CONTINUED IN WHAT IS THE MAJOR REASON Why are they all leaving?

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What conditions would cause so many nurses to leave? Our ER has been losing friends fast. Why is there such a large turnover in nursing? I'm going to school, yet I talk to many RN's who are looking for a new career!!

:pumpiron: What a great post!!! I am a nursing student and was getting very apprehensive about my future! You sound like a GREAT person. I will carry this with me today and do my best to foster great attitudes for positive nursing environment. You have my admiration!

Irene, I'm glad you feel better about your future, we need more nurses like you. The more positive you are (even when others choose not to be, the more positive things you will attract. Keep being positive even when it's difficult, it's your life and you're worth it!

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i'm 6 mos. from grad. w/ my R.N. & I HATE med/surg! I had clinical today and didn't have time to pee once, let alone eat! Not only that, but I do my best job w/ 2-3 pts. (I'm a student) & it's NEVER enough (I do the aids work also) even if I go above and beyond what other students do. There's always an R.N. ready to say "well, did you do this" .."did you do that", but NEVER... "good job"! Ticks me off & makes me mad! They're sucking the life out of me, before i'm even paid to do it, so no thanks. I'm doing my time on med/surg in school, because i have no choice then i'm outta there!!!!!

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Specializes in disability.

Hi dijmart

Not everyone is callous in orthopaedics but then I'm from good old Aussie land. How ever to get back to you med/surg is not for everyone thats why nursing is sooooooooo diverse. You will find a specialitly that you will excel at & then you will be in control. So take heart we dont all eat our young. I do agree it is a busy department but that should be not excuse for poor behaviour.

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Hi dijmart

Not everyone is callous in orthopaedics but then I'm from good old Aussie land. How ever to get back to you med/surg is not for everyone thats why nursing is sooooooooo diverse. You will find a specialitly that you will excel at & then you will be in control. So take heart we dont all eat our young. I do agree it is a busy department but that should be not excuse for poor behaviour.

thanks, yeh, med/surg just isn't for me....but, i'm sure some love it. so, i'll leave it at that.

i'm going to try psych when i'm done w/ school (i think), it's less task oriented & i really liked my clinicals. i'm not saying psych is easy, just different.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.

Isn't that the best thing about nursing? There's something to suit everyone. I am one who could not stand psych nursing, so thank goodness you like it!

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Hello, I am new to this site, I have read stories for months now, but, I just had to reply to this post. I hate med/surge too, I am not a floor nurse for sure, I want to work Psych, I plan on (hopefully) going on to be a NP in psych, I am currently working on a minor in Psych with my nursing degree, I graduate in May. I love the challenges of Psych and the variety.

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Amen! Let's allow Epona to speak and not jump down his/her throat!

I am a student nurse, and I had one clinical instructor who worked straight med-surg many years and she went on and on about this. Yes, you can take breaks. Yes, you can almost always go to lunch. It's about time management and, more importantly, setting boundaries. Now I KNOW you have someone who is assigned to cover you. You have to go to the trouble of giving report and getting report again from them before and after your breaks, but it can be done. If they don't do their job, you have to speak to them about it and then follow the appropriate channels to get them spoken to by someone higher up if they don't cover you properly. That is not easy and won't necessarily make you popular, but it will slowly affect a change on your unit.

Also, I work as a student RN and I'd say most nurses on the med-surg floor I'm on take lunch every day-an a full 1/2 hour at least. Those who don't are 1) the new grad who is gonna burn herself out fast and just can't seem to get it all done and 2) the woman who cannot delegate and has trouble prioritizing. I'm not at the level of either one of them (!), but from the comfortable position of a student I can see where they are going wrong.

This is one nurse who told you she got to take her breaks, and one clinical situation. You believe your nurse instructor who used to work med surg that she always got her break, yet you don't believe the dozens who are telling you they can't take theirs.

I've been a nurse for almost two decades. I have never worked in a facility where anyone was ever assigned to cover for breaks. In my speciality, I am often the only nurse in the entire facility.

