New nurses thinking of leaving nursing

[mswim]

Hello,

I am sure that all of us remember our nursing school days, and how hard it was to finish. I just finished last December of 2008. I worked so hard and I thought now I was going to have a big pay off. I was WRONG! Apparently that is why nursing school is like being in the military. My unit is full of backstabbing, backbiting and judgemental people. The hospital right now is cutting staff due low census and expecting more. We have to rotate all around the hospital even to units that I not comfortable with practicing on. I no longer have had a choice. It has been made clear to me several times that there are plenty of new grads that are graduating that will take my job. What has happened in the last 2 years in treatment of nurses. Was it always this bad! I thought it was supposed to be better? Should I stick it out in nursing is it going to get better when the economy rebounds? I try to compare it to my friends experiences that are equally overwhelmed at their jobs, but to be frank, I am responsible for people's lives and am able to be held liable. This makes that stress worse. All of the more experienced nurses out there. is this going to get better? Should we all start unions. (I actually mentioned the word "union" at my job and one of the older nurses told me never to say it again b/c I could get fired) We can get written up for opposing anything, or saying anything negative. Just Scary!

[llg, PhD, RN]

I think it has gotten worse in recent years ... but the "idealized vision" you had as a student never existed. Historically, reality has lain "somewhere in the middle" of what you are experiencing now and what you had hoped the world would be like.

Nurses in the olden days had different problems than we do now, but they had it pretty tough at times, too. I believe they were more supportive of each other, but that they functioned under conditions that were sometimes just as bad as they are today -- just bad in different ways. I find it fascinating to read nursing history and I often find myself in awe of those nurses of previous generations.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

@llg...can you be more specific about the different problems facing the nurses before us and the nurses now?

[fungez]

Yeah, things are getting worse. There's this customer service focus that is now paramount, to the expense of patient care. For example, we are now expected to check off hourly rounding logs on the door as well as in the computer. Five patients x 2 extra charting x12 hours = too much work! and it does nothing to help my patients! in fact it takes time away from patient care, but if you explain that to admin. they don't want to hear it. I'm surprised they don't put their hands over their ears and say lalalala. When I started this career, if we were understaffed it was understood that some things were just not going to get done. Now, they don't care. They want everything done but they don't care if we are doing the work of 2 people.

I just feel, at times, this sense of contempt by administration. I saw a poster here claim she got more job respect when she was a barmaid.

[Spring08]

I graduated May 2008 and I HATE my current job on a med surg floor. No support and have had several managers in the last 1 /2yrs. I pray everyday as I don't want to leave nursing, but I am TRULY burned out!!!! ALLL READY!!!!! Sad....I know..I actually pray that I get cancelled when our census are low....!Been putting in applications for jobs, but no calls yet. The older nurses tell me it didn't use to be this bad; Im not sure what is making it bad. I just know...I don't like what I am feeling and doing cause I often don't feel safe. I wish we had a union also.....I pray everyday and night for guidance and pray that you receive some too.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

An older nurse I know said it was easier back then because the patients weren't so sick and you didn't have to chart so much and do so much busy work. They took care of their patients. We are always on the computer. And now I am signing rounding sheets on the doors too.

[onetiredmomma]

While I don't remember being canceled due to low census so much until probably the last 8-10 years, it was always an expectation where ever I worked that we would float to other departments if needed. Usually the staff on those units were grateful enough to get help they were understanding about what we didn't know working on their unit. Nursing was hard years ago. Nursing is hard these days for different reasons. JACHO mandates and evidence based practice require more and more documentation, "customer" focused care, etc all make our jobs more challenging. I would encourage you to look for a different area of nursing than hospital or med/surg before you give up on nursing all together. I am celebrating my 40th anniversary as a nurse this month (!) and while I wish I had done some things different I have never regretted becoming a nurse. good luck to the new nurses! Please don't give up on our profession; us baby boomers are going to need your TLC as we grow older!!

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

Hospitals no longer have to worry about staff satisfaction and nurse retention. There are 2 new grads waiting to take my job if I decide enough is enough. Staffing is being slashed to save money. It's absurd to me when a number is placed on a pts acuity without factoring in intangibles like family or mental status. A calculator is used to decide how many nurses are needed to care for x amount of pts. I have become a nurse I don't like, impatient with sick old people who want a chat when taking their pills. I am no better than my manager who only sees me as a number on a calculator. I am not valued for my empathy, warmth, compassion. I'm valued for how fast I can assess and pass meds. I

[sistasoul]

Hospitals no longer have to worry about staff satisfaction and nurse retention. There are 2 new grads waiting to take my job if I decide enough is enough. Staffing is being slashed to save money. It's absurd to me when a number is placed on a pts acuity without factoring in intangibles like family or mental status. A calculator is used to decide how many nurses are needed to care for x amount of pts. I have become a nurse I don't like, impatient with sick old people who want a chat when taking their pills. I am no better than my manager who only sees me as a number on a calculator. I am not valued for my empathy, warmth, compassion. I'm valued for how fast I can assess and pass meds. I[/quote

Imintrouble,

I know exactly how you feel. I am told I "talk" too much too my patients. I find myself getting impatient when people want to talk too. I love my old patients but I feel like I am just pushing the meds into them and doing my assessments as quickly as possible to be able to get my charting done before end of shift. I am basically tied to a computer my whole shift especially now since we have admin RX. The "good" nurses are seen as those that get out on time and the "bad" nurses are those who get overtime. If I get overtime it is not because I have been sitting around twiddling my thumbs all shift. It is usually due to those intangibles such as having 5 patients all over the age of 85 all with dementia or families who are really concerned about their family members and need a lot of reassurance and updating. On some shifts I cannot even sit down for more then 2 minutes without getting pulled away for something or another. Forget about eating unless I can manage to wolf down a graham cracker on the run. Or sometimes there needs to be a lot of correspondence between myself and the Doc. I love to give TLC but as the above poster stated these skills are not valued and we are just to get into the rooms and out.

[calhirn]

The backbiting has and always will exist no matter what type of job you have. If I were you, I would start looking for a new job in nursing but one where the hospital respects their nurses. Perhaps a union hospital would be a better fit for you. I don't really support the union but having worked in hospitals with unions as opposed to those without, the nurses have more options and more freedom to speak out without the fear of retaliation by management.

[kindgo]

Boy I can relate. I have worked for five different places in one year, trying to find that fit.

AT every single place it is all about money, making the dollar bill. Unfortunately, the patients suffers and the nurse. Every day you have to worry about your lossing your license, and God help you if you complain. I pray every day to get through it for myself and the patients.

I thank God for giving me the grace to make it another day. I do enjoy my place of employment now, but we contantly work short staffed. It is unsafe, but in my experience it is everywhere and will not get better.

I been thinking of going back to school for something else. Many of my fellow nursing class is having the same situation. You are not alone. :redbeathe

[mindlor]

I am going to play devils advocate here.

I have been in many facilities as a volunteer. At every place I have been the nurses have complaints such as these.

That does not stop them from chatting it up and surfing the net at the station......

It does not stop them from taking way more breaks (read smoke breaks) then the breaks that policy entitles them to per shift.

I think management needs to be more reasonable and I think that employees need to stop feeling like they are so entitled........and meet in the middle....