What is the major reason nurses leave?

Nurses General Nursing

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What do you think is the major reason nurses leave the profession out of these?

1.) Nurse to pt ratio without accounting for pt acuity

2.) Scheduling of staff

3.) Nurses treatment of one another (Management's treatment of staff, etc)

4.) Pay (or lack thereof :rolleyes: )

5.) Inability to provide the pt care desired due to administrative requirements.

All responses are valued! Thanks!:wink2:

I left once to raise my children, which took me 20 years LOL. I was a dog groomer for 5 of those years which I loved . Because of the grooming action of the clipper I blew my shoulder out and can no longer do that action. I now have my first nursing job in 20 years. It is not the same entity it was 20 years ago. The biggest disapointment for me when I came back was the lack of unity by the nurses, Where I work it's all back stabbing, and writing each other up ?? ( Is this something new?) Heck the nurses aides can even write you up. I feel like I have to watch my back at every corner. I work in a nursing home and hesitate to get a job in the local hospital. I am an LPN and that also seems to be a major problem in nusring now a days . I am trying to get an RN but am finding it difficult due to not being in school for 100 years. I decided to go the excelsor route. Not sure if that was a good idea or not. With all that said I love my elderly peeps and found that I am actually good at what I do and I like working in a nursing home. When I do get my RN I think I will stay in geriatrics. I have faith in human beings and I hope that my experience with the lack of comradery is not everywhere i go.

I think the reason people leave nursing is due to the lack of staffing . We have concurrent people working sometimes and all they ever complain about is how they cant get this or that done due to lack of staffing. That also rings true where I work. There is NO staff. We work short all the time which is dangerous for us and our patients. Years ago we didnt need insurance . But bet your bottom dollar I have it now. We are over worked, understaffed, underpaid for the work we do, and unappreciated. Of course people leave nursing and I cant say that I blame them. I was talking to a young lady one day at a local college. I asked her what her major was. She told me she wanted to be a nurse. I said WHY? her answer was . So I can make a lot of money . I just laughed

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There are probably a million reasons why nurses leave hospital nursing. The reasons I left were: increasing acuity of patients and decreasing number of nurses. I never worked so hard, with such complicated patients, in my life. The stress is never-ending. Then add the weekends and holidays, shift rotation and doctors who are pompass jerks and managers who think you never do enough and you have a recipe for unhappy staff.

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Specializes in Elderly Rehab.

You don't have to want to leave your job in the UK at the moment, the NHS is making Nurses redundant, (layng them off).

But for the original question, I think 3 of the many reasons are:

1. Too much work and too little pay.

2. Work overload.

3. Too much time having to be spent filling in paperwork and not enough time to be a nurse.

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I have left. I worked Med Surg for 17 months and the inability to CARE for the patient coupled with non-existant management / team leader (I worked night shift) with no improvement in sight --- I just had it and am now unemployed wondering what to do - thinking of hospice / home health, maybe. I do miss the patients

The advise I got to work med / surg for 1-2 years directly out of school has helped me see what I don't want to do - but I am unsure as to what I can do with the degree (I have found very little resource other than hospital / home health)

The patient loads and the acuity of the pt is dangerous especially with no management present. I felt like a spinning pill dispenser - no time for caring or educate, just a list of tasks to check off

And the money was about the same as the bartending that I had done previously (but in a fun environment)

I feel eaten by the circumstances of the health"care" industry

What to do now?...

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I have just decided to leave nursing. Just 2 days ago in fact, my family and I sat down and made that decision together after I had been in bed for 3 weeks with mono and strep. I"ll be 53 years old in a few weeks and I have "MONO".

I am the nurse that was "called",for almost 33 years I am the nurse that put my patients before myself always. I am that nurse that Never cared what I was paid as long as I could give comfort and continue to give more. I am that person because that is the only thing that I know how to be and the only thing that I can be. That doesn't make me anything but true to me. It doesn't make me better than any other nurse alive or dead. I have been that in every area that I have worked in for my nursing life. In 1980 I quit a job for another at a 3 dollar pay cut, pretty much everyone I knew thought I should be committed. It was however the right thing for me to do for me. Anyone of "Us" nurses who felt that we were called to nursing in this way went above and beyond what most people thought was reasonable. But let there be no doubt about it, We do it all for ourselves.

We do it because it is what we do and If we didn't do it that way "WE" would not be fulfilled. That does not make us selfish and that does not make us Angels, it also makes us no different that any nurse who is in it for the money.

You see Timothy, there are various kinds of payment and to many of us the money never could equal the emmence fullfillment of being the person that you are meant to be and having the ability to carry that out.

I have given to patients to their families to their friends more than I could ever tally, but again make no mistake about this, In balance on a scale, what I have given is monsterously out weighed by what I recieved in return.

