You can always tell when I've been hanging out on the Allnurses.com forums too much -- I get up on a soap box. I'm amazed, though, at how many new nurses are grasping at straws to find "reasons" to quit their first jobs because they're unhappy and they're just positive that things are going to be better elsewhere. Even if there is no elsewhere in the immediate future. It's not THEIR fault that they're miserable -- it's the job. Or their co-workers are all mean and out to get them. (Probably because of their incredible beauty.) Staffing is a nightmare, the CNAs are all hiding and they're afraid they're going to "loose" their license. They'd better quit RIGHT NOW, so they don't "loose" that license. (I wonder if that one is as transparent to spouses who are looking for a little help with the rent -- not to mention those school loans you've racked up -- as it is to some of the rest of us.) The job is ruining their lives and their mental health -- they're seriously worried for their mental health if they don't quit right now. Where did all of these fragile people come from?
Seriously, folks. The first year of nursing sucks. You have the internet and all of that -- how could you not know that the first year of nursing sucks? It does. We've all been through it. The only way to GET through it is to GO through it, but there's a big group of newbies every year who are SURE that doesn't apply to them. No one as ever been as miserable as they are. No one understands. They HATE going to work every day. Management is targeting them and they're sure they're going to be fired. They're concerned that their mental health might be permanently damaged by the trauma of staying in that job ONE MORE DAY. Given the inevitability of "loosing" that license and permanent damage to their mental health, it's all right to quit that job tomorrow, isn't it? Or maybe it's that their DREAAAAAAAAM job is opening up, and they've been offered the job. It's OK to quit this job to take their DREAAAAAAAAM job, isn't it?
How do they even know their dream job is hiring if they have every intention of making their first job work out? What are all those job applications doing out there, floating around if they're serious about this job? You DID intend to keep this job for one to two years when you took it, didn't you? If not, shame on you!
The first year of nursing sucks. You're going to hate going to work every day, and some of you are going to cry all the way to work and all the way home. You'll be exhausted, both mentally and physically and your normal hobbies and activities may take second seat to the job. You'll be constantly afraid of making a mistake, and you will MAKE mistakes. You'll feel incompetent. You may lose sleep because you're worrying about your job. Switching jobs isn't going to miraculously make you confident and competent. It's just going to delay you on your path through that first miserable year. It may even look bad on your resume, paint you as a job hopper. (I'm always shocked by how many new nurses are on their third or fourth job in less than two years who will assure me that they're not job hoppers. Honey, if you're on your third job in less than two years, you're a job hopper. Really.)
Don't people have bills to pay? Or is it that no one feels responsible for paying their own bills anymore? How is it that so many people feel free to just up and quit a paying job without another one in sight? I guess I'm getting old, because I really don't get it.
I am stuck at a job I don't like right now. The grass IS greener on the other side - it's not my imagination. I did my preceptorship in an ICU that had adequate techs for turning and bathing. It was nice when the nurses helped but those were tech responsibilities. The ICU I did my preceptorship in had an intensivist that was in the unit all the time and could help out at a moment's notice. The base pay rate for new grads was higher and the differentials were better.
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Your beginning paragraph is why your jobs will always suck. The techs are there to assist you, not take demands as if they're responsible for all of the patient care. You are new, but I am pretty certain you will have just as hard of a time in the hospital across town. You are a nurse, you are not above bathing, turning, and stocking your own cart.
I am disgusted by this post. "Those are the tech duties". If the tech doesn't have enough time to make it to each room, you as the person responsible for the patient, you can and will do it or you'll find yourself fired at another facility!
Why does the first year of nursing have to suck (OP's quote)? I am changing careers at 47 years old and have a year left on my BSN. Recently I retired as an Air Force officer and decided to do something totally different, for many reasons. I guess I am the eternal optimist, but I wouldn't have taken 3 years out of my life to do prereqs. and finish a 4th degree if I thought there would be "sucky" years. In every career, there is good and bad, but I am expecting to start a new career that will be fulfilling and rewarding. I know there will be times of frustration (my wife has been a nurse for nearly 20 years so I am not going into this blind). Are there nurses out there whose first year didn't suck?[/quote']
I'm one of those who did not have a horrible 1st year. It was, of course a huge learning curve, and looking back I can clearly see all the things I did not know. I know that if I was given the exact same year now (schedule, patients coworkers etc) with my current level of experience it would be a breeze. I never cried on the way to or from work, it was just, you know, work. I was used to it.
I had (and have) great, supportive coworkers, and I like to think that our newbies see me in the same way.
That being said, if I was in an environment so toxic that I was breaking down (it would have to be pretty bad, I pride myself on my ability to looking the bright side) I would leave in a hot second, but, then, I am in the rather unique position of being a superfluous income, so I'm answer to the original question:
No, I have no bills to pay. (I have however worked for the same employer throughout my career).
I think crying and hating your job is pretty normal when someone's life is literally on the line and you aren't getting the support that you feel you need.
Specializes in Nursing Education, CVICU, Float Pool.
