So long Nursing

Sian3 · Jan 12, 2001

Dear Realnurse,

I started nursing when I was 18, my clinical nursing ended 11 years later, I reached over to adjust a patient's pulse oximeter probe & felt like someone had rammed a red hot poker in my lower spine. A subsequent MRI revealed 3 prolapsed lumbar / sacral discs and severe degenerative disc disease (I had always put my end of shift back pain down to one of those things, until then!).

I was distraught when my orthopod told me after my surgery, that I couldn't return to clinical nursing and could only do a desk job.

After months of meetings with management, they couldn't find me alternative employment.

I trawled nursing journals for a suitable job, with no luck. One day I'd almost given up hope, when i saw an advert for an experienced nurse to work for an international charity. Iwent for an interview and the next day i had a job.

No shifts, no low morale, they wanted me for my knowledge and experience, in return they gave me respect and a decent salary.

Don't get me wrong, the transition from clinical to office based nursing wasn't easy, I went through a tough grieving period. But i survived and you can too.

Wherever you work you'll always use you nursing skills and knowledge. And in your heart you'll always be a nurse.

All the very best for the future.

tired2 · Jan 13, 2001

Originally posted by realnursealso/LPN:
So long nursing...it's been real and I've learned alot. I'm 48 now and I started all this when I was 27. My feet are flat now...no arches from all the steps I've taken in 21 years. The disc's in my back are bulging according to the MRI I had because of my numb left leg. I loved being a nurse...I felt ten feet tall when my kids would say..."My mommy's a nurse." But you know it was all so different then. In my first job at a nursing home(they call it LTC now) I loved to sit and listen to the stories my patients told me about when they were young. Used to be the afternoon med pass was about one half hour long and I would be able to listen to them while i did my charting. But somehow through the years it all changed. The last nursing home I worked in, I was lucky to get done by the time I was supposed to go home. No time to visit, no time to show them how much you care...just give the pills, do the treatments and hope you can get done. I've done high tech pediaric home care for the last few years, but I missed the facilities. Tried going back to hospital nursing last year, what a joke. Supper? a break? Loved my patients...but it had all changed. No more time to hold a hand...comfort a lonely patient...or just listen like we used to. Not giving up...just giving in. Hope all you young ones with the hopes and ideals that we all had can change somethings. Take back the real reason we all became involved in the first place. Tell all the CEO's that caring and hope can't be bought, and profits have no place in the wonder of healing, and the touch of a nurse on a worried patients hand is something that can't be duplicated. That you need time to be able to listen and sit down when someone says,"I'm scared about tomorrow, won't you sit and talk with me awhile?" I guess I'm not strong enough...my feet hurt too much, and my back hurts every day when I get home. But the thing that hurts the most is my heart that was so excited and beating out of my chest that first day when I put on my white uniform and cap and went to work the first time with a nametag that said I was a nurse. It's a desk job for me...sort of social work. So you guys carry on...make a difference...like I tried to. Good Luck to you all...bye.

tired2 · Jan 13, 2001

Originally posted by realnursealso/LPN:
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I just had to reply to your post. I too have put in 20+ years of nursing, speciality areas L&D, OR, ED. I too am ready to say goodbye, farewell and good luck. Have tried to make a difference, but have been cursed at by physicians, patients, staff, and treated poorly by admnistration. Have continued to obtain every certification to provide better care without extra pay or even a thank you. I have to give proper request for days off, vacation, etc., but management can come in and state "radical schedule change" without notification. Older nurses are overlooked for job promotions, we are continually scheduled to precep new people and continue with your workload. I sincerely hope for the health care system that changes are made soon. I'm tired of being told that you are maxed out as far as raises are concerned but continue to hire new grads at a higher rate.I do hope that someone out there is listening.

terriv · Jan 13, 2001

i live everything you're saying on a daily basis. our new don, what's to say? survey coming in feb. i'm 40 and very much considering giving it up. in two months i'll have to bid on my job. i'm really tired. and i cant be a nurse like i was. pretty interesting that i came to this site to find out what's happening country wide. i'm in pittsburgh. i just can't do this yet. i have an 11 year old son. so i guess i'm stuck.

