I'm so glad I'm getting out!!!!!!!!!!!

sjoe · Jul 24, 2003

dlgg, I can only agree with much of what you have posted. Where now? What field or what kind of job are you going for next?

Best wishes,

sjoe

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2003

digg,

I also agree w/ much of what you have posted.

I hope that breaking free of nursing brings you peace.

ainz · Jul 24, 2003

I quit for a year, worked in my family business, missed it and came back, haven't left since. Oh yeah, I am accused of "leaving nursing" by many because I am in administration; to me just a different perspective and role change, still a nurse, still nursing.

I really get tired of all of the pressures and challenges, the negative and depressing atmosphere, and the constant "us versus them" mentality between nursing and administration. But I have chosen to stay and do what I can to try and bridge the gap between administration and direct care nursing. Don't know why. I am probably guilty of writing some of the posts that you consider mean. I am just passionate about what I do and believe. I truly want things better for nursing so nurses will not leave and will have the chance to love their jobs as most of us probably did at some point and perhaps still do. Healthcare is just in my blood, can't imagine doing anything else. I love it, depressing, negative, conflict-filled, and all, and all of the good stuff that is out there as well that we seem to forget and not talk about that much, I love it.

Audreyfay · Jul 26, 2003

I'm so sorry to hear of your disillusionment in nursing. It can be a dog eat dog world. The key is to find where you fit best. But, like others have said, it IS a dog eat dog world all over. One of the worst jobs I ever had was working with a bunch of unskilled women as a sales person at a clothing store. Sometimes I wonder if it is just women who make such a difficult workplace. So, then, the key is to find out which workplace is the partial Utopia you want. May you find yours. Good luck! Audrey

Totone656 · Jul 27, 2003

Like many here, I was where you are now. I started wondering if I had made a wrong choice by going into nursing.

What I have found out is this...I didn't! I just made the wrong choice in where I could apply what I had learned.

I found a wonderful job with a local hospice company. I enjoy the job and patients so much that when Memphis was hit with 100 mile an hour winds this past Tuesday, guess who was out in that mess? Me! Why because I knew my patients would need whatever help I could provide.

I spent the first 4 hours of Tuesday sitting in my car calling (Thank you T Mobile) each patient and checking to see if each had power to their house. Then when I finally got a gallon of gas I made my way to the office and start calling Memphis Fire Department to get those without power and on O2 to get them generators. Once all of the names were turned into the MFD I got in my car and went to those who were having trouble breathing or just generally scared! I got done that night at 10:15!

The only complaint I had was all the rubber neckers out and about getting in my way to get to my patients.

And you know the gallon of gas? Well with a prayer to the good Lord, it got me to all of my patients and to the first place that had power so I could fill up.

It isn't the profession, but where you get to use your skills. I pray you find what you are looking for and I will be behind you 100%

Good Luck!

PlanetCaroline · Jul 28, 2003

I am changing careers to go into nursing. I was in nonprofit, the field meant to help people & it can be cut throat, mean, & vicious there too. Honestly, people in general, especially people under stress will act unpleasant.

When my hubby complained in the middle of the night of RLQ pain, I yelled at him for interrupting my sleep. (Literally, I yelled at him). Then I took good care of him while thru his appy & post-op infections. My few minutes of meanness is nothing compared to the days I have worried & cared for him.

My guess is that if a nurse gets mean 1 times a shift & does sometime really nice 5 times a shift, people only remember the 1 mean time.

I burned out of nonprofit cause I thought that ppl saving the world shouldn't be petty, judgemental, gossipy, and well...human. That doesn't mean I'd ever go back to nonprofit because as I lost compassion, I got bad at my job.

Anyway, I am expecting nursing to be like nonprofit...filled with a lot of human beings trying to make the world a better place & failing (I mean it...FAILING) that goal 99% of the time. I may be idealistic, but I don't be believe I have superpowers...anymore.

