Burned out and hate nursing

[RN1023]

Since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to help people. I wanted to heal. Now 4 years out of nursing school, I HATE nursing with a passion. I am a med/surg nurse with a BSN.

Reasons I hate nurses (in no particular order)

1. Most days I feel like a pill-pusher. I don't feel like I make a difference.

2. Doctors feel they are perfect.

3. Patient satisfaction scores.

4. Patient sense of entitlement. (see #3)

5. Family at the bedside dictating what they want...like I am their personal servant. I have to comply (see #3).

6. Lack of appreciation mized with how much more work can they give us.

7. Nights, weekends, and holiday. I don't want to give everything I've got only to see no return in work satisfaction.

I don't want to be a case manager. I don't want home health nursing. I really want to be outside of the hospital. Quite honestly, I want to be away from people. I would be quite content to work on a computer and have email interactions. Preferably work from home. Any suggestions?

[jrobbin44]

I realize thids is a very old thread, but came upon it by searching "hate nursing", lol. I'm going to try to pm you tomorrow (getting ready for work). Research is in my blood (my father us an entomologist ), and my micro professor tried valiently to keep me in research, but as a single mom, nursing made more sense financially. I'm definitely interested in a career path such as this, and eould love to talk to you more about it!

[cjbpRN]

You are me!!! I am 4 years in and I work med/surg and I am so lost as to what to do. I just dream about a life that doesnt include nursing. im sitting here after working today with a fall at report (happened on the other shift but i did all the work for it) 5 discharges, an ed admit, and an icu transfer today and had to argue my way out of another admit at 1730, and i just have tears rolling down at how bad my body aches and how physically and mentally exhausting my career is to me! what to do???? how do you walk away from a paycheck? its so hard and im just gonna pray God shows me the way!!!! Ill pray for you too my dear!!!!

[Camwill, ASN, BSN, MSN, DNP, LPN, APRN, NP]

Find out what in nursing will make you happy! Nursing is one of the few careers that has so much opportunities. I knew I was getting tired and burned out in critical care so I look around at positions that nurses were doing in my hospital that I thought I would like. I switched to case management and have had so many opportunities within the department. I am beyond happy had yes it sucks a little working 5 days a week but nothing compares to being happy to go to work each and everyday! Good luck with finding what you will love! I also took a part time research position, very interesting part of nursing that I didn't know about [emoji40]

[Maevish, ASN, RN]

Maybe you hate med-surg! I do, so I moved to ICU/Plastics. I'm a natural introvert (unless I've been drinking haha) so I feel ya on the not wanting people contact loads of days! The things you mentioned are really annoying and I think most nurses experience those things at least weekly.

You could do insurance from home, move to critical care (although we still have a lot of the same issues you mentioned), or maybe forensic nursing or research?

There are loads of areas of nursing and I get why you don't like your unit. If your manager is bad that is a huge deal too. If the only jobs available were at SNFs, I would NEVER be a nurse again because I know I hate those places (I don't even like walking into one).

Maybe also get more hobbies and de-stressing things done (music, exercise, etc) while you're not at work and that can help. I don't get any of the work satisfaction-type benefits (PTO, good insurance, job security) as a traveler so that constantly stresses me out if I don't do something to unwind after work.

Good luck and I hope you found our responses helpful! xo

[PACUpleeze]

I made the transition from Telemetry nurse to working in an ambulatory outpatient surgery center and I don't see myself ever going back to a hospital setting. I LOVE the surgery center (not affiliated with a hospital). There are some in very city, you just have to look for them.

I do agency PACU at a surgery center and the manager there told me "My family would literally have to be on the verge of being homeless before I went back to hospital..and even then, I'd rather sell Mary Kay first!" Lol. I thought that was hilarious. I know the thread is old, but I hope you got out of hospital, because I have come to really realize that is where 70% of my stress in life comes from.

[Kebner]

It is a horrible field! I started as a PCP in 1995, became a CNA in 1997. I worked harder than most people that are CNA's. I worked telemetry, transferred to General-Surgical, then to orthopedic-spine surgical. I was the first Certified Nurse Assistant at Littleton Hospital, trained at Porter Hospital because there was no one to train me at Littleton. I called in maybe once a year from 1997 - 2004, other than the time I contracted chicken pox from a patient with shingles. I reported to my manager that I had to have two weeks off, doctor's orders. She said to me, "It's not possible for you to get Chicken Pox virus from Shingles". Not kidding, this was a great manager! My sick-time being used.

When I transferred to Ortho unit, I started weight lifting to decrease my chances of on the job injuries. I changed my life style for my job constantly for my co-workers and patients. I knew when palpating a pulse if it was irregular, and which beats it occurred. I trained other employees how to set up a CPM machine, and how to set the degrees, they are heavy. I reported low outputs, and monitored it closely. Any changes in the patient, low b/p and elevated hr, confusion....Epidural lines that were not intact, PCA's that were looking as if pt was tampering with them....

I also worked as a CNA for agency (2 full time jobs) to pay my bills. On Fridays, I'd work both jobs that's 24 hrs.