Mijourney · Jan 13, 2001

Hi realnursealso/LPN. I agree with all the previous posters. Unfortunately, as one poster implied, the employer will just casually walk or roll over your body as one frequently does a fallen soldier on the battlefield and continue on with their insane pursuit of excess profits and decreasing quality of care for patients. They no longer respect you enough to pick up what is left of you and give you a decent burial.

Some posters are encouraging you to stay in nursing in some form and continue the battle. You've been there and done that at the bedside, and now you can help others who remain. Best wishes.

Nancy1 · Jan 14, 2001

I have been away from the boards for a while, but from what I read there is no change in tone. I guess I must live and work in the most wonderful facility in the country because the mamnagement, of which I am a part, does not walk over people. For a LTC facity with a total of 111 beds, we are only looking for 1 night nurse position. And we don't have an attendance problem and would never aloow the words that I read in one of the posts about the woman who wanted to leave because her husband was sick. I guess I won't look for another job, I will stay in my piece of heaven NA

sa48sh · Jan 14, 2001

Originally posted by realnursealso/LPN:
So long nursing...it's been real and I've learned alot. I'm 48 now and I started all this when I was 27. My feet are flat now...no arches from all the steps I've taken in 21 years. The disc's in my back are bulging according to the MRI I had because of my numb left leg. I loved being a nurse...I felt ten feet tall when my kids would say..."My mommy's a nurse." But you know it was all so different then. In my first job at a nursing home(they call it LTC now) I loved to sit and listen to the stories my patients told me about when they were young. Used to be the afternoon med pass was about one half hour long and I would be able to listen to them while i did my charting. But somehow through the years it all changed. The last nursing home I worked in, I was lucky to get done by the time I was supposed to go home. No time to visit, no time to show them how much you care...just give the pills, do the treatments and hope you can get done. I've done high tech pediaric home care for the last few years, but I missed the facilities. Tried going back to hospital nursing last year, what a joke. Supper? a break? Loved my patients...but it had all changed. No more time to hold a hand...comfort a lonely patient...or just listen like we used to. Not giving up...just giving in. Hope all you young ones with the hopes and ideals that we all had can change somethings. Take back the real reason we all became involved in the first place. Tell all the CEO's that caring and hope can't be bought, and profits have no place in the wonder of healing, and the touch of a nurse on a worried patients hand is something that can't be duplicated. That you need time to be able to listen and sit down when someone says,"I'm scared about tomorrow, won't you sit and talk with me awhile?" I guess I'm not strong enough...my feet hurt too much, and my back hurts every day when I get home. But the thing that hurts the most is my heart that was so excited and beating out of my chest that first day when I put on my white uniform and cap and went to work the first time with a nametag that said I was a nurse. It's a desk job for me...sort of social work. So you guys carry on...make a difference...like I tried to. Good Luck to you all...bye.