Your beginning paragraph is why your jobs will always suck. The techs are there to assist you not take demands as if they're responsible for all of the patient care. You are new, but I am pretty certain you will have just as hard of a time in the hospital across town. You are a nurse, you are not above bathing, turning, and stocking your own cart. I am disgusted by this post. "Those are the tech duties". If the tech doesn't have enough time to make it to each room, you as the person responsible for the patient, you can and will do it or you'll find yourself fired at another facility![/quote']
Or you work on a unit where one tech must assist in the care of 17 patients, you must learn to be as independent as possible. It's one thing of the tech is just goofing off, but many techs work hard. I know this because I was that singular CNA on a unit, helping to care for 17 patients that could have a heart mix of total care and isolation patients, who may also have a sitter for being prone to suicidal thoughts and self inflicted injury. I was that CNA for two years, right out of high school, until i became a RN when I was 20.
On our CVICU we have a tech that has a dual role as secretary and clinical assistant, bc the clerical role is so time consuming and bc we have no aide, at all, on night shift (it's just you and one other nurse) I must step up as the nurse and do all that I can on my own, and ask for help when needed.
We have a great teamwork system on our unit so we always help one another, which makes things easier. I wouldn't have things any other way. Why ask the tech to get VS when I have to go in the room every 1-2 hours at least to visually assess the pt and round??? Of course there are some extenuating circumstances where I may be tied up for a while and it's nice to have an aids help in those cases, but never do I view it as just their job, it's all of our jobs on the unit.
As nurses we provide comprehensive care to patients, and a part of the comprehensiveness includes ADLs, bathing, toileting, VS, Ambulating, and just talking with patients and family members, among other things.
My first year, I did cry in the parking lot several times. But, I also cried in that same parking lot as a student.
When I graduated back at the turn of the century, I was an adult with children. I knew where ther were good places to work and the places that weren't food. The job market sucked, so you took what you could and waited.
14 years in, I still work for the same health authority and am in as close to a dream job as there exists for me. Do I like all of my coworkers? Heck, no. I do see a hive sense of entitlement in some of our recent hires who are under 30. How they made it out of four years of university expecting to walk into a union line with no shift work is beyond me.
Well, I actually blame the universities for being a huge part of the problem. Too many of the instructors have under a decade of experience working. They left because of the workload, they didn't want to do shifts,etc. the placements for their student groups are strictly M-F daylight shifts. So when theses students arrive for their final placement, they are stunned to discover they MUST work their preceptorship shift cycle. That they have to do total care.
There are many poor managers around who let things slide. Bullies working as aides and RNs. The worst bullies I've worked with wer three late 20s RNs who made sure when they were in charge gave the over 45s (be they LPN or RNs) the heaviest patient loads possible.
So it's not an age thing. It's all down to who has the power that shift.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Why does the first year of nursing have to suck (OP's quote)? I am changing careers at 47 years old and have a year left on my BSN. Recently, I retired as an Air Force officer and decided to do something totally different, for many reasons. I guess I am the eternal optimist, but I wouldn't have taken 3 years out of my life to do prereqs. and finish a 4th degree if I thought there would be "sucky" years. In every career, there is good and bad, but I am expecting to start a new career that will be fulfilling and rewarding. I know there will be times of frustration (my wife has been a nurse for nearly 20 years so I am not going into this blind). Are there nurses out there whose first year didn't suck?
The first year of nursing is often the first time brand new nurses have ever had a real job with all of it's challenges, the first time they've had to get along with permanent colleagues (unlike the steady turnover of wait staff and bar tenders) and the first time they've ever been responsible for themselves. Hopefully you've already experienced all that. Transitioning from student nurse to a licensed nurse responsible for the care is stressful, but you probably have the tools for the job.
I see a lot of posts here criticizing others for "being in it for the money". I'm not sure what is wrong with choosing a career that pays well. Plenty of other jobs reward hard work and sacrifice, why shouldn't nursing?
I see a lot of posts here criticizing others for "being in it for the money". I'm not sure what is wrong with choosing a career that pays well. Plenty of other jobs reward hard work and sacrifice why shouldn't nursing?[/quote']
Who says nursing doesn't reward hard work and sacrifice?
There are daisy awards, best unit awards, chapter and association awards, company/facility rewards, opportunities to be published and recognized for that work; so I get very curious when people thing nursing doesn't "reward people", because it's done.
I'm just curious....how long have you been in healthcare or in nursing?
I think crying and hating your job is pretty normal when someone's life is literally on the line and you aren't getting the support that you feel you need.
^^^^^This.
This is THE main reason I hate the job, and hate nursing.
There are daisy awards, best unit awards, chapter and association awards, company/facility rewards, opportunities to be published and recognized for that work...
Personally, I think Daisy Awards are a joke. One unit manager in my facility got it. She does no care. The onl y patient contact she has is smiling at them and then saying "my girls wiLl look after you!" Total farce.
MrChicagoRN, RN
2,610 Posts
Sucking, like suffering, is subjective. What sucks to one, is a challenge to another.
After 20 years or more in the military, I'm sure you will rise to the occasion.
Challenging yes, adjusting from novice to expert without killing anyone on the way, but won't necessarily "suck."