For all the nurses that want to quit...

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We need to start a support group. I recently made a job change to a med-surg unit and it was a horrible decision. I feel stuck because this is my third job in a year and a half as a nurse. I feel like to quit this job would be professional suicide and I would never be able to get a job, even outside of nursing. At least I have made up my mind on the decision that has been plaquing me since senior year of nursing school: I am pursuing a degree outside of nursing. I won't say that I will never hold another job as a nurse, but it surely will not be in a clinical area after this job. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I have only 138 more shifts before I can give my resignation (that is with my vacation time and sick days factored in). Maybe less if I can drop down to part-time after 6 months. I never imagined that nursing could be such a soul-draining job. I hope that I'm still the same person after a year on this unit.

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Well, we could all move to Hawaii, build a straw hut on the beach and each work 2-4 hour shifts a day to keep us in coconuts and poi.

Or.

We could all enter a lotto pool, then use our millions to buy a secluded enclave in Montana, and shoot anyone that comes within 1000 yards of the place.

Either way works for me.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Med-Surg..

You are not alone HealthyRN, I am also finding that nursing is so not what I thought it would be but there is no easy solution. Hope this job is a charm for you.

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.
We need to start a support group. I recently made a job change to a med-surg unit and it was a horrible decision. I feel stuck because this is my third job in a year and a half as a nurse. I feel like to quit this job would be professional suicide and I would never be able to get a job, even outside of nursing. At least I have made up my mind on the decision that has been plaquing me since senior year of nursing school: I am pursuing a degree outside of nursing. I won't say that I will never hold another job as a nurse, but it surely will not be in a clinical area after this job. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I have only 138 more shifts before I can give my resignation (that is with my vacation time and sick days factored in). Maybe less if I can drop down to part-time after 6 months. I never imagined that nursing could be such a soul-draining job. I hope that I'm still the same person after a year on this unit.

Healthy RN: The telling part of your post it that your "soul is drained." Any helping profession can be emotional torture. But before you quit, try to analyze if you're unhappy in work because you're unhappy in life. I recomment for ALL nurses "Medicine and Compassion, A Tibetan Lama's Guidance for Caregivers." Maybe it would help you become more accepting of the fact that there's only so much you can do and that we must accept that bad things happen to people through no fault of us. To become a "Healthy RN" you have to respect the boundary between you as a person and you as a nurse. It's not something you can do overnight, but the lessons will apply to all sphere's of your life - not just your career. By the way, this book is very nuts and bolts.

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We could all enter a lotto pool, then use our millions to buy a secluded enclave in Montana, and shoot anyone that comes within 1000 yards of the place.

I vote for this option!

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Specializes in B.S. Psychology.
Well, we could all move to Hawaii, build a straw hut on the beach and each work 2-4 hour shifts a day to keep us in coconuts and poi.

Or.

We could all enter a lotto pool, then use our millions to buy a secluded enclave in Montana, and shoot anyone that comes within 1000 yards of the place.

Either way works for me.

Can I come too? I'm not a nurse, but I can cook up some mean poi! :lol2:

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Specializes in Chemo/Psych.

I've been a nurse for 10 years... this is a job that takes and takes and takes!!! You will get a patient that makes you feel good "every now and then" but most of the time it only takes!! Hang in there...I have friends that feel the same way.

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Specializes in B.S. Psychology.
We need to start a support group. I recently made a job change to a med-surg unit and it was a horrible decision. I feel stuck because this is my third job in a year and a half as a nurse. I feel like to quit this job would be professional suicide and I would never be able to get a job, even outside of nursing. At least I have made up my mind on the decision that has been plaquing me since senior year of nursing school: I am pursuing a degree outside of nursing. I won't say that I will never hold another job as a nurse, but it surely will not be in a clinical area after this job. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I have only 138 more shifts before I can give my resignation (that is with my vacation time and sick days factored in). Maybe less if I can drop down to part-time after 6 months. I never imagined that nursing could be such a soul-draining job. I hope that I'm still the same person after a year on this unit.

What career have you decided to go back to school for?

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Can I come too? I'm not a nurse, but I can cook up some mean poi! :lol2:
Anyone who can cook has an automatic in with me :)
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Specializes in Burnout & Resiliency Coaching for Nurses.
We need to start a support group. I recently made a job change to a med-surg unit and it was a horrible decision. I feel stuck because this is my third job in a year and a half as a nurse. I feel like to quit this job would be professional suicide and I would never be able to get a job, even outside of nursing. At least I have made up my mind on the decision that has been plaquing me since senior year of nursing school: I am pursuing a degree outside of nursing. I won't say that I will never hold another job as a nurse, but it surely will not be in a clinical area after this job. The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I have only 138 more shifts before I can give my resignation (that is with my vacation time and sick days factored in). Maybe less if I can drop down to part-time after 6 months. I never imagined that nursing could be such a soul-draining job. I hope that I'm still the same person after a year on this unit.

Are you still on probation, if so you can just sorta leave it out. I do that all the time with jobs I leave while I'm on probation. I'm sorry nursing isn't working out for you have you looked at any specialties or anything you might enjoy doing a lot more in nursing?

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You are right on both counts, nursing is very draining... and it certainly does change you.

The question is, does it change you into someone that you like or don't?

Kudos to your for taking steps to further your own happiness by working on an outside degree. Trust me, at some time or another, we have all had back up plans! For those of us lucky to find something that fits, we have never had to use them. Maybe one day you will find your niche, there is always the option to return even if you do decide to leave.

Wishing you some peace : )

Cardiac-RN, PCCN

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Specializes in Emergency room, med/surg, UR/CSR.

Yeah, I know the feeling. I recently got a job as a prior authorization nurse and for the first time in time since 1988, I don't have to worry about working Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, heck, I even have Martin Luther King day off! (paid no less!) Not all of those years were in nursing, only the last 6 years have been that, prior to that I worked EMS. I missed a lot of holidays, a lot of bedtimes, a lot of seeing kids off to school so I'm not sorry to be leaving bedside nursing. I have to admit that yesterday at lunch some of the old employees were doing the normal griping and complaining about this and that so I'm not about to think that this job is Nirvana or that I'm not in Kansas anymore, but, as I sat there listening, I couldn't help thinking "yes, but as bad as it can be here, no one is dying, no one is pooping all over you and no one is yelling at you because their pillow isn't fluffed just so." I plan on thoroughly enjoying this job while I sit in my cubicle working, and looking at all the family pictures I have surrounded myself with. So good luck with your studies and your quest to find something better, and don't feel like you're alone. A lot of nurses feel the same way. Hey! BTW, where do we get the tickets to Hawaii?!;):lol2:

Pam

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