Burned out!!!!!!!!

litbitblack, ASN, RN · Jan 8, 2009

I too fear I am burned out and it took getting fired and some time to realize it to just figure it out. I don't feel I did anything wrong to get terminated I just wasn't into all the pt satisfaction stuff and after 10 yrs putting up with all the crap it just finally took its tole. I am still just working part time as the money is just decent enough to allow me to do that and Am wondering if i will ever get my drive back. Walmart looked very tempting for a while and still does at times as we already spend most of our money there at least we would get an employee discount:yeah:. So as I am currently looking for a full time job, I wonder if I am not sabotaging myself in to getting back in full fledged. So is All that BURNOUT!!!! What do others do to help themselves besides getting out of the profession.

wisedonkey · Jan 21, 2009

As a long time nurse with multiple experiences in various units and speciality care, I have been so burned out for many years but keep working as a nurse because I can not afford not to work as a nurse. A trusted physician who was also burned out, told me , "Once you are burned out, you will never get over it...it just becomes more difficult". OMG!!! He was so right!!! I have changed positions and hospitals many times to change my environment thinking it will help...it has not!!! I used to love being a nurse but rude patients and their families, bad management, unrealistic expections placed on nurses, the sense of entitlement, bad manners,etc, etc, etc., have sucked the life out of me. I am so sorry you were fired. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and try Walmart, if you can afford it. Just remember with today's society, rude people are everywhere. Good luck to you.

Emma123 · Jan 21, 2009

....wondering....am i the only one reading these responses and actually saying OUT LOUD....yes! Oh yes, that too!!

(Thankful to not be alone. Insane and in good company, much better)...

JennRN65 · Jan 21, 2009

I hear you....I am tired.....tired of going to work...

The other night I had 4 patients, one was an acute MI that had just come from the cath lab. One of my patients had gotten the day nurse so upset, she couldn't even give report. I went in there with a "sweet as could be attitude" and was met with a very mean person. He barked orders at me, the words please and thank you were not in his vocabulary. I continued to be nice as could be and nothing could change his mean, hatefulness. He yelled at me once because his call light had been on 45 seconds and no one had answered yet - I was busy with my MI patient and told him I was with another patient, I was here now and what could I do for him. He ordered me out of his room and told me not to come back as no one had ever spoken to him like that........

It is days like that I don't even want to go back and work another shift....how could three other patients love the care they are getting and the fourth who is getting the same care and attention be so hateful.......

sicushells, RN · Jan 22, 2009

I really don't remember it being in my job description to be screamed, hollered or cursed at (by someone who is in their right mind). Nor do I remember being spit on, slapped, or kicked being in that description. Patients have rights. It is given to them on a piece of paper when they are admitted. But nurses do not have rights (not that I am aware of, anyway).

We don't have rights, but patients have "responsibilities"... none of which include NOT trying to attack/curse at/belittle those who are trying to take care of your noncompliant butt. Yeah... I'm toast too... :cry: I have a few more days off before I have to go back, maybe I'll pull it together.

zuzi · Jan 22, 2009

Nursing burned out starts where the communication stops!

We burned out because we are alone, because we talk with walls and walls didn't responde us, because if you talk and ask and clarify is wrong , if not is also wrong, because nurses, managerial staff cover their ass and protect their chairs instead to TALK, communication is ALL. Talk with your patient ask him, let him to present him self as he is, talk with your charge, ask, clarify, present the case, work TOGHETER, talk with families, let them to express them self, opinios, goals, talk with doctors, present the case, ask for advices, let them to explain you why AND TAKE ACTIONS.... Is all about communication!

Patients run away from hospitals because they pay too much and they are listen FEW! Because we fallow PROTOCOLS but we don't adapt protocols at their needs.... because we don't listen them... WE FALLOW RULES!

Rules are for patient and could be adapted for his own request NOT patient IS for rules! And we burned out! Because we know INSIEDE that is not right to treat them like that...and to be treated ourself like that by our unhappy patients.

Somewhere is a big mistake... is not a patient centrated care, is a freaking rules fallow up centrated care! If you want them happy... give them a good care, talk with them what they want, what they expect, fallow them fellings and make them happy this is the key. They are happy you are happy, facility has the money...is so easy!

I talk to much about...again... bad nurse Zuzi... looooool

FLmomof5 · Jan 22, 2009

For all you burned out nurses....thank you for all you do.

I am a pre-nursing student. So can I paint the picture from the other side of the fence?

Could you imagine getting laid off every 2 or 3 years? Could you imagine that there were no jobs in that town/state, so you had to move every time you changed jobs? Could you imagine hearing your youngest tell her classmates that she has attended 10 different schools in 10 years! (OMG!:omy: )

Imagine being good at what you do and being ignored because your are in a male dominated field....and you are a female....blonde...and looks 10 yrs younger than chronological age? Can you imagine being transfered out of your current position because you informed your boss you are pregnant? Can you imagine being told that YOU can't go on the (group) business trip because, "you are a mom! Who is going to take care of your kids?!" (that was in 1989!)

