Since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to help people. I wanted to heal. Now 4 years out of nursing school, I HATE nursing with a passion. I am a med/surg nurse with a BSN.
Reasons I hate nurses (in no particular order)
1. Most days I feel like a pill-pusher. I don't feel like I make a difference.
2. Doctors feel they are perfect.
3. Patient satisfaction scores.
4. Patient sense of entitlement. (see #3)
5. Family at the bedside dictating what they want...like I am their personal servant. I have to comply (see #3).
6. Lack of appreciation mized with how much more work can they give us.
7. Nights, weekends, and holiday. I don't want to give everything I've got only to see no return in work satisfaction.
I don't want to be a case manager. I don't want home health nursing. I really want to be outside of the hospital. Quite honestly, I want to be away from people. I would be quite content to work on a computer and have email interactions. Preferably work from home. Any suggestions?
How much does a nurse's patient care cost to the nurse? How much does her license cost? How much does her/his job cost to her and/or her family? How much liability cost to job each and every day that she/he is placed in danger and judged upon patient satisfaction/task fulfillment without adverse reaction? How much risk does a nurse take in a biologically risky situation should she take before she says enough...? Are nurses just masochists? They shouldn't be. Better yet, how does management justify placing people in a situation that places nurses in this situation with less resources? Yes, I want better for patients and nurses.
Yes I understand that, but you're not going to change the current system anytime soon, or your current position unless you decide to take LOA. Everything takes time.
I agree....bedside nursing is unbearable in many facilities, but the powers that be don't care. We can all be replaced.
Specializes in Pain, critical care, administration, med.
The reason that healthcare is the way it is has nothing to do with the management. Costs of healthcare to those that have no insurance, reimbursement, regulatory requirements, and the list goes on. So how do facilities stay open? It's not easy and many operate in the red. As Obama care continues to unfold see if things are going to get better. Healthcare is in a bad state.
Maybe it's where I am. I feel like everything is so political. We have to get good scores and become a magnet hospital. We are overworked with patients.
I had a great mentor, and I use to love my job. I loved it for the first 2 1/2 years. Over the short years I have worked, I felt as though upper management has expected more and more of us. They want us to do teaching to prevent readmissions, attend rounds, and complete various checklists on preventions. That's great, but there isn't enough time in the day. If we leave late because we didn't finish ontime, we could get written up, and there are more duties about to be implemented. I feel like a pill pusher who spends her day checking things off her list. The patient has become a number and is no longer a person. How can we give care like this? We have all voiced opinions, but it's "not in the budget" for us to have more resources. I feel like nurses do not have any input in the changes that occur.
That is it in a nutshell. I have been a nurse for 15+ years and only in the last year or so have I felt the frustration of feeling like a paper/pill pusher instead of a nurse. I spend roughly half my shift on a computer instead of providing care. Seems like every month or so there is some new protocol that needs to be followed that involves filling out yet another form or charting the same darn thing in yet another place...why do I need to chart the same set of VS in 4 places??? And we are expected to complete all this extra paperwork plus care for more pts in the same 8 hour shift. Nobody can do this job and do it well. I always feel like I am just treading water, trying my best to stay afloat!
We had voceras. A vocera reminds me of a police radio, when they have them clipped to their shoulder. A computer voice will say "can you take a phone call?" I HATED that voice.
One time I had a phone on each ear, one holding for pharmacy, one doctor in front of me wanting me to translate for him, the charge on the other side asking if I could take over care for an unhappy patient. Then I hear the vocera '"can you take a phone call?" (pulling hair out) REALLY?!? That was the beginning of the end of hospital nursing for me.
RN1023, I am so sorry you are going through this. I totally know where you are coming from. I've been a nurse for 8 years...all in the ER. Pt "entitlement" is very common place in the ER, as well as manipulation, lying, aggressiveness, complaining, etc. I had to quit last year for several months because I was so burnt out. I was disappointed in every aspect of nursing including in myself. I didn't think I would ever go back but after a few months I started to miss it...weird right? I always felt that I was suppose to be a nurse and that feeling gnawed at me while I was off. I quit in June and came back in February to the same department I had been at for my whole career.
There are so many things that caused my burnout but the big one was the exhaustion mixed with the realization that my expectations of nursing was totally off. I went into nursing with this picture that I could really help everyone I came in contact with. We all know how rare that actually is. When you realize that your picture of what your career should be isn't how it actually is, it's a bit of a disappointment (that's an understatement). Once I was able to let go my unrealistic expectations and go in with no expectations I started having better days.
Med-surg is probably one of the hardest places to be and I would never want to work there. But, without those nurses I would have no where to send my ER patients. You should see the panic in an ER nurse's face when they have to keep a med-surg pt and do admit orders. It's a complete mess as I'm sure you are well aware of. You have a skill set that other nurses do not have. The ER may stop the bleeding but you keep what ever was bleeding from rotting off. You are part of the team that gets the pt out the door and moving in the right direction.
I think that letting go of something you wanted for so long would be tragic. Maybe you aren't meant to be in Med-surg but patient care options are vast. Even though our truly good experiences are rare, they do still happen. Those moments are very important. We make the different in that one person's life and then they go on to spread the wealth to others.
Can you take a leave of absence? A vacation isn't long enough. You need to be able to get away without having to anticipate the day you have to go back to work. I really felt so much better after having several months off. Now I don't work as much, don't do any committee's, and really just go to work with no expectations of my patients or their families or the people I work with.
