Burn out? I'm pre-nursing

jobellestarr · Oct 10, 2022

Nursing and healthcare has changed in the past few decades. It is a business and costs are cut to make budget. Especially with staff. I would not recommend nursing anymore as a career. There are related disciplines that are not as stressful and pay just as well or more than nursing. For example: X-ray tech, US tech, COTA, etc. Good luck.

Emergent, RN · Oct 10, 2022

I wouldn't recommend nursing anymore. Steer clear.

behealthyitsfun · Oct 12, 2022

Thanks

maybug, ADN, BSN, RN · Oct 13, 2022

If I can convince one person to steer clear of nursing, I'll feel I've made a difference. RUN!

Anna1234 · Oct 19, 2022

On 10/12/2022 at 5:16 PM, maybug said:

If I can convince one person to steer clear of nursing, I'll feel I've made a difference. RUN!

Im curious, why do you think that way?

~Shrek~ · Oct 19, 2022

I see a lot of comments saying to stay away from nursing, but no one explaining why. Here is my list of pros and cons:

PROS

In this economy, you will always have a job somewhere, even if it isn’t an amazing job, that pays well enough to rent a small apartment or get a nice one with roommates. You will never be rich unless you are creative but you will always be able to cover your expenses and find work
if you get bored with one aspect of nursing, it is relatively easy to switch specialties. You will need to find a place willing to train you, but once you have a year or two of acute care experience, it is relatively easy to make the switch from med/ surg to ICU or l&d. I am not saying it’s easy in the sense that you won’t need training or support, but it’s easy in the sense that many jobs will take you and be willing to train you
Once you get a year or two of acute care experience; it’s easy to find part time or per diem work in the event you want to start a family and be the primary caregiver. On the flip side, it’s easy to find second jobs or side hustles or work overtime to boost your paycheck.
there is a lot of opportunity to go back to school and advance such as a CRNA or NP. You don’t technically need experience to go to NP school but it’s best to have some. CRNA school needs ICU experience.
Since you work 3 12’s in acute care you may have the ability to schedule your work days to work 3 days straight and 4 days off in a row or like 6 days straight and 8 days off in a row to do things. But 6 12’s is EXHAUSTING.
you don’t have to work in acute care if you don’t want to. I did for a short time and I don’t plan to ever again.

CONS

Working nights is a b*** and takes a toll physically and mentally. Whether or not you work nights in your first job mostly depends on luck. You will likely have to tolerate a year or two of nights before being able to find day shift work, and if you change hospitals to somewhere competitive, like a university hospital, you may have to go back on nights again. That said, some thrive on night shift or appreciate the flexibility it gives them in their personal life. It does take a toll on your health.
working weekends and holidays is fine for me, but that is something to consider. One thing that I did not like with the hospital I worked at was that holidays were NOT an extra day off. You still had to work your 3 12’s. In my job in the non hospital world, I get an extra day off during Christmas, so my work week is only 4 days. If I work on Christmas, I get an extra day of vacation to use whenever I want and holiday pay. But in the hospital, you don’t get an extra day off during Christmas week. You just work your 3 12’s with Christmas off OR you work Christmas and get holiday pay and still work 3 12’s with no vacation time “reward”. All these holidays are like an extra vacation day. I think if you add it all up, I get about 10 holidays or 2 workdays of holidays in a calendar year, and that is an extremely nice privilege that I wouldn’t get in the hospital.
making plans on your day off is sometimes challenging if the hospital may want you to work OT or suddenly something comes up and they ask you to switch your schedule
patient loads are heavy. In the hospital, one wrong decision could be life or death. That means you carry heavy emotional and financial liability. The Radonda Vaught case was filled with many errors and she definitely did make a serious mistake, but the situation also highlights how chaotic and dangerous the hospital environment can be. I don’t work hospital now, so if someone is super sick in front of me I have the privilege of calling 911 and they get help ASAP, but even though the stakes are lower with what I do, I still make decisions that impact people’s health and wellness
If you have little to no hospital experience (like me LOL) or haven’t worked in the hospital for several years then your job opportunities are more limited. Yes you can still get jobs relatively easily but not with the speed that a nurse who has recent acute care experience. I am on the bottom of the totem pole and don’t have the same respect in the nursing community that, like, an CVICU nurse will get. I will not get a job as fast as a seasoned CVICU who could probably find one within a week or less.
the pay is good, but there are other jobs out there that pay similarly or more with less stress. You will never make over $100-200k (depending on area, in CA nurses make easily $100-150k but in other states that isn’t the case) unless you work 2 jobs, travel, work overtime, become an NP or CRNA, or actively seek out other opportunities to make more money
There aren’t very many jobs for Nurses out there that pay super well and can be done from home, like what I see on TikTok when they describe the tech industry
nurses aren’t exactly known for being friendly to each other. It’s a meme for a reason. MOST nurses I meet are extremely nice, but I have met some very mean ones. If you work in an office it’s easier to avoid a mean coworker than if you work in the hospital and depend on these mean nurses for training and help.
nursing school does not train you well enough. It simply does not have enough clinical hours in my opinion. You will depend on finding a new grad job to get properly trained to work in acute care and that onus is on your employer and the repercussions for making a mistake when you are a new grad working are much higher than when you are a student in clinical in school. When I graduated, hospital new grad jobs were extremely competitive to get into, and if you don’t get hired at a good hospital, the environment is very sink or swim and if the nurses are not friendly and everything is new and stressful and you are just thrown out on your own, it is a safety hazard for the patient and liability for you.