I started out in med surg then went to nicu, then to mental health, then nursing homes and now private duty peds special needs kids. I am the person who worked 12 hours to complete an 8 hour shift in the nursing home, because during the 8 hours of work there were actual human beings that needed my attention so I gave that and stayed to finish chores and paperwork. I am the nurse that was in the office every morning fighting for patients rights, I am the nurse who spent days in the hospital when my patients were admitted and their parents were unable to be there. My mouth was rarely shut when it came to matters of patient care and saftey, respect of staff and patients, I was a pain in the (&%^ to administration sometimes. However, I have lasting friendships with many family members and friends of former patients, my son has people that are his addopted "aunts and uncles" from these friendships. I can't imagine what my life would have been without these circumstances because this is what I do and what fullfills me. It has been for me and it has been a blessing to me to have the ability to do it.

I just simply can't anymore! I believe I am tapped out.

I'm not burdened by my work, I don't give a rats $&*( about the money, I don't have a problem with co-workers or administration.

It's a 1 to 1 ratio in private duty, and there is no politics in my job.

I just ran out of gas, my tires are flat and my block cracked, I'm done.

I hope some of you who are contemplating leaving nursing really search your soul and if you really feel that you can make a difference and if you feel you have the strength to fight and loose and fight again, I hope you try. If you really feel that what you get is not enough, no matter if that is pay or another kind of payment then maybe it's time to go.

Just remember there are many things worth fighting for and it isn't always dollars and cents.

I hope nursing can elevate a bit I do pray for that. I hope you all find what feeds you, it's the only way that you can really give unselfishly. This has been a fun ride.....see ya.

Mimi

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I agree with gitterbug...post #12; alien-warrior...post #27; and Rambisisking...Post #29.

I have diabetes and depression both have gotten out of hand thanks to the help of my manager. I need to take care of ME so I can better care for others. Put in a transfer request and the next day was told that I resigned.

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I left nursing 20+ years ago for many of the same reasons. I got tired of trying to "buck the system". I thought that I would return when things got better but I see that many of the reasons for leaving havent changed. I'm presently back in school to see if I can make a difference from the other side. I'm getting my BS and masters in health care administration. I sure hope that this will help, because something has to change.

Still a nurse at heart

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Tele, DOU.
I agree with gitterbug...post #12; alien-warrior...post #27; and Rambisisking...Post #29.

I have diabetes and depression both have gotten out of hand thanks to the help of my manager. I need to take care of ME so I can better care for others. Put in a transfer request and the next day was told that I resigned.

Hmm, Diploma82,

it seems that you bring up another unfortunate reason for leaving the "profession or calling": "lies". :madface:

I wish you well in finding a position elsewhere that is more worthy for you. Your last manager was and still is a poop-head. :madface:

(I keep reviewing this post. I am really angry at the way you were treated. I would knock the dust off my shoes--and whatever else I conveniently stepped in--on their doorstep and never return.)

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we buy into the concept that we are 'called' and being called has a value of its own.

If I wanted a calling I would have become a nun. ;)

My hospital was founded by sisters 100 years ago, and is still run by them. Sometimes I think our organization is still living in the last century.

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I just retired a month ago after working 32 years in 3 different units in the same hospital. The main reason I quit as soon as I reached 62 was because of the never ending required hours, changing. Most of us worked 3-12's per week. That was changed to 3-12's plus 4, then 3-12's plus 1-8 every other week, then 2-12's plus 2-8's. It made planning impossible. I've been a "day" person for 11 years and yet one year I was assigned to work 3-11 New Years Eve. Oh and that's no longer a paid holiday.

All that messing with the schedule told us "management" had fun pulling our strings.

(I'll be going back per diem--my terms!!!)

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Specializes in Med Surg, Parish Nurse, Hospice.

i agree with all that i read, i know that earlier this year i considered leaving nursing because of all the pressure- work faster and harder than you can even imagine. what you do is never good enough or fast enough. i agree that often you don't have time to go to the bathroom or eat. pts and families expect more and more each day and often have little respect for a nurse's knowledge. i have changed jobs in nursing and hope to have at least 10 more good years to put in. many people i talk to don't understand that old nurses- 29 yrs experience can;t retire like a teacher would with a great pension and full healthcare benefits.

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Specializes in endocrine/hypertension/renal.

My major gripe is the staff to patient ratios. I'm currently working medical wing in a private hospital with 35 beds in our ward. It is not unusual for our ward to be split into two - one RN and one EEN assigned to each half (and a PCA if you work the AM shift). That's at least 17 patients! The upside is that the nurses there all support each other cause we all know we're in it together. Needless to say, I'm looking around at other hospitals - one I know of has a ratio of 4 patients to 1 nurse......what a dream come true, lol!

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