Facing the disappointment

[faith010]

It is so difficult for me to accept that I have worked so hard all these years in college only to feel so utterly disappointed by my career and feel like I am not good enough to work during the day time, to feel like I have been banished to the night shift and must work every weekend and every holiday and never get the chance to even sleep at night. Sleeping at night has become a privilege to me. It's not even night shift, it's nursing in general that has made me feel so disappointed. It's not what I thought it would be. I don't know where to go from here. I feel so trapped at this point. Anyone else feel this way, disappointed by their career?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Are you a new nurse? If so, keep in mind that school only prepares you to practice at a novice level. Then there's the reality shock when the difference between textbook nursing school and real world nursing collide. It's going to take at least 1 year if not 2 to feel competent.

[Sunshine716]

Faith, I'm so sorry to hear that you've been so disappointed as a nurse. A couple questions, how long have you been nursing and is this the only area you've worked in? I only say that because if I had stayed in the same area that I had started in I would have been really disappointed with my career as well. I've worked in many different areas over 14 years. I have done Med-Surg, ICU, PACU, Travel, Pediatrics, Home Health, Agency, Employee Health, International Nursing and I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of.

That to say, I've had areas that I've really liked and others that I've really disliked and sometimes it's just the type of nursing or the environment. For instance, I've loved PACU at some facilities and really disliked it at others. I think I added up over 50 hospitals and surgery centers that I've worked at as an agency nurse. It helped me to find the place I'm working at now that I absolutely love. I also really loved doing agency nursing for 8 years as well. There are jobs that you can work at as a nurse that aren't the typical inpatient hospital "floor" type of jobs if that is what you want to get away from. I even have a friend that works for a health insurance company that loves her job. There are all types of jobs you can do as a nurse that look very different from one another. I would say keep searching after all the work you have put into it. I ran into a woman the other day who was an RN who ended up thinking of a computer program that she sold to a company and works in informatics with computer systems now. There's a huge world of nursing out there- I hope you can find something that you like doing.

I would suggest to write out the things that you like about nursing or why you wanted to pursue nursing in the first place. Also, write out the things that you don't like to see if it's nursing in general or maybe the type of nursing that you are in, or even the environment.

Best of luck to you! Let us know how you are doing!

Here's a list of some specialities to get you thinking (although I know there are many more specialities than this):

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