If you are fortunate enough to work in a state where hospitals are properly staffed and nurses are not treated like dogs, I'm happy for you. Unfortunatly, most nurses' situations are not like this.

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To all the wonderful nurses out there doing your job and hanging in there I salute you. I hope when you require nursing care some day in your twilight years that the new generation will do well by you. For those who went into nursing soley for the 'security' or the money I feel for you. For those who take solace in constantly complaining about your conditions or how much you loathe being a nurse, I worry about you. Feeling that stuck, and hating your 'job' can really lead to feelings of helplessness which in turn may lead burnout and subsequent abuse of substances, eating too much, and just basically not enjoying life.

In the past, I have worked with several nurses who were not that 'old' and they discouraged me on a daily basis--DO NOT GO INTO NURSING. One nurse would tell me so often when I was an EMT that I finally asked her one day "why on EARTH are you a nurse? still? here? Why?" To which she actually stopped, reflected and stated that its an honorable way to make a decent living.

To those of you who feel burnt out stressed out floor- nursing -sucks, I ask if you can to try and remember why you went into nursing in the first place. IF you went into nursing soley for the money may I suggest banking, or some other such easier way to make a buck-- you know who you are. For those of you who went into nursing with an ideal in mind, and to fulfill some duty to public service and helpling to relieve suffering of others, I tip my hat to you. Dont be caught up in martyrdom which many nurses do. Dont be a victim. You deserve more than that. To all of you I say thank you. You are the backbone of the establishment and it is a damn shame that so many of you feel disenfranchised in this profession. Change needs to happen. It has to. The healthcare in this country is bustin' at the seams. Nurses are unhappy and will walk. And who will be around to take care of the suits someday? That is when you will see real change happen. Some may scoff--but never underestimate power in numbers.

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i'm 6 mos. from grad. w/ my R.N. & I HATE med/surg! I had clinical today and didn't have time to pee once, let alone eat! Not only that, but I do my best job w/ 2-3 pts. (I'm a student) & it's NEVER enough (I do the aids work also) even if I go above and beyond what other students do. There's always an R.N. ready to say "well, did you do this" .."did you do that", but NEVER... "good job"! Ticks me off & makes me mad! They're sucking the life out of me, before i'm even paid to do it, so no thanks. I'm doing my time on med/surg in school, because i have no choice then i'm outta there!!!!!

orrrr - here is a thought - i totally feel its good on med surge for the clinical experiences before going to specialties - maybe you could be one of those nurses that actaully makes the students feel good and stay and say good jobn etc :) just a thought if you can hang in there :) hugs.

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To all the wonderful nurses out there doing your job and hanging in there I salute you. I hope when you require nursing care some day in your twilight years that the new generation will do well by you. For those who went into nursing soley for the 'security' or the money I feel for you. For those who take solace in constantly complaining about your conditions or how much you loathe being a nurse, I worry about you. Feeling that stuck, and hating your 'job' can really lead to feelings of helplessness which in turn may lead burnout and subsequent abuse of substances, eating too much, and just basically not enjoying life.

In the past, I have worked with several nurses who were not that 'old' and they discouraged me on a daily basis--DO NOT GO INTO NURSING. One nurse would tell me so often when I was an EMT that I finally asked her one day "why on EARTH are you a nurse? still? here? Why?" To which she actually stopped, reflected and stated that its an honorable way to make a decent living.

To those of you who feel burnt out stressed out floor- nursing -sucks, I ask if you can to try and remember why you went into nursing in the first place. IF you went into nursing soley for the money may I suggest banking, or some other such easier way to make a buck-- you know who you are. For those of you who went into nursing with an ideal in mind, and to fulfill some duty to public service and helpling to relieve suffering of others, I tip my hat to you. Dont be caught up in martyrdom which many nurses do. Dont be a victim. You deserve more than that. To all of you I say thank you. You are the backbone of the establishment and it is a damn shame that so many of you feel disenfranchised in this profession. Change needs to happen. It has to. The healthcare in this country is bustin' at the seams. Nurses are unhappy and will walk. And who will be around to take care of the suits someday? That is when you will see real change happen. Some may scoff--but never underestimate power in numbers.

