Advice Greatly Appreciated!

[beli1025]

Hello all,

I've only been a nurse for 6 months and I'm already having issues.

For six years before I went to nursing school, I was a licensed massage therapist, working for a chiropractor's practice. It was very rewarding, and I enjoyed it greatly, but I wanted something more challenging, so I decided to become a nurse. My first semester into nursing school, all hell broke loose in my family/personal life, and I subsequently developed anxiety (sometimes crippling) and depression. I was able to move past the depression and most of the anxiety through a lot of hard work, although the last three years have been the most heartbreaking and awful I've experienced in my 34 years of life. It's been one terrible situation after another, including several family deaths. I passed my state board exam last December and got a job as a staff nurse for a hospital Med/Surg floor in January. Two months into it, I hated it so much, I was questioning why I'd become a nurse at all, and doubted everything I worked 5 years to achieve. My anxiety was back in full force, depression was creeping in, and I couldn't fathom going to work on that floor for one more shift. I spoke honestly with my supervisor and director and they generously helped me find a position on another unit at my hospital. I have been very successful on my new unit for four months now...have gotten wonderful feedback from patients, my coworkers, and my supervisor. If there was ever a unit I was meant for in a hospital setting, it's this one. The problem is, I'm still not feeling much joy from it. It's just like every other unit...understaffed, underpaid, overworked, caught in corporate red tape... The pace and the pressure are terribly hard for me to deal with!!! The anxiety is making every shift so difficult and all I do on my days off is try to recover, mostly mentally and emotionally. My husband deserves much more than that, and I know I do too...I just don't know what to do about it because I don't have much experience.

I feel like I haven't been able to really come up for air for so long, and now this job is an animal all its own. I love helping people, I really do. How else can I do that as a nurse outside of the hospital/bedside setting?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Many nurses deal with personal issues and the stress of nursing. Nursing is rarely a "joy".

You need to separate work and outside issues. If you cannot, seek professional advice.

[mukluk2]

If you can find a good home health agency with a good orientation, that might suit you better

[HeySis, BSN, RN]

Nursing is a very stressful job, especially on the floor/units. Part of going into a challenging field is the stress level.

There are other things beside bedside, that can be done with a nursing degree, but a lot of them take BSN or MSN and more experience then you currently have. And even with case management the stress just becomes different (dealing a lot with families) it doesn't disappear.

As far as being underpaid adding to the stress. If you felt the pay wasn't adequate, I wonder at you taking the position. I firmly believe that no one is paid what they are worth. (our worth is too great to be affordable. )

It sounds like it has been a rough couple of years for you. And I can understand that your overall health can impact/increase the stress in every part of your life. I'd strongly suggest that if your employees has an EAP that you take advantage of it.. or find a professional you can work with to help you learn effective coping strategies for work and life.

You may want to look at different companies and their staffing. Also you could reach out to nurses in your area and ask to job shadow. That way you could explore other types of nursing before making a jump out of the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak.

[nutella, MSN, RN]

To be honest, it sounds that your mental health problems (anxiety, depression and whatnot) makes it hard for you to cope with the stress and work of nursing. Nursing is stressful to begin with but when you have a lot of problems with depression, free floating anxiety and such, it will make everything much harder. People who have problems with that frequently obsess over this and that, get their thinking hung up on stuff and so on and forth.

The other thing is to think about your expectation of "happy" and "joy" as it related to your profession/job. My personal idea is that my work is gratifying and provides money for a living. But I do not expect "joy" or "happiness". If you have depression and anxiety, you may not be able to experience "joy" no matter what.

I think you should see a therapist and MH provider to deal with your anxiety/depression. In addition, you can look for a job that is lower in stress if that is what you want. When people are not well they just do not do well with high stress jobs. Sometimes switching shifts can help to lessen stress as well.

[RNperdiem, RN]

For many of us "joy" at work is a lot to ask for. I aim for overall "satisfaction" because I think that is more realistic.

[Libby1987]

.The problem is, I'm still not feeling much joy from it. It's just like every other unit...understaffed, underpaid, overworked, caught in corporate red tape... The pace and the pressure are terribly hard for me to deal with!!! The anxiety is making every shift so difficult and all I do on my days off is try to recover, mostly mentally and emotionally.

I think any of us can understand how a new nursing job can be too stressful to tolerate but you started off by listing lack of joy. I can't think of many, or any, high responsibility jobs that would be joyful while still on the very steep learning curve. That's an unrealistic expectation in today's job market where working with less to do more is the new norm Even back in the nursing hey day of the 80's a new position was too stressful to experience joy in the first few months.

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

The pay isn't as high, but private duty nursing may be more to your liking. You work with just one patient for a full shift in their home, and you really get to know your patient and get vested in their well-being.

I wouldn't recommend home health visits (seeing many patients over the course of a day) because there is a lot of paperwork and travel and unknown conditions that don't sound like they'd be a good fit for your anxiety issues. But private duty shift work is often very routine and regular, and might have the slower pace you're looking for.