i HATE my job. Does anyone else feel the same?

[Jenni811]

I absolutely despise my job. I work as a nurse in a intermediate/telemetry type floor. We are in the process of moving to a new hospital, so we were a telemetry unit and we are splitting into telemetry/intermediate care. We will be split eventually but right now kind of combined...its weird.

Anyway, I HATE HATE HATE HATE my job. I get so worked up on the way to work, up to the point I start getting massive headaches and offset my vertigo issues. I've always struggled with unexplained vertigo that comes with stress/anxiety. I can't stand patients and families who are so demanding and disrespectful.

I do my absolute best to put on my "fake smile" to please them. I'm a person of very short temper so it takes every ounce of energy in me not to slap some of them in the face. I got in trouble one time because a patient's daughter was giving me a really hard time and everything she said that came from her mouth started with "Well I'm a nurse and...." it would have been totally irrelevant to what she had to say. For example: "Well I'm a nurse and I had an egg salad sandwich for lunch."

"Well, I'm a nurse and I have a kitten named Dutchess" (that was actually a real one).

She was SO disrespectful, rolled her eyes every time I talked, very short answers. Finally I had it...I looked at her and said "I don't care if you are a nurse. I'm her nurse now and i will make the decisions on what I think is best for my patient."

Yup...I got in trouble for that one but I explained everything to my manager and she, deep inside, I knew agreed she was being ridiculous and I told her I just couldn't take it anymore. It went on for THREE DAYS, in 12 hour shifts and I was on day 4 with her. I snapped...yup.

Anyway, my point with that story is it wasn't this one time...it is ALL the freaking time. Patient's are so demanding. What on earth makes you think I want to "wipe your butt" when you can do it at home just fine? Ok...you have two broken arms, I will help you but if you are here for I don't know...Chest pain observation and you can feed yourself the 50 trays of food you just ordered and open the soda bottle your family snuck you in, why would you not be able to wipe your own butt?? What makes people feel the need to be so darn needy like this?? Don't put on your call light for me to pour you a glass of water from the water pitcher sitting next to your hand. You are perfectly capable of doing it yourself (I'm talking about people who CAN do it.) You are not a 65 year old baby, you are an adult who has wiped your own butt and poured your own water for I don't know, 63 years now??

I'm sorry I have to vent. Makes me feel better. Does anyone else feel this way about nursing? I feel so stuck in it and I want to get out. What else can I do with my degree that I would enjoy??

Once my fiance and I are married we want to start a family right away. He has agreed for me to quit my job at that point to be stay at home. I'm afraid I will enjoy not being a nurse so much I may never go back. What other career choices do people ENJOY as a nurse? I have my BSN.

[Clementia]

OP, I really hear you. I've worked on an ortho unit for seven years, and I too hate my job with a passion. Those demanding, critical, manipulative, whiny, needy patients can absolutely drive you up the wall. It makes me angry that people feel free to treat another person so disrespectfully just because she/he is a nurse and happens to be there.

It makes me sick when someone tells me that it's my job to be compassionate all the time. Some people just suck the life out of you, and the best you can do is strained politeness. Forget about compassion and going the extra mile...those patients are lucky to get a forced smile. It really bothers me that, even though 85% of my patients are at least decent, the 15% of horrible ones have made me distrust all of them.

I'm pregnant with my first child, and my husband says I can stay home full time when the baby is born. I'm counting the months till I can hang up my stethoscope for good.

OP, I truly don't think the problem is you -- it's the people you work with, who do not care how they treat others. Hating to be abused and taken for granted does not make you a bad person. I hope you can find a niche, perhaps in another field, where you can be happy.

[Jenni811, RN]

Thanks everyone for making me feel like im still a good perso for feeling this way. I like cry after work sometimes thinking im mean and don't have a heart. Nursing took away my compassion for people.

Yea, i like the idea of going somewhere where i see patients briefly and then be done with it and never see or work with them again. Something like Cath lab, OR or PACU. I might start looking, im getting beyond my breaking point. Only thing keeping me sane right now is i have an orientee with me and anytime i get a crazy i have my orientee deal with it because im not "always going to be there to save her." (thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it). I like when i have students too i'll say things like "Have you ever wiped a butt of someone who is 600lbs and cant turn themselves? Well now is your chance. Gown up my dear because we are going in!"

