Good Bye to Nursing for me...

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jan 2, 2007

at the moment though i feel like i have this "cloud" of mean people that have appeared at each job so i want to give it some time for i go reapplying for a new job.
thanks again to everyone for all your suggestions, keep em coming....

i'm going to offer a somewhat different perspective from most of the ones you've gotten. as someone upthread noted, you've mostly gotten responses from folks with relatively few posts and presumably little experience. i've been a nurse for nearly 30 years, and i, too had a tough time at first. i stuck it out, and over time, learned that i had contributed as much (or more) to my negative experiences as had all of those so-called "mean people" i had such problems with.

as someone with barely six months experience who has changed jobs twice, perhaps you're contributing to your own failures. since i sincerely doubt that there's a "cloud of mean people" who follow you everywhere you go, you might want to give some real thought to what you have contributed to this mess. as i look back, 6 months is just a tiny speck of time, especially when you consider the time, effort and money you spent to become a nurse.

i hope you will give this some time and consideration rather than dismiss me as just another mean person.

RobCPhT · Jan 2, 2007

Nurses do eat their young. I don't know why anyone thinks it's acceptable. If you don't like bedside nursing have you thought about other positions? You can work for insurance companies, you could coordinate services, or do patient teaching and many more things. The world of nursing is not limited to a med/surg floor. Don't let this one nurse take away something you worked so hard for.

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Jan 2, 2007

My first perceptor was awesome.

Second one was a bit so-so. But I lucked out because one of the LPNs on the floor was phenomenal and she helped me loads.

But the staff (bare one or two) of 'em were mostly fantastic and even stood up for me when I had to confront a surgeon.

8 to 1 sounds ":eek:" though - we don't even see that on nights!!!

Good luck with your future - I only echo the words of the others who have listed "options" and encourage you to maintain your license. But I agree with you - no job is worth ruining your mental and physical health over.

cheers,

oldiebutgoodie, RN · Jan 2, 2007

i'm going to offer a somewhat different perspective from most of the ones you've gotten. as someone upthread noted, you've mostly gotten responses from folks with relatively few posts and presumably little experience. i've been a nurse for nearly 30 years, and i, too had a tough time at first. i stuck it out, and over time, learned that i had contributed as much (or more) to my negative experiences as had all of those so-called "mean people" i had such problems with.

as someone with barely six months experience who has changed jobs twice, perhaps you're contributing to your own failures. since i sincerely doubt that there's a "cloud of mean people" who follow you everywhere you go, you might want to give some real thought to what you have contributed to this mess. as i look back, 6 months is just a tiny speck of time, especially when you consider the time, effort and money you spent to become a nurse.

i hope you will give this some time and consideration rather than dismiss me as just another mean person.

i understand and respect where you are coming from, ruby vee. i do believe, however, that nursing seems to be unique in the "hazing" of new nurses, and the horizontal violence. i worked in 2 other fields before starting nursing, and i have never been treated so poorly as i have been in nursing, from managers, professors, and unfortunately, other nurses. in other fields i was treated as a professional and as an equal. in nursing i have not.

frankly, i think the only way the nursing profession will recover from this is for the ana and other nursing organizations to come out against it, and for hospital management to have a zero tolerance policy against horizontal violence. it won't happen, though, because that would make public nursing's dirty little secret.

oldiebutgoodie

morte, LPN, LVN · Jan 2, 2007

I understand and respect where you are coming from, Ruby Vee. I do believe, however, that nursing seems to be unique in the "hazing" of new nurses, and the horizontal violence. I worked in 2 other fields before starting nursing, and I have never been treated so poorly as I have been in nursing, from managers, professors, and unfortunately, other nurses. In other fields I was treated as a professional and as an equal. In nursing I have not.
Frankly, I think the only way the nursing profession will recover from this is for the ANA and other nursing organizations to come out against it, and for hospital management to have a zero tolerance policy against horizontal violence. It won't happen, though, because that would make public nursing's dirty little secret.
Oldiebutgoodie

as has been stated in other threads, hosp allow this behavior, because it keeps nurses occupied and/or nurses do it because they feel they have no power to change things.....this needs to be addressed...and wont be by hosp except in a case by case manner by someone strong enough to sue them for hostile work environment....otherwise it is UP TO US......

gr8rnpjt, RN · Jan 2, 2007

Dr's offices, home health care, insurance companies, managed care, surgery centers, adult day care centers, mobile blood banks, sales and marketing just to name a few. QUOTE]
Just FYI, insurance companies and managed care jobs usually require up to 2 years recent acute care experience.

