burn out in first yr

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Specializes in addictions recovery, tele, peds.

I currently work on a very busy, very stressfull stepdown unit. While it is not my dream job, I feel like I have learned alot and developed my skills. However, I am worn out. The hospital is having budget issues so we are now taking more pt with less help, without any incentive. We are not even getting our raises this year. I feel so tired and stressed all the time. The patients on our floor are very heavy and often have psych issues along with the medical issues. At least once a week I am getting hit, scratched or kicked by a combative patient the other nights I am putting confused people back to bed or restraining them to keep them from pulling out lines or catheters. I am exausted, Most nights I dont even want to come to work and I wonder why I chose this proffession.

Again this is not my dream job, I really want to work in neonatal or OB. I realize this is a stressfull area also but its more where my heart is so I feel I will enjoy it more.

I feel like I go home beat up night after night. I feel burnt out. Is this normal to feel this so soon into my career Ive been working for 10 months now.

My husband thinks I should look for another job but there isnt really much out there in the area I want to be in and I know I should just be grateful I have a job. I just wish I was doing something I actually enjoyed. I have nightmares about this place.

Thanks for letting me vent.....

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Hello!

I am not an RN yet, but I am burnt out with my CNA job. This is not my dream job either. I like you would rather work on a floor that has less combative patients. I will be going to Nursing school, but I sometimes wonder if this profession is really for me. I hope and pray everything works out for you. I see a lot of Nurses who feel the same as you. I know that you will find something that will be a perfect fit for you. My prayers are with you. Carla

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I am sorry to say that I have to agree with you. I am now in my 7th month of my first year and I come home exhausted or crying every day I work. I worked on nights for the first 5 months and have been on days for 2 months. That has helped on my days off, but on the days I work, I run constantly. Always feel behind, never get a break---sometimes get a 15 minute lunch, but can't relax because I have so much to do. I wonder every day what in the world I am doing to myself. I have lost weight from the stress.....and I am on an OB floor....

I have asked my coworkers if it gets easier or better and they all tell me no! After the years of hard work at school, I am so disheartened that I am not enjoying my work as a nurse. What to do??

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I am so sorry to hear about your frustration! I really hope things get better for you. I want to become a Nurse. I am a older woman. I was just wondering if this will be too much for me when the time comes to go to Nursing school. I have been working as a CNA for almost 3 years. I come home so drained. I vomit and get these awful headaches the next day. I really need to see my doctor about this. I really do enjoy the patients, but the work load is impossible for two CNA on the floor. I am praying that I find a job from home, my kids need me right now. I don't get paid very much bi-weekly. I really can't even afford to put clothes on my kids back. I am a single mother who needs to take action. I will pray for you that things get better. Hang in there okay!!!

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I'm done with nursing school, but have to say that it taught me that bedside nursing has got to be one of the most difficult jobs around. It seems to me that the level of stress & expectation placed on nurses is abusive. I don't want to subject myself to such perpetual stress & abuse. I would rather take a lower-paying, non-bedside job at this point & have some quality of life.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

i almost got burned out but i was saved! i am post 9 months work experience. i started on two units i loved while orienting. fast forward to this past summer, where my organization was reorganizing and placed me on the worse medical surgical floor in my hospital.

it was the worse for many reasons. my managers were always making changes that create additional stresses on the clinical staff causing the nurses and the cnas to be burned out! there was very little to no team work and lots of gossip and backstabbing. my floor was so bad it had a poor reputation amongst clinical staff and patients to the point that if a nurse wanted to transfer, it was next to impossible. it was as if that floor soiled the nurse's reputation through association!

i hated going to work and i felt, as you, that my heart was not into my job at all! i was just getting by... for example, i refused to even do additional trainings on my days off because i hated my job too much to show up! fyi, i am an avid learner! i am a geek about nursing and a great student in school. therefore, when i got to the point where i did not want to learn unless it was a quick session next to the bedside on my scheduled shift, i knew it was time for me to move on!!! like you my heart was somewhere else and so i followed my heart!!

i applied to ed positions inside and outside of my facility. i landed one outside of my facility and quickly put in my two week notice! now that i am on the other side again (excited to go to work, in-love with the type of training i am receiving, happy to work with my patient population, happy with my mangers, happy working with team-oriented nurses again, etc.), i can safely say that i think you need to do the same if you are unable to transfer.

there is no rule that states that as a new grad we must be miserable for a year. that is a rule we (nurses) put on ourselves. the fact that you have been employed all this time might bode well for you when you try to apply to outside positions (it worked for me). gl!!! :twocents:

-new grad who loves nursing (again) ...

