If you could do it all over.....

Nurses Relations

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If you could do it all over again...would you still have went into nursing???

I'm in my late 20's, only been nursing for a few years and I'm totally burnt out!! I dont know if it's the patient's, the workload and stress of the job, my insane co-workers, or all of the above!!! More often than not, I feel overworked, underpaid, overstressed, and at times treated unfairly as their is a lot of favoritism on my work unit and if your not in the clique of the "can never do anything wrong, holier than thou nurses" they treat you like sh*t (excuse my language). I work 12hr shifts, and usually end up getting off of work about an hour or at least 45 min late, as we have to wait for the last nurse to finish report before we can leave....thats because we're a relatively small unit and there has to be RN's on the floor at all time, which makes sense, but taking 30min to give an end of shift report is ridiculous....with that being said I often get off of work late, and by the time I get home, shower and eat, my alarm is going off the next morning and I'm up doing it all over again! I AM SO TIRED! mentally and physically tired! I often ask myself why I went into nursing, and I answer myself, "because I love nursing and helping others", but not enough to lose my sanity or have a nervous breakdown over. Nursing school prepared me for everything except the "real world of nursing." I've tried applying for other jobs within and outside the hospital, but I never get so much as a call back and I think I may be getting black balled from leaving my current job! Sometimes I wish I would have went into physical or occupational therapy or even respiratory therapy...come in see your patient's and move on to the next one! I know your going to encounter difficulties in any job and that's just life, but I often questions myself...If I could do it all over again, would I honestly have chose nursing knowing what I know now??? All responses welcomed! :)

i know i am bumping an old thread...

i wouldn't do it again. no way. i worked in business for years and nursing is a second profession for me so i have some basis of comparison.

on your worst day you disappoint everyone. the patient isn't happy, their family isn't happy, the doctors aren't happy, the charge nurse isn't happy and a lot of times it is for things beyond your control (like trying to start an iv on a 4 month old and calling nurses off of caring for their patients to help you and no one is successful in starting a line and you can't start the iv antibiotics without one).

i will say that my best days nursing are way better than my best days in business. by a million fold. but those are few and far between.

most days i just feel like i'm being ground under the wheels.

i read someone say that there is a lot of "flexibility" with your schedule. while that is certainly true, there is also very little predictability.

i don't get a long with my co-workers and yes, they can make your life hell and frequently do.

when i think about what i gave up for this? i feel like such an idiot. such a naive, idealistic, gullible moron.

i feel much the same as you.... especially your point about little predictability.

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