I felt compelled to respond, but first a word to Terriv.You are not STUCK, I know I've been there and it's the worst feeling,to feel as though you spent all those years in school,and more gaining experience,and now you wish you could just walk away,but it's too late to start over. But you can start over. I can't tell you how many times in the first 10 years of my career that I asked myself "What have I done? I'm in the wrong profession". But what I found out was I was just in the wrong job. So I switched, and switched, and switched, until I realized I was in the wrong Field of nursing. Just as nursing isn't for everyone, neither is LTC or ER or Med surg. I work in a truly wonderful place where I am well paid, challenged daily,and feel a deep sense of accomplishment on a regular basis. I just had to keep going,when I thought about throwing in the towel. I had put too much into it to just walk away, or spend the next 20 years being miserable.I LOVE my job,but it took me10 years to find it, because I thought I was just stuck with the decisions I made.OH there's no doubt that I too suffer from some of the same things I heard everyone express,the stress,long hours,disrespect from the "patients", and their families, 'backstabbing' co-workers,who are non-teamplayers, and on and on and on. But my satisfaction dosn't lie in those things. It lies in respect for myself, that I am doing the best job I can despite the pitfalls. I leave work knowing that I have done the best I could,no, better than that, that I have gone above and beyond , that all in all I gave them their money's worth for the day (even if they don't think so), and I have given something of myself and gotten sooooo much in return.I find I get what I demand if I'm willing to take the consequences and stand my ground. That wasn't so in the beginning.; I was soooo afraid to make waves, afraid I'd lose my job,afraid if I said "No, sorry, I won't work for that,or No I can't work swing shifts. I just stayed and joined all the other unhappy campers,while we moaned and groaned about how we were mistreated. I find today my satisfaction isn't with the job, it's with me. I tried many fields until I found this one and stood my ground for 13 years when It came to salary and shifts. Others who work with me get paid less.... because they're willing to do that.By the way I work in a mens maximum security prison, where we are masturbated in front of, called obscene names, threatened,and sued on a regular basis,,,,,But!!! I LOVE MY WORK Don't give up!!!! STAND UP

elflash · Jan 14, 2001

So long I too have been thinking of throwing in the towel after 21 years of nursing. After 18 years in LTC's, I have seen all of the B.S. they hand out daily, how the nursing staff is always bad, and giving such poor care, and just trying to get the D.O.N. and Administrator in trouble with the Health Dept.. I have to work, but at this point I feel like flipping hamburgers would be a lot less stressful. I have seen my health go down and at 50 I feel like I am used up. My bloodpressure is out of control, and I have bone spurs in both heels that just kill me after 8-10 hours on my feet. Where I currently work, we pass meds., do paper work and are expected to be in the diningroom to fed patients meals, and supervise C.N.A.'s and make sure they get there work done by making rounds twice a shift on over 35 patients. And to top it off they made me staff dev. coord. so I have to try and do state mandated inservices, and eval. staff members also, but am not allowed to recom. raises. Flipping burgers looking better all of the time... I don't know how much longer I can stick it out???

oramar · Jan 14, 2001

Originally posted by terriv:
in two months i'll have to bid on my job. i'm really tired. and i cant be a nurse like i was ...... i just can't do this yet. i have an 11 year old son. so i guess i'm stuck.

Dear Terriv, you are most likely at one of the large medical facilities which are downsizing and reorginizing in the Pittsburgh area. Some are just starting this painful process, others completed it long ago. Having lived through downsizing and been chased out of acute care by it, here is my advice. Start looking around!! It is true that many nurses are being thrown on to the market by the closing of hospitals in this area but their are still jobs out there. Being forced to reapply for your job is a very bad sign, things will most likely get nastier and nastier. If I knew then what I knew now I would not have stayed for the abuse. Forty is not old, I felt like a kid when I was forty, I am convinced I would still feel like a kid if I did not live through the medical disaster of the last decade. Just be careful to roll your 401K over very carefully when you do move. You have less time to work on a pension than a person of twenty or thirty.

Jenny P · Jan 14, 2001

Boy, what a depressing thread! I understand that it is hard out there in many places, and I too am getting up in years and am battling a body that no longer can do what it used to; but I am not leaving nursing in the near or distant future. I did find a job I love and would like to be able to retire from it at age 65, but know that that may not be possible physically anymore. I'm a night nurse in CV-ICU, and there are days when this body can't do what I want it to- 31 years in nursing has taken its toll on me. But even so, I am still excited to go to work and care for my patients and try to do my best for my shift. I have found that there are places that do respect nurses and nursing, but Pittsburgh doesn't sound like one of them (I swear, I don't think I've read of a happy nurse from there on this site yet. Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Life is short for all of us, why work in a place that is making you miserable?