Dlgg, your whole life is ahead of you. Try a new career. I promise you will love the change. There is nothing wrong with leaving. Try nonprofit work, it is intellectually stimulating & varied. We can trade places! You could do anything. 41 is young. My hubby is almost 50 & he's back in school cause telemarketing is a rough profession. (In telemarketing, coworkers are awesome, it is the supervisors & prospects that are abusive).

Thanks for starting an awesome thread.

---

Caroline

renerian, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2003

Digg remember there are alot of great nurses out there who would take you under their wing. You can also be a great effect on young nurses to be supportive and mentoring. I loved being a preceptor at the hospital but I had a horrible one. Gave me an example though of what not to do.

renerian

purplemania, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2003

WOW! I have never felt this negative about nursing. This is not my first career and I have lived long enough to know that people are pretty much the same all over. I think most nurses are great people and the profession is versatile enough to accommodate all sorts.

angelbear · Jul 28, 2003

Diggs I would have to agree with most of what you said. I have been very disillusioned since coming into nursing. My goal is to be part of the solution not part of the problem. As for your comments about those of us on this board I find it interresting that someone so disillusioned by the meanness of other nurses would come here and make such mean and insulting statements to those of us that call this BB home. I have found that first we must all take a look at ourselves. I hope that you can find what you are looking for.

MICU RN · Jul 28, 2003

Diggs:

When the pain of staying in nursing becomes greater than making a change in careers or just positions, you will do what is best for you. Nursing is not for every one, I have not enjoyed bedside nursing that much at all, I will not go into all my reasons; however, I am goimg back to school and will still provide a health care service but just not as a bedside RN. Most of the nurses I work with including the good ones would move on to something better if the opportunity came up or they became too unhappy. I know very few who state that nursing is a calling or their true love as a profession. So don't feel guilty for not liking it, just do the best you can for what ever job you choose. Good luck!

live4today, RN · Jul 28, 2003

There are NO stress free jobs in life! Motherhood is the most stres filled job any woman can have, yet the rewards are great and filled with lots of love in return (for some anyway). :)

I was out of nursing almost six years before returning. Many of my patients tell me that nursing is definitely my calling. I believe that as well. I've tried many other jobs, but nothing does it for me quite like nursing does it for me. :)

It's not the profession or the job, it's the people hired to fill the positions of jobs available that bring drama to the table. A person comes with problems on every job because of various reasons in their own life from past pains, etc. It's hard to separate the pain from the person, the experience from the person, or the bad habits instilled in a person. When we go to work each day................we are working with everything there is about a person and then some. TOLERANCE AND PATIENCE are NOT many people's strongpoints. Women coming together always always always brings drama into the territory.

How do we deal with all of this? Step by step, solving one issue at a time that magnifies problems on a job where they wouldn't have to be if we would ALL remember that we are only humans who will make fallible mistakes, misjudgments, be short tempered (hormones play a big role too), and how we were each raised.

Problems exist..........solutions do too. All we have to do is take our anger and frustrations and turn them around into a positive force of energy to resolve the issues we face in nursing.

I soooooooooo want to see issues resolved in nursing and I am NOT going to backdown, but get a "backbone" and make things happen.

We must each ask ourselves the following questions:

Are we the type of person that would rather "WATCH" things happen or "MAKE" things happen?

A quote from John F. Kennedy said, "As not what your country (your admin, your hospital, your peer employees, your manager) can do for you, but what you can do for your country (at your place of employment to make things better). Leaving never solves anything. Quitting only delays the lesson meant for each of us to learn in life. Somewhere, somehow, and at some time or another...........that lesson will reservice and we won't be able to run from it.........we will have to face it! Why not start now? :nurse:

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Jul 29, 2003

Diggs, I only want to wish you the best in whatever you choose to do in the future. I do not think you have abandoned anything if you feel you must leave nursing . I think all of us have this thought more frequently than we like to admit, those of us who stay are sometimes trapped by money problems, family circumstances, or we are just insane. Be good to yourself. Good Luck!