Gromit · Jan 2, 2007

I sincerely doubt that "hospitals allow" or even encourage the sometimes nasty behavior that nurses are having toward new nurses. Lets be a little more realistic (if not reasonable) here. Its ENTIRELY an attitude problem, and can stem from a number of different reasons. Think about it for a minute.

Older nurses (depending on how many years ago they started) started with a paltry wage by comparrison to what a new nurse (RN or LPN) starts with today. They also were not allowed to have the range or flexibility of todays nurses -what they were allowed to do years ago is by comparrison 'nothing' compared to what we can do today. They had far less respect than we get today, and were viewed (depending on how far back you wish to go) as far less necessary or integral to the well-being of the patient.

What you get then, is (either intended or not) resentment toward the newer nurses who have (by comparrison) a phenominally better starting wage, and in most cases far better working conditions than THEY started with -and it took them years to get what we essentially start out with. If you don't think that this can build resentment, then you aren't being very realistic when it comes to human behavior.

I have heard older RNs comment how the 'new ones' seem to have ever-increasing starting wages, but 'their (older ones)' wages didn't go up by the same ammount.

I won't say that its 'right' for the bad behavior to continue- because (of course) its not right. And it IS self-perpetuating. Those who were treated badly, will likely (and may not even realise it) do the same to the 'new guys' when (they) become the 'old crew' (much the same as an abused child will in turn have greater odds of growing up to be an abuser).

Seeing some of you actually try to reason that a hospital would encourage this behavior because of the silly notion that it would distract the nurses from how the hospital treats them is just silly, flies in the face of reason, and is downright paranoid.

K98 · Jan 2, 2007

After 6 months of ICU nursing, I'm bailing too. My wife has been a nurse for 26 years, and she is ready to call it a day as well, so this is not a "new nurse thing". I retired from my first career before I became an RN. Since my wife has been a nurse for so long, I thought I had some idea of what I was getting in to. Wrong as usual. Our wages don't come close to compensating us for the stress, wear and tear, and responsibility that is heaped on us. Nurses that are injured at work at our facility are tossed aside like broken equipment. They have to sue the hospital to even receive treatment. There is good reason for the nursing shortage. I will keep my license current, but seriously doubt that I will ever work in a hospital setting again. It's mostly risk with very little reward. I would try another position, but I have yet to hear from a happy nurse at my facility or any of the neighboring ones. Of my class that graduated in June, over half have changed jobs, and a significant number are exiting the profession. Sorry to paint such a dark picture, but this is why it is so easy to get an RN position. They aren't worth having :trout: .

GardenDove · Jan 2, 2007

Wow, K98, what a scathing post! I like nursing, myself. I'm an anxious type of person who doesn't handle new situations with total enthusiasm, feels uncomfortable with the female clique thing, was scared to death of clinicals in nrsg school, but I still managed to work my way into a position I'm comfortable with.

Gromit · Jan 2, 2007

I'm pretty happy with my facility as well. In fact, the more I read some of these posts, the luckier I believe I am!

Back in April of '06, I contracted a virus that damaged my heart (became a cardiomyopathy patient in 3 months, with an LVEF of 20-25%, and only NOW am working part-time as a nurse on my old floor. They (nurse manager, fellow nurses etc) have treated me very well, and I'm being precepted to rejoin my crew and hope to be working full-time again by the end of february this year). While I was a patient, my manager came and told me not to worry that my job would be waiting if and when I was ready and wanted it.

Meant a lot to me.