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Specializes in Psych, LTC, Acute Care.

I feel ya. I have been working 5 months and I am burned out on a busy Neuro floor. I can so relate with all the psych issues, restraints and being beat on. I am gonna tough it out because I am doing a BSN program at the hospital next spring and the expereince will be a plus for me one day. I am definetly not gonna do bedside nursing in a hospital for long. I want something less stressful. Try to stick it out 2 months and transfer. I work on the worst unit in the hospital and have to stay 12 months before I can transfer. Nursing can be so stressful sometimes. I pray that you get a job that you will love.

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The best advice I can offer you is to quit now. However, if you want to stay in the profession, quit working as an employee of the facility. The staff is always taken for granted and not appreciated. If you are smart, you will go sign up with multiple nursing agencies. You will have more control and higher pay. You can choose where you work and where you won't work.

To those of you who are CNAs, you are most certainly underpaid and underappreciated. Those above you don't care about you and only think of you as low-class and inferior. You're treated as slaves and dogs. Your lot in life will only get worse and never get any better if you remain a CNA. My advice to you is to quit this very moment. Don't wait one moment longer. If you want to become an LPN or an RN, don't work as a CNA because you will be too tired and worn out to study your LPN or RN nursing course materials.

If you don't qualify for a student loan, get an office job or work in retail sales while going to school to be an LPN or an RN. Personally, I don't recommend getting a student loan because it is an non-dischargeable debt that you must pay back with interest even if you file bankruptcy.

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I hated nursing clinicals more than anything I've ever done in my life - esp the med-surg hospital clinicals; but, really, all of them. Was never so miserable. Totally turned me off to bedside nursing. I kept thinking, "who the heck would do this day in, day out?" I was good to my patients and always tried to do right by them; but I still hated being there. I can't even watch hospital dramas or health-care-related news anymore now, without getting a knot in my stomach. I just turn the channel away. Don't know who will be nursing us a couple of decades from now.

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Hi,

Your post really struck a nerve. I also am a new nurse on a busy, well understaffed floor. I have 11 months experience and yesterday was one of those nights. I have had multiple nights i have come home in tears thinking why did i get into this. I always find that when i take a minute to take a breath or when i come home and reinforce to myself that I did a good job and the best I can do; I feel better. Now initially this didnt work. However, when you reinforce day after day this concept you begin to believe what your telling yourself. As nurses there is sooo much to do and sooo little time. I use to think of all the things I could do better. Now i look at what i did well..and think of 1 thing i thought i could do better that night. YES only one. Next time I go in I make sure I really work on trying to work on that skill or thing I did poorly in the night before. It has worked well for me.

You have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of another so do something nice for yourself on your day off, think positively, and believe in yourself and the rest will come. As for floor nursing, I also dont see myself doing this for very long. I have started my masters degree and although some nurses have negatively responded to me going back to school because "your still young" "you dont have enough experince yet" I enjoy school. It will help me move on to something less stressful and also helps you grow as a floor nurse from working with other nurses who know what your going through and have been there. School has helped build a supportive network outside of work of people who understand what your going through. Maybe that could be an option for you.

good luck...

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

I would consider an outlet perhaps? Yoga, excercise, creative class, cooking class, massage? Though I empathize with your situation of understaffing and increasing acuity, sometimes the world at work looks better when there is a place to destress afterwards.

I find I can handle most situations better when I know I have a nice four day weekend or a date night planned, or just knowing my home is safe and relaxing.

The other option may be rearranging your schedule? I found splitting my days was unfavorable because I felt I was at work too much. By working three in a row I feel I get more consistent time off and my team doesn't change as much day to day. Now I can also feel burnt out by this as it is often hard to do three days with a heavy team, but every plan has a downside.

I suppose leaving the unit is an option, but this crisis of staffing vs. acuity is everywhere right now.

Best of luck,

Tait

PS. I work 7p-7a Complex Medical/Cardiac/GI/IMS dumping ground

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