does anyone regret this career?

rollerskater · Sep 3, 2012

As far as caring for patients, no regrets on that part. The part I regret most about my job is seeing, hearing nurses who constantly complain about the off-going nurse(s) who didn't complete a task. Nursing is 24 hours. So the job continues.... Night-shift can be pretty busy too depends what department and where yah work.

elprup, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2012

"Amolucia - I don't REGRET nursing; I'm just not satisfied with it anymore and am very disappointed with the trend of things."I agree amolucia, I am very disappointed with the trends. It HAS to get better! It just has to.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Sep 3, 2012

I don't regret this career. But sometimes I regret going in to work.

Isn't that the truth! I know exactly what your saying when your stuck with a nightmare assignment! All you can do is count down the hours and try to make the best of it and remind yourself at the end of the day you can go home!

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Sep 3, 2012

just curious.
I regret it every single day. I had good intentions when I started, and I wasn't idealistic either. But it is a FAR worse job than I imagined. I feel like the life has been beaten out of me.
I consider myself a good nurse, and I do give it my all for patients when I'm at work. But I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this.
Just wanted to know if I was alone. My family and friends don't seem to understand.

Your not alone! Many of us have felt that way and you can see by reading the many posts here. For me working nights helped alot. Staff on night shift is more laid back and its calmer and less stressful. I can't imagine myself working on days, putting up with the chaos etc.

Someone mentioned the frustration of computers for everything and I totally agree, the damn computers are always freezing up, don't scan the patient or meds and it takes so much longer and makes a major production out of giving a med. It certainly is not user friendly, so many extra steps just to give a pill and have to wait for the computer to move from screen to screen. All this computer crap makes me feel like a trained monkey! I'm so tired of it! The IV is beeping and you can't turn it off, you have to jump thru so many steps to get it to shut up already! Need to check someone's blood sugar and the stupid machine won't let you because the daily qc check wasn't done, so now you have to waste 5 minutes on that!

Starfish2012 · Sep 3, 2012

I can't believe any HR professional would say that about anyone working in their organization! Clearly they are in the wrong job. Just terrible!

proud nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2012

I really can't see myself doing anything else. Some days I have to remind myself why I do this, but I don't regret it.

cantdoit · Sep 3, 2012

I know many people are unsatisfied in their jobs, but for me it goes far beyond that. I'm a very hard worker, but feel the expectations of nurses are just plain ridiculous. My own health is suffering as a result of this job, and I'm so miserable all the time. I love helping people, but I care about myself more.

I'm always looking for other non-nursing jobs, but I don't meet the experience criteria, not even close. And when I apply, I hear nothing back. And as far as nursing jobs go, I can't just easily hop from one job to the next hoping to find the elusive 'niche'. First of all there aren't that many openings, and second every hospital wants some sort of time commitment (they know how bad it is). I feel so STUCK.

Race Mom, ASN, RN · Sep 3, 2012

I HIGHLY suggest that you visit the "Specialties" forum here (with an open mind and a thirst for a direction). I have been a nurse for 4.5 years and have become bitter against the "corporations" that run the hospitals and the expectation that we are superheros. I was seriously, seriously considering leaving nursing but my hubby begged me to not throw away my nursing degree that I worked soooo hard for. I agreed to look deeply for something that I could transition to, but I knew I was done with bedside nursing. I reluctantly looked at the specialties here on Allnurses, knowing I wouldn't like anything. Well, I was wrong. My eyes opened wide when I saw the Nurse Entreprenuer category. Most nurses (including me) don't know that they can work independently (in some areas). I found the Foot Care thread and read the entire thing. I have since trained in two different states and taken my boards and am now a Certified Foot Care Nurse (CFCN). I am working on opening my own clinic and will travel to client's homes to provide medical foot care. In my state I am blessed that I can work independently and I do not have to work with a physician. I am providing for "activities of daily living" which do not require a physician's order. I am doing what I was trained to do in school! I am able to be a NURSE and provide holistic, compassionate care! I can chose what to put in a chart, change it if I feel it is necessary, use the supplies that I prefer, set my own schedule, set my own fees. It has taken some time and a lot of hard work, but I'm so excited to be able to be the type of nurse that I want to be. I have been able to cash flow the whole business at this point, so it is finacially possible for others to do too! I have found my passion for "nursing". BUT, if I had to do it all over again...I would be baking goodies, preferably with bacon :yeah:

butterfliesrus · Sep 3, 2012

I know many people are unsatisfied in their jobs, but for me it goes far beyond that. I'm a very hard worker, but feel the expectations of nurses are just plain ridiculous. My own health is suffering as a result of this job, and I'm so miserable all the time. I love helping people, but I care about myself more.
I'm always looking for other non-nursing jobs, but I don't meet the experience criteria, not even close. And when I apply, I hear nothing back. And as far as nursing jobs go, I can't just easily hop from one job to the next hoping to find the elusive 'niche'. First of all there aren't that many openings, and second every hospital wants some sort of time commitment (they know how bad it is). I feel so STUCK.

