Burned Out, what is my next move?

[AreWeThereYet]

Greetings fellow Nurses,

I am a 57 year old RN who has had an incredible career thus far in hospital nursing (Med Surg & Cardiothoracic ICU, Outpatient Surgery, Endoscopy, CCT & Flight Nursing). However, lately I have been experiencing profound burnout to the point of wanting to retire early. To be honest, what I have witnessed first hand @ the bedside in the hospital setting is beyond my frustration levels & I feel compelled to seek outside opinions. The poor management in the unit I currently work, continues to add to our task list of required patient duties & paperwork (clearly not understanding or caring to understand what it actually takes to get these patients ready for surgery) & this unit continues to have recurrent issues regarding throughput of our patients on a daily basis. I wanted to work until retirement age (65), however, the reality of hospital nursing is staring me in the face. I am concerned about making mistakes that inadvertently will harm my patients however, we nurses are constantly being pushed to the point of speed @ the bedside with patient loads, high acuity of our patients, & less & less resources to do our jobs. I am finding it more & more difficult to "keep up" with the pace @ the bedside. I am coming to the realization, that I very possibly may be done with hospital nursing all together. Of course, the nurse is "written up" if anything is forgotten or missed, this pressure has taken its toll on me through the years. I just want to "take care of my patients" is it too much to ask that management & administration stay out of bedside Nursing care? Bedside Nurses are on the receiving end of the patient & family, Doctor & management complaints. I have watched many of my colleagues quit or be fired for various reasons (this breaks my heart) amongst all the crazy changes @ the bedside through particularly the last 10 years. I have worked @ my facility for so long, I cannot get paid as well in any other job beyond my hospital, I think that I am OK with a "cut in pay" at this point in my frustration, if I can find a job with great satisfaction (my dream job) that I can do from here to "65". Maybe I am wishful thinking. I have a BSN, I have even thought about going back to school, sounds daunting @ this point in my life. It seems that nursing today is so much less about the patient & more about profit, I am not willing to cut corners with my patient's care. I am thinking I am just too "old school" for the future of hospital nursing. Open for any suggestions or advice...or both.

Sincerely,

Burned Out RN :(

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

With your large body of med-surg and emergency experience, would you consider Occupational Health? If you went to work for a large, thriving company the pay might not be too bad...

[AreWeThereYet]

Hmmmm, perhaps, I hadn't thought of that area of nursing...thank you for your insight!