~Shrek~ · Oct 19, 2022

17 minutes ago, ~Shrek~ said:

I see a lot of comments saying to stay away from nursing, but no one explaining why. Here is my list of pros and cons:

PROS

In this economy, you will always have a job somewhere, even if it isn’t an amazing job, that pays well enough to rent a small apartment or get a nice one with roommates. You will never be rich unless you are creative but you will always be able to cover your expenses and find work

if you get bored with one aspect of nursing, it is relatively easy to switch specialties. You will need to find a place willing to train you, but once you have a year or two of acute care experience, it is relatively easy to make the switch from med/ surg to ICU or l&d. I am not saying it’s easy in the sense that you won’t need training or support, but it’s easy in the sense that many jobs will take you and be willing to train you

Once you get a year or two of acute care experience; it’s easy to find part time or per diem work in the event you want to start a family and be the primary caregiver. On the flip side, it’s easy to find second jobs or side hustles or work overtime to boost your paycheck.

there is a lot of opportunity to go back to school and advance such as a CRNA or NP. You don’t technically need experience to go to NP school but it’s best to have some. CRNA school needs ICU experience.

Since you work 3 12’s in acute care you may have the ability to schedule your work days to work 3 days straight and 4 days off in a row or like 6 days straight and 8 days off in a row to do things. But 6 12’s is EXHAUSTING.

you don’t have to work in acute care if you don’t want to. I did for a short time and I don’t plan to ever again.

CONS

Working nights is a b*** and takes a toll physically and mentally. Whether or not you work nights in your first job mostly depends on luck. You will likely have to tolerate a year or two of nights before being able to find day shift work, and if you change hospitals to somewhere competitive, like a university hospital, you may have to go back on nights again. That said, some thrive on night shift or appreciate the flexibility it gives them in their personal life. It does take a toll on your health.

working weekends and holidays is fine for me, but that is something to consider. One thing that I did not like with the hospital I worked at was that holidays were NOT an extra day off. You still had to work your 3 12’s. In my job in the non hospital world, I get an extra day off during Christmas, so my work week is only 4 days. If I work on Christmas, I get an extra day of vacation to use whenever I want and holiday pay. But in the hospital, you don’t get an extra day off during Christmas week. You just work your 3 12’s with Christmas off OR you work Christmas and get holiday pay and still work 3 12’s with no vacation time “reward”. All these holidays are like an extra vacation day. I think if you add it all up, I get about 10 holidays or 2 workdays of holidays in a calendar year, and that is an extremely nice privilege that I wouldn’t get in the hospital.