Highly recommend home health care. I worked in a nursing home for almost 2 years and was dying, not because of the patients or even my fellow nurses/cna/co-workers. It was the ridculous management! I am a firm believer in not speaking bad about previous employers, but they were not my cup of tea. I love geriatrics and love people, just hate the policies of superwoman/manhood that come with hospital jobs. (To quote Woogy).

If you really can't stand "nursing", I would recommend becoming a school nurse or a home health nurse or a specialty nurse like Woogy above did. There are so many different areas of nursing that do not require being "under" some corporation or even being a great nurse. (Sad to say). And you could look into adult day care centers, or pediatric home health- which I did for a time and let me tell you the kids are amazing, so tough and brave- or actually go into nursing research. If your health is at risk and your happiness is drained, there is no reason to continue in that nursing job; it could hurt your patients and hurt your back or alienate your co-workers.

On the co-workers side, since I am on that topic: no matter where you go, what field, or which state, there are going to be people that just are terrrible co-workers. I don't say that to make light of that situation, because it is plain wrong to not be honorable toward each other, but because it is a fact. For me, less staff is more. I prefer two or three co-workers and patient-ratios that are close to, if not, 1 to 3. That's just me. And there are jobs out there for that environment! Just keep looking! Stay strong! Take vacations if you've earned your tenure. Most importantly, try and get out of hospital/nursing home because policies are all about hospital and nursing home ridiculousnesses. Not a word, but hey, it's true.

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2012

Thirty years here... I ... FEEL your pain. The "expectations " of the nurse.. are now the expectations of the corporation that run the facility.
We are no longer caregivers.. we are pawns in the health care delivery system.
For a long time now, I have tried to express the "challenges" of nursing ... to family and friends.
Hang THAT up.
They are indoctrinated to believe that nurses are caregivers... and we are here to serve our patients.
We now, serve the corporation.

THIS!!!

Syrenia · Sep 3, 2012

There are so many days I feel the same way. If I could find a job making the kind of money I do right now, I'd get out of nursing in a heartbeat and never look back. At the same time, I know I feel that way because my workplace is horrible. I don't mind taking care of patients, but watching the constant backstabbing that my coworkers do every single day, plus the fact that I can see management is way more interested in numbers than safe patient care really drains me. Sure, a different job would fix that, but it's hard to find a job when there aren't very many out there, and the ones that are, I send a resume and never hear anything back.

This. I agree 100%.

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2012

I know many people are unsatisfied in their jobs, but for me it goes far beyond that. I'm a very hard worker, but feel the expectations of nurses are just plain ridiculous. My own health is suffering as a result of this job, and I'm so miserable all the time. I love helping people, but I care about myself more.
I'm always looking for other non-nursing jobs, but I don't meet the experience criteria, not even close. And when I apply, I hear nothing back. And as far as nursing jobs go, I can't just easily hop from one job to the next hoping to find the elusive 'niche'. First of all there aren't that many openings, and second every hospital wants some sort of time commitment (they know how bad it is). I feel so STUCK.

I feel like I can really relate to your situation. My current job is a good fit for me at this time, but I know I will eventually be ready to move on. However, it has been really good for my health and my emotional well being to get away from the bedside.

It was not easy to get this job. I happened to hear about it through a friend who worked in the department. I interviewed, and I felt as if they wanted me. I waited weeks to hear back, only to hear that they had hired someone else who had more seniority. I was told to hang in there, they would be having some more personnel changes in the near future, so another couple of months went by and they posted the same position. I interviewed once more, the interview went well, I thought they wanted me, and I waited....and waited...

FINALLY I heard back that they wanted to offer me the job, which I gladly accepted. Then I had to wait another month and a half before the position I was already in would let me go. It was torture! The whole process took about six months.

Now I work independently, don't do anything from the waist down, am learning a new skill set, and accruing hours to be eligible to sit for a certification exam, which will open more doors for me.

The area in which I live always has a depressed economy, and jobs, let alone nursing jobs, are always hard to come by. The idea of "just trying a different specialty" is a nice idea, but easier said than done. But even so, I lucked into a nice position, and I think it's possible for you, too. It might take time and a lot of work, but keep your ear to the ground.

I would even suggest a good old fashioned job search, where you type up a really sweet resume with a cover letter, dress up in nice interview clothes, and go in person and hand deliver your resume at different places where you think you might like to work, even if they don't have any positions posted.