Just Thinking About Leaving Nursing...

[NewTexasRN]

I've been a nurse for 2 years and I'm at cross road. I have to decide whether to continue to further my education or leave nursing all together. I've worked in a few hospitals it's all the same. We have become jaded or accustomed to unsafe working conditions. A part of me is questioning the direction of where healthcare is heading and I'm not sure if I want to do it anymore. Trust me, I know that this is not an original question. I have seen many nurses come on here and asking about leaving the profession. I've heard them say over and over how they have invest and sacrificed so much that it's hard for them to walk away. I don't see any NP's around me ask about the job satisfaction so that's why I'm asking everyone here. The thing is I've never really thought about doing anything else. If I leave, I feel lost because I'm not really good at doing anything else, but yet conditions of being a nurse is sometimes too overwhelming. Has anyone on here ever successfully pursued something else?

P.S. My former co-workers encouraged me to travel. I resisted for a while and finally took the plunge and boy, I'm paying for it. I went from a fixed nurse to pt ratio of 1:6 to 1:11. (I'm relieved it's only 13 weeks). I've lost my confidence in traveling. The fear of never knowing what to expect. But I guess it's the nature of nursing. I've started to develop depression because I feel as if I can't change the situation our pt's and nurses.

[exnavygirl-RN]

I work for the V.A. Every place has their issues. The V.A. is no different. I have a love/hate relationship with my work place. ha ha ha I have also worked for Indian Health Service. Loved it:redpinkhe

Can anyone working at a VA hospital give feedback on their experience, working conditions, and hiring process, etc?

[sistasoul]

If hospitals and other health care facilities had MDs and nurses as CEOs I think our job satisfaction would go up. The paper pushers that are our management have no clue as to what truly goes on and how hard they make it for us to care for our patients without being stressed out and overwhelmed due to time constraints and high patient acuity.

I love being a bedside nurse but the BS that goes on makes it really hard to care for these people the way they should be.

[StevieNae]

I've been in the medical field since 1994. It's all I know...and LOVE. I have experience in billing, transcription, reception, medical records, and insurance referrals/authorizations. Since obtaining my LPN in 2010, I've struggled with it grealty. Graduated 3rd in my class, Nightingale Award and perfect attendance. I've worked 12 weeks on med surg-stroke floor, 4 months in a nursing home (love geri patients) and a year for a general surgeon in the office. I'm currently taking a break from nursing b/c frankly, I'm sick of the way I've been treated by employers. I've not found 1 employer that would give any credit for my past experience b/c it is not "nursing" so I've been forced to take jobs that pay so low I can't have a car and a house payment at the same time, if I want to feed my kids. I recently got remarried and started taking service calls for my husbands computer business- just one service call (one hour) is what I can make in a full day as working as an LPN. I've left a career that I LOVE b/c I cannot support a family on loving my career. It's very frustrating.

I considered flipping to RN, but the loans and bills still wouldn't be worth the salary and I do not want to lock myself into 12 hour shifts, nights and weekends only to be overwhelmed by nurse to patient work load. At this point in my life, I'm going to train at a locally owned physician's office (not owned by a large company, doesn't even accept assignment or file insurance, except Medicare) just to cover for sick leave and vacation. I want to keep my skills and license up. I COMPLETELY understand where you are. I wish I'd never have gone to nursing school. I felt I was making a career advancement, instead I started ALL over! It was a horribly tough decision, because I loved nursing, but for now I'm happy staying at home with my kids and helping with our home business.

[mrshoskins]

I tell a lot of nurses that may feelat their breaking point to maybr try home care & also research the many other avenues of nursing such as working from home, nurse visits, etc

[Vitalfreedom]

I recieved many rewards for my service as a RN which made other nurses upset and jealous. It really doesn't matter how great of a nurse you are and how skilled you are, your constantly dealing with back stabbers who are trying to make you lose your license. I always felt like I had to look over my shoulders. The stress of having so much responsibity for peoples' life alone is enough but added onto that your working with unethical people who try to sabatage you.

You know when they say if your not sure of something ask someone, well I've seen other nurses ask a coworker something and they complained to the manager and the whole floor that they were asked something and that they are now worried about patient safety. Then the manager puts the nurse through all sorts of test while they all pretend that she's not competent. She passed the tests, but why can't a nurse ask another nurse anything with out problems. Is it not better to make sure your right about a decision and get a second opinion. Isn't that the responsible thing to do?

There is no trust, no team work, no care for each other. Your afraid of being abused and lied on by patients. Afraid of not being perfect at all times and even when very competent, afraid someone will sabatage you or lie that you did something you never did and no one will believe you. There is no support.

When I had to work a night shift I was told by a patient, "is it only at night the cock roaches come out?" How do you answer stupid questions like that. Pretend you don't understand and keep smiling like nothing happend. Or able bodied patients who decide that they don't want to go to the washroom so they are going to **** and **** in the bed for you to clean it up. Are you kidding me, who the hell wants a stranger cleaning their ass when they are able to do it themselves. Then they smile in your face and dare you to make any negative gestures so they can report to the manager how bad you made them feel.

One nurse I knew never spoke unless necessary and kept taking the beatings until she finally left. She was an excellent nurse. Very skilled. She was the go to person if you had a difficult situation and needed help. She got tired of the abuse and also resigned. There is no respect or appreciation for each other. LPN's are treated as if their stupid. I have heard nurses finishing there shifts and telling patients that the the person that will be replacing her is not a real nurse, and if she needed anything ring for the real nurse. Then when I'm workking with the LPN she complained that the patient kept asking he for the "real nurse". The RN on the previous shift set the LPN up in a position to be not trusted by her patient, and that's terrible. They don't think how that make the patient feel. They only think about putting that nurse in a already difficult situation.

[sistasoul]

I feel like I need to be constantly looking over my shoulder also. I was written up fora delay in patient care but no one can give me any specifics as to what the delay was. I am 99 percent sure I know which one of my co workers complained. I heard it through the grapevine that this co-worker had to write up a big long letter describing the "incident" and that the other co-worker that was also in on the "incident' said that none of what she wrote happened. I was never spoken too before I was written up and asked my side of the story. This ****** me off. I refused to sign the write up even though it will still go into my file. I thought this was America where you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. I am so done with hospital nursing.

[gypsyd8]

The presumption of innocence is within the criminal justice system, not in the corporate system

[Jules Akers]

Leave nursing if you can. I would love to. But can someone please help me leave this site? There is no information on how to leave allnurses.com help please!! Then I will not bother any of you any more! Good luck NewTexasRN