Here I am a nurse because after a couple of decades of working as a CNA, I finally got a place to live and enough money to start school.

I graduated, no jobs for New Grads. I have given so much of myself to this profession, sacrifice. No one would hire me, for months and hundreds of applications. No one would hire me as a CNA even, ridiculous.

Finally, I got a job. It was luck at a job fair. Not at any dream job, LTAC.

Still, I apply at acute care hospitals. No chance, they would hire a "New Grad". They have no idea what I do at the LTAC, I work harder than the RN's with less support staff at any "Acute Care" setting. Yep, I push, pull schlep drinks, drugs, and pumps. I never do enough for the patients, I never do enough for my employer. I have a hernia, that I cannot prove was work related injury. My insurance at work is terrible.

I feel pedal pulses so weak a Doppler is used to detect them, report green goo coming from trachs and so on. My doc says, what's new?

Well...could you support me? fluids? antibiotics?

Got patients that sound like they are gurgling with edema every where, LASIX please.

Patients care less about their incredibly high blood sugars, they want their ICE CREAM NOW...

I guess, when I'm busy suctioning a patient while the others scream my name...it's not that my patient is unrealistic that bothers me. It's that my sacrifices have been great.

1. I don't have children, I could not afford any on a CNA salary

2. I have worked hard...hard work should pay off

3. I'm sorry, I do not have a bachelors degree ( I could not afford it)

4. I do have a 4.0 GPA

5. I moved to the first program that accepted me from Colorado to California, I had to move my stuff, my life

6. No jobs in California, had to move to a cheaper apartment, then back to Colorado because that is where I got my job.

Here I sit, burned out because hard work and self sacrifice should pay off.

NOT IN NURSING...RUN FAR AWAY FROM THIS FIELD.

Read this story, it is true...

You will never do enough to get that job, the employers don't care.

There are some that are lucky and get that great job, they will tell you wonderful stories. But, there is no loyalty.

I worked for years as a CNA, do you think that I could get a job from any of those hospitals? Nope.

I will continue to work hard, complete all my education for work, and treat patients right. I answer call lights fast, bed alarms on, vital signs before sedatives, give blood and monitor lung sounds, draw my own labs, watch K when Lasix given....

I do this for my patients who scream at me, because it is the right thing to do. I do not have the ability to do it wrong, I cannot do it half way...I just never have because I have integrity.

The world of nursing will break you. But, if you do not know how to be broken despite the circumstances, welcome to the insanity I deal with = my personal struggle to not work hard.

Still looking for a job in acute care, maybe it will happen.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

Kebner- its nice to see someone with a work ethic like yours.

Id be glad to work with you.

New York State( not the city- but everywhere else) seems to be hiring in acute. Weather sucks, COL sucks, but it would be a job....

Good luck.

[cocoa_puff]

I'm a new nurse, and I already feel burned out and hate my career choice. I hate the customer service mentality and dealing with patient issues and petty complaints. I hate having to calm down angry family members and patients. I hate how entitled patients are, and how they take no responsibility for their actions or their health. I hate de-escalating situations. I have no problem toileting patients or cleaning them up, but I cannot stand dealing with issues. I don't like being the one responsible for coordinating care, and I don't like the constant phone calls from family members interrupting my work. I'm tired of being stressed, angry, and bitter all the time. I'm not a "people person," I absolutely hate small talk with patients. I have nightmares about work, whether I'm being yelled at or almost hit by a patient. I was a CNA several years before becoming a nurse, and while I found the work physically tiring, it wasn't emotionally exhausting like being a nurse is to me. After my shift, I come home and sleep >12 hours if I'm not working again that night. I never feel rested and I feel numb towards life. I seriously want to go back to school to find a new career and just do some type of nursing PRN (like research or endoscopy) that doesn't involve so much patient contact. I think it's more than just new grad blues, I think nursing might not be for me

[Generic ER Nurse]

I have had great managers. I still hate nursing. I hate my job. Most nurses do. It seamed like a good gig, but now I try to tell every student that comes through my ICU or ER. Its worst mistake I have ever made in my life.

[strawberryluv, BSN, RN]

I'm not burnt out of nursing because I'm in a pretty low stress speciality: long term care. I'm stressed about something else which is getting somewhere else. I'm tired of working this speciality and desire for going to the hospital

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I'm not burnt out of nursing because I'm in a pretty low stress speciality: long term care. I'm stressed about something else which is getting somewhere else. I'm tired of working this speciality and desire for going to the hospital

?HUH?

[Lady_sigrid726]

I have been working as a nurse for 7 years now. Tried OB GYN, NICU, trauma and orthopedics, and OR. I have worked with crappy managers and really great ones. Our hospital is quite generous with annual leaves and my current manager is very accommodating with shift requests and days off. However, I still hate nursing. I hate the job itself. I tell my husband everyday and he offered me support to study another degree but I am lost as to what I really want to do that will generate equal of more income as a nurse. Plus, another 3-4 years of studying? I'm not really keen on that. I considered working from home from insurance companies but that doesn't fit me well either. I want something that allows for creativity while having flexible time and that doesn't involve you dealing with a lot of people.