Great post.

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To all the wonderful nurses out there doing your job and hanging in there I salute you. I hope when you require nursing care some day in your twilight years that the new generation will do well by you. For those who went into nursing soley for the 'security' or the money I feel for you. For those who take solace in constantly complaining about your conditions or how much you loathe being a nurse, I worry about you. Feeling that stuck, and hating your 'job' can really lead to feelings of helplessness which in turn may lead burnout and subsequent abuse of substances, eating too much, and just basically not enjoying life.

In the past, I have worked with several nurses who were not that 'old' and they discouraged me on a daily basis--DO NOT GO INTO NURSING. One nurse would tell me so often when I was an EMT that I finally asked her one day "why on EARTH are you a nurse? still? here? Why?" To which she actually stopped, reflected and stated that its an honorable way to make a decent living.

To those of you who feel burnt out stressed out floor- nursing -sucks, I ask if you can to try and remember why you went into nursing in the first place. IF you went into nursing soley for the money may I suggest banking, or some other such easier way to make a buck-- you know who you are. For those of you who went into nursing with an ideal in mind, and to fulfill some duty to public service and helpling to relieve suffering of others, I tip my hat to you. Dont be caught up in martyrdom which many nurses do. Dont be a victim. You deserve more than that. To all of you I say thank you. You are the backbone of the establishment and it is a damn shame that so many of you feel disenfranchised in this profession. Change needs to happen. It has to. The healthcare in this country is bustin' at the seams. Nurses are unhappy and will walk. And who will be around to take care of the suits someday? That is when you will see real change happen. Some may scoff--but never underestimate power in numbers.

Hillflower I think that if you looked deeper you will find that Nurses who went into the profession because they wanted to care for sick people and do it well are the ones that are complaining about how awful nursing is these days.

Nurses who went into nursing for nothing but a decent paycheck are less likely to burn out.

Why is that? Because the nurses who went into the profession for $$$$ do not get upset when they see patients get terrible care due to short staffing and poor treatment of nurses. They don't care. These people go to work to collect a paycheck and they go home and don't think about it anymore.

The nurses who went into nursing because they are interested in healthcare, providing excellent care and support for the sick, and advocating for patients are the ones who get burn out and angry. I think that there is a direct correlation between nurses who care about the patients and nurses who get angry at the state of nursing. The more you care about the patients the angrier you will get about unsafe staffing and deplorable working conditions for nurses. That is because these things have such a negative impact on patient care.

Many nurses have no choice but to continue nursing in order to feed their families. There are not options out there for everyone. What options you have depends a lot on your geographical location and your financial situation.

I have posted before about how the conditions at my hospital in England are appalling to the point that I want to crash my car on the way to work. The next nearest hospital is over an hour away and gas here is about $6-7 dollars a gallon. I would pay more out in gas than I earned if I commuted. There is a nationwide recruitment freeze and no jobs for nurses anyway. Even nursing homes are not hiring. We have many many new grads stocking shelves in supermarkets because there are no jobs.

I am trying to talk my british DH ( i am american) into moving back to the states so I could get a better nursing job but he likes his job here. We depend on my crap wage to pay the mortgage. I have actually thought about leaving him and taking my 3 young children (two of whom are autistic) back to the states and trying to make a go of it on my own back there. I am prepared to do this just to get out of my horrible job. DH has informed me that if I leave the UK with the kids he will have me arrested for kidnapping and unfortunately the law is on his side in this case. Even my lawyer warned me not to try and leave the country with the kids without his permission because I will become a hague case and go to jail for a long time.

So many people say that it is so easy to get out of your situation if you are unhappy in your job. What is your advice for me?

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We are all here not to get on someone's case. The original poster is venting and everyone is just giving their opinion so why say who has the right to comment or not??? Epona is right anyway! If you don't pee when you need to you'll be sick with uti, if you don't eat you'll at least get ulcer. People work to live, not to get sick!

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