Can you imagine your daughter dislocating her shoulder and her MAIN concern is not the shoulder but the ER bill because you couldn't afford $1000/mo contribution for a family medical policy at work? Or how about going back to work 1 wk or 2 wks after the birth of a child because you didn't have enough leave accrued and couldn't afford the time off?

Can you imagine that I have an EE degree....spent 8.5 yrs as a Rocket Scientist for the USAF and NASA, followed by 17 years as a Mainframe programmer? Can you imagine that my pay has been stagnant for the past 15 yrs?

Can you imagine that bad bosses and unsupportive management exists in every line of work? (Worst at Walmart BTW!)

I learned to be a happy person by counting my blessings instead of my problems.....and living in the moment.

The grass is greener on the other side of the fence because someone painted it with spray paint! LOL:vlin:

mikesrn · Jan 22, 2009

while clearly the whole "system" is faulty..society itself is changing for the worse.I constantly communicate with families about their expectations (which are unrealistic-Grandma is 100-with metastatic ca,dementia,chf,and they are shocked when told she is not expected to live)MDs-who constantly say "Why are you calling me?? (Your the cardiologist-your patient is having chest pain) and patients(Why cant I have another dinner tray(You are 350lbs diabetic, with a blood sugar of 400.) All of this is (of course) the nurses fault. This is why we are burned out.

abbaking · Jan 22, 2009

I hear you! I hat to admit it, but I am at the point where I just don't care anymore. I want to, I truely do, But I just can't care. My job has become so exhausting that I dread coming to work. My LONG list of issues (but are certainly not limited to) include: Self-centered non-compliant society, Stupidity, Joint Commission, OSHA, State Health Boards, Antiquated patient equipment, cost cutting, cut backs, violent unpredictable patients (and co-workers), nursing popularity contests, paperwork, charting, short staffing, negative working environment, CUSTOMER SERVICE MENTALITY ("If Disney Ran Your Hospital" and Press-Gayney), MRSA, VRE, C-DIFF, stereotype of nurses as angels/oversexed bimbo's/gay men, managements' inappropriate use of $$$, no recognition for hard work, Negative reinforcement only, manditory overtime, floating, not being able to take a break, pointless long drawn out staff meetings, and familes/visitors from HELL.

I am at the point where I am taking more vacation time (I HAVE to), I am starting to smoke cigarettes again, and I am suffering with severe back pain. I want to stay in the medical field, but nursing is not for me anymore. I am thinking about respiratory therapy or even office administration. Even if I go to a career which I make much less, I am fine with.

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Jan 22, 2009

Oh administration will continue to act this way until a pt. goes downhill and refocuses them on healthcare. Thats the problem with having people who live in 6X6 cubicals make major decisions about how healthcare should be provided.

I have felt the same way as you at times. I have my own ways of dealing with them, some constructive some not so constructive.

In the end though, no nurse has ever lost a license (to my knowledge anyway) from forgetting to fill out the hourly rounding chart. You can lose your license from not giving safe care though. Take the burden upon yourself to remain focused and deliver proper care. If something does happen, its not like the hospital is going to take a bullet for you and say "Yes, we made her do this and that instead of what she should have been doing to care for the pt. Its our fault."

wisedonkey · Jan 23, 2009

For the nursing student FLmomof5: While I appreciate your thank you and understand your point...do you think the rest of us have not been in other life changing experiences or have been subjected to the very things you mentioned in your message? We are burned out for multiple reasons in our role as a RN. I loved being a critical care nurse. I loved learning new treatment modilites everyday. The academia was wonderful!! Nursing, as well as medicine, used to be fun and enjoyable despite the sadness one would see on any given day. It was very rewarding to be able to assist someone who was critically ill become well again enabling them to once again see their loved ones. The problem is MBA's took over medicine. The physicians will tell you they ceded their authority to the MBA's and it has been downhill ever since. If you think only nurses are burned out, try goggling physician burnout. As I said in my first message, my friend who is an excellent interventional cardiologist is "burned out". As I stated before, I respect your opinion and understand your point. But until you actually walk in the shoes for a couple of years as a RN, please refrain from telling all of the nurses that the "grass is always greener on the other side". It is condescending. I believe the majority of us have lived long enough to know weeds grow everywhere. Good luck to you as you pursue your goal to become a nurse. I wish you success in your career and hope to God you never experience the burnout most of us suffer. But also be prepared for the reality to hit you. Nursing programs teach the idealistic, not the reality!!

newohiorn, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Jan 23, 2009

Amen, amen, amen to everything that's been said. I've only been a nurse for 2.5 years and I feel just like the OP and the many others who responded. I spend hours and hours trying to figure out what I can do to be happy with my job. I've recently concluded that I get no fulfillment from my work because I don't feel like I do what I do to help the patients but rather I do all the things I do to cover my butt and try to avoid burning the next nurse by having as much of the work done as possible.