Hi! I just quit my first nursing job. It was on a med-surg floor, which was not what I was planning to do after graduation. My goal was to go directly into community health nursing, but I got antsy because the process of application was lengthy, and took a hospital job.
Anyway, the unit had weak leadership, lack of teamwork, and an over-abundance of gossip, backstabbing and bullying. People (nurses, techs, secretaries, transport, etc. ect.) got away with acting however they pleased. My last day I had to literally fight a tech to get a hold of the only functioning pulse ox machine I could find because she was doing her afternoon vitals. I respect that she has her job to do too, but my demented patient who keeps pulling out his NC, O2 sat dropping to 76% (which I wouldn't have known without the pulse ox machine) who is in need of a restraint order takes precedence over afternoon vitals IMO. Especially when I told her I'd give the darn machine right back!!!!
In addition, I was tired of being made to feel incompetent and lazy by the 7p to 7a staff, especially considering I took on average a 15 minute break during the majority of my 12 hour shifts. I know I didn't do everything right...that I made mistakes. I'm a brand new nurse (started this job in August), and I'd appreciate constructive criticism, not a sneer and dead silence during my entire report. How do people get to be so mean and bitter?
Anyway, despite the fact that I feel justified in leaving that place because it was ruining all aspects of my life (I was sleepless, lost weight, and my personal relationships suffered greatly), I still feel like a failure. So, my question is, has anyone else left their first nursing job too? I just need to know I'm not alone here...
I never worked med-surg as a nurse, but my first CNA job was as a float between all the med-surg floors in a large hospital. I floated between 4 or 5 different types of floors so I got to see a lot in that year. The staffing was pretty good, I never felt like I had a huge load unless I worked night shift (and then I'd have all 40 patients sometimes). The nurses were okay to me, but they never had much time for anything but charting and meds. So generally, it was a pretty well-run hospital.
I still hated it though. I never wanted to do med-surg, I was a NICU hopeful from the time I was 16 years old. I'm glad I did the year in med-surg though, even as a CNA, because it really helped me in school. It also showed me what working on the floors with adults was like, because I got to observe so much on all those floors. This was my junior year in nursing school. My senior year, I got a CNA job in a NICU at another hospital to make sure that I actually liked that environment, because even though it sounded good in theory, I really didn't know what it would be like for real. I wanted to observe that field for a year as well, so that by the time I graduated and got my first nursing job, I had some idea of what was out there in the real world.
Needless to say, I loved it, got a job in NICU as a new grad, and have never left. But I do sometimes wish I'd have gotten some adult experience as an RN, just in case I want to do something else in the future. You gave it a try, and my hat goes off to you for that.
I have been at my first job for 8 months now. There are good days and bad days for all of us. There are days where I feel as if my intelligence is truly being wasted because I am nothing but the pain pill fairy... feel like I should have wings and a wand passing out the narcs. There are days where getting b....ed at for what OTHERS did not do gets on my nerves. We can pretty much count on a huge lecture on Monday morning if we had a nice weekend. That gets old.
What keeps me going back is the people I work with. The other floor nurses from whom I have learned SO MUCH. LPN's and RN's alike. They all have my back when I have a question. I don't have a DON I can go to when I need to vent but there is always a sympathetic ear for me if I need one. My ADON stands against a wall with her arms crossed and a frown on her face waiting for someone to walk by a call bell or to do something wrong. I have 5 nurses who will join me in the eye roll when she walks away.
No matter where you work, there will be crap going on...whether it is politics gossiping, understaffing or a combination.... when you find some place that you just fit in, keep it. I will not be at my current job forever...as a nurse I have a ton of options. I am obligated there for two years and I will stick that out but when I do move on, I will always remember the positive experience my first job has been and that no matter where I work, no job is perfect.
Hi! I just quit my first nursing job. It was on a med-surg floor, which was not what I was planning to do after graduation. My goal was to go directly into community health nursing, but I got antsy because the process of application was lengthy, and took a hospital job.
Anyway, the unit had weak leadership, lack of teamwork, and an over-abundance of gossip, backstabbing and bullying. People (nurses, techs, secretaries, transport, etc. ect.) got away with acting however they pleased. My last day I had to literally fight a tech to get a hold of the only functioning pulse ox machine I could find because she was doing her afternoon vitals. I respect that she has her job to do too, but my demented patient who keeps pulling out his NC, O2 sat dropping to 76% (which I wouldn't have known without the pulse ox machine) who is in need of a restraint order takes precedence over afternoon vitals IMO. Especially when I told her I'd give the darn machine right back!!!!
In addition, I was tired of being made to feel incompetent and lazy by the 7p to 7a staff, especially considering I took on average a 15 minute break during the majority of my 12 hour shifts. I know I didn't do everything right...that I made mistakes. I'm a brand new nurse (started this job in August), and I'd appreciate constructive criticism, not a sneer and dead silence during my entire report. How do people get to be so mean and bitter?
Anyway, despite the fact that I feel justified in leaving that place because it was ruining all aspects of my life (I was sleepless, lost weight, and my personal relationships suffered greatly), I still feel like a failure. So, my question is, has anyone else left their first nursing job too? I just need to know I'm not alone here...
Thanks!
I know why people get so mean and bitter, it is because management overlooks the behavior. Such behaviors are not a norm on my floor, and when it does happen it is usually followed by a very quik apology.
mysticalwaters1
350 Posts
wow I didn't realize how old this thread was!