Dreading Work Again!

[Genista]

hello my fellow hardworking nurses. i'm just feeling *blue* and frustrated with work lately.i dread going in, as it seems like everytime i come in, it's like walking into the front gates of hell. we are usually working with a skeleton crew of staff patched together by floats, registry & stragglers from other shifts. the previous shift's charge nurse doesn't know which way is up, and the reports i get are enough to make me want to run screaming from the nurses' station. you know the routine- the typical floor nurse scenario with nonstop call-lights, isolation patients from here to the horizon, needy families lingering in doorjambs, phone ringing off the hook and orders piled to the moon and back. i am beginning to think that i need more than a vacation...i need a vacation from hospital nursing...permanently! :angryfire

thanks for letting me vent. i am not sure if i can stand it much longer (heh heh; i have said that before, but i really mean it this time). i just feel so burned out! i want a cushy job where i work regular hours (i'm sick of the variable shifts), get an uninterrupted lunch break, and all the holidays off. i want to work with kids, the elderly or animals. i do not want to be responsible for everything under the sun! i want enough resources to get the job done! just for once, i'd like to come to work without having to put out fires and soothe over a million problems.

i love my patients, but i really hate nursing right now. i already cut back my hours, and no, i'm not depressed. i love my life (when not at work that is).

i wish the solution was as simple as taking a vacation...i'm just not sure if i can continue in nursing anymore. what can a burned out rn do with herself?

[Genista, BSN, RN]

Thank you everyone for your support & suggestions. I had another :angryfire night last night. I end up feeling crabby and like I didn't do a good enough job. It is so chaotic and crazy at work- and I am an organized type of person. Hard to balance it. I don't like the way I feel lately at work. I am seriously thinking of quitting..but am thinking of waiting a little longer, to see if I can save up some money and start looking at what else I want to do.

I'm tired of being so needed...and spread thin. So, am not sure if I want to stay in healthcare. I guess I am doubtful that there are nursing jobs that don't demand so much. The truth is they really need some more ancillary staff helping me out. I feel like the bedpan queen of the universe lately- and the chief waitress and Girl Friday. The things that get "missed" and sloppy nursing that I see drives me nuts! Trying to straighten everything out is so complex and time consuming, all while call lights going off every 10 minutes. It's HARD to do my job as a nurse!

I'm going to hang in there for another month or two at least and contemplate. It's a shame because I work with some great staff, and I like the "ideal" of what nursing should be...but I gotta take care of me too.

You guys are the best! Thanks again for listening. :)

[oramar]

Take it from one who has been there. Take steps now to make somesort of change in your life. What those changes are happens to be up to you. The feeling of dread is a message from your mind, body and soul that something is going to give if something does not change. If you linger in that state for to long you become to depressed to make changes. I took a three year hiatus and then came back to nursing after very carefully looking around at what was out there. I made one or two aborted attempts to come back in that did not work out because I did not look carefully around for a good job fit for me. I am in rehab nursing now and I love it. You may not be in position to take a hiatus but there are other things you can do. What ever it is start to think and make adjustments now.

[lisaloulou]

Time to alternate your pressure areas and do something different. Consider something like heart cath lab,endoscopy or another area where you'd mostly have patients 1:1 If you were here, I'd suggest working with me in Interventional Radiology where it's very busy but one patient at a time- I have found that being able to totally focus on one pt is a very rewarding experience, even if it's only for a short procedure. I think it's being able to see cause and effect ie:they are nervous and frightened, I explain,support and medicate if needed, they tell me what I did helped. I like that a lot. I have found that most days I dont carry a huge bag of leftover "stuff" with me emotionally after work.

Number 1 nursing commandment- take care of yourself and the patients will have a good nurse.

Number 2 nursing commandment- No human can be all things to all people all of the time.

Number 3 nursing commandment- We are all human.

[suzanne4, RN]

I would definitely consider the OR. It will give you a mind set away from the everyday world of the floor. You will be learning everyday, not just doing, doing, doing. I keep up my skills in almost all critical care areas, as well as ER, but I much prefer the OR over the others. You can fix almost any piece of equipment, can move mountains in a short time if you need to, and you feel wanted and appreciated. Sure, you do get the occasional bedpan, but you can usually number them on one hand per month or more. You get to use your brain on a daily basis, and any skill that you learn there will be with you for life.

Hope that this helps........................ :balloons: