Burnout?

Nurses General Nursing

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]I've only been a nurse for 3 years, but I'm afraid I am completely burned out. I find myself wanting to do a public service announcement on how to be a good patient. I am sick to death of patients and patient's families complaining that daddy had to wait 20 minutes for a cup of coffee while I've been in the middle of a code. I'm sick of seeing family memebers out in the hall giving me the "stare down" like when am I going to come in their room (half the time it's not even my patient). Had a daughter of a patient the other day (an RN at that) and wanted to know why daddy didn't get shaved today. Well, lets see...we were working 3 nurses short, I had been there for 16 hours and I had 3 very critical patients that were very time consuming. You just don't always have time to do everything. I actually had one man blast me as soon as I hit the door about how he had been waiting 30 minutes for a cup of coffee. I explained to him that I had been in a code down the hall. He didn't care. I asked him if he were in a crisis situation would he want me stopping to get someone else a cup of coffee before coming to his aid? Family memebers want ot sit by the bedside and pester the crap out of the nurses and patients 24 hr a day, but God forbid they actually lift a finger to help their loved ones get a drink of water of get on to a bed pan. I often feel more like I'm working in a 5 star hotel rather than a hospital. Am I the only one who feels this way? :smackingf

Specializes in NICU.
All the babies were bundled up so tight and lying on their sides... I couldn't see the little boogers breathing. So if they got too quiet or didn't move, I'd go over and tickle their feet to make 'em cry. The whole place would be in an uproar. The NICU nurses would run over to see what all the commotion was about.

But by golly, I knew the babies were ok.

:)

:lol2:

When I'm in the intermediate nursery I bundle mine up super tight just for that reason ..... so they don't move or cry! But then again, they're on monitors so I don't have to tickle their feet :)

Specializes in labor & delivery, mother/baby.

understand completely! I have been in healthcare for 18 years, 14 of them in obstetrics and I have been dealing with the same feelings recently to the point where I feel I have to move on. But not sure where or what...working with machines seems preferable to people at this point! I love my coworkers but they are burned out, too.

I am at the point where I go to work and think "I can do this for 8 hours" which inevitably stretches to 10 hours, etc. The biggest factor that finally caved me in was being involved with a malpractise suit against one of our doctors... it was dreadful to say the least. add lawyers to the list of what burned out nurses hate. the suit dragged on for 3 years and finally settled the night before it was to go to court.

It is very sad to have entered this profession with excitement and joy and to feel jaded and angry at this point in my career. Who would have thought that taking care of mothers and babies would leave one feeling like this?

I feel your pain. The "staredown" is the worst. There were days on my floor where every family would be standing in their doorways or in the halls staring at us.

I want to go home now

I want to see the doctor now

I want you to get me formula/diapers now

When is my kid going for that test

What are the results of that test, etc.

My phone/tv/toilet doesn't work.

Very needy, entitled people who don't care that you are hanging chemo on a sick child and can't do everything at once. Mind you, the heme-oncs family is the nicest and their kid is the sickest. Go figure.

I'm out. Resigned. Finished. Only non-bedside work from me from now on. I'd rather be a receptionist than a bedside nurse ever again. I don't care what they pay.

Specializes in Med-Surg/Pedi/ICU/Tele/Onc.

There are so many times that I state..."so this is why they took the potassium IV off the floors." I swear the though of choking someone...patients or families crosses my mind so much more often now a days!

Yes, people are too pampered and administration thinks that it is ok and that nurses actually have the time to kiss A$$!! Get real!!

Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..
sorry guys, have to disagree with you on this one. love my patients, love my job, great bunch of co-workers who regulary meet for drinks and dinner and doctors who do what we tell them instead of the other way round. maybe im just niave as i have just qualified. remind me of what i said in 5 years when im on here saying....i hate my job, hate doctors, hate patients etc...

Good for you JoJo,long may you continue to feel like that!:balloons:

Specializes in SICU.
sorry guys, have to disagree with you on this one. love my patients, love my job, great bunch of co-workers who regulary meet for drinks and dinner and doctors who do what we tell them instead of the other way round. maybe im just niave as i have just qualified. remind me of what i said in 5 years when im on here saying....i hate my job, hate doctors, hate patients etc...

Get back to me in about 14 years. Nothing personal, but you'll roll your eyes just like I am now and wonder how you could've been so naive.

Do I sound jaded? You bet... I'm to the point now that I feel like I'm selling out my (very extensive) skills for a paycheck. The love is gone and I just don't care. I never wanted to feel this way about what I do, but administration with their budget bullcrap and staffing ratios, JCAHO and their ridiculous requirements, and a public that thinks our main duty is to cater to them, and more, all have gotten me to the point that I am furiously debt reducing so that I can be out of nursing within a year.

Because I genuinely DO care about the patients I care for, I have tried and tried to rationalize to myself why I should keep on doing what I do... but I just can't take it anymore. I am done.

I hate people.

:yelclap:

I hate patients.

I hate doctors.

I hate hospitals.

I hate insurace companies.

I hate nursing as a job.

Don't feel bad, most nurses I know have been burned out for decades.

All the above has taken the reward and fun out of the job.

:yelclap:

]I've only been a nurse for 3 years, but I'm afraid I am completely burned out. I find myself wanting to do a public service announcement on how to be a good patient. I am sick to death of patients and patient's families complaining that daddy had to wait 20 minutes for a cup of coffee while I've been in the middle of a code. I'm sick of seeing family memebers out in the hall giving me the "stare down" like when am I going to come in their room (half the time it's not even my patient). Had a daughter of a patient the other day (an RN at that) and wanted to know why daddy didn't get shaved today. Well, lets see...we were working 3 nurses short, I had been there for 16 hours and I had 3 very critical patients that were very time consuming. You just don't always have time to do everything. I actually had one man blast me as soon as I hit the door about how he had been waiting 30 minutes for a cup of coffee. I explained to him that I had been in a code down the hall. He didn't care. I asked him if he were in a crisis situation would he want me stopping to get someone else a cup of coffee before coming to his aid? Family memebers want ot sit by the bedside and pester the crap out of the nurses and patients 24 hr a day, but God forbid they actually lift a finger to help their loved ones get a drink of water of get on to a bed pan. I often feel more like I'm working in a 5 star hotel rather than a hospital. Am I the only one who feels this way? :smackingf

I bet there are a lot of nurses that feel the same way, though not all would admit it.

quoted SICU Queen

Get back to me in about 14 years. Nothing personal, but you'll roll your eyes just like I am now and wonder how you could've been so naive.

Do I sound jaded? You bet... I'm to the point now that I feel like I'm selling out my (very extensive) skills for a paycheck. The love is gone and I just don't care. I never wanted to feel this way about what I do, but administration with their budget bullcrap and staffing ratios, JCAHO and their ridiculous requirements, and a public that thinks our main duty is to shmooz them, and more, all have gotten me to the point that I am furiously debt reducing so that I can be out of nursing within a year.

Because I genuinely DO care about the patients I care for, I have tried and tried to rationalize to myself why I should keep on doing what I do... but I just can't take it anymore. I am done.

Whatcha goin' to do instead?

I need some ideas!

Good luck!

Specializes in Maternal newborn.

WoW I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I have been a med surg nurse for a little over 2 yrs and it is driving me crazy. I especially hate it when family stays overnight. All they do is get in my way and refuse to help their sick loved ones. I work night shift and these people do is eat all night long. I feel like a waitress at times. One time a had a husband stay overnight with his wife and he kept calling me to help Him turn his wife in bed. Why can't he help her. She had a LAVH. And they usually want the pt dangling at the bedside or walking asap. Both of them drove me crazy that night. I was so happy the husband did not stay the next night. Even some of the doctors call the hospital I work in a hotel instead of a hospital. Patients are staying longer for nonsense reasons.

This is why I work Travel and per diem. With travel I am gone right around the time I am ready to pimp slap someone and with local agency I just say "don't send me back there, it sucks" once the agency nurses put the word out on a place they can't get coverage and they straighten out their issue real fast.

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