2008rn2be · Jan 2, 2007

Well, the start of a new year and I'm kissing nursing
good bye after only 5 short months. I graduated in may and started at a hospital in august. My very first preceptor was a nightmare, on my 3rd day on the floor she said I was too slow and put me down in front of other
nurses or whoever was in distance of hearing her. At one
point she even said, "well, I have her she know's nothing I have to show her everything." So being enthusiastic I decided NOT to let it get to me and proceeded to take her C*ap for another couple of weeks. At which time I was moved to a different floor with a preceptor who was great and I learned alot from. PRoblem was at this hospital IF
I wanted to stay I'd have to take a evening position. SO I left a found a hosptial closer to home on days. Well, once again I have the preceptor from hell not only that but the managers In my opinion are nitpickers. ON my first day on the floor they wrote up a nurse who was in charge of making sure all the phones were back at the end of the day, for not having a phone returned. (someone took one home accidentally).. I found this ridiculous, it's a busy med/surg floor with an 8:1 patient ratio and they are worried about PHONES???? I could go on and on about the other horrors but it would be to long.
Long story short I've decide to quit. Luckily I don't NEED the job to support myself or I wouldn't be able to leave. my hubby makes a decent salary. I do feel bad placing all the financial burden on him but I'm planning on just picking up a admin position somewhere. I don't care if I'm making half the money I jsut want to be happy. I'm so SICK of being stressed going into work, stressed coming home, worrying about this, being stressed on the floor. To me its just not worth it. My hubby is worried that I'll change my mind and want to come back to nursing but won't be able to after leaving 2 prior positions. bUt seriously I can't imagine feeling this way.
I also just found out I'm expecting my first child and I really can't imagine the stress level as well as not eating/drinking/peeing an entire shift is good. So I'm gone. I give up, I give in, I just feel like I can't do it. I'm thinking I'm just not meant to be in nursing, or i woudn't have just kept inheriting bad circumstances and preceptors from hell.
Well, I'd love to hear if anyone else has left nursing? come back and any other thoughts you all might have.
Hope this is a good new year for all.

Just a suggestion, but rather than throw away all of the hard work you went through becoming a nurse, why not look for a nursing position in a Doctor's Office of some sort. You might not make as much money as you would make in a hospital setting, at least you could still make use of your degree. You didn't make it through nursing school for nothing!

Whatever you choose to do, Good luck!

lindarn · Jan 2, 2007

I understand and respect where you are coming from, Ruby Vee. I do believe, however, that nursing seems to be unique in the "hazing" of new nurses, and the horizontal violence. I worked in 2 other fields before starting nursing, and I have never been treated so poorly as I have been in nursing, from managers, professors, and unfortunately, other nurses. In other fields I was treated as a professional and as an equal. In nursing I have not.
Frankly, I think the only way the nursing profession will recover from this is for the ANA and other nursing organizations to come out against it, and for hospital management to have a zero tolerance policy against horizontal violence. It won't happen, though, because that would make public nursing's dirty little secret.
Oldiebutgoodie

Thank you for getting the point across that I was trying to get across to Ruby Vee in my threads concerning a certain hospital in Spokane, Washington. I too, was given the "it must be MY fault that I did not get along with the nurses on this particular unit". Blame the victim, again. The fact that I have testimony from other nurses who went to work there, and were treated as shabbily as I was, seemed not to matter. The fact that I have gotten along with the staff in every other hospital, in three different states, seemed not to matter. It MUST HAVE BEEN MY FAULT.

Unfortunately, this attitude seems to permeate in certain facilities, and the nurses in these facilities take their attitudes with them not matter where they go- taking no responsibility that THEIR ATTITUDES ARE CONTRIBUTING THE THE INCREASING NUMBER OF NURSES WHO NO LONGER WANT TO WORK AT BEDSIDE NURSING, ME BEING ONE OF THEM. It is THEIR PERSONALITY THAT IS THE PROBLEM, NOT ME. That is the point that I was trying to make.

Unfortunately, these type of individuals will never accept constructive criticism that deflated their sense of self worth and self importance. If they cannot dump on new nurses, who are just trying to fit in, then they have failed. My advice is, get a life!

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington