, RN · Jan 8, 2007

I am sorry to hear that you are quitting nursing. However, have you considered instead applying to a position in public health, outpatient care or administration? What about working as a school nurse or for an insurance company? I wish you luck on your future endeavors, whatever they may be.

clemmm78, RN · Jan 8, 2007

What is awesome about nursing? It's a nasty job that I was daft enough to do.
No more.

Well, that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. Some of us don't feel the same way and we're entitled to that too.

I think it's awesome that I have the knowhow and ability to help an end-stage cancer patient who is experiencing a pain crisis. I think it's awesome that I can make the same patient smile with a few words and a little TLC. I think it's awesome that the same patient's husband can actually get some well deserved sleep knowing that his wife is in good hands. I think it's awesome that he can find the strength and desire to talk to me about his love for his wife and the road that they took before cancer claims her at the age of 47.

The nasty parts of the job are minimal compared with the awesome parts. However, some of us choose to focus on that, and then, the awesome parts are lost amidst the disdain for the profession. How sad.

However, if this is how you feel, then you are making the right decision. There are few things worse in life than being "cared for" by a nurse who hates her job and the patients that go along with it.

MVH119 · Jan 8, 2007

I am well-qualified enough to teach, having a Masters degree..

But I do not want to teach about a job I hated myself.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jan 8, 2007

I am well-qualified enough to teach, having a Masters degree..
But I do not want to teach about a job I hated myself.

Something must have kept you in it for awhile, anyway. Money? Idealism? Fear of change?

Anyway, it sounds to me like you're really burned out.

If you can afford to, take some time off and regroup and figure out what you would do for a living if there were no restrictions whatsoever - dream job time, sans reality. Then pare that down to something related and go for it.

Life's too short to do something you hate.

I hope your find your niche.

GardenDove · Jan 8, 2007

So, what's your point in coming here and being totally negative? Move on... Some of us like nursing and think our co-workers are special.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 8, 2007

Any casualty.........sigh.

Good luck in whatever you do.

MVH119 · Jan 9, 2007

What interests me is why anyone thinks nursing holds the moral high ground,

Why would it? It is just a job. A dirty one at that.

It does not give you moral superiority for liking it.

I nursed for 12 years.

pink2blue1 · Jan 9, 2007

After losing my chosen job in Plastics because my ward got shut down and trying other surgical posts I got a relevation of sorts last night.
I was emptying a bedpan at the time and the thought struck me that why the hell do I need a degree to deal with ****?.
I have had enough of this poorly-paid dirty job. I'm fed up with rude and nasty patients and I cannot stand whining relatives. I'm fed up with sub-standard nursing care because of cost restrictions.
I'm basically disenchanted with nursing. I want out.

I'm sorry, I am a "new" nurse but I have been in nursing as a CNA for 4 1/2 years before I became a nurse. I have seen many burned out nurses. Perhaps you are making the right decision getting out if you truly feel that way. Hopefully if you are a patient one day a nurse won't have this same attitude about you or your family.

I am PROUD to be a nurse and although it's not the most glamorous job in the world,it is a rewarding one. Maybe not every single day is a good one, but for me at least, the good outweighs the bad.

We see people at their worst, we see people in a vulnerable state. It's embarassing for them to have to have someone clean out a bedpan for them. I always feel badly when my patients apologize for vomiting, or having a BM in the bed or if I have to clean them up. I am here because I want to help. I think that people ultimately appreciate me and the job I do for them. Sure, not everyone is happy,but they are sick, they aren't themselves.

Sorry to seem mean but thankfully you recognized you are tired of it and need to get out, I wouldn't want a nurse who felt that way taking care of me or my family members.

Good luck

IndyGypsyNurse, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2007

Hi I completely understand where you are coming from. I currently work in a level 2 ER and I am really getting sick of being treated like a slave/maid/waitress. Some people are so freakin stupid!! Here I am in one of our cardiac monitored rooms (for people who are worse off, not just belly pain, vag bleed, kidney stone, etc but stuff like Resp distress, Chest pain , OD etc.) I have this patient who is...actually by the time I left we still did not know what was wrong with her, but anyway she is completely just agitated/restless, babbling nonsense, trying to pull out her IV, trying to get out of bed, I am the only nurse in the room, trying to undress her, hook her to the monitor, put in an IV, assessment, charting, doctors are coming in writing orders, have to put restraints on her, she nees a cather for a urine sample, blah blah, and she keeps flailing around in bed, trying to get out, just very bizarre behavior, I step out of the room to get something and this patients relative is walking down the hall, she comes up to me just as i am stepping out of the room and says "she has to go to the bathroom" referring to the patient and is pointing down the hall........WHAT THE ****???????? CANT YOU SEE THAT I AM JUST SLIGHTLY (sacrasm) BUSY!??? and I dont know who you are talking about and I am not her nurse! (although we all help each other but still.......) people are just morons! I also hate it when I get a new patient and as soon as I step into the room to assess them they blurt out (before I even say hello or maybe just after) "can I get an blanket, pillow, and some ice water, and can you ajust the head of my bed," DOES THIS LOOK LIKE THE FREAKIN RAMADA?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO I HAVE SERVANT IMPRINTED ON MY FOREHEAD!!!!!!! WOULD YOU LIKE A SPONGEBATH AND A MASSAGE TOO!!!!!! Or how about the guy (not that old 50's, perfectly capable) who comes to the ER for a clogged Ear and a freakin splinter who craps his pants while sitting in the bed dt his chronic "bowel disease where i cant control it" who is not only not wearing a sensible adult diaper but not even underwear, just shorts (yes in winter) with a freakin towel stuffed in! and he not only expects me to clean him up (disgusting poop that is liquidy and looks like poopy vomit) but asks me if I will wash his poopy shorts out in the sink by hand for him!!!!!!! WHAT THE ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have other stories believe me.....welcome to the ER it is not like on TV for me. I however still have faith in nursing and there are lots of great things about it and about the ER I could go on and on. DONT GIVE UP. This is why there is a shortage. I also do NOT think we are paid enough for what we do and expose ourselves and potentially our loved ones to. I could go on and on. I also think that we as NURSES need to be ALOT kinder and less critical of each other. I ABOSUTELY HATE the whole nurses eating their young attitude and the horizontal aggression that extists in nursing. I know we can change things IF WE STAND UP AND DEMAND IT.

MUCH LOVE AND PEACE