making plans on your day off is sometimes challenging if the hospital may want you to work OT or suddenly something comes up and they ask you to switch your schedule

patient loads are heavy. In the hospital, one wrong decision could be life or death. That means you carry heavy emotional and financial liability. The Radonda Vaught case was filled with many errors and she definitely did make a serious mistake, but the situation also highlights how chaotic and dangerous the hospital environment can be. I don’t work hospital now, so if someone is super sick in front of me I have the privilege of calling 911 and they get help ASAP, but even though the stakes are lower with what I do, I still make decisions that impact people’s health and wellness

If you have little to no hospital experience (like me LOL) or haven’t worked in the hospital for several years then your job opportunities are more limited. Yes you can still get jobs relatively easily but not with the speed that a nurse who has recent acute care experience. I am on the bottom of the totem pole and don’t have the same respect in the nursing community that, like, an CVICU nurse will get. I will not get a job as fast as a seasoned CVICU who could probably find one within a week or less.

the pay is good, but there are other jobs out there that pay similarly or more with less stress. You will never make over $100-200k (depending on area, in CA nurses make easily $100-150k but in other states that isn’t the case) unless you work 2 jobs, travel, work overtime, become an NP or CRNA, or actively seek out other opportunities to make more money

There aren’t very many jobs for Nurses out there that pay super well and can be done from home, like what I see on TikTok when they describe the tech industry

nurses aren’t exactly known for being friendly to each other. It’s a meme for a reason. MOST nurses I meet are extremely nice, but I have met some very mean ones. If you work in an office it’s easier to avoid a mean coworker than if you work in the hospital and depend on these mean nurses for training and help.

nursing school does not train you well enough. It simply does not have enough clinical hours in my opinion. You will depend on finding a new grad job to get properly trained to work in acute care and that onus is on your employer and the repercussions for making a mistake when you are a new grad working are much higher than when you are a student in clinical in school. When I graduated, hospital new grad jobs were extremely competitive to get into, and if you don’t get hired at a good hospital, the environment is very sink or swim and if the nurses are not friendly and everything is new and stressful and you are just thrown out on your own, it is a safety hazard for the patient and liability for you.

I meant to say 2 workweeks not days

~Shrek~ · Oct 19, 2022

I also forgot to add: many nursing jobs require you to clock in and out on time, and clock in and out for lunch, even if you aren’t taking them or are working late. You get written up for working late, so you clock out and then stay an extra hour or two from your 12 hour shift to chart without overtime pay. Again this is liability because if something happens they can blame you and say “why were you on the unit at 9:00 am when you clocked out at 7:00 am?” if something happens.

Anna1234 · Oct 19, 2022

2 hours ago, ~Shrek~ said:

I also forgot to add: many nursing jobs require you to clock in and out on time, and clock in and out for lunch, even if you aren’t taking them or are working late. You get written up for working late, so you clock out and then stay an extra hour or two from your 12 hour shift to chart without overtime pay. Again this is liability because if something happens they can blame you and say “why were you on the unit at 9:00 am when you clocked out at 7:00 am?” if something happens.

Considering all of these helpful facts you put forward, do you have any recommendation for nursing jobs? Which ones do you think are the least stressful and which are the worse? Which specialty do you think is the best for a new grad?

~Shrek~ · Oct 20, 2022

5 hours ago, Anna1234 said:

Considering all of these helpful facts you put forward, do you have any recommendation for nursing jobs? Which ones do you think are the least stressful and which are the worse? Which specialty do you think is the best for a new grad?

The least stressful is clinic jobs and 9-5 government jobs. The most stressful is definitely acute care with ICU being peak stress, but if the ICU is your passion and a speciality you are good at, you will always be tremendously in demand. I think that the best thing for a new grad is to get acute care experience for at least a year or two. I don’t have much acute care experience, but I think not having that experience puts me in a vulnerable position in case something happens to my job. I think if you can endure a year or two in acute care that will open doors. However if you don’t like it, like I didn’t, I think it’s acceptable to work in a clinic or something.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Oct 21, 2022

I've had a 25+ year nursing career and have never worked in acute care. Never wanted to. There's a lot of nursing jobs outside of the hospital, nothing wrong with a new nurse knowing the hospital setting isn't what they want and exploring other avenues.