I love my hours though...i work 12 hour shifts (day/night rotation) and 3 days per week. So i'll have to keep my eyes open for things like that. I love working with children (not L&D though) so maybe like a pediatrics type setting. The parents scare me. I know when im a parent i am going to be one to fear as well, so i don't blame them. Also i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE working with our open heart surgery patients. I would give my leg for that position. They have a nurse that works in the clinic with all the open heart surgery patients when they go home after surgery. Also goes to their appointments (kind of like a temporary care coordinator in open heart surgery). The nurse doing it now is still young, so no chance of croaking on the job or retiring anytime soon. Although she does have a massive limp and deal with alot of leg pain of some sort. so MAYBE something will happen there...

[Jenni811, RN]

Are there any clinic nurses out there right now?? How is the clinic setting?

[wanderlust99]

I feel the exact same way as you do with my current travel job position. I am constantly floated to a tele unit like this and I feel sick before going into work most days. I've cried a few times and I am counting down the days until it's over.

I miss working ICU. I miss working in a hospital where people aren't so demanding and entitled.

No way would I work tele by choice.

[goalienrse]

I too feel the same way. My last job was so bad, I had to quit bc of my manager, it was terrible. I never experianced the terrible treatment I got there ever in my life, from coworkers, patients, and my supervisor.

Now I'm reduced to hoping for a job at a rehab with a nurse to patient ratio of up to 27. Yay!

I don't suggest nursing to a dog.

[Jenni811, RN]

I don't suggest nursing to a dog.

Funny!! one nurse to 27 seems like an awful lot. I've never done rehab/nursing home setting so i don't know what it is like. Our hospital is one nurse to four patients unless you have an intermediate care patient, then it is usually 2-3 dependig on the circumstances and patient acuity.

[DEgalRN]

Are there any clinic nurses out there right now?? How is the clinic setting?

I work in a community health clinic that focuses on TB. I don't love what I do but I'm much happier than when I was working med-surge full time. It's lower stress, better hours, and the patients are seriously so much nicer! I'll be here a good long while I believe.

[nurse_mary2012]

yeah, thats when you bring her a box of "swabbies" and say "here you go!". I am a new nurse and this is the biggest complaint....feeling like a underpaid, glorified waitress. I set boundaries as much as possible with patients as professional as I can. I also do this with the family. Luckly it works 75-80% of the time. I explain they are not my only patient and I am only one nurse. I also start the shift off being friendly and building rapport, so dont get me wrong. Doing this helps ease the blow of setting healthy boundaries with patients. Like I said it works most of the time.......

[limaRN, BSN, RN]

I work in the ICU. My favorite patients are sedated and on a vent. When they become able to use the call bell I'm ready to see them go. Most days I really like my job.

Same here! Most days I really like it unless I have a pt that is hitting the "transfer light" q5min. I could never do med surg. OP look for a different unit maybe ICU or PACU if quitting isn't a possibility right now.

[1326luck]

I hate when some goody two shoe decides oh my patient on a vent fentanyl and propofol is lucid enough to write notes. That is always awesome

[kennedy8353]

I had to post on this!! I also work telemetry, have migraines manifest as vertigo, cannot stand family members and my job most days, and want to quit working to start a family. I thought I had posted this! Hahahaha. I just try to focus one that one cute little lady who thanks me for taking such good care of her and have a glass of wine here and there. Good luck to you, hang in there and let me know when you find a better job!

[sistasoul]

I also hate my job. I have been a nurse for 4 years in a med-surge floor. The constant stress and liability along with the micromanagement of charting are driving me too the point of just quitting. I do really like hands on care but there is not enough time to truly do patient care the way it should be done. My floor is the dumping ground for the alcoholics, drug addicts and the confused elderly. It is just to much and I too dread going into work every day. My co-workers are great though. I am thinking of giving home health a shot. At least I will be able to concentrate on one patient at a time.