Career Change .. can't do nursing anymore :(

[sandlewood_nurse]

I have been away from the forum for a couple months, mostly because my laptop was unavailable. So in the past couple months I have been working with interior designers. I've been working in the various departments and now I'm settled as an assistant to the Manager in a company that caters to Interior Designers. I've always wanted to do something creative, but my family pushed me to be more practical, and I went into nursing believing it was something different.

Wow!! Working at various departments, and evaluating how people work in the business helped me to realize one thing!! Yes, there are still some stressful jobs, but NO WHERE NEAR as stressful as nursing!! Every morning as I pass the accountant she's happily working away on her own (and ALWAYS CHEERFUL). I did receptionist work in a very busy office and even then I would go home FULL OF ENERGY. I am right now working as the assistant to the Manager at a resource center. The most stressful thing is proving myself at this point. I worked 10 hours with only a half hour break on Friday and I thought I was tired but then I realized that its no where nearly as tired as I would feel after even a 6 hour shift in the OR.

I spent YEARS sticking it out in nursing, thinking it would be just as stressful and people would be just as bitchy anywhere else. I was fully expecting to get attitude from dealing with some of the best designers in the city, and I didn't get it at ALL!! If someone was even pissed off about something, or stressed out, they were sure to let me know it wasn't me it was the situation. People are actually nice!! I was totally shocked!!

I've decided to stick with Nursing, on a part time basis for the time being. I've decided to apply for Psychiatric nursing and basically forget about the OR. Its so not worth it. I would have to get paid double at least to go through what I had been going through!! I am planning on going back to school to take Interior Design and Business.

I guess I thought I was too old for any sudden changes, especially since I just started working a couple years ago. But now that I see that I don't have to come home feeling like crap, feeling drained, feeling tired every night, and sick to my stomach every morning and dread going to work, why not I have decided. Life is too short to be stuck in a rut.

I want to say in addition, that if nurses worked together, and if more experienced nurses were more patient, and didn't eat their young, perhaps they would not be losing nurses. Maybe you all need to spend some time doing other stuff, changing careers to get mad about how the nursing working conditions are compared to other places. Maybe then we can make a collective decision not to play power trips, to not put each ohter down in front of other staff and surgeons, to not manipulate, to not make life miserable, and not tolerate it for anyone else. Maybe then we can work to force our employers to make better working conditions, to raise our status, to raise our salaries to what we deserve, or give us safe and reasonable assignments and work loads !!

Tired .. going to bed .. :).

[VegRN]

Commit a med error, somebody can die, poor assessment skills

and somebody winds up intubated. I don't think anyone has ever died from an accounting error or had permanent paralysis from the wrong choice in carpets

fakebee, you are too funny

[angel337, MSN, RN]

The one thing that has consistently shocked me during my twelve years as a nurse is the fact that so many nurses are unprepared for the stress of the actual job. Inpatient nursing in any setting(OR, PACU,ICU, med-surg,etc)

is quite literally a life or death business on a minute to minute basis for 12 hours a day. Commit a med error, somebody can die, poor assessment skills

and somebody winds up intubated. I don't think anyone has ever died from an accounting error or had permanent paralysis from the wrong choice in carpets

so it's understandable that many professions are less stressful than nursing. I've found that the people who come to nursing as a second career seem to grasp this much better than those who choose nursing straight out of school due to their greater life experience and maturity. Again this is only my experience. I came to nursing from the Army where I was taught that preparation, training, and teamwork would get the job done and allow you to handle the stressors of the job. I've been fortunate to have been trained by tremendously compassionate and caring nurses and to have worked with people who understand that the only way to provide safe quality care is to work as a team and to abandon the nursing school mindset that I am responsible only for my patients. I think if nursing schools would teach teamwork and cohesion rather than promoting competition and comparison the results would be far fewer shell shocked nurses and a nursing community that could change patient care for the better. Off my soapbox now and congrats on your newfound happiness.:balloons:

well said fakebee. i agree that many nurses don't understand the critical nature of our career and when they start working it's a culture shock. the one thing that keeps me going is to remember that my family and myself have been or will be a patient someday and i only want people that like what they are doing taking care of me.

[sbic56, BSN, RN]

Firstly...congrats you!!