When things get horrible (mean patients, complaining, whatever) I remind myself that this person probably hasn't had anyone be nice to them, or show them any love, for a long time. And then I remind my self of the commandment to love thy neighbor (which means everyone). Of course, this is a fine line since we don't want to be taken advantage of either and love means many different things. Praying often also helps. I've found that following this advice makes a difference and I don't expend as much emotional energy stewing about how horrible the pt, family, or staff is treating me. I give it to God and move on.
And as for the politics and charting...this is what is ruining nursing the most. Unfortunately, it's because of money. I fear this will only get worse unless we voice our opinions louder.
Anyways, I hope that you find encouragement and the courage to change your circumstances if need be. But, don't do it hastily because you might regret it later. Informatics might be dreadfully boring and I'm sure it is full of politics. I'd do your research before making the switch. If you do make the switch, a lot of employers will hire within their departments for informatics so keep your sensors up, especially since EPIC seems to be in full swing. I know of a nurse who has done this in my department. Thankfully for her, it was temporary because she is not enjoying it even though she is doing a great job.
You have plenty of options if you don't mind going back to school...unfortunately, nursing is a vocational job. There is not much use for a nursing degree other than nursing.
I worked in the health insurance industry for 11 yrs before becoming a nurse. While looking for a hands on nursing job I went back to my health insurance co & worked as a Grievance & Appeals Nurse for almost a yr. One thing I realized it wasn't for me. It was easy for me but I had enough of sitting at a desk while on production, answering to a non licensed person & I have always wanted to be a hands on nurse. To each it's own but there are many options for you. You can also do Case Mgmt, Utilization Review Nurse, Medical Review Nurse & Grievance & Appeals Nurse all are available at health insurance companies.
You can also work for a Clinical Research Organization or a pharmaceutical company as a Clinical Research Associate, maintain your RN license, in many cases make much better money for less hours, possibly travel a bit, and not deal with patients at all.
I really don't know what to do I don't like med surg and I work on such a crazy unit where there is no team work no nothing. I got offered a part time day position at detox pay is 31/hr. however the med surg position is 42/hr. I don't know what to do
RN1023, I am so sorry you are going through this. I totally know where you are coming from. I've been a nurse for 8 years...all in the ER. Pt "entitlement" is very common place in the ER, as well as manipulation, lying, aggressiveness, complaining, etc. I had to quit last year for several months because I was so burnt out. I was disappointed in every aspect of nursing including in myself. I didn't think I would ever go back but after a few months I started to miss it...weird right? I always felt that I was suppose to be a nurse and that feeling gnawed at me while I was off. I quit in June and came back in February to the same department I had been at for my whole career.
There are so many things that caused my burnout but the big one was the exhaustion mixed with the realization that my expectations of nursing was totally off. I went into nursing with this picture that I could really help everyone I came in contact with. We all know how rare that actually is. When you realize that your picture of what your career should be isn't how it actually is, it's a bit of a disappointment (that's an understatement). Once I was able to let go my unrealistic expectations and go in with no expectations I started having better days.
Med-surg is probably one of the hardest places to be and I would never want to work there. But, without those nurses I would have no where to send my ER patients. You should see the panic in an ER nurse's face when they have to keep a med-surg pt and do admit orders. It's a complete mess as I'm sure you are well aware of. You have a skill set that other nurses do not have. The ER may stop the bleeding but you keep what ever was bleeding from rotting off. You are part of the team that gets the pt out the door and moving in the right direction.
I think that letting go of something you wanted for so long would be tragic. Maybe you aren't meant to be in Med-surg but patient care options are vast. Even though our truly good experiences are rare, they do still happen. Those moments are very important. We make the different in that one person's life and then they go on to spread the wealth to others.
Can you take a leave of absence? A vacation isn't long enough. You need to be able to get away without having to anticipate the day you have to go back to work. I really felt so much better after having several months off. Now I don't work as much, don't do any committee's, and really just go to work with no expectations of my patients or their families or the people I work with.
When things get horrible (mean patients, complaining, whatever) I remind myself that this person probably hasn't had anyone be nice to them, or show them any love, for a long time. And then I remind my self of the commandment to love thy neighbor (which means everyone). Of course, this is a fine line since we don't want to be taken advantage of either and love means many different things. Praying often also helps. I've found that following this advice makes a difference and I don't expend as much emotional energy stewing about how horrible the pt, family, or staff is treating me. I give it to God and move on.
And as for the politics and charting...this is what is ruining nursing the most. Unfortunately, it's because of money. I fear this will only get worse unless we voice our opinions louder.
Anyways, I hope that you find encouragement and the courage to change your circumstances if need be. But, don't do it hastily because you might regret it later. Informatics might be dreadfully boring and I'm sure it is full of politics. I'd do your research before making the switch. If you do make the switch, a lot of employers will hire within their departments for informatics so keep your sensors up, especially since EPIC seems to be in full swing. I know of a nurse who has done this in my department. Thankfully for her, it was temporary because she is not enjoying it even though she is doing a great job.
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sneeds
134 Posts
How much does a nurse's patient care cost to the nurse? How much does her license cost? How much does her/his job cost to her and/or her family? How much liability cost to job each and every day that she/he is placed in danger and judged upon patient satisfaction/task fulfillment without adverse reaction? How much risk does a nurse take in a biologically risky situation should she take before she says enough...? Are nurses just masochists? They shouldn't be. Better yet, how does management justify placing people in a situation that places nurses in this situation with less resources? Yes, I want better for patients and nurses.