Feeling lost in my nursing career

[BButterfly1993, ADN, BSN]

Hello,

I have been a nurse for 3 years with previous experience in ICU, cath lab, and Interventional radiology. I started in ICU straight out of nursing school and I have been doing critical care since then. I currently work 4 days /10hr shifts each week. Our cath lab is extremely short staffed and I have been forced to take 15-20 days of call each month. This obviously increases your chance of being called in for emergencies. Our patients have been extremely sick, requiring more nursing care on a skeleton crew. We have also been having really late cases, so I typically work 10-14hr shifts. Needless to say, I am completely burned out. I have a newborn at home which requires all my attention as soon as I walk through the door. I am exhausted, tired, and frustrated.

Now that I have my son, a lot of my nursing career priorities have changed. I want to go back to 3 days /12hr shifts. I would like to cut back on call or eliminate it completely. Back in July I accepted a day surgery position but my current director will not release me to this unit until September due to how short our cath lab unit is. I am having a hard time managing my current nursing career since I am being pulled into many directions. My team members are giving me a hard time for changing units, my director is also acting different now, and my home life is also requesting so much of my energy.

I am feeling lost within my nursing career because I feel like I want to step back from emergency medicine and having to react quickly...solo. Recently, I have become so bitter and angry at work. I have never EVER been like this before. It makes me wonder if it is my environment within my unit (It has a lot of issues) or just burnout.

I have applied for a few other jobs including surgery and an oncology unit. I really miss 1 on 1 nursing and educating patients. I love talking to patients and feeling like I make a difference. I also want to be home with my growing boy. I love my son so much and I’ve wasted a lot of time at work.

I am stressed all the time -wondering if I am making the right decision. I feel guilty to step away from critical care since I’ve done it my whole career. Is anyone else experiencing this or have experienced a clash between home life and nursing career?

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

Having a newborn is super tough. I went back to work at 7 weeks with both of my kids and luckily at the time I was working a weekend program and only working 2 days a week. After my son I took a paycut to work closer to home on an evening shift rather than overnight.

Kids absolutely change your priorities- quality of life and worklife balance became very important to me.

If you can hold on to September, you do have a job lined up, but I think it’s also worth pursuing the other opportunities which I assume are at different facilities. Not sure how fast hiring goes in your area but it might take as long to have a start date somewhere else as waiting for your release.

If/when you get another offer, when you give notice you could mention the delay in releasing you to your transfer unit as a factor in leaving your current hospital. They might offer to release you sooner to keep you in house or they might not, but you’ll have another job ready to go regardless.

[BButterfly1993, ADN, BSN]

41 minutes ago, HiddencatBSN said:

Having a newborn is super tough. I went back to work at 7 weeks with both of my kids and luckily at the time I was working a weekend program and only working 2 days a week. After my son I took a paycut to work closer to home on an evening shift rather than overnight.

Kids absolutely change your priorities- quality of life and worklife balance became very important to me.

If you can hold on to September, you do have a job lined up, but I think it’s also worth pursuing the other opportunities which I assume are at different facilities. Not sure how fast hiring goes in your area but it might take as long to have a start date somewhere else as waiting for your release.

If/when you get another offer, when you give notice you could mention the delay in releasing you to your transfer unit as a factor in leaving your current hospital. They might offer to release you sooner to keep you in house or they might not, but you’ll have another job ready to go regardless.

I see it that way as well. I trusted that my release would be sooner, which is why I never applied to another position at a different hospital. Almost 2 weeks ago I received the notice that I had to stay for another 6 weeks. It has been extremely mentally and physically exhausting. I’ve been open about my struggles to upper management and HR but I get little response. I’ve had to seek out therapy due to postpartum depression and work situation. Thank you for your input!

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

I’m sorry your management hasn’t been more understanding. When I gave notice to take the local/paycut job, my manager was sad to see me go but very understanding that I needed to make the choice that was best for the family. In hindsight the pay cut ended up being pretty financially devastating but for the short term the better hours and closer commute made a huge difference in my ability to take care of a toddler and a very needy newborn.

A job that meets your family needs now doesn’t have to be forever but I’m glad I was able to step back from my main specialty while my kids were infants and toddlers. Parenting is hard and being a nurse and working nurse hours is definitely an extra layer of challenge.

[Life Visitor]

You, your family is truly what matters. I struggled with my masters because of a family member who was injured by a random act of hatred. I also struggled with my doctoral degree (DNP) because several physicians were livid and vocal about it so had to keep it hush-hush however, it was family that mattered most and supported my decision to grow because nothing in life is guaranteed so persevere and be proud of who you are. I am also proud of you for being that amazing RN I know you are. Change that work schedule to better take care of what's really important in your life.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

"I feel guilty to step away from critical care". Critical care will survive without you. You  are in a new situation.  Your newborn comes first. Take some FMLA and search for a position that works for you.

 

[speedynurse, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

On 8/23/2020 at 1:28 PM, BButterfly1993 said:

Hello,

I have been a nurse for 3 years with previous experience in ICU, cath lab, and Interventional radiology. I started in ICU straight out of nursing school and I have been doing critical care since then. I currently work 4 days /10hr shifts each week. Our cath lab is extremely short staffed and I have been forced to take 15-20 days of call each month. This obviously increases your chance of being called in for emergencies. Our patients have been extremely sick, requiring more nursing care on a skeleton crew. We have also been having really late cases, so I typically work 10-14hr shifts. Needless to say, I am completely burned out. I have a newborn at home which requires all my attention as soon as I walk through the door. I am exhausted, tired, and frustrated.

Now that I have my son, a lot of my nursing career priorities have changed. I want to go back to 3 days /12hr shifts. I would like to cut back on call or eliminate it completely. Back in July I accepted a day surgery position but my current director will not release me to this unit until September due to how short our cath lab unit is. I am having a hard time managing my current nursing career since I am being pulled into many directions. My team members are giving me a hard time for changing units, my director is also acting different now, and my home life is also requesting so much of my energy.

I am feeling lost within my nursing career because I feel like I want to step back from emergency medicine and having to react quickly...solo. Recently, I have become so bitter and angry at work. I have never EVER been like this before. It makes me wonder if it is my environment within my unit (It has a lot of issues) or just burnout.

I have applied for a few other jobs including surgery and an oncology unit. I really miss 1 on 1 nursing and educating patients. I love talking to patients and feeling like I make a difference. I also want to be home with my growing boy. I love my son so much and I’ve wasted a lot of time at work.

I am stressed all the time -wondering if I am making the right decision. I feel guilty to step away from critical care since I’ve done it my whole career. Is anyone else experiencing this or have experienced a clash between home life and nursing career?

Don’t even feel guilty over having to adjust your job/transfer jobs/etc to do what’s best for your life and your family. I had to make a similar decision lately and a lot of my team acted differently. It took me nearly 2.5 months to even transfer jobs because of the same reasons that you mentioned above. All I have ever done is critical care and now I am having to step away as well but it’s better for my life. Always put your life and your happiness and your family before a job....and you can always go back to critical care once your baby is older.