I have been weaning myself out of nursing for awhile now. No more OB, no ED or surg or LTC. It's still my source of income, but thank goodness for my nurse consulting job. I sincerely think that MOST nurses are only really good till about mid 50's and then it's a very good thing to move on. Sure, you can stay "good enough", but not really at the top of the game. I call it 'old nurse syndrome'...still plenty smart, but just time to go. So many have to stay in it for the income and want to go, but get stuck. I think that is so with many jobs, but especially in nursing. An old realtor or an old accountant, not such a big deal, but an old nurse? Cops, firemen; our male stereotypical counterpart, get out of it in time. Not too many 60 year old cops on the beat or fireman risking their skin at that age. I wonder why we generally don't give it up when it would be better to do so? The money? I think so.

[lindarn]

Firstly...congrats you!!

I have been weaning myself out of nursing for awhile now. No more OB, no ED or surg or LTC. It's still my source of income, but thank goodness for my nurse consulting job. I sincerely think that MOST nurses are only really good till about mid 50's and then it's a very good thing to move on. Sure, you can stay "good enough", but not really at the top of the game. I call it 'old nurse syndrome'...still plenty smart, but just time to go. So many have to stay in it for the income and want to go, but get stuck. I think that is so with many jobs, but especially in nursing. An old realtor or an old accountant, not such a big deal, but an old nurse? Cops, firemen; our male stereotypical counterpart, get out of it in time. Not too many 60 year old cops on the beat or fireman risking their skin at that age. I wonder why we generally don't give it up when it would be better to do so? The money? I think so.

The money and the health care. When you can't receive Medicare until you are 65, how are nurses supposed to retire, when they have bad back, neck, shoulders, knees, and will need medical care, when there is no medical care to be had until then. Few hospitals in this country provide medical benefite to retirees, let alone a pension that one can actually live on in retirement. How then are nurses supposed to retire when they are 50? The only ones who can, are the ones who were in the military, and can retire after 20 years with full benefits.

I worked with a nurse who had bilateral knee replacements, and desperatly needed to retire, or find a desk job. She was an old diploma grad, and was not in a situation to go back to school and earn a BSN, which would have given her the needed college degree to be competitive for one of these jobs. She is trapped in a hospital job because she needs the higher pay that she would not receive in a doctors office.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[sbic56, BSN, RN]

linda

Yeah, it is sad that so many have to stay on just for the healthcare insurance. But, my thinking is, there is a choice to be made here. If I should continue on with a job that is so hard on me health wise that I am sure to need to use the healthcare insurance, is that so smart? If I find a lesser job with less benefits, will I be healthier over all? I don't know the answer. Could get hit by a fish truck, too. Personally, I am more for risking getting sick without health insurance than having it and most likely needing it because of the work I do. I can't retire, but I do not need to be a floor nurse til I'm 65. I guess everyone has to make their own decision as they see fit. It's a tough one!

The money and the health care. When you can't receive Medicare until you are 65, how are nurses supposed to retire, when they have bad back, neck, shoulders, knees, and will need medical care, when there is no medical care to be had until then. Few hospitals in this country provide medical benefite to retirees, let alone a pension that one can actually live on in retirement. How then are nurses supposed to retire when they are 50? The only ones who can, are the ones who were in the military, and can retire after 20 years with full benefits.

I worked with a nurse who had bilateral knee replacements, and desperatly needed to retire, or find a desk job. She was an old diploma grad, and was not in a situation to go back to school and earn a BSN, which would have given her the needed college degree to be competitive for one of these jobs. She is trapped in a hospital job because she needs the higher pay that she would not receive in a doctors office.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

[jjjoy, LPN]

Of course, nursing is not for everyone. My complaint is that we need so many nurses, that I don't see how we can afford to not make it easier for folks to stay in nursing even if it's not their passion. I don't mean that we should encourage those who hate nursing to stay in the field, but for many if a job is do-able and the pay is good, they'll stay.

Acute care nursing is stressful by nature but it needn't be next to impossible. As another noted, pervasive bad attitudes tend to reflect the manner in which employees are treated and one sees bad attitudes all too often in nursing. I think this is due to understaffing as well as to treating nurses as interchangeable mechanical units. Management is trusting the nurses with patient lives and yet doesn't trust nurses to determine staffing needs, instead dictating that from above.

Sandlewood_nurse - congrats on finding something that feels better! I know it's difficult to make that change when there are things that one does like about nursing and people keep saying that it will get better. It sounds like you gave it a good chance and aren't just giving up at the first obstacle. Your feeling at your new job is further evidence that this is a good change for you. You're right that no job is perfect and each has its share of oboxious personalities and inherent problems, but how you feel about also counts in your assessment of what's an acceptable job and field of work for you. I'm preaching to myself here, as I continue to look for work that satisfies. Best to you in your new job!