realnursealso/LPN, LPN · Jan 15, 2001

Originally posted by Jenny P:
Boy, what a depressing thread! I understand that it is hard out there in many places, and I too am getting up in years and am battling a body that no longer can do what it used to; but I am not leaving nursing in the near or distant future. I did find a job I love and would like to be able to retire from it at age 65, but know that that may not be possible physically anymore. I'm a night nurse in CV-ICU, and there are days when this body can't do what I want it to- 31 years in nursing has taken its toll on me. But even so, I am still excited to go to work and care for my patients and try to do my best for my shift. I have found that there are places that do respect nurses and nursing, but Pittsburgh doesn't sound like one of them (I swear, I don't think I've read of a happy nurse from there on this site yet. Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Life is short for all of us, why work in a place that is making you miserable?

Dear Jenny, Sorry didn't mean to depress you. Never intended to be a downer. I wanted to say farewell to my profession and I just wanted to have my own swan song...farewell..to something that was my passion for 21 years. I am burned out from nursing and was just remembering how it was when I started. Wishing things were different for all the other nurses who continue to give their all at work. So sorry that the new grads can't have things the way they were when I started my nursing career. The almighty dollar rules now, not the patients. Was just remembering how nursing used to be so different...you had time to hold a hand...sit down and comfort a scared patient. I used to go home every day with a smile on my face, my work done to perfection, and excited to go back the next day. Wish you all well. Also I wouldn't have wanted to be anyhting else but a nurse. Carry on Jenny....bye

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normarae · Jan 15, 2001

Originally posted by realnursealso/LPN:
So long nursing...it's been real and I've learned alot. I'm 48 now and I started all this when I was 27. My feet are flat now...no arches from all the steps I've taken in 21 years. The disc's in my back are bulging according to the MRI I had because of my numb left leg. I loved being a nurse...I felt ten feet tall when my kids would say..."My mommy's a nurse." But you know it was all so different then. In my first job at a nursing home(they call it LTC now) I loved to sit and listen to the stories my patients told me about when they were young. Used to be the afternoon med pass was about one half hour long and I would be able to listen to them while i did my charting. But somehow through the years it all changed. The last nursing home I worked in, I was lucky to get done by the time I was supposed to go home. No time to visit, no time to show them how much you care...just give the pills, do the treatments and hope you can get done. I've done high tech pediaric home care for the last few years, but I missed the facilities. Tried going back to hospital nursing last year, what a joke. Supper? a break? Loved my patients...but it had all changed. No more time to hold a hand...comfort a lonely patient...or just listen like we used to. Not giving up...just giving in. Hope all you young ones with the hopes and ideals that we all had can change somethings. Take back the real reason we all became involved in the first place. Tell all the CEO's that caring and hope can't be bought, and profits have no place in the wonder of healing, and the touch of a nurse on a worried patients hand is something that can't be duplicated. That you need time to be able to listen and sit down when someone says,"I'm scared about tomorrow, won't you sit and talk with me awhile?" I guess I'm not strong enough...my feet hurt too much, and my back hurts every day when I get home. But the thing that hurts the most is my heart that was so excited and beating out of my chest that first day when I put on my white uniform and cap and went to work the first time with a nametag that said I was a nurse. It's a desk job for me...sort of social work. So you guys carry on...make a difference...like I tried to. Good Luck to you all...bye.

I am 59 and work in the fine No rights for employees state of Florida. I was fired from a hospital OR because the manager felt "uncomfortable" working with me - ( had more credentials and experience than her) I went to agency med surg Tele - they wanted me to come on board as an employee of the hospital. One of the back stabbing night RNS refused to help with admissions (six from 5-7pm when she arrivedm and trumped complaint to house supv and new floor manager so I left there 3 days after I started. Unfortunately I do have to work until I am 65 and have no financial help available. I have been battling the "we don't want older nurses so we will hire you and make you so miserable you will leave" situation for approx 10 years. As we all know nurses work for years with nothing to look forward to but social security - because along the way we have had to move on to another facility to protect our sanity and not get fired because we see the problem with patient care. I wish you the best of luck, real nurse

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