Overworked! Always overworked no matter where I have worked but sometimes I think we don't actually acknowledge or identify when we are not! I find that being bored is hard work too. LOL! Underpaid Well I don't really think I am underpaid but would never say no to a few dollars more. Exhausted Yes in 22 years I have often been tired in fact I think I am exhausted for half of those 22years. Bored Yep believe it or not even when busy busy busy I have been bored with the routine of some parts of nursing. Fed Up Yep get fed up with the lies. Disgusted Yep with peoples attitudes sometimes I think people forget that they actually have to work as a nurse and they don't do it for free. On the plus side I love my job and wouldn't consider doing anything else. I love the drama of it all. My co-workers have over the years had multiple personalities, moans and complaints but how we have laughed often and hard. How we have cried together and supported each other. Over the years I have considered myself to be blessed with the majority of my co-workers. Patients I have looked after every different kind of person, personality, race, religion, sexual orientation, color ever imaginable-I have learned about food from all over the world from the patients I have learnt about their culture, about how to handle delicate situations, extra marital affairs, I have learnt about discrimination positive and negative. I have learnt not to say sorry when I didn't finish a task, and that is one of the hardest things to not say in nursing. I have sat with dying pts and their relatives, I have laughed and cried with them. Brave patients who have taught me the meaning of life and how to respect it. When I am feeling depressed I can think of a 100 patients who would have loved the opportunity to reach my age and be alive. I have seen human beings suffer so much pain, discomfort and agonizing treatments that I vow to refuse them if it happens to me! I have learned the meaning of respect Respect for my fellow human being Respect for the bravery of others Respect of peoples privacy Respect for life Respect for nature Respect for freedom Respect for spiritual beliefs and the miracles I have often witnessed I honestly believe as a nursing community we have more to celebrate than bemoan. If you are "burnt" out I am sorry It must be horrible for you, years ago it was easy to switch from job to job if you didn't like the one you were in, nowadays there are so few jobs and so little movement once you have found a job, you have to stay put! Hopefully in the near future things will ease up again where you can try out a few different specialties until you find your 'niche'.